It's John 2, verses 1-11 for a sermon I've entitled, The Wedding at Canaan. I'm actually only going to read the first two verses, and then the rest we'll do as we're going through the text. Here's what it says. On the third day, there was a wedding in Canaan of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. On July 21st, 1981, Prince Charles Manbotten Windsor and Lady Diana Spencer stood before the Archbishop of Canterbury waiting to make their wedding vows. The Archbishop declared, here is the stuff of which fairy tales is made. The prince and the princess on their wedding day. Well, it certainly had elements of a fairy tale. Charles, the 32-year-old heir to the throne of Britain, was marrying a 20-year-old commoner named Diana, who had been working as a preschool teacher at the time. That was the first time in over 500 years that a British monarch had married a commoner. Well, Smithsonian Magazine gives some fast facts about the royal wedding that took place that day. First one is this, is that Charles had actually dated Diana's older sister. It was through her that he met Diana, but they really didn't know each other that well. Do you know they only had met 13 times before the wedding, and most of those times were in public events. They had spent very little time alone. Charles' father, Prince Philip, was pressuring his bachelor son to get married. He told him either marry Diana or cut it off. There were hints even during their engagement that there might be trouble ahead. When a reporter interviewed them and asked if they were in love, Diana replied, of course. Charles simply said, well, whatever love means. The week of the wedding, Diana learned that her husband-to-be had given a gift to Camilla, his ex-lover. Diana reportedly told her sister she wanted to call off the wedding, but they told her it was too late to go back now. Charles confided in one of his friends that he also had misgivings about the upcoming marriage. On the day of the wedding, 3,500 guests, including First Lady Nancy Reagan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly, attended the ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral. Only 120, though, received an invite to the official wedding meal. Here's another one. The wedding was televised and watched by 750 million people around the world. And the cost of the wedding was $48 million in 1981, which would be the equivalent of $156 million adjusted for inflation. Diana's dress with that 25-foot long train cost half a million dollars. It had 10,000 pearls sewn into it. Well, 2,000 years before Charles and Diana tied the knot, a young couple in Canaan joined together in marriage, but here in John's Gospel, he doesn't even tell us their name. We only know that it was a wedding where Jesus performed his first miraculous sign, which gave indication of his true nature as the Son of God. Well, it is to this sign at this wedding in Canaan that we want to turn our attention this morning. So why don't we pray and get into the text. Father God, I do pray for grace and mercy. Help us. to understand and see what's in your word so that we can be transformed by the truth that it contains. So bless us to that end. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you want an outline for this, four things we see in the text. First of all, the setting. The setting, that's verses 1 to 2. Secondly, the crisis. That's verses 3 to 5. Next, the miracle. That's 6 to 8. And finally, the response. And that's 9 to 11. By the way, whenever you plan a wedding, one of the first things you have to decide on is the venue. I mean, where is the ceremony going to be? Where will you hold the reception? Now in our country, for the most part, weddings are held in churches. But I have done wedding ceremonies in fairgrounds, in fields, in restaurants, in hotel banquet rooms. One couple I read about got married up in a hot air balloon. Another exchanged vows while they were skydiving. Well, usually when you go to a wedding, the bride and the groom are the focus. But here, we're not even given their names. In fact, the only person specifically named here is Jesus. Even Mary, who's part of the story, is only referred to as the mother of Jesus. Now normally the focus is on the couple and particularly on the bride, but John is concerned to put the spotlight on Jesus and what he did that day. And so we're told again in 1-2 that on the third day there was a wedding in Canaan of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Both Jesus and his disciples were invited. Now Canaan was a small town about four miles from Nazareth. The church father, Jerome, lived about 300 years after Jesus. He was born in Dalmatia, what is modern-day Slovenia. By the way, that's where Melania Trump is from. For a number of years, he actually lived in Palestine, and he said from Nazareth, you could see the town of Cana. But why was Jesus invited? Did he know the bride and groom? Were they relatives of his? Family and friends? There must have been some kind of connection, because Mary seems to be the one who was involved in planning this wedding celebration. You know, a lot of times in America, a couple gets married, they'll hire what's called a wedding coordinator. That's