John Selden, a 16th century English jurist, once wrote, “Humility is a virtue all men preach, none practice, and yet everybody is content to hear.” Now, this obviously is a gross overstatement. There are many people who we come in contact with who are very humble people; some of them too humble. However, by-in-large, we, as fallen and sinful people, struggle with the issue of being humble, at least in the since of being humble before God. Think about some of the events that we have seen thus far in John’s gospel and how Jesus relates to them. Why, when Jesus turned the water into wine, the wine that was made was far better than the other wine bought for the event. Last week, we looked at Jesus’ mention of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21 and how our looking up to him is so much greater than the looking up to the bronze serpent by Israel in the desert. Whenever we talk about an event in Jesus’ life, we are usually talking about a greater and more perfect event than any other example that we can think of or could hope to see.
So we come to our text today, a fairly simple and straightforward text dealing with the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus. You see, there has been some time that has now passed since Jesus began his earthly ministry. He has begun to build quite a following. In fact, it’s likely that he has a pretty substantial following at this point. He’s continuing to preach, teach, and baptize people who come to him. Meanwhile, John the Baptist is continuing his ministry as well. After all, the Messiah has come, but it’s not as if Jesus told John to stop what he was doing. He didn’t give John instructions to stop what he was doing and to follow him, so John labored on.
Then, one of John’s disciples is having a conversation with a Jewish man about purification rights. Somehow in their conversation, something gets stirred up within this disciple, and he comes to John and says, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” In other words, “Um, John, this guy who you taught about and pointed to, is starting to get a pretty big following. In fact, his following is bigger than your own; remember he also took one of your disciples, Andrew. Teacher, I think we should be getting a little worried and you might want to do something.” This disciple of John’s seems to be a little envious of the attention that Jesus is getting compared to the current amount that John is receiving. He is suffering from thinking that numbers are what measure and indicate a successful and healthy ministry. Does that sound familiar in our modern society? Anyways, think about it, John used to be the “only game in town” so-to-speak, and now there is “competition.” Ok, so it’s not competition, but our human nature can turn it into this. I mean, as I mentioned just a few moments ago, how often do charities, non-profit organizations, and, dare I say it, churches become jealous and envious when someone who is working towards the same goals becomes more popular, wealthier, or bigger than they are? Ought not our goal be proclaiming the gospel and spreading God’s word? There shouldn’t be anything else that matters.
John the Baptist takes this opportunity to teach his disciple, and us too, about being humble. And as I see this text, there are 4 characteristics to being truly humble before God. The first is that we must understand God to be sovereign. By this I mean that he is in control of all things. “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” All the blessings that are coming to Jesus during John’s time, all the blessings that have come and are coming to us in this time, are given to us by the one who is in control of all things. Don’t think for one second that you have earned what you have. Yes, you may have worked hard; you may have sacrificed, but you haven’t earned it; God has given it to you. The second characteristic of being humble that John gives us is being self-aware of who we are and how that relates to Christ. John realizes who he is; he specifically says that he isn’t Christ. He’s just the one who came before him to point the way. John knows that when it comes to being compared to Christ, John is nothing. He knows that the very name of Jesus Christ is above all other names. After all, John has been proclaiming about the greatness of the one who is coming. Wouldn’t it serve to reason that John would see it necessary to place Jesus above himself? When we start to get an inflated sense of self-worth, how quickly are we struck down when we compare ourselves to the man they called Jesus who walked this earth some 2000 years ago?
The third part of being humble before God comes to us in the form of a scenario at a wedding. John inquires of his disciple as to whom the bride brings joy to at a wedding. It’s not everyone else, but it’s the groom. Although her radiance may warm the hearts of all those in attendance, her father may walk down the aisle to give her away with tears in his eyes because she resembles her mother so much, but she is there solely for her groom and he for his bride. I had the privilege of officiating a wedding yesterday afternoon in Preston, MS for a friend of mine who I have known all my life. We spent so much time together growing up that people always thought we were related. I looked at his face as the doors opened and he saw his soon-to-be wife walk through the back of the small, quaint, country chapel doors and I saw pure joy. This was a look of joy that even though I have known him all my life, I have rarely, if ever, seen such visible joy on his face. John is telling us that we are to seek this kind of joy for others. We are to seek first the joy of others. John is seeing the number of people following Christ and the amount of joy that has come to those who have committed their lives to God and their Savior, and he’s thrilled. He isn’t worried about the fact that as people go to Jesus that his ministry is decreased; he’s only concerned with the joy that they have now found in Jesus.
The fourth and final characteristic of humility as we have it for us here in our text is best stated by the words of verse 30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Now we have already alluded to this fact when we talked about Christ above all others, but there is a little different element to this statement. You see, we just get in the way. I’m not saying that we just don’t try and we wait for God to do everything, but we acknowledge we cannot do it without God. John’s a pretty popular and famous figure in his own right. He has had a pretty substantial ministry up to this point, but he knows that that really doesn’t matter much. The time has come for John’s ministry to decrease as Jesus’ really gets “revved up.” Even Jesus himself has raised John up to the highest dignity, but it is time for him to step aside. After all, this is what it was all about, and still is today; it’s about Jesus Christ.
You see, all of this conversation between John and his disciple leads to one thing. Verses 31-36 are John the Baptist’s words that reaffirm that the Messiah has come. I said earlier that John the Baptist had been proclaiming that the Messiah was coming and had been pointing to him for quite some time. You would think that if anyone would have overly harsh standards and expectations as to what this coming Savior would look like, it would be John the Baptist. I have to imagine that John examined every aspect of Jesus and his ministry very carefully just to make extra sure he was who John thought him to be. After undertaking such a daunting task, John finds him to be even more than he ever expected. He finds him to be God, come down and living on this earth. He knows his words to be the very words of God spoken for all mankind to hear. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
We would all be well served to have our minds tuned into the same frequency that John displays here. He isn’t worried about gaining fame or having the largest following. He doesn’t even seem to be worried about receiving credit for what he has done. His only goal; his only care; his only concern is the proclaiming of God’s Word. As I mentioned at the beginning of our sermon, humility is something that we struggle with from time-to-time. I want to challenge all of you this day, to humble yourselves before your God. I want you to realize that all that you have and all that you are comes from Him. I want all of us to realize that He is our all in all, and we must look to Him daily for everything that we need. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
John 3:14-21 "How Can This Be? - Part 2"
Just to refresh your memory a little, last week we began looking at a conversation between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus. Jesus spoke about the necessity for us to be reborn and then spent some time trying to explain what rebirth was to Nicodemus. Unfortunately, we had to leave the conversation before Jesus could finish solving the confusion that Nicodemus was experiencing. When we left, Jesus was in the midst of explaining how being reborn is a work of the Holy Spirit come from God. It is during that explanation that we find ourselves this morning, picking back up in verse 14. For the purposes of our gaining back a little context, I am going to begin our reading in verse 9.
Now, we noted last week that Nicodemus was a very bright theologian and a scholar of the Scriptures (i.e. Old Testament). So, Jesus chooses to teach Nicodemus about being reborn from the Pentateuch; from the book of Numbers. This mention of Moses lifting up a serpent points back to Numbers 21 where we are told about Israel’s constant complaining in the wilderness despite their every need being met. Some of Israel even spoke against God and against Moses, so God sent “fiery serpents” to bit the people. Imagine if you will, it being like a scene out of an Indiana Jones film, but on a larger scale. Amidst these snakes trying to bite the people of Israel, they beg Moses to pray to God to take away the serpents. God tells Moses to make a bronze serpent, so that if anyone is bitten, they need only look to the bronze serpent and they would live.
We probably want to ask the same question now that Nicodemus wanted to ask then, “What does Moses and the bronze serpent have to do with being reborn?” Well, I think that the key to answering this question is found in the Greek word ὑψωθῆναι (hypsothenai), or as we have it here for us “lifted up.” You see, this word can also mean “to be exalted.” So Jesus is saying that for this rebirth to take place, then the Son of Man, Jesus, must be lifted up. First lifted up onto the cross, then lifted up into heaven and his name exalted above all other names. I had someone stop me after last week’s service and talk with me for a second about understanding Nicodemus’ questioning about being reborn; saying that since Nicodemus was living in a time prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit, stated by Jesus to be our Helper in understanding, that his statements really weren’t that foolish. On the one hand, I was glad that this person had made this link, but on the other hand, I was really hoping that my thunder for this Sunday was not about to be stolen. You see, Jesus is speaking about his crucifixion a few years prior to its occurrence. Obviously, Nicodemus can’t understand what Christ is accomplishing with his death when it hasn’t even happened yet. Jesus must be lifted up on the cross for us to be reborn and gain true life in the kingdom eternal. And just as the people of Israel had to look to this bronze serpent in order to save their lives and in essence be granted new life, we must look upon the cross and see our crucified Savior for us to be given our life anew. “That whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
Then we come to THE verse. The verse that is the best-known, most-often quote verse in all of the New Testament: John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” Such an incredible verse, or at least it should be. Unfortunately, while this is the most widely-known verse, it is also the most misinterpreted verse in Scripture. So many people, many of them Christians, have perverted this verse reading it something like, “God loved us, so he gave us ways for everyone to be saved, or so he saved everyone.” You may be confused by this crude reduction of such a profound statement of God’s love, a verse that contains within it the essence of the gospel message, so let me explain a little bit of what I mean here.
