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Jan 26, 2025

Jesus: The Ultimate Wedding Guest | Come and See

Jesus: The Ultimate Wedding Guest | Come and See

Passage: John 2:1-10

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Come and See

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: gospel of john, christian community, christian living, spiritual growth, christian faith, following jesus, spiritual transformation, abundant life, life change, kingdom living, sunday message, divine power, third day, wedding at cana, water to wine, divine intervention, first miracle, life transformation, life application, obedience to christ, ordinary to extraordinary, bible teaching, divine nature, abundant provision, jesus' glory, divine abundance, divine invitation, mary and jesus, biblical teaching, jesus transforms, trust in jesus, complete obedience, jesus' character, biblical stories, divine provision, divine timing, come and see series, john chapter 2, jesus at parties, jewish wedding customs, divine transformation, best is yet to come, reckless faith, jesus saves the day, stone water jars, jewish purification, molecular change, party guest jesus, matt sermon, hospitality culture, wedding crisis, disciples believed, celebration wine, divine solutions, immediate needs, 180 gallons, wedding miracle

Discover Jesus as the Ultimate Wedding Guest in this powerful message from John 2. Learn how Jesus' first miracle at the Wedding of Cana reveals His character and abundance. When we invite Jesus to our "party" and follow His leading, He transforms our ordinary into extraordinary and saves the best for those who trust Him.

A big old shout-out to Chip last week for bringing the word on our behalf. If you have a copy of scripture this morning after a little brief sick week last week, join me back in John chapter two. We track with the Apostle John in this series where we're walking with him as he shows us who Jesus is and as he shows us a glimpse into his character and his love, and his mercy and his grace, and how Jesus wants us to walk with him.

Now, here's what I want to say about today's message. We're going to walk through one of the coolest miracles in all the Bible. And John chapter two is the start. The Wedding Miracle is Jesus’s first miracle, where he steps in and makes wine out of water. It gives us a glimpse once again into Jesus's character and into who Jesus is. Weddings are a big deal. Can I get an amen? As a pastor, I've been a part of a lot of weddings, and when I say a lot, I don't even know how many at this point. One personally, but a lot as a pastor, you know what I'm saying. Here's what I know: there's always, I don't care who you are, always a maximum level of stress. There's always a maximum level of personality. There's always something that comes out in people that you have never seen before in a wedding. There's always opinions, pressure, and a to-do list a mile long. And the same was true during Jesus's day.

But weddings looked a little different during Jesus's day. In fact, most of them were arranged. In other words, your parents got together and made a good decision for you. They had a betrothal process as part of the wedding. In other words, there was a year-long process that you stepped into the wedding. The couple would go to the synagogue at the beginning of this betrothal process, they would make their vows at the synagogue, and the lady would go home to her family. The guy would go back to his family and begin to build their home on the family's compound. That's how it worked. And then when the time was right, when the house was built and the preparations were made, when the money was saved, only then would the groom get his guys together. They would go all the way to the lady's house, grab her up (in a good way, of course), and bring her back to his home for the wedding. All the while, his bride and the parents of that groom would be making the rest of the preparations, going through the list, making sure all was well. This was in a culture where hospitality meant everything. Now, for our culture, being in the South, hospitality is a big deal. We have lost it a little bit along the way. That's a whole other message, right? But in their day, hospitality meant everything. And not to be a good host or not to be a hospitable person was a huge moment of disrespect. And you would never live it down.

In other words, the pressure of a wedding was a lot higher than it is today. So in today's text, we're jumping into a wedding celebration that had a really big problem, and one of the people on the guest list is Jesus. And like Jesus does, so often, Jesus is there to save the day. Today is way more than just an event. It really points to who Jesus is. And what John wants us to know is the more we understand Jesus, the more we understand that he wants to step into our emergency wedding needs. He wants to step into our issues. He wants to step into our problems.

And the more we know Jesus, John says, the more we will allow him to do that. I'm incredibly excited about this text because it's really not taught much in the church. It gets a little dicey talking about wine in the church, right? But it has some amazing truths. In John chapter one, Jesus has been declared God. And because he is God, everything else can make sense. He's also been called the Word, the Lamb of God, creator, Messiah, light, King of Israel, one and only, and Son of man. All of that is in chapter one. In other words, he's so much more than a good teacher. He's so much more because he's come to earth as God. Chapter one also showed him calling the first five disciples.

