Transcription

Chris
So just watch this. I have an amazing trick. Okay, I’m going to turn this bottle of water into wine.

Jeff
I’m going to guess you’re not. Here we go. Okay. I can’t do it. Nope, can’t do it. But you know who can? Who? Jesus. Wow. Yeah, yeah. So, hey, he’s Chris, I’m Jeff, we’re the Bible guys. So that’s what we’re talking about today.

Chris
Yeah. So I wanted to make reference to the fact that, uh, when I was asked this question, what made Chris happy this week, you made the comment and said, uh, you know, sentimental Chris doesn’t do it for me. Jeff
I like angry Chris. Chris is way more fun.

Chris
It’s way more fun. Yep, yep. Okay, so apparently Desiree has gone back to asking the question, what made what made Jeff happy this week?

Jeff
Jeff. Yeah, happy. Well, this makes me I like I like happy Jeff.

Chris
Yeah, well, you know. Sure.

Jeff
Why not? Yeah. So I would.

Chris
Like to be portrayed as the happy guy as opposed to the mean guy or the unhappy guy.

Jeff
Well, try it once I did.

Chris
You said you didn’t like it.

Jeff
No, no, no. Try being the happy guy I.

Chris
Was and am. I’m happy all the time. That’s my point. See? Does it make you mad? You’re making me mad, Jeff. All right, here we go. So? So what makes.

Jeff
You know what’s so fun is it’s so easy to get under your skin. That’s what. That’s what’s so much fun about it.

Chris
Yeah, that’s probably true.

Jeff
Yeah. We’re playing the playing you like a banjo. Okay. Uh, what made me happy? Yeah.

Chris
What made Jeff happy?

Jeff
So, actually, I’m kind of weird this way. I love people, I love crowds, I love events, I love all that stuff. But if you ask me. What do you want to do today? Yeah. It’s usually, uh, nothing. It’s just we don’t get very many times to do just nothing. Yeah. For sure. So, I mean, man alive, this has been a really, really hard the first six months of this year. One of the fastest paced six months I’ve ever had in my life and in ministry. And so I just keep finding myself tired a lot, uh, in those slowdown moments now, in the regular moments when you’re doing stuff, man, I’m engaged. I’m having fun. Chris
This is just Jeff
That you’re old. That might be it, too. Yeah, yeah, kind of the old dog laying on the porch. You know, it used to be that when I was a young dog. Get up and chase the cars. Now I’m just like, what’s that car doing on my driveway? Right. That’s, uh. So. Um, uh, for us, we just had, uh, a we took a long weekend, and, uh, so it’s like a four day weekend. I didn’t have to preach that weekend because we had a good preacher scheduled to speak. You’re welcome. And, uh. Yes. And, uh, so I had a four day weekend, and I’m telling you, we didn’t do anything. Nothing. I mean, I grilled a little, uh, but we didn’t have any company. We didn’t. We went to breakfast. Right? I mean, it was stuff like that. That’s what we did. There was no agenda. There was nothing to be done. The only thing we had was we went and watched some fireworks and saw the Detroit Symphony. It was the only scheduled thing we had. Yeah, well, over four days.

Chris
That actually is another old person thing. Yeah. Whereas like the reason why you call it like your mom and you say, what’d you do today? Oh, the only thing she could talk about is going to the pharmacy. Yeah. I went, I got my hair done today. Yeah. Right now I.

Jeff
Need a nap. Yeah. It’s not my mom. It’s so funny. Yeah. So. So that that was. It is. This is the first time we were talking about it. This is the first time that we had a three or, you know, a multiple day, not not even just three day, a multiple day stretch, two days where we didn’t have anything scheduled. And it was great. Bonnie and I just hung out together. Uh, Jenna was around quite a bit. Her boyfriend came by, but we didn’t have a scheduled anything. Yeah, that was the first time. That’s what made me happy. Was not having a schedule because there’s so much on my schedule. Yesterday, I had five very important meetings back to back to back to back to back. And I barely had enough time between them to even remember what the next meeting was. Yeah, and every one of.

Chris
Them lasted like four hours. Yeah.

Jeff
It’s three, 3.5 hours.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. That’s crazy.

Jeff
Yeah, it wasn’t supposed to, but it did. Um, but I had it’s just that kind of stuff lately has been just really, really fast paced. So to have nothing was very enjoyable.

Chris
Yeah, well that’s great.

Jeff
Yeah, it made me happy.

