Water into Wine from Jesus as seen by John

I love weddings. They are times of celebration and happiness; a time of a new beginning. I find the story of Jesus at the wedding in Cana really charming; Jesus enjoys celebrating in our happy times.

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
   They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

It was just an ordinary wedding. We don't know who was getting married. But, since it occurred in a small town, it was a big deal. It was a celebration where the whole town probably turned out. Mary was invited; Nazareth was nearby. Jesus was also invited and he brought his disciples. No one seemed to mind wedding crashers. I should be noted that Jesus did not come to teach, he came to celebrate -- and he did not teach or heal -- he enjoyed the celebration.

Then there was a problem. I have never been a caterer, but I was a Logistics Officer; when people don't have enough stuff, there is a problem. Mary went to Jesus, "They have run out of wine." Now, how can you celebrate at a wedding if there is no more wine? What was Mary thinking? I suppose she just felt that Jesus would know what to do. She didn't ask for anything specific, she merely stated the problem. Jesus said, "Mom, what on earth do you expect me to do. This isn't the time for me to be performing miracles and becoming the main attraction." (My paraphrase -- not accurate, but you get the picture.) Mary just told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Mom knows her son.

Jesus told the servants to fill the water jars to the brim with water. Now these were big clay pots -- 20-30 gallons -- they were used for the ceremonial washing of the people coming to the celebration. There were six of them (120 to 180 gallons of wine.) Then Jesus told the servants to take the water to the Emcee. What did the servants think? Jesus didn't do any magic. It was just, "Fill the jars with water and take some to the Emcee." When did the water become wine? We don't know, but we do know the reaction of the Emcee. "Wow, where did this come from?" He said that at most feasts, the best wine is used first. After everyone has become a little tipsy and don't much care, they bring out the bad stuff; who cares? But, this was the best. He was impressed. 

No one knew except Mary, the servants and the disciples. Presumably the celebration went on without a hitch.  The Gospel of John is sometimes called the book of signs because John labels many of the miracles as signs -- signs pointing to who Jesus really was. Here he said it was the first sign. He also said that the disciples believed. They were probably blown away!

What does this have to say to us today. I think the most important thing is that Jesus does care about the ordinary routine events in our lives. He cares about weddings and family celebrations. He enjoys a good party. He likes to be happy! This story also tells us that we can ask for ordinary help; it is not selfish to ask. When he answers and provides it may come in seemingly normal, ordinary ways or it may be miraculous. It doesn't matter. He provides. And, it is always good!

Philip, Nathanael and Jacob's Ladder

When I was a young person, one of the songs that we sang was "We are Climbing Jacob's Ladder." I don't think that I ever really understood that song until much later. But, what does it have with the story of Jesus as told by John? Let's look at the Scripture:

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

   “Come and see,” said Philip.

 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

   Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

John the Baptist had been doing his baptizing in the south of Judea. This is where Jesus himself was baptized. But, Jesus was actually a Galilean, brought up in the town of Nazareth, a small village in the hills above Lake Galilee (the Sea of Galilee.) Many of the towns which were important to Jesus ministry were looking in the area around this lake; Cana, Bethsaida and Capernaum.

As Jesus was walking in Galilee he found a man called Philip. I find it interesting, that John and Andrew found Jesus, but Jesus found Philip. He gave Philip and invitation, "Come, follow me." Then another amazing thing, Philip followed Jesus. Of course we can picture Philip having heard Jesus several times and becoming interested well before the invitation -- and this is certainly probably true. But, I really like the picture of this instantaneous action to a sudden invitation. Then Philip moves into action. He immediately finds Nathanael. An interesting side note is that every time that Philip is mentioned in the Gospels, he is bringing people to Jesus; someone to be emulated.  He tells Nathanael that he has found the one that Moses wrote about; a prophet who would be as great as Moses; the Messiah. You can almost hear Nathanael saying, "Who is it?" "Jesus of Nazareth," answers Philip. "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" says Nathanael. Nathanael wasn't just prejudiced against Nazareth (although that could be part of it), there were no prophecies stating that the Messiah would come from Nazareth.