And at the end of chapter one, Jesus refers to himself as the Son of man. You may be confused and say, I thought he was the son of Mary. He is, but he's also the Son of man. They knew exactly what this meant because of the prophecy in Daniel chapter seven. It said the Son of man would come in power and he would come as eternal God of the universe that walked the earth. So when Jesus refers to himself as the Son of man, which happens 83 times in the Gospels I might add, it's his favorite term for himself. Nobody else ever calls him that when he refers to himself as the Son of man. Jesus is planting a pole in the ground saying that I am the one that you have been waiting on for all times, for all places. I'm God. So when Jesus closes chapter one, and he refers to himself as the Son of man, he claims to be all that they had been waiting on. John One is the Christological chapter that describes Jesus.

We get to chapter two which not only describes Jesus, it shows us who Jesus is. At this point, we're already a few days into the wedding. These things could last up to seven days. And the groom's biggest fear is about to happen. So let's look at the text, John 2:1 says, on the third day. Now pause right there. I don't know how many times I've read this and just skipped over it, but how cool is that? Chapter two ends with Jesus proclaiming that he is going to rise on the third day. How cool is that? Another proclamation. This is not just a man, this is the Savior of the universe entering the scene. We serve a third-day resurrected Savior.

On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus's mother said to him, they have no more wine. Woman, why do you involve me? I love that this is the second question Jesus asked. The first one was to the disciples when he asked, what do you want? Now he asks, woman, why me? Jesus replied, my hour has not yet come. Now, so much has been made out of these verses. There doesn't seem to be a lot of endearment in this conversation with Mother Mary. But this is an Aramaic way of saying my lady, or in the South it would be, ma'am. Don't think of it as derogatory. It's like me being at your house one day and you're like, Hey, we're out of Diet Coke. And I say, what does that have to do with me?

Now, if you're a New Testament person, you know that “my hour has not yet come” is a phrase that Jesus uses often, that the time for him to go to the cross has not yet come. In other words, the time for him to be resurrected and glorified has not yet come. Mary asks Jesus to help. We don't know if this is a distant family member since it's the next little village over from them. We don't know if Mary was in some kind of host role or close friends with the host. But Mary did not want this family to be humiliated and literally cut off from society.

That's really how the Middle Eastern culture worked during this time. If you did not adequately host me, if I came to your home for an event, the law actually said that I could sue you. I'm not talking about you didn't have my favorite drink available. I'm talking about I could take you to court. You could be thrown out of society for not living up to this responsibility. And I love how Mary comes to Jesus and says, these people just need help. They're about to have to call the celebration off. The groom is about to be humiliated and they need help. But Jesus is there.

At some point, Jesus had to have a conversation with the Father. I'm not talking about Joseph. He had already passed away at this point. I'm talking about the Father God. At some point, the Father had given Jesus a message that, yes, you need to act. While your time has not yet come for the cross, your time is now here to show these people. That's what the miracle's about. Jesus has just been baptized. Jesus has just been verified by the Father and the Spirit at the baptism. Jesus has just called these disciples who are now following him. And now it's time for Jesus to show these people, not just tell these people, who he is.

In verse five, his mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. This is the biggest principle that I want to give you this morning. The primary indicator of a true follower of Jesus is simply to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. That's it. This message from Mary has to be the most profound thing that ever came out of this lady's mouth. She is teaching us the foundation of all theology, of all Christianity, of all walking with Jesus.

It’s that we are called to do what Jesus tells us to do. This one phrase could simplify so much of our complicated life. It's not about my preference. It's not about my feeling. It's not about me weighing in with my opinion as a believer in Jesus Christ. I am primarily called to just do what Jesus tells me to do. Listen, that's Christianity 101. What's God's will for my life? I don't know. Just do what Jesus tells you to do. How do I follow Jesus? Just do what Jesus tells you to do. How do I experience Jesus's power? It all works. Just do what Jesus tells you to do. How do I know what Jesus tells me to do? It's in the book.

That's why we talk about Jesus so much because he is the foundation. As a believer, is your primary mentality, Jesus, I will do what you tell me to do. Or do you always have a comeback?