First, God gave his ONLY Son; it doesn’t say one of his sons. We live in a culture that is so afraid of offending someone that people won’t tell the truth. Well, as my wife can attest, I am brutally honest, sometimes even to a fault. However, in this case, I don’t think there is such a thing as honest-to-a-fault. The truth of the matter is that a view of God that says that we are all worshiping the same God, just in different ways is a view of God that I quite simply cannot agree with. Yes, God loved and does love us, that’s why he provided us with his only son. He didn’t provide us with Jesus Christ and then some other persons and methods by which we may enter into heaven. As we’re told here, God gave us this one and only son so that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life. Belief! That’s what we need; it’s right there for us. It’s written as clearly as we could hope to find it. That’s the second way in which this verse has become perverted. You can walk out this door and ask a group of people anywhere if they believe in God and heaven and hell. For those that answer yes, you can further ask them if they believe that they are going to heaven. Digging even deeper, you could ask those who answered in the affirmative how they know where they are going and I guarantee you that at least a handful of people will answer, “Because I’m a good person who has always done the right thing.” Wrong! That’s not to say that they aren’t going to enter heaven, but their actions aren’t the reason for it. The reason that they will enter into heaven is because of Christ and the fact that God has sent His Holy Spirit to change their hearts and their minds so that they now have a saving faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus Christ has become their passion, their love, he has become their Messiah.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn us, but that through him we might all be saved;” a verse that I like to use just as I did a few moments ago during our assurance of pardon following our confession of sins; a time in which a pastor gives some reassurance to the congregation of our forgiveness. This verse is one of those wonderful verses in Scripture that even those with the most basic knowledge of biblical truths (or really just the English language for that matter) can understand completely. The purpose for Christ coming to this earth wasn’t to punish us or make us all feel really bad about how we had behaved, but it was to save us. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned;” such an absolute blessing and wonderful news. Just like looking at a bronze serpent saved Israel, believing and looking to Christ as our Savior saves us. But our being saved is something that carries far beyond our time on this earth.
The sad side of things, as it were, is found in the second half that statement, “but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Let’s make no mistake about it; we all deserve condemnation; every single one of us. But thanks be to God that he has provided the way for us to escape condemnation and damnation. He has provided us with a way out of spending eternity in hell. We may want to ask ourselves, as Christians, “How, knowing that Jesus is the answer, do so many people look away from Christ and the life that is within him?” Well, John answers that for us in the final verses of our text for today. “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” You see, this is the state that we were created. We were in the darkness, and what do things that are in the darkness do when they see light? They run.
I briefly mentioned about Christians being happier people at the close of last week’s sermon, and I want to take just a moment and flush that out a bit. Christians seem to be happier because they know what true misery looks like. We see misery when we see a life that is void of Christ. I can’t tell you how my heart has hurt for dear friends and loved ones who consistently run from the light. I can’t count the tears shed at the thought of those who I care deeply for remaining in the darkness. But Christians also know what love looks like. We know what it looks like because Christ loved us. The writer of this gospel, John, later, in his first epistle, writes, “We love because he first loved us” (4:19). Friends, the title for this two-part sermon “How Can This Be” is the most apt description I can think of about this love that Christ has for us. How can it be that we are so bad and defiant of God, and yet he provided the way for our salvation? How can it be that so many people each and every day resist such a wonderful blessing and gift? Yet, so many make a conscious decision to run from Christ.
I want to challenge you this day to do something; something that may be a bit difficult for many of us here today. We all know people who resist God and look elsewhere for their joy. We all know people who either say that they don’t need God or have created their own idols to worship. Let’s all make the effort to share the good news of the gospel with these people. I don’t care if you bring them to this church, if you go to their former church with them, if you just sit and talk with them about your faith, or what you do. I just want you to allow yourself to be used as an instrument for spreading the gospel; because I can promise you this: that any investment that you make in proclaiming the good news will not return empty. Friends, we have heard today of the great love that the Father has for us. He loved us so much that he gave what was most dear to him, His one and only Son. What we must do now to receive these great blessings that Christ has opened the door for us to receive is to believe. We are to have faith in Christ without ceasing. We must resist the darkness and live in the light. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now, we noted last week that Nicodemus was a very bright theologian and a scholar of the Scriptures (i.e. Old Testament). So, Jesus chooses to teach Nicodemus about being reborn from the Pentateuch; from the book of Numbers. This mention of Moses lifting up a serpent points back to Numbers 21 where we are told about Israel’s constant complaining in the wilderness despite their every need being met. Some of Israel even spoke against God and against Moses, so God sent “fiery serpents” to bit the people. Imagine if you will, it being like a scene out of an Indiana Jones film, but on a larger scale. Amidst these snakes trying to bite the people of Israel, they beg Moses to pray to God to take away the serpents. God tells Moses to make a bronze serpent, so that if anyone is bitten, they need only look to the bronze serpent and they would live.
We probably want to ask the same question now that Nicodemus wanted to ask then, “What does Moses and the bronze serpent have to do with being reborn?” Well, I think that the key to answering this question is found in the Greek word ὑψωθῆναι (hypsothenai), or as we have it here for us “lifted up.” You see, this word can also mean “to be exalted.” So Jesus is saying that for this rebirth to take place, then the Son of Man, Jesus, must be lifted up. First lifted up onto the cross, then lifted up into heaven and his name exalted above all other names. I had someone stop me after last week’s service and talk with me for a second about understanding Nicodemus’ questioning about being reborn; saying that since Nicodemus was living in a time prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit, stated by Jesus to be our Helper in understanding, that his statements really weren’t that foolish. On the one hand, I was glad that this person had made this link, but on the other hand, I was really hoping that my thunder for this Sunday was not about to be stolen. You see, Jesus is speaking about his crucifixion a few years prior to its occurrence. Obviously, Nicodemus can’t understand what Christ is accomplishing with his death when it hasn’t even happened yet. Jesus must be lifted up on the cross for us to be reborn and gain true life in the kingdom eternal. And just as the people of Israel had to look to this bronze serpent in order to save their lives and in essence be granted new life, we must look upon the cross and see our crucified Savior for us to be given our life anew. “That whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
Then we come to THE verse. The verse that is the best-known, most-often quote verse in all of the New Testament: John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” Such an incredible verse, or at least it should be. Unfortunately, while this is the most widely-known verse, it is also the most misinterpreted verse in Scripture. So many people, many of them Christians, have perverted this verse reading it something like, “God loved us, so he gave us ways for everyone to be saved, or so he saved everyone.” You may be confused by this crude reduction of such a profound statement of God’s love, a verse that contains within it the essence of the gospel message, so let me explain a little bit of what I mean here.
First, God gave his ONLY Son; it doesn’t say one of his sons. We live in a culture that is so afraid of offending someone that people won’t tell the truth. Well, as my wife can attest, I am brutally honest, sometimes even to a fault. However, in this case, I don’t think there is such a thing as honest-to-a-fault. The truth of the matter is that a view of God that says that we are all worshiping the same God, just in different ways is a view of God that I quite simply cannot agree with. Yes, God loved and does love us, that’s why he provided us with his only son. He didn’t provide us with Jesus Christ and then some other persons and methods by which we may enter into heaven. As we’re told here, God gave us this one and only son so that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life. Belief! That’s what we need; it’s right there for us. It’s written as clearly as we could hope to find it. That’s the second way in which this verse has become perverted. You can walk out this door and ask a group of people anywhere if they believe in God and heaven and hell. For those that answer yes, you can further ask them if they believe that they are going to heaven. Digging even deeper, you could ask those who answered in the affirmative how they know where they are going and I guarantee you that at least a handful of people will answer, “Because I’m a good person who has always done the right thing.” Wrong! That’s not to say that they aren’t going to enter heaven, but their actions aren’t the reason for it. The reason that they will enter into heaven is because of Christ and the fact that God has sent His Holy Spirit to change their hearts and their minds so that they now have a saving faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus Christ has become their passion, their love, he has become their Messiah.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn us, but that through him we might all be saved;” a verse that I like to use just as I did a few moments ago during our assurance of pardon following our confession of sins; a time in which a pastor gives some reassurance to the congregation of our forgiveness. This verse is one of those wonderful verses in Scripture that even those with the most basic knowledge of biblical truths (or really just the English language for that matter) can understand completely. The purpose for Christ coming to this earth wasn’t to punish us or make us all feel really bad about how we had behaved, but it was to save us. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned;” such an absolute blessing and wonderful news. Just like looking at a bronze serpent saved Israel, believing and looking to Christ as our Savior saves us. But our being saved is something that carries far beyond our time on this earth.