It should probably be noted that this is the only place where Nathanael is mentioned so when the lists of apostles are studied, it is probable the he is the Bartholomew that we see in other lists. I don't think that Jesus was putting Nathanael down when he says, "Here is a true Israelite." Nathanael was not one to be following false Messiahs. He was not an unbeliever. He really was a true Israelite. Then the dialogue follows where Nathanael says how do you know me, to which Jesus states that he say him when he was under the fig tree before Philip even came to him.  Nathanael is amazed. He believed! Then Jesus told him that he would see much greater things than this.

It is at this that we find the reference to Jacob's ladder. Jesus says that he himself is the way to heaven, "you will see heaven open and the angels ascending and descending on me." The imagery comes from the vision that Jacob saw when he was running for his life away from his brother. He saw a ladder into heaven. Jesus is in effect saying that he was the ladder. 

Well, what does this say to us. First, Philip is a good example. We should be interesting those closest to us to Jesus. This passage is also an illustration of a later passage where Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. This makes it imperative that we invite others to meet him.

The First Followers of Jesus from Jesus as seen by John

One of the first sermons that I preached in Seminary was on this passage. I focused in on Peter and titled the sermon "While he was still shifting sand, Jesus named him Rocky." I don't know how good the sermon was -- probably not very good, but there was some truth to the title.   Let's take a look at the passage:

 

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
   They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
   “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
   So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
   Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).                                                   (John 1:35-42 -- NIV)

  At this point in the gospel, John the Baptist still seems to be the major point of interest, but this was about to change. Jesus was about to come to center stage. As the passage begins, John is still baptizing in the river Jordan. He was with two of his disciples, when he saw Jesus approaching. We know that one of the disciples was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. The other one is not named although tradition tells us that it was John. This makes sense since the Zebedee brothers were close to Peter and Andrew. Also John never mentions himself in the gospel. John did what he always did, he pointed to Jesus. Once again he names Jesus "the Lamb of God."

I don't know how John felt about this, but the response of the disciples was immediate; they left John and went after Jesus. I wonder how long and far they followed Jesus before he noticed that they were following and spoke to them. Jesus asked them what they wanted and they responded by asking where he was staying. In the traditions of the day, they were really asking Jesus if they could follow along and be his disciples. Jesus responded favorably to their request and told them to come and see. It was late in the day and they went with him. Did they spend the night? Probably for disciples walked with, talked with, and stayed with their master. They were hooked.

The first thing that Andrew did was to find Peter, his brother. He told Peter that they had found the Messiah. Evidently Andrew really believed Jesus! A real disciple. Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. I actually don't think that Andrew had to work very hard because we see in the scriptures that Peter was quite impulsive. I can imagine him saying, "Yes, let's get going, I need to see this for myself." Jesus took one look at Simon and gave him a new name. He named him the Rock. Peter was anything but a rock, but Jesus saw something in him that no one else did. Certainly later on Peter did become that rock.

What does this passage say to us. When we meet Jesus, we need to follow him as a disciple and get to understand who he really is -- teacher, savior, friend -- of course, but also Son of God, Master, Lord. We need to learn to be followers of Jesus, not just church members. Church membership is fine and good -- but we are not members of some kind of club, we are followers of Jesus. We need to also be sure that our belief in him is not some kind of mental assent -- belief means to place our trust in him and follow him. We need to be like Andrew. Have we told our friends and family that we have found Jesus. Do we bring them into the presence of Jesus and introduce them to him? Lastly, do we accept Jesus' judgment of our character? He saw something in Peter. He also sees the reality in each one of us. Can we accept that? We ought to -- it is a good thing. Jesus always brings out the best in us.

Jesus the Lamb of God from Jesus as Seen by John

John the Baptist has been emphatically denying that he himself was the Christ, but now he sees Jesus coming toward him. He cries out, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" Now he not only points to Jesus as the coming one, but he actually points to the man Jesus. As he points to him he sums up the ministry of Jesus in one sentence. The rest of this passage is further testimony as to who the man Jesus really is:

 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”  Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

When John called Jesus the Lamb of God, he had several things in mind. Perhaps he had the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 in mind; 

He was oppressed and afflicted,
   yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
   so he did not open his mouth.(verse 7)

Of course he probably had in mind the Passover Lamb of Exodus 12. Moses had been the instrument to bring God's plagues upon the people of Egypt. The final plague was to be the death of the first born sons. But God came up with a way for the people of Israel to escape this plague. They were to take a lamb, kill it and place the blood on the doorpost so that the angel of death would see it and pass over that house. Jesus is of course our passover lamb who shed his blood so that we could be forgiven. This indeed was the mission of Jesus; to take away the sins of the world.

