Our scripture reading this evening comes from the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 2, and we'll be reading verses 1 through 11, but before we do so, let's go to God in prayer, asking His blessing on the reading and the preaching of His Word. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word, Lord. We thank You that holy men of old wrote these words down as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. And we thank You, Father, that they are profitable for teaching and rebuking and correcting and training in righteousness so that the people of God might be equipped for every good work. Father, at this time we ask that You would send Your Holy Spirit to illumine our minds and open our hearts to receive Your words. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. John chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. 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' mother said to him, They have no more wine. Dear woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My time has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial 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. 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. 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. Here ends the reading of God's Word. Well, we've just come off the tail end of a weekend of feasting. I hope it was a delight for you. It certainly was for me. a weekend of thanksgiving, of food and fellowship with family and friends. And it's not surprising then that Jesus loves to feast. We find that throughout the Gospels, right? That Jesus is always being invited to parties. He's always at somebody's house to have dinner with them or to eat and drink with them. Jesus loved to feast. In fact, He loved it so much that He begins His ministry at a feast. He begins His ministry at a wedding. And so the question I want to ask tonight with you is, why does Jesus begin at a wedding? Why does He begin His ministry at a wedding? If you were writing a story about Jesus, how would you start? Perhaps you might begin with one of His more exciting miracles. Maybe raising someone from the dead or walking on water or calming the storm. But Jesus begins his ministry at a wedding. And so the question we need to ask of John this evening is, what does John want us to know about who Jesus is? And more important than that, what does Jesus want us to know and appreciate about who he is? So that's a question I'd like for you to keep in the back of your minds as we explore this text this evening. I think fundamentally what John is saying in this text is that Jesus is revealing himself at Cana of Galilee to his disciples as the great bridegroom of his people. He comes to you and to me this evening and he says, I'm the great bridegroom. I'm the Lord of the wine and I've come to bring you the choicest of wines. Now, some of you may be asking at this point, well, it says in verse 2 that Jesus was just a guest. He was just merely invited to this wedding. So is Jesus the guest or is he a groom? Well, that's an important question to ask. But this is the first, remember what John says, the first of Jesus' miraculous signs. See, these signs in John's Gospel show us something of who Christ is and what he's come to do for his people. See, his first miracle is not really just a generous wedding gift, a generous wedding present to this young couple, but it's a sign, it's a symbol of who he is and what he's come to do. But Jesus is no ordinary groom. He's a very special groom in this passage. And he's special in three ways, and that's what I'd like to look at this evening. That first, Jesus is a surprising groom. And second, he's a saving groom. And finally, he's a satisfying groom. So Jesus is a surprising groom, a saving groom, and a satisfying groom. You know, I think often as we read our Bibles and become accustomed to them, We tend to overlook the little details that the gospel writers have left for us. Little details like where this miracle occurred. Did you notice that John records twice where this miracle occurred? In Cana of Galilee. John's directing our attention to the location where Jesus performed his first sign. So what's important about Cana of Galilee? Well, a brief geography lesson. Cana is about five miles north of Jesus' hometown in Nazareth and about ten miles west of the Sea of Galilee. And I'm sort of interested in archaeology, so I was doing a little bit of research into recent excavations in what is believed to be Cana of Galilee. And these recent excavations uncovered numerous Roman clay pots from Jesus' time period. And on these pots were numerous inscriptions. And can you guess what was on these inscriptions? Well, there was nothing on these inscriptions of any historical importance whatsoever. See, Cana wasn't important to the Roman Empire. Neither was it important to the people of God. It was just a run-of-the-mill town. It had no historical significance whatsoever. So this is really a bad location to start your ministry. A really bad location to inaugurate the ministry of Jesus. If we think of other inaugurations in our own context, think about President Obama's inauguration just this past year. Held in Washington, D.C., millions of people gathered. News channels covered it all day long. Now imagine if President Obama, instead of hosting the inauguration celebration in