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May 10, 2020

Jesus is God's Answer to Our Disappointment

Passage: John 2:1-11

Preacher: Tim Badal

Series:Hit Reset

Detail:

Please turn to the Gospel of John as we kick off a brand new series that we’ve entitled, “Hit Reset: Seeing our dead ends as divine opportunities.” Now let’s be honest. These last days haven’t been easy. If we’re really honest, we realize we have hit a lot of dead ends. We’ve had crazy disappointments. Things we were looking forward to have been set aside because of this virus and the ripple effects it has caused.

Your campus pastors want to give you hope in the middle of what can sometimes seem like hopeless days. And there’s no better place to turn that to the Gospels, where Jesus took the dead ends in people’s lives and miraculously turned them into divine opportunities.

There are seven miracles listed in John’s Gospel and they are some of the greatest ones He performed. Through them we can see that in fact Jesus can also turn our dead ends into divine opportunities. No matter how difficult life may be—or even how bad things might still get—you and I have hope because as followers of Christ, we know the answer and antidote: Jesus Christ Himself. If we will hope and trust in Him, and if we can focus on Him instead of our circumstances, we too might see miracles, not only in our lives, but in the lives of those around us as well.

Over the next two months, we’re going to see how Jesus was able to make things better and how He is God’s answer to our doubts, disappointments, despair, darkness and even to our death. We’ll do this by looking at each of these miracles and applying it not only to the lives of those who were first impacted by them, but also to our own lives as well.

We must recognize the many perspectives on miracles.

As soon as we start talking about miracles, all kinds of alarms go off in people’s heads. There are many perspectives on how miracles should be viewed. Are they valid? Are they for today? So before we get to the text this morning, we’re going to compare what we might think about miracles with what God’s Word says we should believe about them.

Turning the common into the miraculous

Often the term “miracle” is applied to the idea of turning the common into the miraculous. We might say when a baby is born, “I saw a miracle!” We might talk about a miracle that takes place at the hands of a surgeon. Sports fans do this all the time when they see a team come back in what seems to be a miraculous way. There is probably no better example of this than what happened in the 1980 Olympics when the U.S.A. hockey team, who were the underdogs, faced the superior team from the U.S.S.R. It was in the last moments of that gold medal game when the U.S. was about to win and Al Michaels, the sportscaster, said, “Do you believe in miracles?”

Video: “Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? Yes! Unbelievable!” It was then forever termed “The Miracle on Ice.”

Let’s be honest. Whether it’s the birth of a baby, the work of a surgeon or a great sports comeback, all of those are common. They’re not actually miracles.

Conjuring up something from nothing

The second way we think about miracles is when something is conjured up out of nothing. We do this when we see a cloud in the sky that looks like Jesus. We might say, “The Lord miraculously spoke to me.” Then there are crazy examples like when someone has seen the face of Jesus in a piece of burned toast or a pat of butter.

An example of this happened in 2005 really close to where we live. In the city of Chicago, on the Kennedy Expressway, a saltwater stain had made what people believed was a miraculous sign. For those who closed one eye, bounced on one foot and looked really closely, they could see the virgin Mary in that water stain. People began to flock to what would be called “Our Lady of the Underpass.” There were vigils and a sacred shrine built there.

So you see, we can make miracles out of nothing.

Confining miracles to a certain time or place

Another perspective on miracles is that we can confine them to a certain place or time. This is where many Bible-believing Christians land. They read the Old Testament and New Testament and think, “Yes, God was in the miracle business back then. But at some point after the time of the apostles, God retired His miracle business.” Or maybe we think God only does miracles now in far flung places in the world, for missionaries, but He won’t do them for us.

Yet the Bible is clear that our God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The God Who performed miracles in Bible times is the same God I believe with all my heart is doing biblical miracles today. We need to be careful not to put Him in a box and say, “God, You can’t work that way.” We must not confine Him to something in the past.

Being cynical because of the abuses

Another thing we do is become cynical of miracles because of the many abuses that exist. Let’s be honest. When we hear of someone doing a miracle, right away we think, “No. There’s no way that was real.” What comes to mind are the snake oil salesmen type slimy preachers who slap one person on the forehead and another falls down. Then they yell, “They’re healed and they’re forever changed.” But they know it’s actually a bunch of smoke and mirrors. That leads us to think that any miracle is fraudulent and we become cynical.