Think about the anticipation in Mary's mind. Jesus is about 30 years old at this point. It's been 30 years since Jesus has been born. 30 years since the angels came to her. 30 years since the shepherds came. She's been living this mundane life with Jesus - other than the fact that he didn't sin. But it's finally time for these people to know what I know. The secret to life is to do what Jesus tells me to do. She had heard about his baptism. She'd heard about the confirmation moment of the Father speaking over him. She knows that his followers are following him. And now she wants other people to know that this is not her kid. This is God.

Verse six says, nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by Jews for ceremonial or purification, washing each holding from 20 to 30 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. So they did. Verse nine, 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 it knew. He called the bridegroom over to the side and said, listen, everybody 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.

I want you to see some commentary from John here. Look at verse 11. Jesus here in Cana of Galilee did the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. Of the 39 miracles, John only covers seven of the miracles of Jesus before the resurrection. John's rationale here is not a tell-all of what Jesus did, because Jesus probably did something every day according to chapter 21, that could have been written in this book.

What John does is way better. He gives us a snapshot through these seven miracles that point to a Who. And it points to What he wants to do in you. In this text, Jesus teaches us six things. Here's the first one: Jesus steps in when it seems like nothing else can help.

That's how Jesus operates. Jesus steps up when the ceremonies or the religious right, had left them empty. I don't want you to miss the fact that Jesus is actually at the party. Jesus wasn't some hermit, off living in a cave isolated away from people who had no friends, who was never at anything. No. You can't read the Gospel of Luke without seeing that Jesus is either going to a party, at a party, or coming home from a party. Jesus liked people, and people liked Jesus. They invited him. He didn't walk around with a scroll yelling at people standing at the top of the steps at the college that you're going to turn or burn. That was not Jesus. If there was a party, he was on the invite list.

When Jesus shows up to this party, it was when the party was about to die. It's about to go from joyful new beginnings to party-ending irresponsibility on behalf of the groom's family. So Jesus looks around and sees these six stone water pots that are used to hold water, but not just any water. When you invited someone into your home, you could help them go through the Jewish rites of cleansing their hands, of washing their feet, of going through the rituals, the purification rituals. That's what these pots were for. They gave a symbol of cleanliness, but they were just dirty water. So the joy is almost gone. And Jesus says that's where I often do my best work. Jesus often steps into situations where it seems all is lost.

What hopeless situation are you walking through in your life right now that you need to invite Jesus into? You've tried everything else. You thought you had everything laid out. It didn't go according to plan. You have nowhere to turn except for Jesus. Jesus steps in when it seems like nothing else can help. That's where he does some of his best work.

Number two, Jesus starts his work often with the very little that we have to offer. No matter how insignificant it seems, Jesus will use whatever it is that we bring to him. As long as it's our best, that's how he works. And many times, Jesus is waiting on us to move, waiting on his children to take that step of faith. It's just six common stone water pots. Everybody had them. Jesus wants to start with the part of us that we have. Jesus has given you something to offer to him. For some of you, he has blessed you with means beyond means. What he's asking of you is your best. Some of you are in a rough spot. What he's asking of you is your best. Jesus starts his work often with very little or with the best that we can offer. Have you ever noticed it's not in the times of success that we grow in our faith the most? A lot of times success can drive us away to make us think that we have it all, that we're more gifted, that we're better than that. In the church world, we would say I'm blessed.

But the story shows us that when this party started to tank, that’s when Jesus could step in. If this party was a success, then Jesus was just another guest. If there was no need for a miracle, we would not have seen the Messiah. Church, that's our lives in a lot of ways. It's in the brokenness that Jesus steps in. If they were not broken, Jesus would not have needed to change anything. So let me ask you, is there a spot in your life where you just need to say, here is all I have, Jesus? He can use you in your success, and he can use you in your struggles as long as we offer it to him.

Number three, Jesus asks for our obedience even when it doesn't make sense. If you follow the story, the servants are the ones asked to fill up the pots. We're not told that anybody else knows what's going on here. In fact, this is a private miracle. It was for Mary, it was for the disciples, and it was for the servants. The master of the ceremony doesn't know. The people don't know. They don't know what's going on yet. They will later, but not right now. The servants and the disciples were being shown a lesson of obedience. It’s now been seared into their soul that it's only through being obedient to Jesus, will he begin to move and do miracles and make us into who we should be.

