John 2:1-11
*
You may have heard it said that timing
is everything. Timing can be the difference between a game-winning
completion and an interception. Timing can mean driving for miles with green
lights or stopping at every intersection. When things happen can be
almost as important as what things happen.
God's timing is perfect. In Galatians
Paul writes "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born
of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive
the full rights of sons."(4:4) God sent Jesus into the world at just
the right time. In Romans we read, "You see, at just the right time,
when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."(5:6) God
saved us at just the right time so that we could give all credit to him. God's timing is impeccable. You may have witnessed the same thing
in your own life, how God acted at just the right time. But there are also
times when we don't understand God's timing. It's for those times that we hear
in our Gospel lesson that as true God, Jesus' timing is flawless. It was
flawless then and it is now. Jesus chose
It was
and it was II. a
miracle that led people to believe in him.
The first two verses of our text set the
scene for us. "On the third day
a wedding took place at
There are all kinds of details about this wedding that
we don't know. For example, we don't know who was getting married or why Jesus,
his disciples and his mother were invited. Yet the evangelist records for us
the details we need to understand.
"When the wine was gone, Jesus'
mother said to him, 'They have no more wine'."(3) For some reason, the supply had run out
before the end of the banquet. Running out of food or drink at any such event,
even today, would be an embarrassment to the host. Perhaps Mary was trying to
avoid that kind of embarrassment when she told Jesus, "They have no
more wine."
Apparently, Mary thought there was something Jesus
could do. She had known since before his birth who he was and what he would do.
Was she asking Jesus to miraculously supply more wine? One way or another, we
can certainly understand that Mary thought Jesus could provide a solution to
this problem.
Jesus replied: "Dear woman, why
do you involve me?" At first, Jesus' response may seem a bit harsh to
our ears. Why was he speaking like that to his mother? But if we look closely,
we'll see that there was no disrespect in Jesus' answer. He calls her "dear woman," which is
the same way he addressed his mother when he was on the cross, seeing to it that
she was taken care of.
Secondly, he does not necessarily
chastise her for coming to him. He says "why
do you involve me?" He was concerned with the reason she came to him.
He wanted her to think about their relationship, who he was, and what he was to
do. Jesus' next statement tells us what Jesus was getting at. "My time
has not yet come."(4)
Mary had known for a long time already
that Jesus had come to be the Savior of the world. The angel Gabriel told her "He will
be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give
him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob
forever; his kingdom will never end."(Luke 1:32-33) But can't you
imagine her thinking, "I know his kingdom will never end, but when will it
start? For thirty years he has lived like any other man, when will things start
to happen?" She had to be pretty anxious for Jesus to show himself to be
the Messiah, the Son of God.
Jesus had to remind her "My time
has not yet come." 'The time for me to show who I am has not yet
come.' There was an appointed time for him to demonstrate who he was. There was
an appointed time for him to grant an epiphany to those around him, but that
time would be his time, not hers.
Jesus was also reminding Mary that
"his time" was the time when he would make the trip to the cross, to
suffer and die for the sins of mankind. "His time" was about more
than saving someone embarrassment over a shortage of wine. "His time"
would really come when it was time for him to make the trip to Jerusalem where
he would he mocked, beaten, and crucified. That time had not yet come.
Jesus' words redefined Mary's
relationship with Jesus, but they did not diminish her trust in him. "[She]
said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."(5) She simply
trusted that if Jesus decided to act, he could do anything he wanted. Jesus did
decide to act.
"Nearby stood six stone jars, the kind used by
the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water'; so they filled them to
the brim. Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of
the banquet.' They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that
had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though
the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
and said, 'Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine
after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till
now."(6-10)
After Jesus had explained to Mary that he
would act at his time, after Jesus made it clear that his primary work was his
saving work, then and only then did he take care of this need. This was the
right time for a miracle. He miraculously provided wine, in sufficient
quantity and superior quality.