The sad side of things, as it were, is found in the second half that statement, “but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Let’s make no mistake about it; we all deserve condemnation; every single one of us. But thanks be to God that he has provided the way for us to escape condemnation and damnation. He has provided us with a way out of spending eternity in hell. We may want to ask ourselves, as Christians, “How, knowing that Jesus is the answer, do so many people look away from Christ and the life that is within him?” Well, John answers that for us in the final verses of our text for today. “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” You see, this is the state that we were created. We were in the darkness, and what do things that are in the darkness do when they see light? They run.
I briefly mentioned about Christians being happier people at the close of last week’s sermon, and I want to take just a moment and flush that out a bit. Christians seem to be happier because they know what true misery looks like. We see misery when we see a life that is void of Christ. I can’t tell you how my heart has hurt for dear friends and loved ones who consistently run from the light. I can’t count the tears shed at the thought of those who I care deeply for remaining in the darkness. But Christians also know what love looks like. We know what it looks like because Christ loved us. The writer of this gospel, John, later, in his first epistle, writes, “We love because he first loved us” (4:19). Friends, the title for this two-part sermon “How Can This Be” is the most apt description I can think of about this love that Christ has for us. How can it be that we are so bad and defiant of God, and yet he provided the way for our salvation? How can it be that so many people each and every day resist such a wonderful blessing and gift? Yet, so many make a conscious decision to run from Christ.
I want to challenge you this day to do something; something that may be a bit difficult for many of us here today. We all know people who resist God and look elsewhere for their joy. We all know people who either say that they don’t need God or have created their own idols to worship. Let’s all make the effort to share the good news of the gospel with these people. I don’t care if you bring them to this church, if you go to their former church with them, if you just sit and talk with them about your faith, or what you do. I just want you to allow yourself to be used as an instrument for spreading the gospel; because I can promise you this: that any investment that you make in proclaiming the good news will not return empty. Friends, we have heard today of the great love that the Father has for us. He loved us so much that he gave what was most dear to him, His one and only Son. What we must do now to receive these great blessings that Christ has opened the door for us to receive is to believe. We are to have faith in Christ without ceasing. We must resist the darkness and live in the light. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
About Time
I know that I don't usually post things on here that aren't sermons. I want to, but I just don't think about it most of the time until well after the moment has passed. However, something happened to Amy and I recently that I just had to record and share. When wemoved down to Houma, LA earlier this year we had not yet sold our house. We weren't too worried about it. I mean, the market really doesn't start to pick up until around March anyway. We figured that we would hold onto it for a few months longer (having originally listed it during Thanksgiving break) and that would be the end of it. Well, March came...and went; so did April, May, and June. We started to think that we were never going to get rid of that house. July came and Amy wrote the mortgage check like she usually does. After putting it in the mail, she reminded me to take it out of the checkbook. I sat down and ran some numbers. The outlook was not good. I looked up at Amy and said, "I don't know how, but we have to get out from under this house this month." That was the end of the discussion. We both went about our day in the same manner as we usually did.
Fastforward to that evening; as we sat down for dinner the phone rang...it was our realtor. "Well, we have an offer on your house." What?! After talking with him for a little bit about the details and timelines we got off the phone. Amy and I sat in stunned silence. It wasn't so much at the fact that we got an offer, but that it happened the same day that I said that we couldn't do this any longer.
Over the course of the next couple of days I found out that not only had Amy and I each prayed that day that something would happen with our house, but that various members and groups within our church had prayed that very same day that we would be able to sell our house. Call it the power of prayer, good timing, or whatever you want to, but don't call it a coincidence. Our God is sovereign (i.e. He is in control of all things). He knew that we didn't neccessarily need to sell our house any earlier; it would have been nice, but not needed. When we absolutely needed something, God answered our cries for help.
We are scheduled to close on the house next Friday and Amy and I couldn't be more excited. It isn't what we wanted for it, but what we needed. We are out from under the house without taking a loss. We continue to pray that nothing comes up and prevents us from being able to complete this sale. As it gets closer and closer, I am more and more reminded of the fact that God has promised to provide for our every need. This week, I read through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). If we truly believe that what Jesus promised in the great sermon as the truth, how could we ever doubt for one second that our God, the one who created the Heavens and the Earth, is in total and complete control of all things?
Sunday, July 15, 2012
John 3:1-13 "How Can This Be? - Part 1"
One of the most exciting and frightening tasks that a pastor can have as part of his calling is preaching. Each and every Sunday, a pastor is given the responsibility of “showing what he knows.” He spends all week wrestling with a particular text in order to deliver a concise, accurate interpretation of God’s Word; giving some insight, understanding, and application. My hope is that you would agree that I succeed most weeks in doing just that. This privilege, however, becomes increasingly amplified in its difficulty on days like today. If you happen to have one of those Bibles that record the words of Jesus in red letters, then you will quickly understand why today’s text is so intimidating. When the task-at-hand becomes to directly decipher what Jesus meant exactly, then the job becomes a little more difficult. In fact, brilliant theologian John Calvin, who wrote commentaries on almost every book of the Bible, wrote commentaries that cover the entirety of the gospel accounts except for the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ great sermon. So you see, the task of dealing with the very words of Jesus Christ can intimidate even the most astute pastor, and can humble him very quickly.
Now I tell you all of that to say that there is so much here in chapter 3 of John’s gospel, that if I were to undertake the task of handling every detail in its entirety, then we would be in John 3 for much longer than we want to be, and we may never make it through the entire gospel of John. That being said, what we have for us in the first 13 verses of John 3 is a conversation between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus. Now, Nicodemus is a figure that appears at various times throughout John’s gospel. Yes, we’re told that Nicodemus was a Pharisee, but he was much more than that. The brief title of “a ruler of the Jews” indicates that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, a group akin to being a present-day U.S. senator if we think of the Pharisees in a general sense as being politicians. The members of the Sanhedrin were the highest ranking officials in the Pharisees. Not only is he a member of the Sanhedrin, but he was also a gifted thinker and theologian. As a matter of fact, during Jesus’ response to Nicodemus he refers to him as “the teacher of Israel.” So as we turn our attention to this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, keep in mind that this man named Nicodemus is much more than the common man of the day. This guy is as highly educated and as bright of a mind as you would find during this time.
So, Nicodemus goes to Jesus at night to speak to him and the first words out of his mouth to Jesus are, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Think about this for a second. Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a member of the group that seems to do nothing during Jesus’ earthly ministry other than seek to destroy him and his witness. There are those who think that Nicodemus’ going to Jesus at night is a sign that he was trying to go to him in secrecy; others say that he was simply too busy for Jesus during the day. Regardless of why he went to him at night, when Nicodemus gets to Jesus his first statement to him refers to him a Rabbi; a title that would have carried with it great respect. Even the rest of the words spoken to Jesus seem to carry with them a sense of reverence. Now, as we will see later on, Nicodemus does believe Jesus to be the Messiah; as to whether or not he believes now or whether his words here are sincere or sarcastic we don’t know, but that isn’t the point. The point is found in Jesus’ response to this statement. Where we might except to find some type of agreement or affirmation of Nicodemus’ statement we find this, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Now, when we have the words “truly, truly” like we do here, it means that we are to pay special attention to what follows. Any time we see a double word in Scripture it carries significance. It’s almost like a verbal highlighter if you will. The words that follow this repetition of the same word are something that Jesus is stressing with absolute certainty, and what Jesus is talking about is rebirth and being born again. The word “unless” when it’s used in the New Testament signals a necessary condition or action that must be done in order to obtain a desired condition. In this particular case, being born again, or as some of your Bible’s might say “born from above” must happen for someone to see the kingdom of God, or heaven.
Now this term, born again Christian, is something that is common place within our society. Chuck Colson, an advisor for President Nixon, was caught up in the Watergate scandal as one of the Watergate 7 and often referred to as Nixon’s “hatchet man”. In the 1973, Colson gave his life to Christ and began to change the direction of his life. In 1976, while in prison he started what would later become Prison Fellowship, the largest ministry network to prison inmates in this nation. That same year, Colson also wrote a book about his journey entitled Born Again. The book was wildly successful and sold millions of copies. Only a few years later, President Jimmy Carter revealed that he too was a “born again Christian.” The popularity of Colson’s book in addition to President Carter’s proclamation made the term born again Christian a common phrase. What’s funny about all of this is that it really is kind of an ignorant statement. Because you see, all Christians are born again. As we just said, that’s a requirement for our being considered Christians and children of God. And that confuses us, because we want to think of born again Christians being those like Colson, the prodigal son, or others who have strayed, but have come back home. We don’t think of every Christian, even those such as myself, who cannot remember a time in which they weren’t part of the church, as being born again.