In fact, John finally really reveals why he had been baptizing; to reveal Jesus to Israel. As he looks at Jesus he says that this is the one that I was talking about when I said there was one coming after me whose sandals I wasn't even worthy to untie. 

Two questions come to mind about this encounter; 1) what does John mean when He ways that he didn't know Jesus, and 2) how did he recognize Him if he didn't know Him? Even though John was a cousin of Jesus, he evidently wasn't raised with him. John's parents were very elderly, did they die while John was young? Was he raised relatively far away from Jesus? He knew that Jesus was coming, but he didn't recognize him. The second question is answered in the passage. When John Baptized Jesus, he saw the Holy Spirit come down upon Jesus and remain on Him. Of course, this was the anointing of Jesus for ministry. Jesus ministered as a Spirit Filled man. After His ascension into heaven, He poured out the Holy Spirit on the Church as an anointing for ministry. He still gives us individually and corporately, the Holy Spirit to anoint us for ministry.

  

John goes on to testify that Jesus is God's chosen one; the Son of God. We hear the Father speak in the other Gospel accounts of Jesus Baptism. Once again, we are confronted with the fact that this man, while truly a man, is at the same time, much more than a man.

This man, Jesus did for us as our sin sacrifice; he is our passover. Because of this death on the cross, we are forgiven of our sins. We are now in fellowship with God. It is important to note that we are not only forgiven, but we are delivered from our sins. Because of the Holy Spirit we are also no longer powerless. We have power to live the Christian life and we have power to minister in the authority and power of Jesus Christ. Indeed, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

John's Role; Jesus' Role from Jesus as Seen by John

Finally the introduction -- the prologue -- is over and we move into the story of Jesus. The story opens with John the Baptist as the first person on stage. He was actively preaching repentance and baptizing people. The crowds were coming from all over the hear and be baptized. But, the religious establishment was scandalized, John was baptizing without a license -- he had no credentials. Look at the scripture:

Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.” They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
   He said, “I am not.”
   “Are you the Prophet?”
   He answered, “No.”
Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The questioning starts with the religious leaders asking John who on earth he thought he was. John responded by stating emphatically that he wasn't the Christ. Now, the word Christ means the anointed one. In the Jewish history, the anointed one was a king, a priest or a prophet, but prophecy had pointed to one who was to come -- the Anointed one -- in Greek, the Christ, in Hebrew, the Messiah.  John wanted to make it very clear that he was not the promised one.

This led to more questions from the experts; "Are you Elijah? How about the prophet?" John stated emphatically also that he wasn't them. Why did they ask about Elijah -- well again, the prophecies indicated that the great prophet Elijah would return before the Messiah came. The book of Deuteronomy indicated that there would be a great prophet in the spirit of Moses to restore things. John refused to take either of these titles. Finally, they asked him, "Then who on earth are you?"

John gave them this answer -- I am merely a voice crying in the wilderness telling the people to prepare the way of the Lord. The Lord is coming and we must be prepared for this. John's answer tells them that he is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, Chapter 40 -- the beginning of the book of comfort. 

The leaders accepted the answer but had to ask one more question, "Why then do you baptize?" The real issue to them was that John had not been authorized by the Sanhedrin. He was acting on his own -- and they didn't like that. As a historical note, baptism was not foreign to them. They just didn't believe that John had the authority to perform the rite.


John told them that he was just preparing the way because he was only doing a copy of what was coming. "I baptize in water, but there is one coming. . ." John said that his baptism was one of forgiveness, but there was one coming. . . He is close by and you don't know him, but his ministry will start as mine comes to an end. He is so far above me that I am not even worthy to be a slave in his presence. I can't even unlatch his sandals. This one will perform the real baptism -- the baptism in the Holy Spirit.


John is a great example for us. We are not to call attention to ourselves, we are called to point to Jesus. Of course that means that we need to understand who Jesus is ourselves. We must come to know him. Even though we feel loved and accepted by Jesus and Jesus is our friend, we must also understand who Jesus is. We, just like John, are really not worthy to even be his slave. The only reason that we are worthy to be in his presence is that he gave himself for us. It really is all about him -- not about us.