Look at what Jesus does in verse seven. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. They didn't ask any questions. They didn't have a comeback. They didn't say, Jesus, why does it matter? Everybody's feet have already been washed. No, they obeyed. They not only obeyed, but they recklessly obeyed. I have never paid attention to the language before, but it says, so they filled them to the brim. You could not put any more in them. The servants didn't do the miracle. They don't even have all the info. They don't have a full understanding of what Jesus is going to do right here. But do you know what they did, and what we should do? They trusted. They obeyed.

Is that what your relationship with Jesus looks like? Do you obey even when it doesn't make sense? Some of the craziest things God has ever asked me to do or to offer up have been some of the hugest blessings he has given. He asks, do you trust me? That's faith.

Number four, Jesus adds his extra to our ordinary to make the extraordinary. Jesus can pause the natural order or he can create something out of nothing. He can take the ordinary water right here in this pot, and he can make it into joyful celebration wine.

Another reason that filling the water to the brim is an important piece to note, is that it means Jesus didn't add anything to the water. He changed the nature of the water. He took the ordinary, dirty foot-washing water, and he made it extraordinary. He can radically change your nature as well. That's the point. No matter how broken, no matter how dirty, no matter what your past is, no matter what your water jar looks like, Jesus, when we offer him the ordinary, can make it extraordinary. Jesus wants to transform us. Did you know that you're made up of 60 to 70% water? You're the average water pot. But if you'll step out and if you'll just do what he tells you to do, he can make you extraordinary.

Number five, Jesus meets not only our immediate needs, but Jesus gives abundantly. Think back to the pots for a minute with me. Verse six. Now, there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each holds 20 or 30 gallons. Now, get in your mind. Let's say they're 30 gallons each. If my math is right, that's 180 gallons of wine. That's 900 bottles of wine. That's 4,500 glasses of wine right here in a town that might have had 30 people.

Jesus didn't just bless them for that moment. This is going to last. Jesus doesn't just want to bless us today. He wants to give abundantly. Think about this young family. They have gone from brokenness and being thrown out of society. To now he has set them up with a clean drinking source, with a story to tell, with celebration wine. Their story is: we had nothing, we offered what we had, and that man named Jesus has now given us life.

That's what he wants to do in you and me. Jesus doesn't just want to rescue you and barely get you out of shame. He wants to bless you. He wants to reach in and give you more than you ever thought you could have. In John 10:9, Jesus said, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and go in and out and find pasture. Find pasture means nothing to us, but it means abundance to them. Verse 10: It's the thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus says, I have come that they may have life and what and have it abundantly.

I'm so tired of defeated Christians. Not only of defeated Christians, defeated Christians who have given up and are not giving back to him or offering up to Jesus. Who are not letting Jesus work in their life and not inviting Jesus to the party, and then they get all whiny about how terrible their life is.

Church, he wants to give you life, hope, and joy, but the question is, will we remember that first word we talked about when we started reading? Will we invite Jesus to the party? Or will we continually try to do this thing on our own? Not only will we invite him to the party, but will we recklessly obey Him? Even in the stuff that doesn't make sense.

This is what he's asked of me. John 2:9 says, but you have saved the best until now. Number six, Jesus promises the best is never experienced until he shows up. That's my favorite part of this whole story. They thought they had everything planned. It wasn't until Jesus showed up that the best was able to come.

Have you invited Jesus to the party? Has there been a moment in your life where you've invited Jesus to be your savior, where you've given him your life, and where you've said, Jesus, forgive me. The reason that John gave us this book is so that we could hear this message about Jesus and turn our lives to him.

 

Follow Along with the Message

Jesus, The Ultimate Wedding Guest

 

January 26, 2025

John 2:1–4
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
John 2:5
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

PRINCIPLE: The primary indicator of a true follower of Jesus is they simply do Jesus tells them to do.

John 2:6–10
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9 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 10 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.”
John 2:11
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Jesus:

1. Steps in when it seems like nothing else can .

2. Starts His work often with the little that we have to .

3. Asks for our , even when it doesn’t make sense.

John 2:7
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

4. Adds His extra to our ordinary to make the .

5. Meets not only our immediate needs but gives .

John 2:6
Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
John 10:9–10
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 2:9–10
9 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 10 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. Promises the is never experienced until He shows up.

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