More Than Enough for a Never-Ending Party

Jesus Did Not Turn Wine Into Water?

*I often take a manuscript or notes with me to preach. There are occasions when the manuscript is closely followed. Other times, there are significant variations. Here are both for the second in our series on the Miracles of Jesus.

Pastoral Prayer: Lord Jesus, circumstances from yesterday have left the world, or most of it, wondering if this could be the end. The truth is, all that any of us ever do is revelatory. Our deeds reveal what we trust, what we love, and what we are willing to do to achieve security. When times like these come, we expose that we are unsure. Like the ritual cleansing that comes from dipping hands in stone jars, we learn that all we do falls short. So on this day, when we are sober, give us the Good News of the Gospel of Grace again. Father, through the Son, you have made us clean, and by Your Spirit, you raise us. Point us to the never-ending party of Grace with glimpses of your goodness in the face of our lack. Give us Your Word today, we pray. And all God’s people say, Amen.

More than twenty years ago, Andrew Jones, a missionary known by the handle tallskinnykiwi, set out to talk about the mission of God after the turn of the millennium. He adopted as his pattern for mission some aspects of Jesus' life as described in the Gospels.

Andrew sought to model a new way forward by throwing parties and telling stories. That is combining the occasions when Jesus was invited to meals, where he was often found telling parables—stories.

He understood that Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard and hanging out with sinners.

After a brief ministry of hosting parties and telling stories, Luke recounts the words of Jesus to the disciples as they shared a meal before his arrest. Jesus said,

“Take this and divide it among yourselves for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.

No more wine for Jesus. Though they missed it at that moment, Jesus was telling the disciples the party would soon be over.

After John’s Prologue and the declaration by his cousin John the Baptizer, who points to Jesus, proclaims the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, John sets out to demonstrate the claim that Jesus brings light into the world. And to do so, he takes us to Cana of Galilee. There, we find that there is no more wine for the wedding party.

On the third day.

Imagine the cloud cast over the seven-day wedding celebration, not even at the halfway mark. All the bridegroom's best intentions to honor those who would arrive each day ultimately end in an embarrassing failure, as the event is threatened with being cut short. Even if the bridegroom delegated the wedding feast planning to a planner, the debit for the mishap would be on his ledger.

All the glasses are now empty.

It's quite a good thing that, at today’s prices, weddings don’t last seven days.

Six stone water pots sat near the entrance to the venue where the wedding feast was held. These stone pots would maintain the level of purity required, whereas jars of clay would not. A new set of guests would arrive each day. And each day, those who came would dip their hands in one of the stone jars to wash their hands, performing a ritual cleansing for their sins in preparation for celebrating the newly married couple.

Over time, the requirements of the priests came to be applied to the people. Priests represented the people to God and so were required to wash their hands before performing their duties in the tabernacle and temple. By the first century, this practice had become widespread among all Jews. What began as a measure of good hygiene was later added as a religious requirement.

One more thing people must do to measure up, to be considered acceptable, to enjoy the party.

The estimated size of the reservoirs contained approximately 25 gallons each, totaling about 150 gallons of water. That would mean more than enough water to provide for any number of guests to be appropriately prepared over the seven-day celebration. Some have done the math and noted that one aim in describing the number of stone jars present is to make the point that there was room for many more guests than would show up—an important point made later.

We may conclude so far that there is plenty of water by which people may prepare for the feast, but wine, the sign of celebration, is gone. It is not a stretch to pause and contend that in a darkened world, people look for any way to make their way in the world. Demanded to be more, do more, to measure up, to achieve, to prove our worth and value, is like stepping up and washing our hands in hopes of a celebration, only to find the sign of successful acceptance unavailable.

We are exhorted to do all we can, and then find out it is not enough.

When this sentiment comes to the church, it is, as my friend Jason put it in a sermon on this passage, we end up turning wine into water. What the church gathers to celebrate comes in second to measuring our progress. We turn wine into water.

Mary, who may have an association with the host, sees Jesus and the disciples arrive and tells Jesus the party is stalled. There is no more wine.

On the third day.

It is not my hour.

Despite some modern interpretations, Raymond Brown asserts that Jesus’s response to his mother is not catty nor callous. Brown points out that “what is that to you and me” is not uncommon. It may well be a question of social relationships. In this instance, these words leave most wondering if Jesus’s mother was involved in coordinating the wedding feast. Notice that John is determined that Jesus be revealed as the light of the world, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and so Mary is referred to as his mother. It is John’s reference to Mary throughout.

On the third day.

My hour has not yet come.

Or has it?

Mary - the mother of Jesus - tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them.

Fill the stone jars to the brim. Now draw out some.

When the sommelier tastes what is in the stone pots, he is startled that the host would give the best wine to already well-served guests. That is not custom.

Water to wine.

Debate persists over what Jesus meant by his hour was not yet. The phrase is usually a reference to the crucifixion, wherein Jesus gives himself for the world. Could he mean it is not yet time to demonstrate his power and authority in this way? Maybe it is both/and.

If we keep Mary’s prayer, the Magnificat, in mind, then Jesus' mother may have been acting on the Promise she had received from the angel, which she interpreted as giving birth to the One. After all, the Story of God is Promise.

Up to this point, there is no sense that Jesus had performed anything like it, at least not in John’s Gospel. This is the first. Mary’s insistence on doing whatever Jesus told them was well-grounded in her mind.

All of the life of Jesus always points to “the hour” yet to come that does in fact arrive.

The culmination of what the missionary Andrew Jones dubbed the ministry of Jesus - throwing parties and telling stories - would come to an end.

No more wine for Jesus.

But that is not what Jesus said.

The miracle - sure, water becomes wine.

But - is that all the miracle is? Maybe the reason why so many debate what kind of wine is that the Powers of Sin and Death still work to leave us thinking that Jesus is not enough. What kind of wine?

Jesus is our salvation. Partying in the kingdom is meant to signal that the end of us needing to wash our hands has ended.

Andrew’s wife died as a result of their missionary work abroad. She contracted a disease while serving. After a time of healing, Andrew is back on the road, playing the role of John the Baptizer - pointing to Jesus by throwing parties and telling stories because the King and the Kingdom have come.