the person who helps the bride to organize the ceremony. I have a sister-in-law who does that. Maybe Mary was acting in that capacity. Now, we don't know much about this particular wedding, but we do know something from the rabbis about wedding customs in the day. The bride and the groom were betrothed to each other formally. That's somewhat like our engagement, but it's more binding. But a year later, the couple came together again for their marriage pledge in another ceremony. The weddings were held on Wednesday if the bride was a virgin, and it was held on Thursday if she was a widow remarrying. They would generally hold them at night, and it would start with the groom and his best men going through the town over to the house of the wife-to-be. You've seen that in the Fiddler on the Roof one, remember, when they're carrying the candles? Or think about Jesus when he told the parable of the ten virgins. Remember, they were all waiting for the bridegroom to come. All ten of them fell asleep and five of them weren't ready. And because of that, they weren't allowed to go to the wedding banquet. Some commentators argue that the reason they ran out of wine was because Jesus and his disciples were there and they didn't have enough because of that. But they were actually told in the text that both he and his disciples were invited. By the way, I've known people who show up for weddings that they were never invited to. That's a bit presumptuous. But if you are invited to a wedding, you really should go. If they thought you were important enough to invite you, you ought to think they're important enough to attend. Now, in attending this wedding, Jesus was not only honoring this particular couple, but also the very institution of marriage. Marriage was instituted by God and to be held in honor and esteem by all people. What they call same-sex marriage is not really a marriage, it's a mirage. Marriage by definition is the covenantal union with God of a man and a woman. You know, it's kind of like when they talk about your gender assigned at birth. Well, who assigned it? It was God. It's God who defines who and what we are, not we ourselves. I think the other thing that's revealed in Jesus attending this wedding celebration was that he was no ascetic. Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines asceticism as, quote, But according to the Bible, what we're supposed to abstain from is sin. Not the innocent pleasures and delights of this world that God has provided for us. I mean, Luther tried to earn his salvation by severe treatment of the body. Long fasts, nights without sleep, shivering in the cold, hoping that somehow he could suppress his sinful desires by harsh treatment of the body. But when he came to see that salvation was not something you earn, but a gift that you receive, By God's grace. Then he understood what Paul was saying in Colossians 3, 20-23 when he says this, If you've died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, meaning the way the world does things, why do you live now in this world submitting yourself to decrees like do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, which all refers to things destined to perish with use in accordance to the commandments and teaching of men? These are matters which, to be sure, have the appearance of wisdom, and self-made religion, and self-abasement, and severe treatment of the body, but they're of no value against fleshly indulgence." In other words, all those strict disciplines do nothing to suppress sin. Well, where did these ideas, and how did these ideas come into the Church, if not from the Scripture? Well, Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 4, 1-3 where he says this, but the Spirit explicitly says, Listen to what they do. Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared by those who believe and know the truth. Jesus would have advised to eat well, enjoy life, knowing that these good gifts are from your Heavenly Father, and so we should thank Him often. And when it comes to your faith, you shouldn't be a dour, sour, sanctimonious killjoy. God gave you life. You should enjoy it. That brings us to our second point, though, the crisis. I read somewhere that the Chinese word or symbol for crisis is made up of two other symbols, one which means danger and the other which means opportunity. Remember Rahm Emanuel, one of President Obama's advisors during the 2009 market crash, said we should never let a crisis go to waste. The government used that crisis as a pretext to expand the power of the Federal Reserve over the banks. Well, here the crisis comes in the form of a social faux pas, which the dictionary defines as a significant or embarrassing error or mistake, a blunder. We see that starting in verse 3. