[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Expound, our
verse-by-verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. We have, at the beginning
of this chapter, what I see as sort of the
equivalent of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. You remember, some
of you, do you not, CS Lewis's the
Chronicles of Narnia and the first book, The Lion,
the Witch, and the Wardrobe? And so when the
kids get to Narnia, they discover there's
snow on the ground. "It's always winter
but never Christmas." That's what the line says. "It's always winter
but never Christmas" because this character called
the White Which has put a curse on the land of Narnia. And that curse
remains on the land. It is a joyless land
until Aslan comes, that great lion-- that
Christ-like figure-- comes. And when he comes back--
when he comes on the scene, the melting begins. The joy begins to spring forth. In John chapter two, we come
to the first miracle that Jesus performed-- the first
miracle that Jesus performed, the wedding at
the feast of Cana, the turning water into wine. And it's interesting that that's
the first miracle of Jesus, at a wedding, seemingly
for no other reason except it's going to cause
His disciples to believe in Him in a greater fashion. That really is the heart of it. But as far as a
miracle that would have a big, lasting impact,
this wasn't the one. But He brought joy to a
group of people at a wedding, giving them a lavish gift. And we're going to explore that. You know, you might think that
the first miracle that Jesus would perform would be
some dazzling, miraculous cosmological feature that
everybody in Jerusalem-- say at the Passover or at
the Feast of Tabernacles where you'd have hundreds of
thousands of people gathered. And maybe He would just
write something in the sky, I am the Messiah. I'm here. But the first miracle
that Jesus performs is a private miracle, not
even a public miracle. It's at a private
wedding feast at Cana. Now, in the Gospels, we
have a total of 37 miracles. If you count all of
them in the Gospels, we have a total of 37
miracles that Jesus performed. John gives us only
eight of them-- and eight significant ones. And each one is in
its own category. It's different from the others. They're all different signs. He gives us eight. Now, He did many more
than that, of course. There were times He did
more than eight in a day. But what John says towards
the end of this book is, "truly many
other signs Jesus did in the presence
of His disciples that are not written
in this book. But these are written
that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of
God and that, by believing, you might have
life in His name." So John is selective. And John is the
one that gives us this very unique picture at
the first miracle of Jesus in Cana of Galilee. It says in verse one,
"on the third day." Now I always think that
words are there for a reason, and you ought to find
out what they mean. On what third day? The third day of what? Third day of the week? No. It probably refers to
the story right before it when Jesus, in the first
day of His ministry, selected His disciples. And so right now, there
aren't 12 disciples with Him. There are five
disciples with Him. There's Andrew and
Peter and Philip and Nathaniel and
John, the author. Those five disciples are present
with Jesus on the third day after that first interview
down by the Jordan River-- or, you might say, the third
day of Jesus's public ministry. So on the third
day, He has made it back up to the Galilee
from that southern area down by the Jordan River. He's up close to His hometown. His hometown, He was
raised in Nazareth. Cana of Galilee is
about nine miles to the north-northeast
of where He grew up in the city of Nazareth. People, I'm sure,
knew of Jesus in Cana. We know that Nathaniel,
one of Jesus' disciples, was from Cana of Galilee. If you were with us
on the tour to Israel, we went right through Cana on
that bus ride from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee as
you go over that first hill and go down into that valley. Do you remember that? You're going, no. I mean, that's all
I did is go up hills and down valleys on so
many different days. But it's in my
mind's eyes still. We drove right through it on
the way to the Sea of Galilee. Now, it's funny. Whenever you deal with
miracles, you always run into people who have a
very difficult time with them-- and not just people that
you come in contact with. I'm talking about
Bible commentators, people who write Bible
commentaries-- commentators. And there are some taters that
are more common than others. [LAUGHTER] But some commentators
have a real problem with the miraculous
works of Jesus. And one of them is one of
my favorite commentators for a specific reason. And that is William Barclay. If you're going out buying
commentaries for your library and you come across a
commentary by William Barclay, it's worth the money. But I'll give you a warning. William Barclay will give you
all great history and language and context and geography. He'll plumb those depths. But when it comes to
the miraculous stuff, you might as well just
don't even read it. Or just rip out that
page because it's absolutely worthless
because, as much as I love William
Barclay's research, Barclay had a tough time
with the miracles of Christ. He had a tough time with
the deity of Christ-- had a tough time with Christ! And honestly, anybody who
has a hard time with Jesus, I have a hard time with him. He had a hard time
believing Jesus was God. He had a hard time believing
that the laws of nature could be superseded or
suspended even by God Himself. So when it comes
to the miracles, it's humorous to see
how Barclay treats them. For example, the feeding
of the 5,000-- Barclay says it really wasn't a miracle. Everybody actually
brought their own lunch. But they were
selfish, they hid it. But then when Jesus got
that little kid, you know, to cough up his lunch,
everybody started going, well, you know, I feel convicted now. So they started
bringing out their food and sharing it with those
who didn't bring it. And everybody was fed. That's how he treats it. Or another explanation
Barclay says is, perhaps, disciples
stored mass amounts of food in advance like in
some cave in Galilee. And then Jesus was
on the mountain. And He was there knowing
where that food was. And He just sort
of backed up as He was speaking toward the mouth
of the cave and just, you know, brought those loaves under
His arm and the fish. And it appeared
to be miraculous, but the disciples knew better. One of my favorites is
Jesus walking on the water. Says Barclay, He didn't
really walk on the water. That's impossible. What happened is
our Lord was walking by the shore of the Sea of
Galilee in ankle-deep water. But, you know, when there's a
storm out and you're on a boat and the moon is
