Page 17 - Florida Sentinel 1-22-16 Edition

Sunday School
The First Miracle: Water To Wine (John 2:1-12)
cles up to this point) when she said, “They have no more wine.”John 2:1-5.But the re- mark seems to be more than an indicative statement. Maybe she was saying, “Jesus, can you do something about this?” Some think Jesus was rude to his mother. Consider the direct address, “Woman.” Jesus’ con- cern is that the situation forces his hand to act miraculously before he was ready to do so. After all, his hour (a key term in John’s Gospel) has not yet come. Mary did not feel re- buffed since she said to the ser- vants, “Do whatever he tells you.” If Jesus fixed it, the wed- ding couple and their families would be grateful.
This section of the text tells about the actual miracle of turning water into wine. John 2:6-10. This was no slight-of- hand magician’s trick. It was an honest-to-goodness miracle. Jesus used what was at hand— large empty water jars that were used for ceremonial- washing. The jars were of dif- ferent sizes and thus the estimate of 20 to 30 gallons each.
Jesus had the servants fill
them to the brim with water. This ensured that no other sub- stance was added. Evidently the water turned into wine in the jars. The servants took the water/wine to the master of ceremonies of the banquet. He tasted the wine and was over- whelmed with its quality. He remarked about the wine’s quality to the groom. But there is something bigger here.
One way that the prophets predicted the time of the Mes- siah was with figures of speech dealing with an abundance of wine. The following texts indi- cate that when the Messiah comes wine would flow down the hills (vineyards) in abun- dance (Isaiah 25:6; 55:1; Jeremiah 31:12; Joel 2:24; 3:18; Amos 9:13-15; Zechariah 10:7).
Several of the biblical narra- tives have morally objection- able things in them for some of us. John 2:11, 12. But if the emphasis is placed on the alco- hol in this account, we have all but missed the point. Verse 11 is the high-water mark in the narrative. Jesus worked the first of his signs at this wedding in Cana. The New Testament
vocabulary for miracles is this cluster of words: power, sign, wonder, and work. John’s Gospel uses sign and work. A sign is a miracle, but one that specifically points to something beyond itself. So it’s not about wine. The wine is a symbol that points to a greater spiritual re- ality, namely the Messiah.
This sign became the means by which Jesus revealed his glory. Glory means God’s weighty presence and his shin- ing brilliance. It is a key term in John’s Gospel (1:14; 12:28; 17:5; 21:19). The result of this was that the disciplesbelieved in him. Believe is also a key term in John’s Gospel (20:30, 31). It never appears in the Gospel in its noun form. For John, believing was a verb, a response to the Messiah.
After this first miracle, Jesus went down to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee with his mother, his half brothers, and his disciples. They probably needed a few days to process what they had witnessed. Was the wine and the whole wed- ding feast a preview of some- thing yet to come (Revelation 19:6-10)?
Jesus was a worker of won- ders. He worked miracles for several reasons. He wanted to prove who he was (Mark 2:10). He wanted to demon- strate that the kingdom had come (Matthew 12:28). He wanted to show compassion (Mark 8:2). He wanted to re- ward faith (Matthew 15:28). He wanted to fulfill prophecy (8:17). He wanted to display the works of God (John 9:3) and the glory of God (11:4).
Jesus also wanted to give previews of coming attractions. He worked miracles to give us a glimpse of Heaven where there would be no more mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4). In his miracles, Jesus pulled back the
veil of eternity and let us look- into a perfect world. Miracles were quick fixes, but they were part of his salvific work. Every- one Jesus healed got sick again. On another wedding day the wine perhaps ran short again.
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Cana was not far from Nazareth. Mary, Jesus, and the disciples were all in attendance. Perhaps more people came than were expected. Perhaps the wedding celebration lasted longer than normal. Regardless of the circumstances, the wine ran out. In a shame/honor cul- ture this was a social taboo.
We may not know what Mary expected Jesus to do (since he had worked no mira-
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-B