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, there is no wine. Now, that might not seem like a big deal to you, but you have to understand the significance of wine in Jewish culture. The rabbis used to say, without wine, there's no joy. I mean, to be Jewish without wine is like imagining being German without beer. I recently went to a fundraiser for my kids, grandchildren, that is. It's held at a Lutheran school that they attend. It's a conservative Lutheran church. Well, what did they serve in the parking lot that day? Well, German bratwurst, sauerkraut, and beer. Frankie Yankovic sang that song. In heaven there is no beer, that's why we drink it here. When we're all gone from here, all our friends will be drinking all that beer. You can no more have a Jewish wedding without wine than an Irish dinner without potatoes, or a Swedish dinner without lutefisk, or a Norwegian dinner without lefse. Italians without pasta? A Wisconsin potluck without jello and green bean casserole with mushroom soup in it? Inconceivable. Well, let's keep it on weddings. How embarrassed would you be if you put on a wedding and you ran out of food so that some had to go without? You'd never live that embarrassment down. And keep in mind, this was an honor-shame culture. You know, we sing that hymn with the words, I must tell Jesus all my troubles. I cannot bear these burdens alone. Well, Mary didn't know that song, but she must have agreed with the sentiment. I think the commentators are right who suggest that Joseph probably died some number of years before this, and Jesus apparently had taken on the role of the man of the family. Mary was used to going to Jesus when she had problems, and so she informs him of the present crisis. They have no wine. Look what it says in verse 4, though. And Jesus said to her, Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come. Now, meaning his hour to display his full glory, which would come in the crucifixion and the resurrection. How do you, or how did you, address your mom? Did you call her mother? The Brits refer to their mothers as mum. The Irish call them ma'am. By the way, they call their fathers da. My oldest daughter calls her mother mudder. The younger one calls her ma. Jason calls her mom. And Nathan, whenever he speaks to me about his mom, always refers to her as your wife. especially if he's angry with her. Now, on the surface, it appears that he's being rather abrupt and even rude to Mary calling her woman, and I think the commentators are right when they point out that in the Greek language, the word for woman here, gene, doesn't have that harsh implication that it sounds in our language. That's why the NIV translates it, dear woman. D.A. Carson said the closest that we have as an English equivalent in America is probably, ma'am, as it's used in southern states. Or perhaps, lady. He said, but the problem with that is if you've ever been in New York in a cab, and the cab driver's mad at you, and you're a woman, they'll say, lady, I don't have time for this. So it's not a positive there. But while the commentators want to take the edge off of Jesus' words, there seems to be some kind of rebuke here, doesn't there? Woman, what does that have to do with us? My time has not yet come. Do you remember when Jesus was left behind in Jerusalem, when Mary and Joseph went up to one of the celebrations? Eventually, they figured out that he hadn't been with any of them, so they went back. And eventually, they found him in the temple. And Mary rebuked Jesus, saying this, So, son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you. And he said to them, Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I would be in my father's house?" But they didn't understand the statement that he had made to them. Now Jesus was correcting her, in a sense rebuking her, making it clear that his father was God, not Joseph. Well here, Mary approaches Jesus as her son. He is that, but he's also her Lord. And his relationship to her must now be seen in that light. Elizabeth II was the grandmother of Prince William and Harry. They referred to her and called her Granny in private, but I'll bet when others were present, they always referred to her as the Queen. The Catholic Church is wrong when it teaches that Mary has some kind of inside track in getting requests fulfilled by her son. Instead, she had to approach him like the rest of us, like a sinner saved by grace. And I think that Jesus is giving her a gentle rebuke, and evidently she took that rebuke because she didn't storm off in a huff. Instead, we read in verse 5, his mother said to the servants, whatever he tells you to do, do it. Do you know this is the only command that Mary ever gives in the Bible? She doesn't say, praise me, worship me, sing hymns to me. She points others to Jesus and says, whatever he tells you to do, do it. D. A. Carson put it this way. In verse 3, Mary approaches Jesus as his mother and is reproached. In verse 5, she responds as a believer and her faith is honored. And we see that in the next section, the miracle. It says in verse 6, Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing 20 to 30 gallons each. Jesus said to them, Fill the water pots. So they filled them to the brim. In a lot of religions, you have the idea of ritual purification. One of the restaurants that Suzanne and I like to eat at in Minneapolis is Marhaba. It's owned by an Egyptian man, but most of their customers are Somalis. When Suzanne and I are there, we're usually the only white people in the restaurant. A good portion of the customers are Muslims, and so when they come in, a lot of them will go downstairs into the bathroom