Claiming them and celebrating God for them

But the Bible makes it clear that we should believe in miracles and we should trust in Jesus. That perspective is the best one to have regarding the subject of the miraculous. We need to claim miracles for being the miracles they are and realize they’re happening today. Yet when we do believe in miracles, we run the risk of focusing on the miracle rather than the One Who accomplishes it. Miracles have been defined as any beneficial event that is physically impossible or impossible to confirm by nature. Theology professor Wayne Grudem puts it this way: “A miracle is a less-common kind of God’s activity in which He arouses people’s awe and wonder and bears witness to Himself.”

So why do we make much of miracles? Because it causes us to make even more of the One Who performs them. Miracles are an opportunity for God to reveal His glory in a special way. As followers of Jesus Christ, we should be excitedly anticipating those moments when they come.

We see miracles in Jesus’ life and ministry. The reason John records these miracles is so we will claim miracles for what they are and we will give glory to the One Who performs them. In fact, at the end of his Gospel, John said in John 20:30, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.” We only have seven miracles in the book of John, but they’re not the only ones He did. John went on to say in John 21:25, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” A s he said in John 20:31, “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”  Jesus is the source of all that is miraculous.

We must remember a certain wedding party.

This brings us to John 2, where we read the story of Jesus’ first miracle. If you ever see the claim on the History Channel or the Discovery Channel that Jesus was making birds out of mud pies when He was a child or that He was striking down children so He could resurrect them, those come from places outside of the Scripture. John is clear. In John 2:11 he tells us this was the first miracle Jesus performed. We might have expected it to take place in front of kings and rulers. Instead, Jesus performed His first miracle at a wedding in a country town. This is how it went:

Movie clip: Two days later, there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine had given out, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They are out of wine.” “Madam, what do I have to do with this? My time has not yet come.” “Do whatever He tells you.”

The Jews have rules about ritual washing and for this purpose, six stone water jars were there, each one large enough to hold between 20 and 30 gallons. “Fill these jars with water.” They filled them to the brim. “Now, draw some water out and take it to the man in charge of the feast.” They took him the water, which now had turned into wine and he tasted it. He did not know where this wine had come from, but of course the servants who had drawn out the water knew. So he called the bridegroom. “Everyone else serves the best wine first and after the guests have drunk a lot, he serves the ordinary wine. But you have kept the best wine until now.”

Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana, in Galilee. There He revealed His glory and His disciples believed in Him. After this, Jesus and His mother, brothers and disciples went to Capernaum and stayed there a few days.[1]

Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana, in Galilee. There He revealed His glory and His disciples believed in Him. After this, Jesus and His mother, brothers and disciples went to Capernaum and stayed there a few days.

What an amazing scene—a wedding! It’s what we learn from this wedding that will help us see the glory and power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It will also give us hope amidst all our disappointments and struggles today. So let’s remember a certain wedding party.

I’m going to review what’s going on in this passage. First, we’re told the setting: a wedding in Cana. This was a small community, probably similar to the area where our Indian Creek campus is in the town of Shabbona. It’s not much different from the town of Hinckley where I live. It’s not well known. If you blink, you’ve gone right through it. Cana was about eight miles from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, so it was no wonder Jesus would know someone from there.

Right away, John tells us what the purpose of the party was. It was a wedding. But you need to get the traditional American wedding out of your mind. For us, a wedding might take place on a Saturday and last a few hours, then everyone goes home. Also forget the idea that the father of the bride is footing the bill.

In Middle Eastern weddings, it’s all different. They last for days, not hours. Most likely this wedding started on a Wednesday to finish up on Friday night—a three-day affair. Before the wedding, the groom would betroth himself to his future bride, then would build their future home. He would also finalize his career and save up enough money to support his new wife. The groom was also responsible for paying for the wedding and everything needed for the festivities that would take place during those days. When he had completed all these things, he would take an entourage of his people and go get his bride.

Now, if you’re a Bible student, you may be thinking, “I’ve heard this before.” Yes, you have. In John 14, Jesus—Who is the ultimate Bridegroom—tells His disciples, who were part of His bride, “I’m going to leave and I’m going to prepare a place for you. When it’s ready, I’m going to come back.” The Bible tells us He won’t come alone, but He will have an entourage of angels to take His bride to be with Him forever. So the marriage celebration is an analogy of what will take place with Jesus and the church in His second coming.