Then, something that I just find great about this exchange between these two men is found in Nicodemus’ response to Jesus’ statement: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” I mean, we’ve already said that Nicodemus was one of the brightest minds and astute theologians of his time, and yet he seems completely dumbfounded by Jesus’ words here. Nicodemus, despite being one of the most intelligent men of his time, has to admit complete ignorance and humble himself before Christ and ask him what he’s talking about.
Jesus then takes over the conversation, but notice that he doesn’t really even give Nicodemus’ attempt at humor a second thought; he simply continues on the path he has already begun. He continues to speak about this rebirth being needed to enter into heaven, but this time he adds some mention of water and the Spirit to his original comments. He also changes “seeing” the kingdom to “entering” it. Now, let’s don’t get too caught up in this phrasing and the importance of the terms “water” and “Spirit”, Jesus is just saying that we have to be consumed by God, hence the reference to the Spirit. Notice, if you will, the contrast that exists within verse 6, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” No one is born a Christian; they just aren’t. In fact, we can take from these words that at the time of our birth that heaven is closed to us as we are born into sin. So many Christians today are similar to the Jews of Jesus’ day; thinking that just because you are born into a morally decent family or into a particular group that you must be granted access into heaven. They act as if it is their right to enter into heaven at their time of judgment. As far as being a Christian is concerned, you can be born of Christian parents, raised in a Christian home, attend Christian daycares, schools, and colleges, but none of those things make you a Christian. All that we are born into is the flesh. All that we deserve is the condemnation that goes with our being born into the flesh. It isn’t until the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and changes all that we are that we are born of God and born of the Spirit, thus allowing us to enter into the kingdom.
You can tell at this point that Nicodemus must have still had a blank look on his face because Jesus has to verbally slap him by telling him to stop dwelling on this notion of being reborn and what it looks like. Jesus then begins to speak to him about the wind and how it blows about. This may seem like an odd statement to us today, but it is actually a clever play on words. You see, in both the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament, the words for spirit can also mean breath or wind. He’s saying to Nicodemus, “Ok, look; you can’t see the wind right? But you know that it has blown sometimes by the power that it has and the changes that it causes in the landscape of things around you? We don’t know exactly where it has come from or exactly where it is going; we have an idea, but we never know with complete certainty. This is similar to the Spirit. Being born of the Spirit is a work of God. Nicodemus stop thinking in terms of what you have to do, but what God does through you in order that you may be born of the Spirit and the gates of heaven opened up to you.”
Nicodemus still doesn’t get it; he asks, “How can these things be?” It’s at this point that Jesus has to be getting at least a little annoyed with the constant doubt of Nicodemus. He asks, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things.” In other words, how can you be considered by yourself and others to be such a great mind when you understand nothing? Obviously your studies in Scripture (i.e. Old Testament) have been misguided. You see, this isn’t some new, mystery religion that Jesus is speaking about here; this is the same God-worshiping religion that has existed since the time of creation. The only thing that is changing is that it is progressing further along its plan. The time has now come for Christ to come and fulfill the Old Testament and to atone for the sins of the people.
Look at the final 3 verses of our text today, “Truly, Truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” Jesus knows what he’s talking about; he knows the truth. He’s speaking from a position of authority because he is the one who has come down and descended from heaven. Nicodemus is questioning what Jesus has to say, but he’s talking to the ultimate truth. He’s talking to the Living Word.
So many things in the Christian life are hard. Even just trying to understand what it means to be a Christian can be a difficult task. I’m currently reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. In this brilliant work, Lewis speaks to the skeptic about the Christian faith. He begins at the most elementary level of knowledge and step-by-step builds up to an undeniable case for God, Jesus Christ as our Savior, and the Christian faith. It is truly a marvelous work and a great book for Christians as well as non-Christians. One of his early arguments in the book states that there is a great deal of mystery and unknown in some of our understanding as to how Christ’s death works. There are numerous theories about how it accomplishes its task, but that isn’t what’s important. “It’s not about how Christ’s death works” says Lewis, “but that it does indeed work.” And Jesus is in essence speaking much along the same lines here to Nicodemus. It’s not about what being reborn looks like or how it works, but it’s about the fact that it does happen.
Friends, there is something different about the Christian that for many is hard to explain. Are Christians happier people? Not necessarily, but they might be. Christians are surely more joyful in the sense that they have a never-ending source of joy. We’ve mentioned this before. There is a space within each and every person that only God can fill. For those seeking to fill it with money, power, fame, lust, or any other worldly virtue, their efforts are in vain. I hope that you will join me next week as we look a little more at what this never-ending joy is and why we Christians claim it as our own. But let’s remember this from today, that each and every one of us who clings to Christ and bears the name Christian; we have been reborn. There is a change that has taken place within us at the most fundamental level that isn’t a result of our doing, but came about because of the working of Holy Spirit in our hearts. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Now I tell you all of that to say that there is so much here in chapter 3 of John’s gospel, that if I were to undertake the task of handling every detail in its entirety, then we would be in John 3 for much longer than we want to be, and we may never make it through the entire gospel of John. That being said, what we have for us in the first 13 verses of John 3 is a conversation between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus. Now, Nicodemus is a figure that appears at various times throughout John’s gospel. Yes, we’re told that Nicodemus was a Pharisee, but he was much more than that. The brief title of “a ruler of the Jews” indicates that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, a group akin to being a present-day U.S. senator if we think of the Pharisees in a general sense as being politicians. The members of the Sanhedrin were the highest ranking officials in the Pharisees. Not only is he a member of the Sanhedrin, but he was also a gifted thinker and theologian. As a matter of fact, during Jesus’ response to Nicodemus he refers to him as “the teacher of Israel.” So as we turn our attention to this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, keep in mind that this man named Nicodemus is much more than the common man of the day. This guy is as highly educated and as bright of a mind as you would find during this time.
So, Nicodemus goes to Jesus at night to speak to him and the first words out of his mouth to Jesus are, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Think about this for a second. Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a member of the group that seems to do nothing during Jesus’ earthly ministry other than seek to destroy him and his witness. There are those who think that Nicodemus’ going to Jesus at night is a sign that he was trying to go to him in secrecy; others say that he was simply too busy for Jesus during the day. Regardless of why he went to him at night, when Nicodemus gets to Jesus his first statement to him refers to him a Rabbi; a title that would have carried with it great respect. Even the rest of the words spoken to Jesus seem to carry with them a sense of reverence. Now, as we will see later on, Nicodemus does believe Jesus to be the Messiah; as to whether or not he believes now or whether his words here are sincere or sarcastic we don’t know, but that isn’t the point. The point is found in Jesus’ response to this statement. Where we might except to find some type of agreement or affirmation of Nicodemus’ statement we find this, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Now, when we have the words “truly, truly” like we do here, it means that we are to pay special attention to what follows. Any time we see a double word in Scripture it carries significance. It’s almost like a verbal highlighter if you will. The words that follow this repetition of the same word are something that Jesus is stressing with absolute certainty, and what Jesus is talking about is rebirth and being born again. The word “unless” when it’s used in the New Testament signals a necessary condition or action that must be done in order to obtain a desired condition. In this particular case, being born again, or as some of your Bible’s might say “born from above” must happen for someone to see the kingdom of God, or heaven.
Now this term, born again Christian, is something that is common place within our society. Chuck Colson, an advisor for President Nixon, was caught up in the Watergate scandal as one of the Watergate 7 and often referred to as Nixon’s “hatchet man”. In the 1973, Colson gave his life to Christ and began to change the direction of his life. In 1976, while in prison he started what would later become Prison Fellowship, the largest ministry network to prison inmates in this nation. That same year, Colson also wrote a book about his journey entitled Born Again. The book was wildly successful and sold millions of copies. Only a few years later, President Jimmy Carter revealed that he too was a “born again Christian.” The popularity of Colson’s book in addition to President Carter’s proclamation made the term born again Christian a common phrase. What’s funny about all of this is that it really is kind of an ignorant statement. Because you see, all Christians are born again. As we just said, that’s a requirement for our being considered Christians and children of God. And that confuses us, because we want to think of born again Christians being those like Colson, the prodigal son, or others who have strayed, but have come back home. We don’t think of every Christian, even those such as myself, who cannot remember a time in which they weren’t part of the church, as being born again.
Then, something that I just find great about this exchange between these two men is found in Nicodemus’ response to Jesus’ statement: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” I mean, we’ve already said that Nicodemus was one of the brightest minds and astute theologians of his time, and yet he seems completely dumbfounded by Jesus’ words here. Nicodemus, despite being one of the most intelligent men of his time, has to admit complete ignorance and humble himself before Christ and ask him what he’s talking about.
