I think marriage is one of the most beautiful gifts God ever gave humanity. I don't say that simply because I'm married to the most beautiful and loving woman in the world. I say that as a pastor who has had the privilege of joining together countless couples. And watching their relationship blossom and grow into a thing of beauty.
Now true there are rough moments in marriage. Every day is breakfast in bed or a honeymoon. Take for example the story I just heard about the woman at the airport check-in counter. She asked the agent for window seats for both her and her husband. The clerk pointed out that would prevent them from sitting together.
The woman replied, "Sweetie, I just spent ten days of quality time in a compact rental car with this man. I know what I’m requesting." (1)
Even if there is strife, sometimes, in a marriage, marriage is still a wonderful institution. You get to live with your best friend. You get to raise your children. And then when they fall I love, you get to get rid of them.
Maybe you heard about the young woman asked her fiancé, “What did my father say when you asked permission to marry me?"
The young man replied, "Not a lot, really. He just threw his arms around me, started sobbing, and kept saying, 'Oh, thank you, thank you' . . ." (2)
Marriage is wonderful but sometimes the weddings get to be a little tricky. A wedding is the most stressful thing anyone can do. And there are so many things that can go wrong.
I'll never forget a wedding I did in Arlington, at FUMC. The flower girl was about five and First Arlington has a long center long aisle. Rehearsal went perfect. It was the best rehearsal I'd ever been involved in.
When she entered during the wedding, everyone was all smiles. She made a beautiful stately entrance. She started down the aisle gently tossing rose petals. It was beautiful. Then she got somewhere between1/3 and ½ of the way down aisle, and her true nature came out. She stopped, dumped rest of rose petals smack dap in middle of aisle, tossed the basket into an empty pew where it landed with loud clatter. And then she squealed, ran down aisle, up the steps and plomped down on my right foot.
She was rooted there for the rest of the service. If I moved, she moved. Up one or two steps, she scooted with me or grabbed on. She was there through whole service. All the way up to benediction. And then she shot down the aisle like a rocket. And right as she got to that pile of rose petals, she let go with a mighty kick and a loud giggle and then doubled her speed, hitting the doors like John Wayne going through the saloon doors in an old western.
Try keeping your composure during something like that.
Today we look at the first of 35 miracles which John calls signs: events that point to the divinity of Jesus. Wonders that reveal the Glory of the Son of God. This first miracle took place at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.
Let's look at the Scripture. John 2:1-11 (NRSV)
[1] On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
[2] Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
[3] When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."
[4] And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come."
[5] His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
[6] Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
[7] Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.
[8] He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it.
[9] When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom
[10] and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."
[11] Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
I want us to explore this passage through the words TRUSTED,REVEALED AND TRANSFORMED because I think they open up the meaning of this passage to us.
I. Trusted
A. First, let's look at the word trusted.
As I read this passage I realized that one of things it tells us is that Mary, the mother of Jesus, knew she could count on Jesus. She knew she could count on Him doing the right thing at the right time. She trusted Him and she trusted God's timing.
And that was why she pointed out the minor disaster of running out of wine at the wedding feast. It would sort of be like running out of iced tea at a Texas Barbecue. Or having the wedding reception at your favorite Mexican restaurant and them telling you they had run out of salsa and chips. It wasn't a huge deal, physically. But it was a major social blunder.
B. Mary knew that she could count on Jesus and we can too.
Let me tell you about a little boy who knew that too. This little boy, like so many today, didn't have a father who was active in his life. He belonged to the Cub Scouts and the annual Pinewood Derby was coming up. He wanted to enter. So, his mother decided to help. Together they built probably the ugliest race car ever built but it was a working race car.
The boy entered. On the day of the race, All the cars built with the other kid's fathers looked a whole lot better. They were sleek and slick and painted bright colors. His looked like a pile of junk. More of a mistake than something done on purpose. But it ran. And boy did it run. In heat after heat it won. Right up to the very end. There were two cars left in the race. His and one of the most beautiful cars any of the boys had ever seen.
As the race was beginning to start, the little boy asked if they could wait for just a minute. They said sure and the little boy folded his hands and bowed his head in prayer.
When he was finished, the race started and lo and behold he won. A reporter came over and asked the little boy, "Wow, it must feel great to know that God answered your prayer to win."
And the little boy said, "Oh, I didn't ask God to let me win. I asked God to no let me cry if I lost."
It didn't make any difference if he won or not, he just didn’t want to embarrass himself by crying. What a humble request. No wonder he won.
In the middle ages, Thomas À Kempis wrote: "When you have Christ, you are rich. He is enough. He will provide everything you need so you won't have to count on others without him. People change and fail. You can’t depend on them. Those that are for you today may be against you tomorrow. They are as variable as the wind. But Christ is eternally faithful."
Mary Trusted. Mary knew that she could count on Jesus and so can we.
II. Revealed
A. Second, let's look at the word revealed.
Because in a simple compassionate act, the Glory and the true identity of Jesus was revealed.
And that happens every day. Every time someone asks “What would Jesus do?" And then does it. Every time someone goes out of the way to be compassionate and loving simply because they have experienced the unconditional love and grace of God, the very presence of Jesus is once again revealed to the world. Once again, water is turned to wine and the Glory and true identity of Jesus is revealed.
Listen to this witness from a young girl named Ginny."I was walking home the other afternoon and there was a lady I'd never met before not far from our house. She was old, with white hair, and I went to her and asked her what's the trouble, because she was talking to herself."
She didn't hear Ginny at first, so Ginny asked again, “Can I help you?" The woman responded: "Oh, little girl, if you could that would be wonderful."