After the groom has finished his preparations and gone to get his bride, their families and friends gather for the three-day feast and celebration. There will be revelry, dancing, gifts and joy. But then, as we saw, a problem arose in this Cana wedding. As Mary told Jesus, they had run out of wine. That wouldn’t be a problem if only the groom and bride were involved in the ceremony, but there were many other family members and friends who were also there. We aren’t told what Mary’s connection to these people was, but it seems she held a special position. Some scholars believe she was either a close friend or perhaps even a relative; it was maybe even another one of her sons. There is, of course, no mention of Joseph, so it’s generally assumed that by this time he had died. He was probably much older than Mary when they themselves were married.

At this point, Jesus was about 30 years old and was about to embark on His three-year ministry. He was accompanied by maybe five or six of the disciples He had recently called to follow Him. Another person on the scene was a caterer, the head food master. There was also the wait staff. Yet even though everything was probably planned to go perfectly, something went wrong. Isn’t that true with our weddings as well?

As a preacher and also as a caterer, let me just tell any future groom or bride listening to this: no wedding comes off just right. There are always problems. I’ve seen guys pass out. I myself literally left the stage after performing a wedding to head to the hospital, because I had gotten sick. As a caterer, we’ve run out of food. All kinds of situations arise. So my advice to you is this: when you plan your wedding, plan it with an open hand. What can go wrong, my friends, will go wrong.

For Mary, the problem was that they had run out of wine.

Right away you might think, “Well, go get some. Go to the local Aldi or Jewel and get some wine. Fix the problem.” As a caterer, one of the things I tell my employees is this, “When you head out for an event, always know where you can go if an emergency comes up.”

Well, in first-century Palestine, there were no Binny’s Beverage Depots. They had no ability to purchase more wine. And let’s be honest—this problem actually created a bigger problem. To run out of provisions during the celebration would say that the groom was ill-prepared, not only to take care of a party, but also to take care of his bride. It would be a source of shame and could draw scorn from the community. But even more important than that, it was a situation that could result in a lawsuit. This groom ran the risk, not only that his future in-laws might sue him, but even worse, it could represent breaking the marital contract and thus would be grounds for divorce. It was a big deal. That’s why Mary went to the one Person she knew would have an answer.

I’m not sure, but I’m wondering if she approached Him somewhat coyly: “Jesus, You and I both know Who You are. I’m in on Your secret. I knew it from the beginning. I know how You were born. I remember how Elizabeth responded when I was pregnant. I remember how the shepherds and the wise men responded back then. I’ve watched You grow up and I know You’re the Son of God. So since that’s Who You are, I know You can do something about this problem.”

Jesus replied, “Woman,” which was a respectful term, but one that distanced Him a little from His mother. “Woman, you should know I’m about My Father’s business. My hour has not yet come.” This pointed to a scheduled unveiling of what He was to do, according to His Father’s will.

This wasn’t the only time Jesus had said this to His mother. At one point years earlier, Mary had lost Jesus after a trip to Jerusalem. For several days they didn’t know where He was. Then when they found Him, He told them, “You should have known I would be in My Father’s house, doing My Father’s business” (Luke 2:41-52).

Mary then told the waiters, “Do what He says.” Jesus had them fill large jars and without any sleight of hand, He changed the water into wine. In doing this, He saved the day. This was the first of many miracles, both recorded and unrecorded, that would point the world to Him in all His glory.

Once we’ve remembered this amazing event, what are we to do with it? The answer is there are principles within this story that we need to apply to our own lives. We need to rehearse these things over and over and over again. We need to remember them because we live in a world of disappointment. I’m talking to you right now. I know where you’re sitting today, you’re in a place of disappointment and who can blame you? Our lives have been thrown the biggest of all curve balls or so it would seem. There have been a lot of places where we’ve been disappointed. It seems as though every day a new one shows up. But before I get to these principles, can I just tell you that what Jesus did was not out of necessity. The groom wasn’t disabled and needing to be made whole. The groom wasn’t dying of some debilitating disease and needing to be raised up—or even brought back to life. What the groom had was a disappointment, an embarrassment, and Jesus used His miraculous power to perform a miracle for him. So let’s remember that Jesus uniquely cares about the smaller things in our lives. They may be big to us, but let’s be honest—running out of wine is not a celestial nightmare. But in this we see how Jesus uniquely cares about what concerns us. That groom was embarrassed. He wanted to a dig hole and climb into it, never to be seen again. But Jesus had love and compassion for him. The same compassion Jesus had for that man He also has for you and me.

One of the disciples who was present was Peter, who would later write a couple letters that are found in Scripture. In his first letter he wrote, “Listen, church. Throw all of your anxieties and disappointments and concerns on Jesus because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Are you disappointed that there will be no graduation? Throw that on Jesus. Are you concerned about your finances? Throw that on Jesus. Are you anxious about what it will mean for your family? Give it to Jesus.