reflecting off the water, you don't really know
what you're seeing. You're just freaked out. So they thought it
looked like somebody was walking on the water when
they were really just walking on the beach. And I'm telling you, I
read some Barclay's stuff and I think it takes
more faith to believe Barclay's writings than just the
simple narrative of the Gospel. Talk about somebody
who stretches it. So I've looked at it this way. Once you can get past the
first verse of the Bible, the rest is all
downhill from there. The rest is easy. If you can believe Genesis
1:1, everything else is a snap. "In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth." Deal with that miracle. And if you can buy
into that miracle, then it's duck soup after
that-- walking on the water, turning water into
wine, not a big deal. When it comes to miracles,
it's also, to me, interesting how we have a tendency
to talk about them. We-- I'm talking about
just people in general, Christians in general. It seems either
we over naturalize them or we minimize them. On one hand, we naturalize them. We over naturalize them. We say things like, oh, when a
baby's born, that's a miracle. Well, no it's not. It happens every day. It's been happening
for a long time. There's nothing out of
the ordinary about that. It's not like, [GASPS] I
can't believe it happened! OK, you've got bigger problems. [LAUGHTER] It's not a miracle. It's not the intervention
in to natural law. That's natural law. Or a sunrise and a sunset--
oh, those are miracles. Well, sure, you can't do that. But that happens every day, once
again, rotation of the Earth and the planets around the sun. Or, you know, it's a miracle! I found a parking
space in uptown! [LAUGHTER] Well, that may be a
miracle, actually. [LAUGHTER] So some people just
naturalize them. Other people try
to minimize them, and that's William
Barclay-- just try to say that these
things didn't happen. And there are alternate
explanations for it. And he explains it away. Is it really hard for God
to turn water into wine? I mean, in 1950s we built
a nuclear submarine. In 1969, we went to the moon. If man has the capability
to put a person on the moon back in the '60s and bring
that person back alive, is it really hard for
you to give admission that God, who created the
heavens and the earth, can turn water into wine? He can do that in His sleep. But of course, He doesn't sleep. So you've got nothing
to worry about. This is a private miracle. "On the third day, there was
a wedding in Cana of Galilee. And the mother of
Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples
were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of
wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, they have no wine." There were two
miracles at my wedding. The first was that my
wife, Lenya, said yes. That was the first miracle. And the second miracle
is that I showed up. I was so scared. I was scared of
commitment because I knew this was permanent,
this was forever. And I remember even having, you
know, thoughts parking the car, walking toward the venue where
the wedding was taking place. I just thought-- I was
shaking, I was so nervous. But God got me through that one. Now this wedding in
Galilee probably took place on a Wednesday. How do I know that? I know that because that
was a typical day that Jews had weddings 2000 years ago. That's pretty easy. We know one thing-- they didn't
have their wedding on Saturday like we do because
Saturday was Shabbat. It was Sabbath day. It was a holy day. Nothing happens on
the Sabbath day. So weddings-- especially
weddings for young virgins-- happened on Wednesdays. And a wedding was a
big deal back then. It was probably the best
week of the couple's life. It was lavish. It was that one opportunity to
celebrate like no other week. And it lasted about a week,
about a total of seven days. The bride was made ready. A party came to her
house, escorted her to the groom's house. The groom, back in
those days-- the groom-- was the one who footed the bill. And the groom's family
footed the bill, not the bride's family that
has now been traditional in our culture. So he's responsible
for all the fixings, all the meal, all the expense. And then, typically, after
the wedding ceremony, a parade to take the
couple to their residence goes on where the wedding party
takes the most circuitous route through the little village
or city-- wherever they are-- to get as much street
exposure to the crowds to give them well
wishes and prayers and make a celebration and loud
noises and singing, as much of that as possible. So it was a great,
great celebration. Now, the fact that it mentions
the mother of Jesus and Jesus and His disciples--
now five disciples-- would indicate that this
was a close friend of Jesus and His family or a
relative, perhaps, who lived in nearby Cana. But you'll notice, in verse one,
there's no mention of Joseph. Just the mother of
Jesus, Mary, was there. Joseph is not mentioned. Probably-- we don't
know for sure, but probably Joseph
had died by this time. Now, we know, in three years
when Jesus is on the cross, Mary is placed into the
care of John the Apostle by Jesus because Joseph isn't
around to take care of her. So most scholars assume
that, probably by this time already, Joseph has passed away. Jesus is there. She would be
dependent upon Jesus, the eldest son--
the responsibility to take care of her. But it says, in verse three,
"when they ran out of wine--" isn't that funny? No matter how much you
plan for a wedding, something goes wrong. Did anything go wrong
at your wedding? Can you remember that far back? Do you choose to
remember your wedding? I'm looking at blank
faces, some of you. Are all of you unmarried? [LAUGHTER] Now, my wedding was terrific. But I do you remember,
there was a problem. I picked up my tuxedo,
and didn't even think about trying it on. I assumed that's what you
pay the guy for, right? He measures you. You rent a tuxedo. You go, and it's going to fit
perfect-- not a good plan. When I got to where
the wedding was and I'm changing into my clothes, I
put on the shoes they gave me. It's two sizes too small. My toes literally were
curled up like claws. And I had to go
through my wedding. And it's like I'm at the
altar, and I'm crying. They're going, oh,
that's so precious. No. No, I'm in pain. [LAUGHTER] I could have used a
miracle at that time. But something seems to go wrong. And I've had the privilege--
I love doing weddings. It's a highlight
for me because I get the best seat in the house. I get to see the emotions that
the bride and the groom-- the looks in the eye, the
nervousness, the shake, the sweats. And I get to see it all. But there's a couple of
weddings that stick out to me. One was when a bridesmaid
fainted right here, right on that last
step on this platform. She fell, and I'm