and wash their feet before they eat. It's part of their religion. Well, Jews, and especially the Pharisees, were careful to wash themselves before they went into a building. It was symbolic of washing off the contamination of sin in contact with this world, especially from the pagan Gentile world. And so John estimates that these water pots held between 20 or 30 gallons, so the total amount would be between 150 and 180 gallons. Jesus told the servants to make sure that each was filled with water all the way to the brim. And then it says in verse 8, And he said to them, Draw out some of the water and take it to the headwaiter. So they took it to him. Now commentators get hung up on exactly when this miracle of turning the water into wine took place. Was it as they were filling the pots? Was it as the servants were drawing it out? Was it as they were carrying it to the headwaiter? Who knows? It seems reasonable that all the water in the pots became wine. I mean, the goal was to supply enough wine for the celebration. So he would have bought 180 gallons. Now that's certainly plenty. And some would have been left over, perhaps sold for profit. And by the way, what a nice wedding gift from Jesus, huh? He not only saved the day, but he went beyond what they needed. To put it in the words of Paul, and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in the glory of Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now think about it. God can provide man in the desert. water from a rock, meat and bread from ravens, and wine at a wedding. For out of his infinite riches in Jesus, he giveth and giveth and giveth again." And as to how he changed the water into wine, I like the way one person said it. He said, when Jesus gazed upon the water, the water looked up at its creator and blushed. That brings us to our last point, though, the response. I want you to note three responses to this miracle. Two are found in the text, and one is found in commentators who speak on this text. Let's take that last one first. There are some churches where you cannot be a member unless you pledge to abstain from all use of alcohol. They rightly point out that the Bible has many warnings against drunkenness. As a matter of fact, in 1 Corinthians 6, it says drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. You can no more go to heaven as a practicing alcoholic than you can go to heaven as a practicing adulterer or thief. As Paul tells us in Romans 6.14, sin shall not be a master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. So the battle against any particular sin may be long and hard, but the victory is guaranteed because the believer has the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. That's why we sing songs like, He breaks the power of cancelled sin. He sets the captives free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood avails for me. Now, I myself don't drink alcohol, but as a pastor, I can't forbid you to drink. Jesus drank wine. Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent ailments. And as to the assertion that it was actually grape juice rather than wine, unrefrigerated grape juice ferments rather quickly. This was not non-alcoholic wine. On the other hand, they tended to mix their wine with water, so it was much weaker than what we have today. Well, the first response to that was in the text. I want you to see it was in verse 9. It says, when the head waiter tasted the water, which had become wine, and did not know from where it was, But the servants who had drawn it knew where the water was from, or where it was from. The head waiter called the bridegroom and said, you know, every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then they serve the poor wine. But you've kept the good wine until now. Now, I never have been a wine drinker. I know very little about wines. But I do know the difference between red wine and white wine. In red wine, you're supposed to serve with beef and lamb. In white wine, you're supposed to serve with cheese and pasta and seafood. There are sweet wines and dry wines, but I don't know the difference between a Bordeaux, a Chardonnay, and a Sinfidel. I can't even pronounce that. Sin-fen-del. When I thought about that, I thought about, is that the drink that infidels drink? Infidel, Sinfidel, but I don't think that's it. On the other hand, champagne has bubbles in it. The price of wines can vary greatly. If you get the kind that comes in a box as a screw-up top, it's not going to be very expensive. On the other hand, according to the Wealthy Gorilla website, some bottles have gone for thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Here are just a couple of their top 10 most expensive bottles of wine. A bottle of Chateau Lafite, 1787, sold for $156,000. It had the initials on the bottom, TJ, which they believe is for Thomas Jefferson. Or how about a bottle of Chateau Margaux? At one time, you could have purchased one for about $500,000, but now you can't get it for any amount of money because they were having a special wine display at a Four Seasons Hotel, and one of the waiters knocked it over and broke it. I'll bet they're still deducting money out of his paycheck. Or how about the