Don’t let the devil tell you God is so big He doesn’t care. God cared enough about a guy running out of wine at a party to do something about it and He cares about the daily events in our lives as well. He wants to be our answer.

We must rehearse seven principles.

So let’s look quickly at seven principles which I think will show us that Jesus is God’s answer to the problems and disappointments we’re facing today. They come right out of the text.

When trouble comes, find Jesus first!

They ran out of wine. I know very intimately what it is like behind closed doors when the caterer runs out of something. I can tell you, it’s not a pretty sight. No doubt there was all kinds of mayhem and bedlam going on behind the doors. “We’re out of wine! Who forgot to bring it? Who didn’t load it in the van?” I’m sure there was a lot of finger pointing. And then, “Who’s going to tell the customer?”

Somehow Mary got word of the problem and it seems that she quietly went over to Jesus to talk to Him about it. In those moments, we need to be like Mary. When troubles or disappointments come, we go home and yell at everybody closest to us. We kick the dog. We bellyache and moan and groan about how bad our lives are. We go on social media and blame everyone else. But as Christ followers, what we’re called to do is to find Jesus. Why would we go looking for Jesus and why did Mary do that? Mary went to Jesus because she knew He was bigger than the problem.

Can I tell you something? The reason why you and I don’t go to Jesus first is because we think our problems are bigger than He is. We need to recognize that Jesus is our answer. Instead of trying to fix things ourselves—going to our credit cards or to other people or to ourselves—we need to go to Him. He has the answer. When trouble comes, find Jesus first.

Though life seems chaotic, God is in control!

There’s an exchange between Mary and Jesus in this story in which Jesus said some cryptic things. “My hour has not yet come.” It’s a theme He would repeat again and again in the Gospel of John. What it means is that Jesus was on God’s timetable. He wasn’t going to be swayed by the whims of others, not even His own mother. This is important. He was in the middle of a chaotic situation, but He was not worried. He didn’t put His hands up and say, “Oh my, what are we going to do?” He didn’t point a finger and say, “Who messed up?”

Listen to me. The situation we’re in right now has not caught Jesus by surprise. It’s part of God’s plan. Nothing can thwart His plan—for that groom, or for you and me. So we can take heart. Our God is in control. In the middle of all the mayhem around us, we can be assured that Jesus knows about every circumstance and has everything under His rule. This should cause us to take heart.

When Jesus speaks, do what He says!

This leads to the next point. If Jesus is the answer and if He has control of the situation, then surely when He speaks, we need to do what He says. Mary had full confidence in Him. She told the caterers, “Whatever He tells you to do, do it. Follow His lead.” She had no idea what He would say.

We need to realize, however, that following Jesus can be more difficult than we might think. We read in our story that they were out of wine. Jesus probably went behind the curtain where the caterers were waiting and where there was probably bedlam going on. He said, “Hey guys, this is what I want you to do. See these six jars?” We’re told they each held between 20 and 30 gallons. “I want you to fill them with water.”

Put yourself in the caterers’ shoes. “You want us to do what? Wait a minute. This guy’s crazy. We’ve got a wine shortage and He’s having us fill jars with water. This is foolish. It’s futile.” Can I tell you Christ follower, very clearly today, sometimes when God commands us to do something, it will seem foolish and futile. But faith tells us that although we can’t see it with our own eyes, we need to believe and obey.

This is why caterers are better than anyone else. This is why you want to invite caterers to every function you have. They’re faith-filled people! Those caterers did what Jesus told them to do. It would have taken time to fill up 180 gallons of water, but they did it. Then Jesus said, “Now, dip into that water and take it to the head caterer.” That’s what they did and it was there that the miracle was revealed.

Those caterers were part of something awesome, something miraculous, because they obeyed.

Brothers and sisters, how much are we missing the miraculous? How much are we missing God move in big ways in our lives because we choose to do things our own way instead of doing what Jesus tells us to do?

When you run out, Jesus wants to overwhelm you with good!

Our next principle is that when you run out, Jesus wants to overwhelm you—and He will overwhelm you. This is where the caterer in me loves this story. John tells us there was no more wine. Zilch, nada, nothing. Jesus told the men to fill six jars, each of which held 20 to 30 gallons of water. Let’s say each one held 25 gallons. Right away, my portion control instincts have me thinking, “Okay. Each gallon serves 16 eight-ounce cups.” Jesus just changed 2,400 eight-ounce glasses of water into wine. Now, that’s quite a party! Amen? That’s crazy. That’s a lot of wine. Can I just say there is no way that mid-way through the party they’re going to drink 2,400 eight-ounce glasses of wine?