Washington, D.C., decided to hold it in Escondido, California. Well, I'm sure millions of people across the world would be thinking to themselves, what is Escondido, California? What good can come from Escondido, California? Well, of course, we like Escondido, California, But nobody else really knows what Escondido, California is or why it's important. See, Jesus doesn't come like a normal bridegroom. He doesn't come like a normal groom would nowadays. He doesn't come in a tuxedo and a limousine and with a posse of good-looking groomsmen, but instead he comes as a poor wandering servant with this ragtab group of fishermen to perform quietly and secretly a little sign for a little wedding in a little town just to fix a little problem. And that little problem was just a mere social embarrassment that would have occurred because of the groom and the bride's lack of foresight. I wonder if any of us today are struggling with little problems. perhaps you're burdened by the little things of life perhaps the struggles that you face are not the struggles that make the bulletin announcements or the prayer postings week to week but instead it's that daily struggle perhaps it's a scarred relationship with a loved one or a family member perhaps it's a co-worker or an employer at work someone you're struggling to get along with children perhaps it's a teacher or something in the classroom that's been bothering you from week to week and it's nothing major it's not a big concern it's not a life-threatening illness or something that maybe anyone even knows about but it's a little problem see Jesus comes to show us that he cares about the little problems of life he's surprising in that way He's surprising because he cares about those little problems. Peter in his first epistle says, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares. All your worries, all your cares, bring it to Jesus because he cares about those little problems. See, no problem is too big for Jesus. He's the Son of God. He's God incarnate, God come in the flesh. He can raise people from the dead. He can cure blindness. No problem is too big for him. But friends, no care is too small for Jesus. Well, what's also surprising about Jesus is that he's at all the parties. This sort of frustrated some of the people in Jesus' day, didn't it? The Pharisees and the teachers of the law have that repeated refrain throughout the Gospels. Who is this Jesus? He's a glutton. He's a booze hound, this Jesus. See, they hated him because he didn't meet their expectations. They hated him because he was surprising. And he was surprising in two ways. He had an unexpected personality. He wasn't a religious type. He wasn't like the Pharisees or the teachers of the law. Instead, he chose to associate himself with the tax collectors and the prostitutes, with the sinners and the outcasts of society. He had an unexpected and surprising personality. But most importantly, he had a surprising theology, a shocking theology. See, his shocking message of salvation was, your eternal destiny hinges upon your relationship with me. It isn't based upon what you do or how you vote or how meticulously you keep the law or how much money you give to Christian schools, but it's based on how you relate to Jesus. Do you acknowledge Him as Savior? See, Jesus is ultimately so surprising because He comes as a Savior. And that's our second point this evening, that Jesus comes as a saving groom. Well, there's a problem at this wedding, isn't there? And the problem is there's no more wine. Children, I wonder if you've ever been at a party and the piñata's brought out, and after a couple whacks at the piñata, what happens? Well, usually candy comes out. But imagine being at a party at your friend's house, and after a couple whacks at the piñata, it splits open, and absolutely nothing comes out. Not even a Tootsie Roll. Well, what would you do? You probably wouldn't come to that kid's birthday party anymore. You probably wouldn't associate with him anymore. Well, see, weddings in the ancient Near East were very similar. They took lots of planning. They took months of preparation. You had to develop an invitation list. Who are you going to invite? And family and friends had to travel sometimes many miles to come to these occasions. But there was one important difference about weddings in our day and weddings in Jesus' day. And that important difference, those of you with many daughters will be delighted to hear this, I'm sure, but the important difference was that the groom provided the food and the drink for the wedding reception. It was the groom's job to pay and to make sure that everyone had enough food and wine at the wedding rehearsal and at the wedding feast. See, if there was no wine or the wine ran out, the groom was then going to be made the punchline of every single joke the next week. And not only that, the best day of his bride's life was going to be ruined due to his lack of foresight. So really, in our text, whoever provides the wine, that person is acting as the bridegroom. And that's significant because Jesus doesn't come merely as the guest, but he provides the wine, doesn't he? So what is Mary's response to the problem of no wine? Mary comes and tells Jesus they have no wine. Why does she come to Jesus? She should go to the bridegroom. He's responsible for the wine, right? Well, remember who Mary is. It's been revealed to Mary from an angel that this Jesus, her son, is the Messiah. And he's come to fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament. She knows this. And she sees this as a perfect opportunity to fulfill some of the Old Testament promises that were made by God to his people. And I have just a few of those passages from Scripture. One from Genesis 49, another from Isaiah 25, and a third from Joel 3. And I'd like to just read those to you because I think it will illuminate what Mary was expecting Jesus to do. Genesis 49, verse 11. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He will wash His garments in wine, His robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, His teeth whiter than milk. Isaiah 25, 6, On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines. And Joel 3, verse 18, In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord's house and will water the valley of Acacias. See, Mary sees this as a perfect opportunity for Jesus to bring in the kingdom of God. And what is Jesus' response to her? It's a surprising response, to say the least. Jesus says, Dear woman, why do you involve me? Literally in the original, Jesus says, Woman, what to me and to you? Now children, this is probably not a license for you to talk to your mother in this way. And at first glance, we might think to ourselves, this is kind of disrespectful of Jesus to his mother. Jesus is being sort of disrespectful, isn't he? By calling her woman? Well, I don't think Jesus is being disrespectful here. Elsewhere in the Gospel, Jesus will say similar words to his mother when he's on the cross. He'll say, woman, here is your son. And to John, his disciple, here is your mother. See, it's not a sexist term. It's not a disrespectful term. But it's really a term of endearment. And it's really a probing question. See, Jesus is asking Mary to rethink why she's coming to Him in the first place. If Mary thinks that this is a perfect opportunity to bring in that wine, that new wine promised in the Old Testament, then Jesus wants to have her re-evaluate what being the Messiah really is and what He's come to do on earth. See, it's very much like the question in Matthew 16 that Jesus asks His disciples, who do you say that I am? And that's an important question that we need to ask this evening. Who do we say that Jesus is? Why are you here? Who is Jesus to you? Young people, I'm sure you could give me the response that yes, Jesus is the Savior of the world. Yes, He is the King of kings. But is he your savior? And is he your king? Have you professed that publicly? Jesus challenges Mary to rethink and reevaluate why is she coming to him? And he'll teach her something about what Messiah means, what he's come to do through his next response. He says, my time has not yet come. First he responds with this interesting question to his mother. And then he responds with what appears to be this sort of cryptic, foreboding non-sequitur. My time has not yet come. Now we've sort of got a downer Jesus. Well, what does my time has not yet come mean? You know, for years reading this passage, I thought that what Jesus meant was my time for doing a miracle has not yet come. My time for performing the signs that testify to who I am has not yet come. But I don't think that's what Jesus has in mind. I think we can't arrive at that conclusion because in about five seconds he will do a miracle. He'll perform a miracle. Some of you this evening may be reading out of the ESV translation and you'll read there that my hour has not yet come. And I think that's a clearer and better interpretation of what Jesus actually says. He actually says my hour has not yet come. So that leads us to the question, what is Jesus' hour? Well, Jesus gives us a clue later on in the Gospel. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus' hour has not arrived, has not yet come. And then in John chapter 17, before the high priestly prayer, Jesus says, the hour has come. And he prays to his Father and says, the hour of my glorification has come, so glorify me. And that hour is ultimately, Jesus' suffering, his humiliation, his death on the cross. The hour in which he will shed his blood. See, Jesus is saying to Mary, The time has come, has not come, for me to shed, to give you the new wine. The wine of the Old Testament promise. You're going to see me perform this miracle and you're going to think that that time has come. But the wine referred to in the Old Testament, that time has not yet come. That hour has not yet come. See, Jesus is teaching Mary something about His hour, teaching us something about His hour through the working of this miracle. He's in effect saying, Mary, before I can provide that wine, the wine in the Old Testament, there's a cup that I need to drink. There's a wine that I need to drink. And it's a sour wine. We see that later in John's Gospel when Jesus is on the cross. It's a sour wine, the wine of God's wrath. That's the cup he needs to drink. That's the wine he needs to drink before he can provide the wine that the Old Testament spoke of. So Jesus changes the water into wine. What does that signify? Well, C.S. Lewis has an interesting interpretation. He says that, you know, really, this is a shortcut that Jesus makes to show his divinity. Year after year, God is constantly at work making water into wine through