Chris
I’m glad. I’m glad you’re happy.

Jeff
You know what? And the reason why that made me happy probably is because I’m so much like Jesus. The Bible talks about. The Bible would talk about how Jesus would spend.

Chris
So did you ever see you ever see? Did you ever see Dumb and Dumber? When. When Lloyd goes. Drives. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
But you know, Jesus would would go out, wade into the crowd. The crowd would be just always on him for days and days and days and days. And then he would say, okay, let’s go up in the mountain to pray or let’s go out in the wilderness and pray. Let’s go out on the lake. And and the Bible said it was his habit to do that where he would get away for a little while, and I think.

Chris
But you didn’t pray, though. You got away and grilled.

Jeff
Yeah, we grilled and listened to music.

Chris
Okay, so you’re not like Jesus at all, is what I’m hearing you what I’m hearing you.

Jeff
You can’t stand it when I’m just a little bit like Jesus.

Chris
That’s so good. Well, speaking of being like Jesus, yes, today is an incredibly unusual thing. Because Jesus’s ministry had not yet started. He’s about to tell that to his his mom. But there’s there’s an incident. And this is, like, such a cool story. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. So, uh, we’re John is the only one who tells it. Remember how we’ve been kind of doing this, this the paralleling all of the gospels, and sometimes it’s in one or 2 or 3 or all four. This one. John’s the only one who tells this story, but it’s really cool. One and uh, John chapter two, verse.

Chris
One, it’s important to know that we’re going in chronological order. Yeah.

Jeff
These are all as best as we know. Yes. This is chronological order. Yeah. That’s right. Yeah. So he’s just chosen his first couple of disciples, and now the Bible says the next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities. So Jesus mother told him, they have no more wine. Dear women, that’s not our problem. Jesus replied, my time is not yet come. But his mother told the disciples, do whatever he tells you. Standing nearby were six stone water jars used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus told the servants, fill the jars with water. And when the jars had been filled, he said, now dip some out and take it to the master of ceremonies. So the servants followed his instructions, and when the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from, though of course the servants knew. He called the bridegroom over. A host always serves the best wine first, he said, and then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you’ve kept the best until now. This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. After the wedding, he went to Capernaum for a few days with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples.

Chris
Yeah, there it is. Yeah. So, uh uh, so I want to.

Jeff
Read this whole miracle is funny to me.

Chris
It’s really funny. So I want to read this note and the Life Application Study Bible. Oh, good. Good. Uh, it says weddings in Jesus’s day were week long festivals. Wow. Banquets would be prepared with many guests, and a week would be spent celebrating the new life of a married couple. Often the whole town would be invited and everyone would come, and it was considered an insult to refuse a wedding invitation to accommodate many people. Careful planning was needed. To run out of wine was more than embarrassing. It broke the strong, unwritten laws of hospitality. Jesus was about to respond to a heartfelt need. So what’s interesting is that it seems so trivial to us to say like, oh, no, uh, there’s a family who ran out of some refreshments for a party, right? But it was way more than that. Keep in mind that, like, think about weddings today. Weddings today only like probably a third of them take place in any religious context. Probably two thirds of them are getting, you know, are married in in the justice of the peace. And, you know, like, you know, by ship captains or, or to be honest with you, probably the majority are people getting ordained online, which isn’t really ordination. And people are legally allowed by the state to have these ceremonies in the woods somewhere. Right. But what I’m saying is this in the first century, weddings were radically, radically different, especially among the Jewish community. Yeah, we’re talking about the the vows and the customs. And I mean, you know, I mean, think about it this way. When Mary was pregnant, engaged to Joseph, the laws in that day and the Jewish custom were he had the right to put her to death. Chris
That’s how seriously they took, uh, you know, God in the equation of of of the ceremony in union. Yeah. So think about that. Think about when if you lived in the Jewish community, everything was that serious, that big, right. Which means God was a part of it. And then you were there, uh, you know, celebrating this, which means that this was, yes, a week long celebration. And, of course, you’re happy for the bride and the groom, but you’re also. It is it is a, uh, you know, a celebration of what God has done just as much as anything else. So here’s Jesus and Mary. They’re there at this occasion. And so to to not have wine, uh, would have probably ruined this family’s name. Yeah. I mean, oh, yeah. Yeah. So. So Jesus has saved.

Jeff
Thinking they’re so poor, right? Of course, they couldn’t deliver on a great party.

Chris
Yeah, and it could have destroyed their business in the town. Yeah.

