What’s one of the strangest things you felt called by God to do? How about fill up some water jars with 120 gallons of water (and no taps or running water) and then take out some of that water, presumably in jugs, and give it to the chief steward in charge of a wedding banquet.
This is the bare bones of the
story we read of in John chapter two.
And note that John doesn’t call this a miracle but a sign.
A sign is something that points to something or to somewhere, therefore what could this sign be pointing towards.
John’s Gospel is in a very
different style to Mark, Matthew or Luke, and in John 20.31 he tells us very
plainly what his purposes is in crafting his Gospel in a very particular way. ‘But
these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’
One way to get a better understanding
of the structure of John’s Gospel is to look at two short videos from the Bible
Project.
https://bibleproject.com/videos/john-1-12/
https://bibleproject.com/videos/john-13-21/
Therefore, at one level this
is a simple and lovely story of Mary wanting to help save this newly married
couple from any embarrassment. An embarrassment that would have rumbled on in a
small knit community. This is a story of Mary saying to the stewards, just do
whatever he tells you. And this is Jesus in party mode! (See Matthew 11:18-19)
However, this is more, much
more than that, this is John showing how Jesus inaugurates a new creation. John’s
Gospel opening phrase is, ‘In the beginning…’ echoing the first words of
Genesis.
This is ‘sign one’ with six
more to follow, making seven in total, again echoing the creation narrative.
The sheer amount of wine
produced speaks of an abundance, something that pointed towards the ‘age to
come.’ That time when heaven and earth would once more be reconciled.
Even the use of the phrase, ‘my
hour has not yet come’ speaks into a pattern of further ‘hours’ each leading
onto a ‘seventh hour’ – the hour when Jesus is crucified.
1. John 7:30: The authorities
sought to seize Jesus, but “no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not
yet come.”
2. John 8:20: “Yet no one seized
Him, because His hour had not yet come.”
3. John 12:23: Jesus finally
says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” signalling that
His imminent suffering and atoning work have arrived.
4. John 13:1: “Jesus knew that
His hour had come to leave this world and go to the Father,” highlighting the
culminating point of His ministry.
5. John 17:1: In His High
Priestly Prayer, Jesus confirms, “Father, the hour has come,” tying His prayer
for believers directly to the cross and resurrection.
I wonder what those stewards
made of being asked to fetch and carry 120 gallons of water? Perhaps they were
used to doing as they were told, but why follow these instructions from Jesus?
We can only guess, but they
were obedient and that is surely our calling as well, to heed Mary as she says,
‘do whatever he tells you.’
And in doing that, carrying a
jar of water, at one level a very ordinary and mundane task, but when put to
the purposes of God has far reaching consequences. Much in the same way this
story, at one level simple and homely, is freighted with so much more and acts
as a signpost to God’s larger purposes and Jesus’ mission upon earth.
This is well encapsulated in
George Hebert’s poem, 'The Elixir' sung as a hymn.
in all things thee to see,
and what I do in anything
to do it as for thee.
A man that looks on glass,
on it may stay his eye;
or if he pleaseth, through it pass,
and then the heaven espy.
All may of thee partake;
nothing can be so mean,
which with this tincture, "for thy sake,"
will not grow bright and clean.
A servant with this clause
makes drudgery divine:
who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,
makes that and the action fine.
This is the famous stone
that turneth all to gold;
for that which God doth touch and own
cannot for less be told.
Sweeping rooms, carrying water pots or whatever we are going to be doing this week let us offer it all up to God as a sacrifice of our hands and in simple obedience that he may take our offerings and use them for his greater purposes. Which is no less than the full and complete redemption of the cosmos. Allow that to sink in the next time you attend to a simple task!
Always remember we follow the one who turned water into wine not as a simple miraculous party trick but as a sign to God's greater purposes and promises.
https://youtu.be/xyh8lu-csJw?si=78KIGqMTg7kfHklY
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