Jesus then takes over the conversation, but notice that he doesn’t really even give Nicodemus’ attempt at humor a second thought; he simply continues on the path he has already begun. He continues to speak about this rebirth being needed to enter into heaven, but this time he adds some mention of water and the Spirit to his original comments. He also changes “seeing” the kingdom to “entering” it. Now, let’s don’t get too caught up in this phrasing and the importance of the terms “water” and “Spirit”, Jesus is just saying that we have to be consumed by God, hence the reference to the Spirit. Notice, if you will, the contrast that exists within verse 6, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” No one is born a Christian; they just aren’t. In fact, we can take from these words that at the time of our birth that heaven is closed to us as we are born into sin. So many Christians today are similar to the Jews of Jesus’ day; thinking that just because you are born into a morally decent family or into a particular group that you must be granted access into heaven. They act as if it is their right to enter into heaven at their time of judgment. As far as being a Christian is concerned, you can be born of Christian parents, raised in a Christian home, attend Christian daycares, schools, and colleges, but none of those things make you a Christian. All that we are born into is the flesh. All that we deserve is the condemnation that goes with our being born into the flesh. It isn’t until the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and changes all that we are that we are born of God and born of the Spirit, thus allowing us to enter into the kingdom.
You can tell at this point that Nicodemus must have still had a blank look on his face because Jesus has to verbally slap him by telling him to stop dwelling on this notion of being reborn and what it looks like. Jesus then begins to speak to him about the wind and how it blows about. This may seem like an odd statement to us today, but it is actually a clever play on words. You see, in both the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament, the words for spirit can also mean breath or wind. He’s saying to Nicodemus, “Ok, look; you can’t see the wind right? But you know that it has blown sometimes by the power that it has and the changes that it causes in the landscape of things around you? We don’t know exactly where it has come from or exactly where it is going; we have an idea, but we never know with complete certainty. This is similar to the Spirit. Being born of the Spirit is a work of God. Nicodemus stop thinking in terms of what you have to do, but what God does through you in order that you may be born of the Spirit and the gates of heaven opened up to you.”
Nicodemus still doesn’t get it; he asks, “How can these things be?” It’s at this point that Jesus has to be getting at least a little annoyed with the constant doubt of Nicodemus. He asks, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things.” In other words, how can you be considered by yourself and others to be such a great mind when you understand nothing? Obviously your studies in Scripture (i.e. Old Testament) have been misguided. You see, this isn’t some new, mystery religion that Jesus is speaking about here; this is the same God-worshiping religion that has existed since the time of creation. The only thing that is changing is that it is progressing further along its plan. The time has now come for Christ to come and fulfill the Old Testament and to atone for the sins of the people.
Look at the final 3 verses of our text today, “Truly, Truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” Jesus knows what he’s talking about; he knows the truth. He’s speaking from a position of authority because he is the one who has come down and descended from heaven. Nicodemus is questioning what Jesus has to say, but he’s talking to the ultimate truth. He’s talking to the Living Word.
So many things in the Christian life are hard. Even just trying to understand what it means to be a Christian can be a difficult task. I’m currently reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. In this brilliant work, Lewis speaks to the skeptic about the Christian faith. He begins at the most elementary level of knowledge and step-by-step builds up to an undeniable case for God, Jesus Christ as our Savior, and the Christian faith. It is truly a marvelous work and a great book for Christians as well as non-Christians. One of his early arguments in the book states that there is a great deal of mystery and unknown in some of our understanding as to how Christ’s death works. There are numerous theories about how it accomplishes its task, but that isn’t what’s important. “It’s not about how Christ’s death works” says Lewis, “but that it does indeed work.” And Jesus is in essence speaking much along the same lines here to Nicodemus. It’s not about what being reborn looks like or how it works, but it’s about the fact that it does happen.
Friends, there is something different about the Christian that for many is hard to explain. Are Christians happier people? Not necessarily, but they might be. Christians are surely more joyful in the sense that they have a never-ending source of joy. We’ve mentioned this before. There is a space within each and every person that only God can fill. For those seeking to fill it with money, power, fame, lust, or any other worldly virtue, their efforts are in vain. I hope that you will join me next week as we look a little more at what this never-ending joy is and why we Christians claim it as our own. But let’s remember this from today, that each and every one of us who clings to Christ and bears the name Christian; we have been reborn. There is a change that has taken place within us at the most fundamental level that isn’t a result of our doing, but came about because of the working of Holy Spirit in our hearts. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
John 2:12-25 "Just Three Days"
There truly is no rest for the weary. We spent the last several weeks looking at the first week of Jesus’ earthly ministry; a week that was filled with little to no downtime. At the end of our text last Sunday, Jesus was in Cana in Galilee at a wedding festival. Then, as v. 12 tells us, Jesus, his mother, and some others spent a few days in Capernaum, 16 miles away from Cana. After some time there, they went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival, a celebration of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. This journey would have been at least 90 miles south along the Jordan River, but it is most likely that they would have gone around Samaria, which would have added roughly 30 miles to the journey. So, Jesus and all those with him at this time have traveled approximately 120 miles in order to partake of the Passover festival, and upon arriving at the temple in Jerusalem, they find a situation and sights that were anything but pleasing. They find corruption and greed. Instead of finding an atmosphere of worship, they find an atmosphere of commerce, but it’s not as if Jesus is against commerce; just not inside of the temple.
Some of those things that Jesus saw inside of the temple when he arrived are listed in v. 14: those selling livestock and money-changers. I think that having a brief understanding of these 2 groups of people will greatly help us in our understanding of the situation. First, those selling livestock. Part of the Passover festivities was a sacrifice that was due from everyone who came to the temple. Many of those offering a sacrifice were coming from great distances away much like Jesus had done. It was much more convenient for those people to buy livestock for sacrifice once they got to Jerusalem. They didn’t have to fool with dragging the beast behind them; nor did they have to worry about their future sacrifice not surviving the trip. The second group of people, the money-changers, were at the temple because of the tax that must be paid during the Passover. The temple authorities were very particular about what type of coinage they would accept as payment for the temple tax. They wanted only the purest silver coins. The problem was that many areas did not have a large supply of pure silver coins, and so there was a need for a currency exchange. It’s like if you go to a foreign country and they only want to deal in their currency, then you have to find a booth and exchange your currency for theirs. Now, in most currency exchange booths there is either no fee or the fee is minimal. However, these money changers would sometimes charge as much as a 12% commission on the money that they were exchanging.
Now despite the selling of animals and the exchanging of money at a pretty substantial rate, there really wasn’t anything wrong with these practices. The problem comes in the first words of v. 14, “In the temple.” You see, these practices had been taking place for almost as long as the Passover had been celebrated, but they had taken place outside of the temple. They were done somewhat close to the temple, but they were never done inside of the temple or even in the courtyard inside the temple walls. It’s commonly thought that had these practices been taking place still outside of the temple, that Jesus would have done nothing and had no problems with their behavior. Think about it like this, churches are common places for weddings. It is customary for us to buy a wedding present for a couple that is getting married. What if churches started selling china, crystal, towels, or any other merchandise that is typically given to a couple at the time of their marriage. This would take something that isn’t inherently bad and cause it to corrupt the worship that exists within the church during a marriage ceremony. That’s the issue that’s at hand here in Jesus’ thinking. He isn’t concerned with these commerce practices; he’s concerned because of where they are taking place. They are causing a house of worship, his Father’s house, to become as he says in v. 16, “a house of trade.”
Jesus’ reaction to what he sees is something that has been puzzling for many Christians who misinterpret who Jesus is. When Jesus saw this corruption of the temple he became angry. We’re told that he made a whip and drove them out of the temple. Now, just to clarify something; the “them” that is referred to here is the animals and not the people present, although they too exiting upon seeing Jesus cracking his whip. He pours out all of the money that the money-changers have collected onto the floor and kicks over their tables. By all accounts, this was a scene of incredible chaos. The actions of Jesus that we’re told about here are actions that come about as a result of anger. Jesus is truly angry at what he has found taking place within the temple, and that doesn’t compute with many Christians today. We don’t like to think of Jesus as every being angry or ever showing emotion for that matter. Even if we are willing to think of Jesus as having emotions, we don’t ever want to think of anything other than positive and joyful emotions. The truth of the matter, however, is that Jesus was human. We know that he experienced hunger, sadness, anger, and happiness. We’re told that he laughed, was angry, and wept at various times during his life. To me, this isn’t a bad thing that taints my image of Christ, this adds to my praise of him. You see, Jesus was human with all the faculties and emotions that you and I possess, yet he still lived without sinning. If Jesus were some person devoid of all human emotion, then that would make his life of perfection less praiseworthy. It would have made his death ineffective since a completely obedient human life was needed to satisfy the debt owed to God. Personally, I find great comfort in having a God who not only created and sustains me, but knows what it’s like to be human with all of its infirmities and frailties.