Shipwreck Heidsieck, 1907. $275,000 for a bottle of wine seems ridiculous. However, this wine is very unique and has an exciting story that they say justifies the price. In 1916, a ship carrying the wine was torpedoed by a German submarine in the First World War, causing it to sink to the bottom of the ocean where it sat for 80 years until 1997, when they recovered 2,000 bottles. Now generally, the better the wine, the more you have to pay for it. Well here, the wine was provided for free, and the head waiter noted that this wedding, things were somewhat different. To paraphrase him, he said this, every other wedding banquet I've catered, the best wine is always served first, and then later, after everyone's feeling pretty good, they bring out the cheap stuff. They stopped popping the corks and started unscrewing the caps. But, wow, this wine is great. You saved the best for last. Oh, well done. Hey, folks, please come up and try this new wine that we're serving here. It's wonderful. By the way, if they had bottled some of that and saved it, what do you think it would go for now, 2,000 years later? Well, the head waiter saw the results of the miracle, but he didn't know that it was a miracle. The servants knew that it was a miracle, but they didn't understand that it was a sign. But the disciples did. Look what it says in verse 11. This beginning of His signs, Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. What's a sign? According to the Oxford Dictionary, a sign is a notice that is publicly displayed giving information or instruction in written or symbolic form. So a sign along the highway, right before an exit, you'll have a picture and perhaps a name of various restaurants and gas stations telling you to go either left or right. Well here, Jesus' miraculous changing of the water into wine was to direct us not to a place, but to a person. To Jesus as he displayed his glory so that you might believe in him. What's the significance of this sign? I mean, how does it reveal Jesus' glory? Let me give you three ways. First of all, it shows Jesus' power over the physical realm. I mean, we're already told in John chapter 1 that all things came into being through Him, meaning Jesus, and apart from Him, nothing has come into being that has come into being. He's the one who created water in the first place, and He has the power to recreate it into wine. And you need that power in your life as well. Here's the second thing, though. It also shows His glory as the all-sufficient provider. I mean, this newly married couple not only needed wine for that moment, but they also need to be spared the shame and embarrassment of running out of wine at the banquet. Now, Jesus can provide what you need in your life at this moment, but more importantly, He can remove your shame and guilt from sin. We all need Jesus' help because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Here's the third thing, though. There's something significant that we're told in the text. John informed us that the water was in stone jars. The ones that he turned into wine were used for ritual purification by the Jews. But think about it. Can you get rid of your sins by washing the outside? External cleansing? No, we need a cleansing on the inside. Paul tells us in Titus 3, 5-7, He saved us, not on the basis of the deeds that we've done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We sing that song, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Do you remember in chapter 1, where John contrasted Jesus with Moses? He said the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth were realized, or actualized, through Jesus Christ. Has that grace and truth, which was realized by Jesus, been actualized? in your life? Have you believed the truth? I don't mean do you just agree with it in your head, but has that become life-transforming truth for you? Have you received His grace? If so, rejoice in it. And if not, why don't you receive it today? It's offered freely to those who would take it by faith. Charles and Diana, they didn't live happily ever after. A fairytale ended in tragedy. The marriage broke down as Charles continued his affair with Camilla, and Diana herself entered into an adulterous relationship with a wealthy Egyptian movie maker named Dodi Fayed. He and Diana died in a car crash August 31st, 1997. Sad. Very sad. But your ending could be glad, very glad, if you're to trust Christ today. Don't let another day go by without trusting Jesus. Let's pray. Our Father in God, it really is true that the whole of the book of John is designed for that one end, to testify to the truth, that we might believe the truth and find eternal life as a result. There's plenty of people who sit in churches who agree with the facts. They nod their head. They wouldn't discount it, but neither have they built their life upon it. Neither have they given their souls to Christ. Father, we pray for each one here, those who know you and those who don't, that we turn to Jesus and find the eternal life that he promises, along with all the joy that he gives. Because our lives are not much without him, and our eternity will be lost without him. So bless us to that end, for we ask now in Jesus' name. Amen.