"This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus
performed at Cana in Galilee."(11) John calls this miracle a sign, an
act that points to something. This was
the right time for a miracle, an act that pointed to Jesus as the Son of God,
the Messiah. With this miracle Jesus, as John explains, Jesus "Revealed his glory." Jesus revealed who he was.
It's probably not hard for us to imagine
Mary's situation. We all, at one time or another, have been in need. Probably
more often than we'd like, we've run short of something. Maybe it's time, maybe it's money. They may not be really serious things, but
they're the kind of things that we need on a daily basis.
As Christians we know who Jesus is and
what he can do. We know he can grant any
request. And it is good and right for us to go to him for anything, because he
promises to hear us. But when doing so, we can be tempted to try to tell God
when to act. We can be tempted to start
directing God when to show himself. We can be tempted to tell God that he must
have missed something. That is a sinful attitude, a sinful attitude that needs
rebuke.
But along with Jesus' rebuke comes a
reminder that he will act at just the right time, in just the right way. He
will reveal his glory, but maybe not now, maybe not at our time. Jesus knows
the right time for a miracle.
This account is called Jesus' first
miraculous sign. Verse 11 says that. But
when I read verse 11, I realize that Jesus really performed two miracles.
Listen: "This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He
thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him."
The first miracle was done in jars of stone. The second was done in hearts
of stone. The fact that sinful, human men were able to recognize Jesus as
the Son of God was even more miraculous than changing water to wine.
It was a miracle for the disciples to put their faith
in Jesus because by nature they could not and certainly would not have
recognized him. They were, like every human being, born into this world with
sinful hearts which oppose God and his entire plan of salvation. They were born
with hearts that deserve eternal death for their disobedience.
But at Jesus' word, these hearts of stone
were miraculously transformed into believing hearts, hearts that not only
recognized Jesus as Savior but also placed their hope and confidence in him for
everything.
It's important for us not to skip over
those final words of our text too quickly. It is just as much a miracle that
brought us to faith as well. Luther's Catechism says it so well, "I
believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ,
my Lord, or come to him." It was not on our own that we came to faith, not
just by correctly understanding the Bible's teachings, or by our own decision,
but only by a miracle done at just the right time.
The Catechism continues, "but the
Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel." Just as the miracle of faith in
the disciples' hearts was brought on by Jesus' sign, the revelation of his
glory, that miracle in our own hearts comes through the powerful Word of God.
Through his Word, God creates and strengthens faith in hearts that could not
believe on their own.
So you want to share your faith with an
acquaintance from work or a friend from school who is an unbeliever or a weak
believer. Because you know that God's Word works to create and strengthen
faith, you talk to him about God's Word. You keep talking and talking, but you
never seem to make much progress. You become frustrated because it seems it's
not working. You are tempted to give up.
Or in your own life you'd like to be a
stronger Christian. You'd like to grow
in your faith and your love for God. So you go to church and you study
Scripture, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. That can be frustrating.
You look at your life and see you still give in to the same temptations and you
still have doubts about whether all this is true, anyway.
In both circumstances, you're left
wondering, does it really work? Is the
Bible really the key? It hardly seems fair to invest so much of my time and
energy into using God's Word and get nothing out.
And that is when Jesus reminds us that
this miracle, too, he will work in his time. God's Word is powerful, it always
works, but not always on our own time. Isaiah writes, "As the rain and
snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out
from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I
desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Is. 55:10,11)
God works his miracle of faith at his time and we can rest assured that his
time is the right time. Jesus knows the right time for a miracle.
While we wait for the right time, let us
be like Mary, who continued to trust Jesus' Word and believed that Jesus could
and would act. So don't give up on his
Word. Keep reading it, hearing it, studying it.
Keep on using it with those you come into contact with. Jesus knows
the right time for a miracle.
Timing is everything. But when the timing is not up to us--whether you are watching football or getting stuck in traffic--the wrong timing can be frustrating. Thanks be to God that the timing for our spiritual lives is in his hands. Thank God that he knew the right time to reveal his glory. Thank God that he knows the right time to create and sustain faith. Thank God that he knows the right time for a miracle.