You see, anger isn’t the issue; there’s nothing wrong with becoming angry from time-to-time. Our problem, so often, is what we become angry over. We become angry over issues like money, material possessions, or with children who quite simply don’t know any better. Y’all know my kids; they’re too much like me, especially Thomas. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve gotten angry at him only to sit a few moments after-the-fact and wonder why I reacted the way I did; that’s the bad type of anger, that’s the anger considered to be sin, and I think that we can all relate. Jesus’ anger, however, is the type that I find no problem with. Jesus becomes angry because he is too zealous for God’s house. In other words, he was too passionate and too enthusiastic over this house of worship. In fact, John inserts the words “Zeal for your house will consume me” from Psalm 69 to let us know why Jesus was so angry. In that Psalm, David is writing about the anger and hardships that he faced because of his devotion to God. He talks about the number of enemies that he has because of his zeal for God and the fact that members of his own family have become foreign to him because of his passion for the Lord. After Jesus’ disciples see his zeal for God’s house, they think about these words of David. R.C. Sproul says about the disciples at this time, “They must have said to themselves, ‘David’s greater Son has this in common with David.’ They saw in Jesus the same thing David experienced in his life – a zeal for the house of God.” Jesus’ anger, in my observation of things, is very much right where it should be upon seeing what he saw upon arriving at the temple in Jerusalem. If we are going to become angry over anything, shouldn’t it be over God not receiving His due glory?
Seeing the chaos that Jesus has just caused, the Jews present want to know what he’s doing and what he is trying to tell them. What comes next is one of the most confusing and misunderstood statements (at least at the moment of its happening) that Jesus ever made during his earthly ministry, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” What? I mean, we only need to look to the Jews response for an understanding of how odd this statement seems. “It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up [from destruction] in three days?” You can see why the notion that Jesus could rebuild something in 3 days when it took an entire nation 46 years to do it the first time would be laughable. Now, I can’t help but think that there was one lone idiot here, we’ll refer to him as Tommy, who wanted to challenge this. Tommy would just want to say, “Ok then, let’s tear this place down and see if this guy can build it back up. I mean, we are all waiting on this Messiah fellow to show up right?” Now, eventually cooler heads would prevail and the thought of tearing something down that originally took 46 years to build would be shown to be a bad idea. It would have been an especially bad idea given what we now know; we know that Jesus wasn’t referencing this physical temple at all. That’s not to say that Jesus couldn’t rebuild this physical temple in 3 days, but it’s just that that wasn’t what he was talking about here in this particular situation.
Starting in v. 21 we find, “But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” This is what Jesus meant when he spoke of raising the temple from destruction after 3 days. Despite the ultimate destruction of his body, Jesus rose from the dead after 3 days, restoring his body and raising it back up. As we said last week, throughout John’s gospel account we continuously see references to Jesus’ ultimate act, an act that we remember in particular on this day, Communion Sunday. After Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples had to be saying to themselves, “Oh, that’s what he was talking about. I feel so dumb right now.” Well, they shouldn’t because they didn’t know. The last 3 verses tell us that Jesus didn’t really expect anyone to fully understand or know exactly what he was talking about at the time. However, we know. We know all the facts and have all the necessary information. There is no doubt for us what is meant by Jesus when he speaks of raising a temple after 3 days. There is no reason, no excuse, for us to not believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We can’t be one of those stubborn folks who say that we have to be shown something to make us believe. The Apostle Paul, when he addressed the philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens, says, “These times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:30-31). There is no man who after the death (foretold last week with the narrative of the water turned to wine) and resurrection of Jesus Christ (foretold this week by the rebuilding of the temple after 3 days), who has an excuse for not believing in God the Father Almighty. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Some of those things that Jesus saw inside of the temple when he arrived are listed in v. 14: those selling livestock and money-changers. I think that having a brief understanding of these 2 groups of people will greatly help us in our understanding of the situation. First, those selling livestock. Part of the Passover festivities was a sacrifice that was due from everyone who came to the temple. Many of those offering a sacrifice were coming from great distances away much like Jesus had done. It was much more convenient for those people to buy livestock for sacrifice once they got to Jerusalem. They didn’t have to fool with dragging the beast behind them; nor did they have to worry about their future sacrifice not surviving the trip. The second group of people, the money-changers, were at the temple because of the tax that must be paid during the Passover. The temple authorities were very particular about what type of coinage they would accept as payment for the temple tax. They wanted only the purest silver coins. The problem was that many areas did not have a large supply of pure silver coins, and so there was a need for a currency exchange. It’s like if you go to a foreign country and they only want to deal in their currency, then you have to find a booth and exchange your currency for theirs. Now, in most currency exchange booths there is either no fee or the fee is minimal. However, these money changers would sometimes charge as much as a 12% commission on the money that they were exchanging.
Now despite the selling of animals and the exchanging of money at a pretty substantial rate, there really wasn’t anything wrong with these practices. The problem comes in the first words of v. 14, “In the temple.” You see, these practices had been taking place for almost as long as the Passover had been celebrated, but they had taken place outside of the temple. They were done somewhat close to the temple, but they were never done inside of the temple or even in the courtyard inside the temple walls. It’s commonly thought that had these practices been taking place still outside of the temple, that Jesus would have done nothing and had no problems with their behavior. Think about it like this, churches are common places for weddings. It is customary for us to buy a wedding present for a couple that is getting married. What if churches started selling china, crystal, towels, or any other merchandise that is typically given to a couple at the time of their marriage. This would take something that isn’t inherently bad and cause it to corrupt the worship that exists within the church during a marriage ceremony. That’s the issue that’s at hand here in Jesus’ thinking. He isn’t concerned with these commerce practices; he’s concerned because of where they are taking place. They are causing a house of worship, his Father’s house, to become as he says in v. 16, “a house of trade.”
Jesus’ reaction to what he sees is something that has been puzzling for many Christians who misinterpret who Jesus is. When Jesus saw this corruption of the temple he became angry. We’re told that he made a whip and drove them out of the temple. Now, just to clarify something; the “them” that is referred to here is the animals and not the people present, although they too exiting upon seeing Jesus cracking his whip. He pours out all of the money that the money-changers have collected onto the floor and kicks over their tables. By all accounts, this was a scene of incredible chaos. The actions of Jesus that we’re told about here are actions that come about as a result of anger. Jesus is truly angry at what he has found taking place within the temple, and that doesn’t compute with many Christians today. We don’t like to think of Jesus as every being angry or ever showing emotion for that matter. Even if we are willing to think of Jesus as having emotions, we don’t ever want to think of anything other than positive and joyful emotions. The truth of the matter, however, is that Jesus was human. We know that he experienced hunger, sadness, anger, and happiness. We’re told that he laughed, was angry, and wept at various times during his life. To me, this isn’t a bad thing that taints my image of Christ, this adds to my praise of him. You see, Jesus was human with all the faculties and emotions that you and I possess, yet he still lived without sinning. If Jesus were some person devoid of all human emotion, then that would make his life of perfection less praiseworthy. It would have made his death ineffective since a completely obedient human life was needed to satisfy the debt owed to God. Personally, I find great comfort in having a God who not only created and sustains me, but knows what it’s like to be human with all of its infirmities and frailties.
You see, anger isn’t the issue; there’s nothing wrong with becoming angry from time-to-time. Our problem, so often, is what we become angry over. We become angry over issues like money, material possessions, or with children who quite simply don’t know any better. Y’all know my kids; they’re too much like me, especially Thomas. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve gotten angry at him only to sit a few moments after-the-fact and wonder why I reacted the way I did; that’s the bad type of anger, that’s the anger considered to be sin, and I think that we can all relate. Jesus’ anger, however, is the type that I find no problem with. Jesus becomes angry because he is too zealous for God’s house. In other words, he was too passionate and too enthusiastic over this house of worship. In fact, John inserts the words “Zeal for your house will consume me” from Psalm 69 to let us know why Jesus was so angry. In that Psalm, David is writing about the anger and hardships that he faced because of his devotion to God. He talks about the number of enemies that he has because of his zeal for God and the fact that members of his own family have become foreign to him because of his passion for the Lord. After Jesus’ disciples see his zeal for God’s house, they think about these words of David. R.C. Sproul says about the disciples at this time, “They must have said to themselves, ‘David’s greater Son has this in common with David.’ They saw in Jesus the same thing David experienced in his life – a zeal for the house of God.” Jesus’ anger, in my observation of things, is very much right where it should be upon seeing what he saw upon arriving at the temple in Jerusalem. If we are going to become angry over anything, shouldn’t it be over God not receiving His due glory?
Seeing the chaos that Jesus has just caused, the Jews present want to know what he’s doing and what he is trying to tell them. What comes next is one of the most confusing and misunderstood statements (at least at the moment of its happening) that Jesus ever made during his earthly ministry, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” What? I mean, we only need to look to the Jews response for an understanding of how odd this statement seems. “It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up [from destruction] in three days?” You can see why the notion that Jesus could rebuild something in 3 days when it took an entire nation 46 years to do it the first time would be laughable. Now, I can’t help but think that there was one lone idiot here, we’ll refer to him as Tommy, who wanted to challenge this. Tommy would just want to say, “Ok then, let’s tear this place down and see if this guy can build it back up. I mean, we are all waiting on this Messiah fellow to show up right?” Now, eventually cooler heads would prevail and the thought of tearing something down that originally took 46 years to build would be shown to be a bad idea. It would have been an especially bad idea given what we now know; we know that Jesus wasn’t referencing this physical temple at all. That’s not to say that Jesus couldn’t rebuild this physical temple in 3 days, but it’s just that that wasn’t what he was talking about here in this particular situation.