thankful we have carpeted and padded steps at the time. And she hit her
head on the steps. She was OK, but it made a thump. I thought, we'll never
forget this wedding. Another time, I did a
wedding and the groom fainted twice in the wedding. [LAUGHTER] He fainted. We picked him up. We got him standing up, and
then he just went out again. And we finally had
to sit the groom in a chair seated next to his
wife standing tall next to him. [LAUGHTER] That was fun. [LAUGHTER] The first wedding I ever
performed-- don't worry, I won't keep going with this. But let me just tell you. The first wedding
I ever performed, I call it the sweaty wedding. It was the first
wedding I ever did. And the reason I
call it the sweaty-- it was in the winter time. And the couple had
this great idea of having us all stand in front
of a blazing fire in the house. So if you can picture
a fireplace and then, standing just in front of that,
are the bride and the groom and then me. So I'm a few feet away. But they're right next
to this blazing fire. So as the wedding's
going on, the poor bride and the groom-- and they
were an older couple-- were just pouring down sweat. It was hilarious, again. [LAUGHTER] A lot of fun. One more. [LAUGHTER] I promise. It was the silent wedding. It was the wedding that was
planned at a beautiful stone church-- an old church,
classy architecture. It was gorgeous. Everything was staged
and planned and perfect except the musicians
got the date wrong. [GROANS] And there was no music at all. It was dead air
for this wedding. The only thing we
managed to do is I think I started leading
in a chorus of some kind, some lame way to get something
going just to break up the curse of dead air. That was very interesting. And that was not a fun wedding. That was tough to get through. OK so, this is the best
wedding because Jesus is at the wedding. And let me just tell you, if
you're planning a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus. Make sure He's the
center of the wedding. Make sure He's the center
of your relationship. It's a good wedding if
Jesus is at your wedding. [APPLAUSE] They ran out of wine. "The
mother of Jesus said to Him, they have no wine." Wine was a symbol of joy. This was a huge faux pas. This was a huge
social embarrassment. For a groom-- let
me just tell you. For a groom to not have
wine at the wedding would be a stigma that
that family would live with the rest of their lives. That's how serious this was. It's like, he can't even
provide wine at his own wedding. How's he going to
provide for this girl? That was the stigma he
would have to live with. In fact, in some
cases, this would have been grounds for a lawsuit. In that culture, during that
time, the family of the bride could actually bring
charges in a court of law for not providing
wine at a wedding. Now, wine was a symbol of
joy-- back to the Chronicles of Narnia story,
a symbol of joy. Psalm 104 speaks about God's
provision to us as humans. It says, "He gives the wine
that gladdens the heart of man. So it is always a symbol of joy. To not have wine
at the wedding is like not having joy
present-- the symbol of joy present at the wedding. So Mary's there. The mother of Jesus
says, they have no wine. Now I don't know for
sure, but probably Mary walked up to Him
kind of like winking, like that little
grin-- going, hey, they have no wine as if,
perhaps, a suggestion to Jesus that He ought to
present Himself at that time. This is now where
you present yourself as the Messiah, the deliver. Now why would Mary be
anxious to do that? Think about it. Mary knows more
than she's saying. Mary knows who this is. Think of what's in
Mary's memory banks. An angel appeared to her and
says, Mary, you're pregnant. How can that be? I've never even
been close to a man. I know, Mary. You're a virgin. But that's even prophesied. You're going to give birth
as a virgin to a son. You're going to bear
a son because she was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Then, when she went to
visit her cousin Elizabeth, the babe in Elizabeth's
womb-- John the Baptist-- jumped when Mary
entered the room because of that babe inside of her. She would have remembered
the shepherds coming to visit when Jesus
was born saying, we saw angels tell
us to come visit you or when the Magi came and
presented gold, frankincense, and myrrh or when Jesus
was presented at the temple and Simeon said, now I
can die in peace, Lord, as he held up Jesus in
front of Joseph and Mary. I can die in peace,
Lord, for my eyes have seen your
salvation, this baby. Or when Jesus was
12 years of age and He was in the temple
teaching the elders-- Joseph and Mary were part
way back to Nazareth, realized Jesus wasn't with
the company and went back. And there is Jesus teaching. And Jesus said, don't
you know that I must be about my Father's business? Now all of those
events-- the Bible says Mary kept
them in her heart, pondered them in her heart. So she knows who
this is, and she thinks this would be the
great time for you to assert yourself, present yourself
to the nation beginning here, close to your hometown. There's something else. And I believe it would be
very difficult for Mary to want anything else than that. There has been a
rumor circulating about the origin of Jesus. How did she get pregnant? They were only engaged. The ceremony hadn't
taken place yet, but she's pregnant--
in that culture, at that time, something that
was the grounds of being stoned to death in that culture. And Joseph didn't want to
put her away privately. And there was talk. If you remember, the leadership
of the Jews said to Jesus one day, we were not born of
fornication as if to say, we know that you were. Those are the
rumors going around. There was some affair
that your mom had. We weren't born of fornication. So all of that, Mary
had to carry around. She was very anxious to
see Jesus reveal Himself. So I don't know if that's
what she is saying. But she does make this
suggestion seemingly-- they have no wine-- because
listen to Jesus's response. Jesus said to her, "Woman,
what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants,
whatever He says to you, do it." Now, when I first
read that verse, I thought Jesus was
sure being harsh. If I called my mom "woman"-- [LAUGHTER] I don't know how
you were raised, but I would have my mouth
washed out with soap. It happened on more
than one occasion-- not that I called her
"woman" but that I got my mouth washed out with soap. She wouldn't tolerate that. My dad wouldn't
tolerate that-- "woman." But in that culture during
that time, to use this term was polite but it was formal. It was formal. It was not intimate. And this is important to
make this distinction. It wasn't harsh. It wasn't disrespectful. It was respectful--
ma'am, woman. You know, whenever
I go somewhere-- if I'm at Starbucks,