So what does this teach us? There was some left over.

This wasn’t the only time Jesus performed a miracle that included leftovers. When He does a miracle, He doesn’t give you just enough; He gives you more than enough. In the 23rd Psalm we’re told, “My cup overflows.” God is a God of mercy and grace. This should tell us that when Jesus does something big in our lives, He’s going to leave us a carry-out bag. He’s going to give us something extra. Don’t miss this. By turning that much water into wine, Jesus gave the groom and the bride the ability to bless others. They gave away the wine. And remember, it was the best wine ever made. No one had ever made better wine, because the Creator of grapes was able to make wine that was out of this world. These people got to share it with others.

When God blesses you—and He blesses us every day—are you sharing it with others or are you getting drunk on it by yourself? God wants to overwhelm us, so we can be a blessing to others.

Stay focused on Jesus and your faith will grow!

We also need to stay focused on Jesus, because when we do our faith will grow. Let’s look at the disciples who had just begun following Jesus. They were watching as this whole event took place. That was all they knew at the party. They saw water go into the jars and wine come out. We read in John 2:11 that they believed in Him. Nobody else believed because everyone else was focused on the party. But the disciples were focused on Jesus.

When our eyes are on our problems or the circumstances of our lives and not on Jesus, all we’ll know is that someone brought out some new wine and it tasted really good. But when our eyes are on Jesus, we will see miracles take place and our faith will grow. So let me ask is your attention on the circumstances of COVID or are you looking to Jesus, waiting to see how He will take the dead-end of this time and turn it into a divine opportunity? When we see Him working, we will believe in greater and deeper ways.

Bad things will happen, but the best is yet to come!

When the head caterer drank the wine, notice how he spoke to the groom. Remember, the groom was being seen as the worst provider. But now he was acknowledged to be the best ever. As the head caterer said, he saved the best for last. That would never have happened unless the wine had first run out.

I am very aware that across our five campuses, something is true for all of us: this is a hard time. These are not easy days. But let me remind you that it is in the seasons when I run out that God shows me the best is yet to come. Some of the worst times of my life have been the beginning of the greatest seasons of my life. What had become a bad moment for that groom turned out to be what was probably the high point of his life. He would tell his grandchildren about that day, even if he never knew what actually transpired. All he knew is something incredible had happened.

Listen, follower of Christ. No matter how challenging this world is, no matter how difficult our struggles become, Jesus has promised that the best is yet to come. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, “No eye has seen and no ear has heard what God has prepared for His people.” That is our hope and confidence; that is what makes times like these we’re living in right now become light and momentary trials (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). The best is coming.

In all moments of life, invite Jesus in!

How do we tie this all together? What do we need to do to claim this as our own? One of the most important details in this story that we might run right by is that this miracle hinged on four words in verse two: “Jesus was also invited…”  Let’s stop and recognize that the best thing that groom ever did in his life was not picking out his bride, it was not building a wonderful house, it was not choosing the right caterer or the best band or the nicest ring for the bride. The best decision that groom ever made was to invite Jesus to his wedding.

There’s a principle for us in this. We too need to invite Jesus into all the moments of our lives, not just in the good times, but also in the bad times. And quite frankly, I’m usually going to invite Jesus into my life when I’m really in trouble. This groom had no idea he would need Jesus, but he invited Him anyway.

Do you want an answer to your disappointment? Do you want hope amidst hopeless times? Then invite Jesus into your life. Invite Him into every moment. When you invite Him in, the Bible says He will enter in and will have fellowship with you. If you’ve never done that, today is the day. Jesus wants to come into your life. Contact us and we’ll help you understand what it means to invite Jesus into your life.

This word isn’t just for those who may be considering Jesus for the first time; it’s true for all of us. We need to invite Jesus into our lives and into our disappointments. In John 2, at a wedding in a small town called Cana, we learned a truth we need today: Jesus is the answer to our disappointments.

 

[1] https://www.jesusfilm.org/watch.html

Village Bible Church  |  847 North State Route 47, Sugar Grove, IL 60554  |  (630) 466-7198  |  www.villagebible.church/sugar-grove

All Scriptures quoted directly from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

Note: This transcription has been provided by Sermon Transcribers (www.sermontranscribers.com).