Starting in v. 21 we find, “But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” This is what Jesus meant when he spoke of raising the temple from destruction after 3 days. Despite the ultimate destruction of his body, Jesus rose from the dead after 3 days, restoring his body and raising it back up. As we said last week, throughout John’s gospel account we continuously see references to Jesus’ ultimate act, an act that we remember in particular on this day, Communion Sunday. After Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples had to be saying to themselves, “Oh, that’s what he was talking about. I feel so dumb right now.” Well, they shouldn’t because they didn’t know. The last 3 verses tell us that Jesus didn’t really expect anyone to fully understand or know exactly what he was talking about at the time. However, we know. We know all the facts and have all the necessary information. There is no doubt for us what is meant by Jesus when he speaks of raising a temple after 3 days. There is no reason, no excuse, for us to not believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We can’t be one of those stubborn folks who say that we have to be shown something to make us believe. The Apostle Paul, when he addressed the philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens, says, “These times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:30-31). There is no man who after the death (foretold last week with the narrative of the water turned to wine) and resurrection of Jesus Christ (foretold this week by the rebuilding of the temple after 3 days), who has an excuse for not believing in God the Father Almighty. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
John 2:1-11 "A Sign of the Times"
Here for us, in the second chapter of John’s gospel, we have an account from a wedding festival; a wedding reception; a celebration of an ordinance instituted by God during creation; a truly wonderful event. This particular wedding comes at the end of an eventful 7 days in the earthly ministry of Jesus. The first was the day on which John the Baptist confronted the Jewish delegation from Jerusalem. Following that was the day on which John identified Jesus for the first time as “the Lamb of God.” The third day has Andrew and Simon Peter called to follow Jesus. The fourth and fifth days see Jesus call Philip and Nathanael as disciples. Then there was an entire day spent traveling, and on this seventh day, Jesus arrives in Cana and is invited, along with his disciples, to a wedding.
This seventh day, however, is much more than a wedding day. It is much more than the end of an eventful week in the life of Jesus. This day, this account, this wedding, is considered by many to be the official beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Not the wedding itself, but something that happens during the festival following the wedding. Before we look more closely at the events of this occasion and their significance, I want to focus in on the setting for a brief moment. You see, we are told very clearly in the text that Jesus was welcomed at the wedding. He was an invited guest and was gladly present. Jesus is enjoying himself amongst those who are celebrating and having a joyful time. Many Christians today would be well served if they kept this thought in mind. In fact, throughout Scripture, it is quite common for Jesus to be present at events like this and to be enjoying himself. You see, Jesus is giving us a great example for evangelism here. Jesus is enjoying himself amongst those who are gathered together for a good time. He doesn’t pass judgment on them, but instead, as we will examine next, he points them to himself. He uses this opportunity to point people to him and his Father while not lecturing them or doing it in a condemning way.
As the evening continued and as the crowd gathered together to celebrate this wedding, a problem arises. The wine that the bridegroom is serving runs out. Now, the significance of this problem is a little lost on us in this day-and-age. Even though running out of something is never desired by a host, if we are at a wedding reception or some other type of party and supplies of any kind are running low we either send someone to go get more in advance of running out or we simply tell folks that we’re out and they will just have to deal with it. But you see, in Jesus’ day these 2 options were out of the realm of consideration. It was a serious thing to have a shortage of something at a party. It was a total embarrassment to the host, and in some cases there could even be some type of criminal charges brought against the host for his lack of preparation. The fact that the shortage is of wine is of particular significance. Wine was especially high on this list of important items as it was thought of as a symbol of joy. Many of the rabbis of the day would say, “Without wine there is no joy.” So to run out of wine was almost like the newly married couple admitting that neither they nor their guests were happy.
Have you ever been in a setting where everyone was there more out of obligation and no one was having a good time; not even the hosts of the event? One of the very first Christmas’ that Amy and I spent together was quite awkward. We had just gotten engaged right after Thanksgiving of that year and so we decided that we would attend at least a portion of the family festivities of the other’s family. I drove to her grandparent’s house in Seminary, MS about an hour away from my parent’s house in Meridian. I knocked on the door, walked in, and found everyone sitting in stone-cold silence. Siblings were sitting across the room from one another; no one was making eye-contact, nothing! So, in my infinite wisdom, I walked in and blurted out, “What’s wrong, somebody get into a fight our something?” Immediately every eye in the room turned and stared at me with that look that doesn’t even require words to convey how badly I have messed up. You see, there was a fight. One of Amy’s uncle’s has a dog named Josie, and she had bitten her younger cousin Scotty. This caused some tension between Josie’s owner and Scotty’s daddy. The entire Christmas atmosphere that is usually filled with laughter, enjoyment, and quality family time, was now filled with a sense of “can we just hurry up and get this over with.” You see, for this wedding to run out of wine would have given the joyous celebration a much different feel; a feel very similar to that which I experienced during that particular Christmas season.
We may want to laugh at this story of my misfortune and this overall notion and think about wine in the sense of libations and good times. But you see, John, the writer of this gospel, always sees the spiritual meaning in the most ordinary of events. Think forward with me for just a moment. Yes, I realize that none of you can see the future, but just appease me for a moment. Next Sunday is the 2nd Sunday of the month. It happens to be the practice of this church to participate in the Lord’s Supper on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The elements of the bread and the wine hold significant meaning. For the purposes of this account today think specifically of the wine. While distributing the wine to the people, it is common for the pastor to remind us of the significance of that particular element. “This cup is the new covenant of my blood, which is shed for the remission of sins. Drink all of it.” Think back to the words of the rabbis, “Without wine there is no joy.” Without Christ’s blood, there is no joy. Without Christ, there is no joy. There may be temporary gratification, but without Jesus Christ there is no real, lasting joy.
After being informed by his mother that the wine was gone and consequently that a sense of embarrassment would soon overtake the current feeling of joy, Jesus responds to her by saying, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Now first off, this term “Woman” is meant as no disrespect to Mary. In our modern context if I were to call my mom or my wife “Woman” instead of using their name they might just haul off and hit me. But here, it is meant as a sign of respect. This was the equivalent of referring to her as a lady. It was the same way that he spoke to her from the cross when he committed her into John’s care. This discourse shows that Jesus is aware that it is not time for his greatest act. The time of his crucifixion has not yet come. You see, as you read John’s gospel you continuously see Jesus referencing his coming hour again and again.
But despite this gentle rebuke that he makes towards Mary and despite the fact that he clearly states that his hour has not yet come, Jesus steps in. We see Mary tell the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them. (Once again, John’s words are much more far-reaching than the immediate context of the story. How well would they be served to obey those simple words for all their lives?) Instead of condemning the people for their over-indulgence at this point, Jesus acts to allow the celebration to continue. He is going to solve the problem of no wine. We need to take note of the fact that this act of turning water into wine was not done with an audience around him. It wasn’t done with someone gathering people around Jesus so that they could witness what he was about to do. No, Jesus goes off with only the servants to six pots that were filled with water. And these weren’t just any six pots. These pots weren’t the typical or usual pots made out of mud that were common during this day. These pots were made out of stone. The reason being that since they were used for purification, being made out of stone would keep all dirt from penetrating into them and contaminating the water.
So these servants follow Jesus to the pots and he tells them to fill them up, and they do. They fill them up to the brim. After filling them, Jesus tells them to take some water out and take it to the master of the feast. This person would have been like a best man or master of ceremonies type of figure. He samples the water and immediately realizes that it is not water at all, but it’s in fact wine. It’s almost like one of those scenes where someone puts something in front of your face saying, “Drink this!” Before he even knows it, the master of the feast has tasted this wine, and not just any wine, but good wine, really good wine. In fact, it’s the best wine he’s tasted all night. This practice would have been the opposite of the day. Normally the best wine was served earliest and the “cheaper stuff” brought out after everyone had had their fill.
But don’t just think of the quality of this wine; think of the quantity as well. As it is given to us here in the text, the total amount of water that the 6 pots would have held is somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of water since they were filled to the brim. Now, one gallon of wine is about 5 standard sized bottles of wine by today’s measure. Doing the math, that comes out to be somewhere between 600 and 900 bottles of wine. There is a good chance that this would have been even more than was originally present for all of the guests, and not just by a little bit. It is very probable that amount of water that Jesus turned into wine greatly exceeds the amount of wine purchased for this wedding festival.