even-- I'll say, yes ma'am. And it's funny how people get
upset when you call them ma'am. I don't know why that is,
but don't call me ma'am. And I say, my mom
would make sure that I called you
"ma'am," ma'am. It's a sign of respect. Well, it makes me sound old. Well, get over it. [LAUGHTER] Let someone be respectful. Sir and ma'am-- let's bring that
back, nothing wrong with that. But anyway, "woman" is sort
of like a formal and polite "ma'am" or, if you prefer
Downton Abbey, "my lady." To call somebody by
this term, "woman," is the equivalent
of saying "my lady." Now, Jesus uses the
term "woman" in speaking to different women six
times in the New Testament-- always a term of respect. When Jesus was on the cross--
I'm now reading out of John chapter 19. You don't have to turn there. I'll just read it to you. "When Jesus saw His mother and
the disciple whom He loved"-- that is John-- "standing
by, He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold your son.'
And He said to the disciple, 'behold your mother.'" When Mary Magdalene appeared
after the Resurrection, Jesus said, "Woman." Now, it's a formal term. It is not an intimate term. So that's important
to understand. You can't just bypass
this and go, well, He's just treating
his mom respectfully. It's more than that because He
says, "what does your concern have to do with me?" Literally, in Greek it's "what
do you and I have together?" What do we have in common? What this is signaling is a
change in their relationship. She has been the mother. He has been the son. He has obeyed her
all of His life. Mom is making a suggestion,
they have no wine. "What does your concern
have to do with me?" In other words, what
is happening here is a change in relationship--
the very change Jesus predicted when
He was 12 years old. I must be about my
Father's business. You're my earthly
mother, but the day is coming when I must be
consumed with not my mother's business but my Father
in Heaven's business-- not my mother on earth. So He is signaling a change
in that relationship. He is now in His
public ministry. He is now consumed and
on the Father's agenda. I must be about my
Father's business. And then I love what
Mary says. "Whatever he tells you to do, do it." I want you to mark
that in your hearts. Mark that in your hearts. Whatever Jesus tells
you to do, do that. I grew up in a
religious system that believed that Mary was
sinless and that Mary herself was-- they called
it-- assumed into heaven. And that brand of Christianity
I was raised in-- Catholicism-- is called the
Assumption of Mary. And it is quite an
assumption, by the way. [LAUGHTER] She was assumed into heaven. And as a sinless person, she
just ascended into heaven-- was assumed into heaven--
where Jesus crowned her queen of the universe. And some sects of
Catholicism even say that she is the
comediatrix and coredemptress of the human race. I have a problem with that. The problem I have with that is
actually solved by Mary herself because Mary, when she was
told that she was pregnant, she said something
very interesting that reveals how
she saw herself-- not as sinless, not as one who
deserved to be assumed bodily into heaven. She said this, "My soul doth
magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoices"-- listen, listen--
"in God, my Savior." She acknowledged that
she needed a Savior. Only sinners need Saviors. The only people that
need saving are people that are fallen human beings. And all have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. To call God her Savior, she's
saying something about herself. And she clears up the problem. So, on one occasion, Mary comes
and the brothers and sisters of Jesus-- the family-- comes
to where Jesus is ministering. And somebody tells
Him, while He's in the middle of
His sermon, hey. Your mom and your
brothers are outside. They want to see you. And Jesus said,
well, who's my mom? Who's my mother? Who are my brothers? And he looked
around at the crowd and said, whoever listens
and keeps the will of God is the same as my brother,
my mother, my sister. On another occasion--
and this is perhaps the most poignant,
Luke chapter 11. Somebody saw Jesus
and uttered something that sounded like what
I was raised with. Somebody in my church would have
said this, in Luke chapter 11. They said, "blessed is the
woman that gave you birth and blessed are the
breasts that nursed you." And Jesus answered and said,
"More than that, blessed are those who hear the
word of God and keep it." So listen to Mary. If you love her, if you revere
her, if you want to honor her, listen to what
she's saying to you. "Whatever He says
to you, do it." Obey Jesus. You want to honor Mary? Obey her son. Those are her words. "Whatever
He says to you, do it." Now verse six-- John
chapter two, verse six. "Now there were there set six
water pots of stone according to the manner of purification
of the Jews containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece"-- so a capacity
of between 120 and 180 gallons. That's a lot of water, right? What did they use
that water for? Purification. And notice it says stone
water pots-- not clay, not earthenware, but stone. Why? Because the Jews believe that
earthenware can contaminate-- can be defiled-- easier
than that which is coming straight from the earth, stone. Stone can't be defiled. So water for purification
was kept in stone containers because it just, for
ritual purification, was the best way to keep water. Just as an aside,
Matthew chapter 15-- just keep this in your head. On one occasion, the religious
people got mad at Jesus because they said,
your disciples aren't keeping the
traditions of the elders. They don't wash the proper
way before they eat. Now, that is a reference
to utilizing stone water basins, pouring water a
certain way so their hands were up like this. And then water poured down
so that the water dripped off the fingers from
the wrist and then putting it up again so it
would go from the fingers to the wrist. They had a very elaborate
way of washing their hands before they ate. So this was for
ritual purification in stone water pots. "Jesus said to them, 'Fill the
water pots with water.' And they filled them to the brim." Now, don't bypass
these little words. Why would John write that
they didn't just fill them up, but they filled
them to the brim? Because he wants you
to know something-- there's no possible chance that
anything was added to that. Those water pots were
completely consumed with water. It's not like somebody
just filled it up and said, that's good enough. And somebody kind of like
threw wine in there later on. It was filled all the way
to the brim, the very top. John wants you to know this
is a bona fide miracle. Nobody was fudging on it. "And they filled
them to the brim. And He said to them, 'Take
some out now and take it to the master of the feast.'"