the vines and the grapes that we see all around Southern California. He's constantly changing water into wine. And C.S. Lewis says, well, Jesus is really just short-circuiting the whole process here and showing his disciples that he really is God. Well, I think that's a legitimate interpretation. It's certainly not wrong. But is it what Jesus has in mind in this passage? I don't think it's a shortcut, But I think it's a sign. That's what John says. It's a miraculous sign. And it's a sign of a solution. If you look at the vessels that were holding the water which became wine, John includes this fascinating little detail about what those jars were used for. We almost would tend to read over it. They were jars used by the Jews for ceremonial washing. See, the Jews were obsessed with washing. They were obsessed with cleanliness. And ultimately, that cleanliness, that purification that they had, was a cleansing of sin. They were cleansing themselves to get rid of sin. But ultimately, that cleansing was just ceremonial. It didn't really remove their sin. See, sin makes us dirty. Have you ever felt that way? After watching something or seeing something, or perhaps yourself, you've committed a sin and you felt dirty. You felt like you needed to take a shower. Well, Jesus says you need to be washed. And in John chapter 13, he'll say to Peter, unless I wash you, you have no part in me. And the cleansing that he gives is ultimately a cleansing with his own blood, with his blood shed on the cross, with his blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins. That's what we sang earlier, whiter than snow. Only Jesus' blood can make us whiter than snow. See, Jesus is telling us something very specific and important about what Christianity is. See, there's a difference between the water that you wash with and the glass of wine that Jesus comes and gives to you. Being Jesus' disciple does not mean, and it does not just merely entail all the things you do for God. But it's instead about being washed by Jesus, washed by his blood. It's about what Jesus gives to you, his wine. And is it a little bit of wine? No, it's 150 gallons, at least, worth of wine. The sheer abundance of wine shows that Jesus is a satisfying bridegroom, and that's our last point this evening, that Jesus is a satisfying bridegroom. See, Jesus doesn't just give us a communion cup of wine, but instead He gives us gallons and gallons of wine. Do you often feel sometimes that maybe your sin is too much for Jesus? That maybe all the sins of your life, Jesus can't possibly cleanse you from all that. from every thought, word, and deed. Well, sinner, come to Him. Taste. See that God is good and He will pardon all of your sins, past, present, and future. His blood can make the foulest clean, the stinkiest clean. It can change the most perverse sinner into a spotless child of God. And those of us who have tasted God's wine, who have tasted His salvation, we've experienced that, haven't we? We've literally received from His abundance what John says in chapter 1, grace upon grace. It's a well that we can keep coming back to, God's grace, for it never ends. and is there any other response this evening but delight in that you know as Calvinists our worship service can often look like we need a glass of wine or two are we delighting in God see the effect of being washed in Jesus' blood is like that Jesus said it's like drinking wine you delight in him you enjoy him friend have you tasted have you drunk deeply of God's salvation Jesus is also a satisfying bridegroom because he saves the best for last did you notice that in verse 10 the master of the banquet comes to the bridegroom at the wedding and says 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. See, as Christians, we read that and we say, no, you're complimenting the wrong groom. And see, that's exactly John's point. He wants to direct our attention to the real groom in this text. He wants to say something about who Jesus is, that he saves the best till last. And that's what I'd like to conclude with this evening. I asked you at the beginning of the sermon, why does Jesus begin his ministry at a feast? Why does he begin at a wedding? Because that's where he'll end his ministry. That's where everything that he's come to do will ultimately be expressed in, in a wedding. The wedding supper of the Lamb. And that's the Christian's hope, isn't it? the wedding supper and the kingdom of God at the end of the book of the Revelation. If you're here today and you think that Christianity is about rules and ethics and do's and don'ts, then Jesus says, no, the kingdom of God is not about those things. It's about a feast. It's about a wedding. See, the kingdom of God, heaven doesn't just begin with a wedding and then we go off into eternity. No, the kingdom of God, heaven, is one big wedding. It's one big wedding reception. And the angel in the book of the Revelation tells John to write, Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. Do you want to go? Do you want to be on the invitation list to that wedding? Then Jesus says, believe. Believe that I am the true and great bridegroom. I'm the surprising bridegroom. I'm the saving Bridegroom. I'm the satisfying Bridegroom. And I've come to shed my blood to give you complete remission of all your sins so that you might become the spotless Bride of Christ. Amen.