So think about this for a second, Jesus produced the best wine of the evening and a much greater amount of wine than one could imagine. When we think of wine in the terms that we have already mentioned and substitute joy for wine, then we see things in a whole new light. The joy that we have in Jesus is so much greater than any joy that we can hope to experience in our lifetime. The amount of joy that we have in Christ is so much greater than we could ever imagine. Do not think that if you come to Jesus, if you accept him as your Lord and Savior, that there will ever come a day when you will find yourself empty of joy. If that is ever the case, it is because you have drawn away from him and not because he has failed you. Without a doubt, the Christ who produced the abundance of good wine, who we know to have oversupplied the crowd with loaves and fish, who said, “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” certainly such a Christ is able to supply all we need.
As this wedding festival account comes to an end we find the words of verse 11, which read, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” I think the correct translation here is to use the word “signs” and not “miracles”. Although this is a miracle performed by Jesus, the notion of this being a sign is much more descriptive of what is taking place here and what John is wanting to convey. This sign is pointing to something much greater than the event itself. It points to Jesus himself as the One. It’s pointing to Christ as the One who spoke the word of truth. This sign represents God’s acknowledging that Jesus is sent from Him. There truly is no person, place, or thing that we can look to for greater joy than that which we have in Jesus Christ. Any life that is devoid of Christ is a life that is lacking any real and lasting joy. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This seventh day, however, is much more than a wedding day. It is much more than the end of an eventful week in the life of Jesus. This day, this account, this wedding, is considered by many to be the official beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Not the wedding itself, but something that happens during the festival following the wedding. Before we look more closely at the events of this occasion and their significance, I want to focus in on the setting for a brief moment. You see, we are told very clearly in the text that Jesus was welcomed at the wedding. He was an invited guest and was gladly present. Jesus is enjoying himself amongst those who are celebrating and having a joyful time. Many Christians today would be well served if they kept this thought in mind. In fact, throughout Scripture, it is quite common for Jesus to be present at events like this and to be enjoying himself. You see, Jesus is giving us a great example for evangelism here. Jesus is enjoying himself amongst those who are gathered together for a good time. He doesn’t pass judgment on them, but instead, as we will examine next, he points them to himself. He uses this opportunity to point people to him and his Father while not lecturing them or doing it in a condemning way.
As the evening continued and as the crowd gathered together to celebrate this wedding, a problem arises. The wine that the bridegroom is serving runs out. Now, the significance of this problem is a little lost on us in this day-and-age. Even though running out of something is never desired by a host, if we are at a wedding reception or some other type of party and supplies of any kind are running low we either send someone to go get more in advance of running out or we simply tell folks that we’re out and they will just have to deal with it. But you see, in Jesus’ day these 2 options were out of the realm of consideration. It was a serious thing to have a shortage of something at a party. It was a total embarrassment to the host, and in some cases there could even be some type of criminal charges brought against the host for his lack of preparation. The fact that the shortage is of wine is of particular significance. Wine was especially high on this list of important items as it was thought of as a symbol of joy. Many of the rabbis of the day would say, “Without wine there is no joy.” So to run out of wine was almost like the newly married couple admitting that neither they nor their guests were happy.
Have you ever been in a setting where everyone was there more out of obligation and no one was having a good time; not even the hosts of the event? One of the very first Christmas’ that Amy and I spent together was quite awkward. We had just gotten engaged right after Thanksgiving of that year and so we decided that we would attend at least a portion of the family festivities of the other’s family. I drove to her grandparent’s house in Seminary, MS about an hour away from my parent’s house in Meridian. I knocked on the door, walked in, and found everyone sitting in stone-cold silence. Siblings were sitting across the room from one another; no one was making eye-contact, nothing! So, in my infinite wisdom, I walked in and blurted out, “What’s wrong, somebody get into a fight our something?” Immediately every eye in the room turned and stared at me with that look that doesn’t even require words to convey how badly I have messed up. You see, there was a fight. One of Amy’s uncle’s has a dog named Josie, and she had bitten her younger cousin Scotty. This caused some tension between Josie’s owner and Scotty’s daddy. The entire Christmas atmosphere that is usually filled with laughter, enjoyment, and quality family time, was now filled with a sense of “can we just hurry up and get this over with.” You see, for this wedding to run out of wine would have given the joyous celebration a much different feel; a feel very similar to that which I experienced during that particular Christmas season.
We may want to laugh at this story of my misfortune and this overall notion and think about wine in the sense of libations and good times. But you see, John, the writer of this gospel, always sees the spiritual meaning in the most ordinary of events. Think forward with me for just a moment. Yes, I realize that none of you can see the future, but just appease me for a moment. Next Sunday is the 2nd Sunday of the month. It happens to be the practice of this church to participate in the Lord’s Supper on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The elements of the bread and the wine hold significant meaning. For the purposes of this account today think specifically of the wine. While distributing the wine to the people, it is common for the pastor to remind us of the significance of that particular element. “This cup is the new covenant of my blood, which is shed for the remission of sins. Drink all of it.” Think back to the words of the rabbis, “Without wine there is no joy.” Without Christ’s blood, there is no joy. Without Christ, there is no joy. There may be temporary gratification, but without Jesus Christ there is no real, lasting joy.
After being informed by his mother that the wine was gone and consequently that a sense of embarrassment would soon overtake the current feeling of joy, Jesus responds to her by saying, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Now first off, this term “Woman” is meant as no disrespect to Mary. In our modern context if I were to call my mom or my wife “Woman” instead of using their name they might just haul off and hit me. But here, it is meant as a sign of respect. This was the equivalent of referring to her as a lady. It was the same way that he spoke to her from the cross when he committed her into John’s care. This discourse shows that Jesus is aware that it is not time for his greatest act. The time of his crucifixion has not yet come. You see, as you read John’s gospel you continuously see Jesus referencing his coming hour again and again.
But despite this gentle rebuke that he makes towards Mary and despite the fact that he clearly states that his hour has not yet come, Jesus steps in. We see Mary tell the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them. (Once again, John’s words are much more far-reaching than the immediate context of the story. How well would they be served to obey those simple words for all their lives?) Instead of condemning the people for their over-indulgence at this point, Jesus acts to allow the celebration to continue. He is going to solve the problem of no wine. We need to take note of the fact that this act of turning water into wine was not done with an audience around him. It wasn’t done with someone gathering people around Jesus so that they could witness what he was about to do. No, Jesus goes off with only the servants to six pots that were filled with water. And these weren’t just any six pots. These pots weren’t the typical or usual pots made out of mud that were common during this day. These pots were made out of stone. The reason being that since they were used for purification, being made out of stone would keep all dirt from penetrating into them and contaminating the water.
So these servants follow Jesus to the pots and he tells them to fill them up, and they do. They fill them up to the brim. After filling them, Jesus tells them to take some water out and take it to the master of the feast. This person would have been like a best man or master of ceremonies type of figure. He samples the water and immediately realizes that it is not water at all, but it’s in fact wine. It’s almost like one of those scenes where someone puts something in front of your face saying, “Drink this!” Before he even knows it, the master of the feast has tasted this wine, and not just any wine, but good wine, really good wine. In fact, it’s the best wine he’s tasted all night. This practice would have been the opposite of the day. Normally the best wine was served earliest and the “cheaper stuff” brought out after everyone had had their fill.
But don’t just think of the quality of this wine; think of the quantity as well. As it is given to us here in the text, the total amount of water that the 6 pots would have held is somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of water since they were filled to the brim. Now, one gallon of wine is about 5 standard sized bottles of wine by today’s measure. Doing the math, that comes out to be somewhere between 600 and 900 bottles of wine. There is a good chance that this would have been even more than was originally present for all of the guests, and not just by a little bit. It is very probable that amount of water that Jesus turned into wine greatly exceeds the amount of wine purchased for this wedding festival.
So think about this for a second, Jesus produced the best wine of the evening and a much greater amount of wine than one could imagine. When we think of wine in the terms that we have already mentioned and substitute joy for wine, then we see things in a whole new light. The joy that we have in Jesus is so much greater than any joy that we can hope to experience in our lifetime. The amount of joy that we have in Christ is so much greater than we could ever imagine. Do not think that if you come to Jesus, if you accept him as your Lord and Savior, that there will ever come a day when you will find yourself empty of joy. If that is ever the case, it is because you have drawn away from him and not because he has failed you. Without a doubt, the Christ who produced the abundance of good wine, who we know to have oversupplied the crowd with loaves and fish, who said, “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” certainly such a Christ is able to supply all we need.
As this wedding festival account comes to an end we find the words of verse 11, which read, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” I think the correct translation here is to use the word “signs” and not “miracles”. Although this is a miracle performed by Jesus, the notion of this being a sign is much more descriptive of what is taking place here and what John is wanting to convey. This sign is pointing to something much greater than the event itself. It points to Jesus himself as the One. It’s pointing to Christ as the One who spoke the word of truth. This sign represents God’s acknowledging that Jesus is sent from Him. There truly is no person, place, or thing that we can look to for greater joy than that which we have in Jesus Christ. Any life that is devoid of Christ is a life that is lacking any real and lasting joy. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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