That would be the emcee, the one in charge
of the festivities. "And they took it. When the master the feast tasted
the water that was made wine--" OK, now stop there. And just think about
this, 180 gallons of wine. There's not a wedding
party on earth that can drink 180
gallons of wine. Why that much? It's how Jesus does things. It's a lavish gift. It would've been such
a gift to this couple, they would have been
able-- if they wanted to-- to sell it and live off
the proceeds for a long time because there was plenty
for the wedding feast. And it was so
good, word got out. It's so good. And they have 180 gallons of it. It was just a way to bring joy. And I can see Jesus smiling
like, fill up those water pots. I'm going to give them such
a gift, such a blessing that they'll be able to enjoy
for weeks and days and months to come and could even
make money off of it. So the water was
turned into wine. Now, I did the exact
opposite at my wedding. I managed to turn
wine into water. [LAUGHTER] No, let me explain. At my wedding, I didn't want
any alcohol at my wedding because I know people get
stupid whenever there's alcohol around. They just-- even at a
wedding, they get stupid. They drink too much, and
they say stupid things. I didn't want to. I just said, there's
not going to be any alcohol at my wedding. So I had some problems with
some family members-- you know, got to have alcohol. I said, go out and go to a
bar afterwards if you want. But it's my wedding. We're not going to have it. So I did concede to have
what's called Martinelli's sparkling apple juice. Are you familiar with that? Now, when it's in a glass,
it looks like champagne. It bubbles up. It has the color of,
you know, alcohol. But it's just apple juice--
sparkling apple juice. So you should have seen just
the look in people's eyes. They went, oh, our
dream has come true! Behold, alcohol-- [LAUGHTER] --for moi! And when they drank it,
it was like, oh, man. It's sparkling apple juice. So I didn't do that
as a trick, but it was funny to see wine turned
into water, so to speak. I just wanted to
share that with you. "When the master of the
feast tasted the water and saw that it was made wine
and did not know its origin or where it came from. But the servants who had
drawn the water, they knew." You know, servants know stuff. If you're a servant--
if you're busy serving-- you know things others don't. They knew. "The master of the feast
called the bridegroom. And he said, 'Every man at the
beginning sets out the good wine.'" First couple drinks,
you want to make the impression. It's like, oh, that's good. "'When the guests have well
drunk, then the inferior. But you have kept the good
wine until now.' This is the beginning of signs Jesus
did in Cana of Galilee." Now, this first miracle
was an act of creation. I don't think it's by
accident that John wanted to include this as first. You see, the first
act of God was an act of creation in Genesis. The first act of
Jesus in His ministry was an act of creation. He turned water into
wine, His first miracle. Now verse 11, "This
is the beginning of signs Jesus did
in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory. And His disciples
believed in Him. After this, He went
down to Capernaum-- He, His mother, His
brothers, and His disciples. And they stayed
there many days." There's two things John wants
you to know about this miracle. First thing he
wants you to know, this is the first miracle
Jesus ever performed. Why is that important? Because, if you are a student
of ancient literature, you may have come
across apocryphal books like the Gospel
According to Thomas. Have you ever heard of the
Gospel According to Thomas? It's a book that is
not a biblical book. It's in apocryphal book. But in that book, they have
Jesus as a youth growing up in Egypt making
clay birds and then throwing them up and turning
them into live birds. And so this little tradition
is even in the Quran. It's mentioned, has
been passed down. It's not legitimate because this
is the first miracle Jesus ever performed. He didn't make clay pigeons and
turn them into live pigeons. There's another old saying
that, when Jesus was in Egypt-- was a little boy-- He
cursed a boy playing some sport with Him. He cursed Him and the
little boy fell down dead. And Jesus had to walk over
as a little boy and heal him. It's all fictitious. And we know that because this
is the first miracle Jesus did. John wants you to know
this is miracle number one. The second thing John
wants you to know is, in doing this miracle, it
cemented the fledgling faith of these five disciples. You know, they
were following Him. But when they saw this,
they believed in Him. Their faith went
deeper at this point. Now, it brings up a question. I just want to touch
on it because I'll be asked it afterwards
if I don't bring it up. And I don't mind being asked it. But why not answer it
before I get it asked? Is it OK for
Christians to drink? And I love the answer
I heard years ago. And it stuck with me. I tell people, I drink
as much as I want to. And I don't want to. I don't want to drink, so I
drink as much as I want to. I just don't want to. Now, the Bible doesn't say
anything bad about wine. In fact, in some cases,
it commends wine. Timothy was told by Paul
in first Timothy five to take wine as
medicinal purposes for his often infirmities. He had a weak stomach. It's like, dude, you
have such health issues, you need something to kill
the germs in the water. Drink wine for your stomach's
sake-- your often infirmities. So it was used-- prescribed--
by Paul the Apostle for medicinal reasons. Now again, they drank
wine in the New Testament. I don't have a problem
with drinking wine, per se. But I'll just say I've chosen,
as a pastor, not to do it because now it's not an issue. If I don't do it, it
doesn't become an issue. If I do it because I have