Ginny was a little offended at being called a "little girl," but decided to help the woman anyway. The woman was searching for her daughter's house and somehow had gotten lost. She'd taken a wrong turn. Ginny said. "I was going to tell her where she'd gone wrong, and I started to, but she couldn't get what I was telling her."
Ginny debated what to do. Should she help this woman or should she go home to do her chores? The girl decided to help the older woman find her daughter's home.
As they were walking through the neighborhood, Ginny began talking with the elderly woman. "I told her about the stores and the shortcuts, and I told her where the phones are. I asked her where she lived, and pretty soon she was telling me everything." They soon discovered they had much in common. Their lives connected. And by the time they got to the daughter’s house they got to be pretty good friends.
The older woman was tired and out of breath when they finally found their destination. She thanked the girl for helping her."She said thank you so many times I thought she'd never stop!" Ginny said. "She grabbed my arm, and she said God sent me to her, and she'd pray to Him later, before she went to sleep, to thank Him for me." At first Ginny wasn't sure the woman was serious. "But I looked at her, and she had tears in her eyes, so I knew she was."
During a normal walk home this young girl became the Christ or at least a servant of Christ for an older woman who had lost her way. And in the midst of it all, a new insight into God was revealed to the young girl. She said, "Maybe God puts you here and He gives you these hints of what’s ahead, and you should pay attention to them, because that's Him speaking to you." (3)
One of the simple truths of this passage is that God is revealed in the simple things of life.
III. Transformed
Finally, let's look at the word transformed.
When Jesus is Revealed in the ordinary things of life and we Trust Jesus like Mary did, then we will be Transformed. Because Jesus is in the Transformation business. The water of our lives will be Transformed to the Wine of The Kingdom. And that wine can transform the lives of others.
Have I told you the story about when Lewis Lawes became the warden at Sing Sing Prison? In 1921, there was no prison tougher than Sing Sing. But when Warden Lawes retired over twenty years later, that prison had become a humanitarian institution and a model for other prisons. Those who studied the prison gave him credit for the change. But when he was asked about the transformation, this is what he said: "I owe it all to my wonderful wife, Catherine, who is buried outside the prison walls."
Catherine Lawes was a young mother with three small children when her husband became the warden at Sing Sing. From the beginning, others said that she should never step foot inside the prison walls or in any other facility that the prisoners would be using. But that didn't stop her! When the first prison basketball game was held, she insisted on going. She walked into the auditorium with her three beautiful children and sat in the stands with the hard-core criminals.
Other guests came up to her afterwards and asked, "How do you dare sit with these men? Why do you take your little children in there?" And she replied, "My husband and I are going to take care of these men, and I believe they will take care of me! I don't have to worry!"
She even insisted on getting acquainted with the records of the men. She discovered that one of the men convicted of murder was blind, so she paid him a visit. She stepped into the cold cell and sat down next to this man. Holding his hand in hers she warmly asked, "Do you read Braille?"
"What's Braille?" he asked. "Don't you know? It is a way that you can read with your fingers," she explained."Well, I've never heard of it," he replied.
"I'll teach you then!" she said. And she taught that blind killer how to read Braille. Years later he would weep out of love for her.
Later Catherine found that there was a deaf-mute in the prison, so she went to school to learn sign language. Soon she was communicating with him through the use of her hands. Many said that Catherine Lawes was the body of Jesus Christ that came alive again at Sing Sing prison from 1921 to 1937.
Then one evening the car in which she was riding went out of control, and she was killed. The next morning her husband didn't come to work, so the acting warden came in his place. In an instant, the whole prison knew something was wrong. When they heard the news that their beloved lady had died, everyone them wept.
The following day her body was resting in a casket in her home, three-quarters of a mile from the prison. As the acting warden took his early-morning walk, he was shocked to see a large crowd of the toughest, hardest-looking criminals, gathering like a herd of animals at the main gate. It looked as if they were ready to launch a riot.
He walked over to the group and, instead of seeing hostility in their eyes, he saw tears of grief and sadness. He knew how much they loved and admired Catherine. He turned and faced the men."All right, men, you can go. Just be sure and check in tonight!" Then he opened the gate without another word and more than one hundred criminals walked, without a guard, three-quarters of a mile, to stand in line to pay their respects to Catherine Lawes. And every one of them checked in that night. Every one! (4)
It's amazing what one life can do when it's filled the Spirit of Christ. It's amazing how far a little water transformed into wine can continue that transformation process in the lives of others.
When Jesus is Revealed in the ordinary things of life and we Trust Jesus like Mary did, then we will be Transformed.
Conclusion
That's what happened to the Disciples. Like the Groom’s first peek under the Bride's veil, the Disciples got their first glimpse of the promised Messiah through a miracle at a wedding. Water was changed to wine. Through that miracle, the disciples Trusted, they saw the glory and true identity of Jesus Revealed and like the water, they were Transformed.
You and I are called to be the same sort of vessels as Peter, James, John and all the others who have followed Jesus. For we have within us, the Wine of the New Covenant. The water of our Baptism has been transformed into a wine that will change the world. It is the King's Wine. If Jesus can transform water into wine, He can transform us into new creations
Trust Jesus. Let His true glory and identity be revealed and you will be transformed.
1. Clean Jokes, www.jokeaday.com
2. Parables, Etc. (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), January 2002
3. Robert Coles, The Spiritual Life of Children(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990), pp. 333-335.
4. Parables, Etc. (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651;970-785-2990), January 1990