liberty and I have freedom, somebody's going to
see me and say, hey. I saw Skip at the
bar the other night slamming a couple things down. And it's like, wow. [LAUGHTER] You can see how that
would be complicated. Or what if somebody who
struggled with alcoholism sees it? It could be detrimental. It could be destructive. So here's the rules
for doing things that are gray areas in the
Christian life-- because I know you've all had
questions about, well, does the Bible
say I can do this? And it's funny, the
questions we ask. It's almost like, what can I
get away with and still be save? [LAUGHTER] There's a better way to approach
life than these questions. But nonetheless, listen. It's answered for
you in the Bible. Listen to what Paul
in Corinthians, "All things are lawful for me." I can do anything, but listen. "All things are lawful
for me, but I will not be brought under
the power of any." So Paul said, I can do
anything I want to do. But I don't want to do anything
that will control me or put me under its control. And if you drink too much
wine, you will lose control. You are now under its control. And I've heard people say
that, (DISTORTED VOICE) dude, I love you, man. [LAUGHTER] And I know that's
the alcohol speaking. You would never tell me that. First of all, you've
never met me before. [LAUGHTER] I've been loved
by so many drunks. "So all things
are lawful for me. But I will be not brought
under the power of any." Then listen to
what else he said. "All things are
lawful for me, but not all things edify or build up." What that principle says
is, yeah, you know what? I can do anything. But I have to be very
careful of what people think as they watch my life. Is it edifying them? Is it building them up? Or is it giving them
permission to do something that's questionable? So those are good
things to govern the gray areas of your life. Does it build people up? Will I lose control? And will it control me? So I just choose not
to make it an issue. But again, no
condemnation, man-- if you want to do
whatever, if you want to go out and have a glass
of wine after church tonight, I won't fault you. Just don't tell me. No, I'm just kidding. I won't fault you. It's really not a big deal. It's not an issue to me. OK, there's something that
I just can't pass up here. No, no it has nothing do with
that, nothing to do with that. We're having fun, aren't we? [LAUGHTER] OK, so look. So look at something here. Look at verse 11. No, look at verse 12. "After this"-- after
this first miracle, "He went down to Capernaum." Now, if you have a map
in the back of your Bible and you find Cana of Galilee
and then you find Capernaum, it's this way. It's up. It's north. North of Cana-- just
Northeast a little bit-- on the shore of
the Sea of Galilee is Capernaum,
where Jesus will be headquartered for the next
three, three and 1/2 years. That's where He will move
to and live, in Capernaum. But it says "He went
down to Capernaum." So if I say, hey, let's
go down to Capernaum, it looks like I just canceled my
speech by what I'm pointing to. Now, look at something
else-- verse 13. "Now the Passover of
the Jews was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem." Now, from Galilee,
Jerusalem is south 90 miles. So I've said, I'm going to go
down to Capernaum and then up to Jerusalem. You would go, dude,
you are so messed up. But here's what I
want you to see. This is something
in the New Testament that is very particular
to ancient writings. They didn't look at
things geographically but topographically. Cana was higher in
elevation than Capernaum. If you're on your feet--
if you're walking-- you'll be going down, and
you'll know you're going down. If you're going to
Capernaum, you're not thinking about a map. You're thinking about, I'm
going down in elevation. I'm going down to about 600
to 700 feet below sea level. That's where Capernaum is. And then Jerusalem
is about 2,300, 2,400 feet above sea level. No matter how you
approach Jerusalem, you always-- no
matter what direction you're coming to Jerusalem
in, you're always going up. And the Jews saw this not
only topographically but spiritually. Whenever you go to Jerusalem,
man, it's always a step up. You're always going up. That's why, if
you're Jewish and you want to immigrate
to Israel today, it's called making Aliyah. Making Aliyah is,
literally, to go up. I'm taking a step up. I'm going to become
an Israeli citizen. I'm moving up to Zion. So they're going to go down
to Capernaum and then up to Jerusalem. OK, verse 13-- let's
see how far we get. "Now the Passover of
the Jews was at hand. And Jesus went to Jerusalem. And He found, in the temple,
those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money
changers doing business. When He made a
whip of chords, He drove them all out of the temple
with the sheep and the oxen and poured out the
changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold
doves, 'Take these things away. Do not make my Father's house
a house of merchandise.'" In the 1700s, Charles Wesley
wrote a song-- a hymn. "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
look upon this little child." Have you ever heard of that? This will change your
mind about Jesus. Oh, Jesus can be gentle
and meek and mild. But, you know, there's
"gentle Jesus, meek and mild." But then there's, you
know, lethal Jesus-- not gentle Jesus--
fired up and riled. How's that? I love this about Jesus. He was a man's man. He wasn't some politically
correct, effeminate person just standing over
in the corner going-- [LAUGHTER] (QUIET VOICE) --I'm "gentle
Jesus, meek and mild." I mean, come on. He shows up in
the temple courts. He looks down on the
ground, finds some rope-- probably from the
carts and the animals-- and just takes them
and just starts moving around and
overturning tables. Those things weighed
some-- they were hefty. And I see Jesus doing
that going, yes! [LAUGHTER] I want to go to His church. [LAUGHTER] Here's a guy protecting
people from the chicanery of the leaders who are
trying to gouge the people. What do I mean,
gouge the people? Well, if you go to Jerusalem
for Passover-- and it was required for you
to go to Jerusalem. If you lived 15 miles
in any direction, you had to be there at
three festivals a year. If you lived outside
of that perimeter, it was suggested you be there. If you were Jewish
anywhere in the world, you'd want to be there at
least one year for Passover. That's the dream. In every Passover, as
part of the liturgy of the Passover-- "next
year in Jerusalem." That's how the feast ends,
"next year in Jerusalem." We want to go there. So Jerusalem was crowded
full of people, people from all over the world there. Now, if you travel from
anywhere in the Roman Empire to Jerusalem, you're not
going to take animals with you for sacrifice. That's too much carry on. You know, you can't fit that
in the overhead compartment. That sheep, sir, will not fit
in the overhead-- I'm sorry-- or under your seat. You can't bring it, right? So you would be animal-less. But when you get to Jerusalem,
they'd smile and go, that's OK. We have an app for that. Yeah, we have animals here. And these animals
are pure animals. Now, you go, well, that's great. How much will they cost? A lot-- they charged
exorbitant prices. And they gouged people,
exploiting their desires to worship God by charging them
a crazy price for that animal. Or let's say you did
bring your own animal. You would have inspectors
look at it and go, hmm. Now these inspectors,
according to Levitical law, had spent 18 months on
a farm examining animals to tell what's
clean and unclean. They got really nit picky. And, invariably, they
would look over your animal even though you looked it
over before you left home and you think it's kosher. They'll look at it
and go, you know what? It looks pretty good. But look under that ear. See that little flaw? And you're going, no. I don't see it. Well, I do see it. I have a trained eye. We reject this animal. You must buy one
of these animals. So you had to cough up the
extra money to do that. Number two, you had
to bring a temple shekel or the Tyrian shekel. The Tyrian shekel
was a piece of money that had a certain
amount of silver content as you would go up to
the temple to worship. Now, that was part of the law. Everybody had to bring that
to upkeep the sanctuary. However, if you were
a foreigner and you had coinage from anywhere
else in the world, to exchange it into the Tyrian
shekel or the temple shekel they would charge
you 12% to 20%. Jesus saw that. He didn't lose control. Never think Jesus
was out of control. It's not like He's
having a bad Messiah day. It's not, oh, I'm so
mad at these people. He was never out of control. He was in absolute,
total control because notice what it
says about what He did. "He made a whip of
chords," verse 15. "He drove them all out
with the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers'
money and overturned tables and said to those
who sold doves"-- He's not overturning
the cages of the doves and hurting the animals and
breaking their property. He's in total control. "He said to those who sold
doves, 'Take these things away. Do not make my Father's house
a house of merchandise.'" Now the fact that Jesus didn't
say "our Father's house" but "my Father's
house" indicates a special relationship
that He is claiming with the Father
in heaven, with God. He's asserting Himself
as their Messiah, as the Son of God,
as the one who has rightful authority
over the house of God. "The disciples remembered
that it was written." They're now remembering
the quote from Psalm 69, "zeal for your house
has eaten me up." "So the Jews answered
and said to Him, 'What sign do you show us since
you do these things?'" They challenged Jesus's authority. Why? They challenge Jesus's
authority because Jesus had just sidestepped their authority. They have no authority
in His heart, His head. It's His Father's house. I'm taking charge of it. They said, "'What sign do
you show since you do these things?' Jesus answered and said
to them, 'Destroy this temple. And in three days, I will raise
it up.' Then the Jews said, 'It has taken 46 years
to build this temple. And you will raise it up
in three days?' But He was speaking of the
temple of His body. Therefore, when He had
risen from the dead, His disciples remembered
that He said this to them. And they believed the
scriptures and the word which Jesus had said to them." Fascinating-- Jesus
said something that nobody understood. Even his disciples didn't
get it for how many years? Three years. They won't understand
this saying until after the Resurrection. Jesus said it knowing
they wouldn't get it for three years. You know, some truth
is stage truth. Some truth, you're
just not ready for. Some truth, Jesus is so
patient and loving toward you that He knows you won't get it. But eventually you'll get it. Something will happen. You'll read it again. You'll go through
something in your life. And when that happens,
you'll remember it. That's how patient-- that's how
committed to spiritual growth God is. His disciples didn't
get it for three years. Now he said,
"Destroy this temple, and I'll raise it
up in three days." Now they were thinking of
one thing, a temple of stone. He was thinking of
the temple of flesh. John 1, "And the
word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us." But they're thinking
of a temple of stone. He's thinking of
a temple of flesh. They love their temple. The temple had started to be
built-- the Temple of Herod, the temple that Jesus is
in had started to be built 16 years before Jesus was born. It, by this time, had been
going on for 46 years. And it wouldn't be finished
for another 24 years. In fact, the finishing
touches were still being put on the temple in 70
AD when the Romans destroyed it. It wasn't done yet,
and it was destroyed. By the time Jesus
was born, Herod the Great had already taken and
put a wall around a mountain and leveled the
mountain to a 35, 36-acre complex called
the Temple Mount. So when you go to
Jerusalem and you look at the western
wall-- the Wailing Wall-- you're looking at stone that was
laid before the birth of Jesus, before He even
came to Jerusalem. So here's what
happened really briefly because I have two minutes. I'm thinking, is
this even possible? [LAUGHTER] The temple was
destroyed in 586 BC. You know that. 70 years later, they
came back to rebuild it. Zerubbabel, Joshua--
a different Joshua-- started to build
it with the people. They're building the temple. They get it pretty well done. Zerubbabel was discouraged. The prophet Haggai and
Zechariah encouraged him. Come on, man. Keep building it. And he did. Once it was finished-- this
refurbished temple that was destroyed, Solomon's Temple. Once it was refurbished
by Zerubbabel, some people shouted for joy. And other people, who remembered
how beautiful the first temple was, mourned and wept because it
wasn't as pretty as it used to. So enter Herod
the Great 30 years before Jesus was born-- 30 BC. And he started the
temple, as I mentioned, 16 years before His birth. He decided he would
make something so magnificent that even
the Jews, in their writings, said "He who has not seen the
Temple of Herod in Jerusalem has never seen
splendor in his life." He took that huge
Temple Mount-- that mountain-- and leveled
it off and erected this magnificent temple. I won't even get into the
details because of time. They loved their temple. It, to them, represented
the presence of God. As long as there's a temple,
God's presence is here. To this day, Jews believe
that the presence of God has never left the Temple Mount. So they're thinking about
the temple of stone. The fact that Jesus is speaking
about the temple of His body is very telling. What He is saying
is that, greater than the presence of
God in a stone temple, is the presence of God
in this fleshly temple. I am the logos. "I am the word who spoke
things into existence and became flesh. And I am present in
my Father's house." And He was speaking of the
temple of His body, which-- can I just say briefly before
we close tonight's study, do you know the Bible
says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? It means two things in my view. Worship should be taking
place inside of you regularly. And number two, you should be
taking care of this temple. And every time you do something
good for your health-- be it eating right or
exercise-- it's a way of saying, God, thank you for the
body you've given me, the temple you've given me. So Jesus uniquely, now,
compares the temple of stone to the temple of His body,
speaks about not construction but Resurrection. The disciples won't get it
for another three years. I think we'll just read it. And then we'll pick
it up next time because it's a perfect segue. Actually, the way I see
it, if I would have been-- was it Philip Langdon in the
1200s who put the chapters in? I would have ended
chapter one at verse 22 and began chapter
three at verse 23. I'll tell you more about
that why next time. But look at verse 23. "Now when He was in Jerusalem at
the Passover, during the feast many believed in
His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself
to them because He knew all men and had no need that anyone
should testify of man, for He knew what was in man." It's a play on words. Let me give you a
literal translation. Many believed in Him, but
He did not believe in them. Many were committed to Him, but
He was not committed to them. The question is, why? What was the nature
of their faith? Why would Jesus not believe
or be committed to them? And who was in the
crowd listening that day that this would
have special application to? We'll meet him in the
very next chapter. One of the guys in
the temple that day was Nicodemus, a Pharisee. He'd been watching
the whole thing. And he's dying to have a private
conversation with Jesus-- a one-on-one, a
face-to-face, and an eyeball-to-eyeball
conversation, which he will get. And John's intent is to
introduce Nicodemus in contrast to those who saw the
signs and wonders and followed Him for that. Compare those to this guy
who will believe in Jesus and have a new birth-- not
just a shallow commitment, but a real,
heartfelt commitment. More later. Father, thank you
for the opportunity to go through your
word-- chapter two, a very important
and telling and revealing passage of scripture that lifts
our hearts, that edifies us. Lord, how blessed we
are that Jesus is risen, that the temple of His
body that was destroyed came back to life. And we serve a living Savior
who gives us hope and conquers our death and conquers our
fears and conquers our worries. So Father, we have sung to you. And then we heard from you. And now we're talking to you. And we're going to
sing to you in closing. It has been a two-way
conversation-- us talking to you, you talking
to us through your word. And we just want
to close by saying we love you and we honor you. And just as Jesus was
invited to that wedding, we want to invite you
into our relationships, into our friendships. We want to keep you at
the center of those things and walk away realizing
that death didn't destroy Jesus Christ, that death
wasn't the last word, that Jesus Himself
was the last word. And I pray that our faith
would be strengthened, deepened, furthered. It's in Jesus's name we pray,
and everybody said amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] If you've missed any
of our Expound studies, all of our services
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