Jeff
This party is lame.

Chris
In their reputation. Yeah. So I think that Jesus was doing a lot more than providing refreshments at a at a party.

Jeff
Oh, absolutely.

Chris
He was. He was saving the name of a family. He was, uh, you know, adding to the to the celebration of a godly union that was seen, you know, as something that God has done and celebrated by family and friends and community. It was sort of a big deal that had a lot of substance. Yeah. As opposed to, you know, our parties.

Jeff
And I was I think he was also, uh, highlighting the fact that, um, human events are important.

Chris
Yeah. Right. There’s definitely that’s.

Jeff
True. This social event is important. And and so I think it’s special, you know, of course, Mark Lowry, he’s the one who made it famous that when he said that he thinks that the coolest thing about this is that Jesus first miracle was just to keep the party going. Yeah, right. Yeah. That’s funny, which is such a funny, but it is. It’s one of those weird things that.

Chris
You know, you know, my favorite Mark Lowry line. What’s that? Uh, one of my favorites. He’s a comedian, by the way. Christian comedian. He was. He was always a single adult. Yeah. Uh, Mark Lowry. So. So I did singles ministry for a while, and he’d say, every time you pray to Jesus, don’t forget it. You’re praying to a single adult. Yeah.

Jeff
That’s right.

Chris
I thought that was funny.

Jeff
That’s right. Uh, of course I had nothing to do with him turning water into wine. So to pivot back, uh, Mark said. Mark Lowry said said, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m feeling sassy today. Yeah, I think you are. I feel I feel really sad. I don’t know why I didn’t wake up feeling sassy. Uh, maybe it’s just. Anyways, um, uh, you know. This. This miracle really was. The purpose of the miracle was to keep the party going functionally. That’s functionally what happened. And I love the note here in the Life Application Bible. Uh, for verse ten. Right. Uh, it says people look everywhere but to God for excitement and meaning. For some reason, they expect God to be dull and lifeless, just as the wine Jesus made was the best. So life in him is better than life on our own. Why wait until everything else runs out before trying God? Why save the best until last? Isn’t that a great. That’s great. That’s that is the application of this passage one of the one of the big ones, I think. But I love the fact that Jesus Mary comes in. So there’s no Joseph at this point. It apparently historically, traditionally we believe Joseph had died normally. Remember, men would be substantially older than women when they would get married. And so that’s not a surprise. That’s why there were so many, so many widows. And the reason why the men would be older was because it was expected of a man to have a career, to have resources to be able to pay a dowry to the family, which would be like the life insurance policy and, um, to have have a home. And so usually a guy be ten, 15 years older than a woman, so he dies and.

Chris
Historians believe that he is gone at this point because, number one, there’s no mention of him. Yeah. And number two, on the cross, Jesus passed on his Jewish responsibilities as the oldest brother, right? By saying like, yeah, you know, to John, behold your mother, please take care of her. Was the implication there? So, uh, so it’s really believed because he wasn’t mentioned otherwise he would be mentioned.

Jeff
Yeah. Well, verse 12 at the end of what we read said after the wedding, he went to Capernaum for a few days with his mother, his brothers and his disciples. Right. Doesn’t mention his dad, which it doesn’t.

Chris
Which is not just not mentioning, but it’s actually an omission, right?

Jeff
It’s a it’s a specific omission. Joseph’s not here. Right. Um, so, uh, but in this then it would not have been uncommon for Mary to look to her older son now as the provider. So, hey, there’s Jesus. I don’t know if you heard there’s a problem. Oh, this young couple’s parents are so embarrassed they ran out of wine. Fix it. I don’t know that. I think she was asking him to do a miracle. I think she was, I don’t know, I think she was telling him to fix it. Well, because no other miracles are mentioned at this point. She doesn’t say go do a miracle. I believe she believed he could do miracles. I don’t know that she was commanding him to do it. The notes in the Life Application Study Bible kind of reference that too. But anyways, the point is he goes, but I.

Chris
Don’t think it could be fixed without a miracle.

Jeff
Unless it was the fact that Jesus was also a business owner up to that point. He was a he was a stonemason or a guy. Maybe he had the resources. She might have been saying, go do it. And take care of it. So then. But anyways, Jesus response would get me punched right in the mouth by my mom, by my mom when he goes, woman, it’s not my time.

Chris
Yeah, well, remember, woman was an affectionate turtle, right? Yeah, well, not in my house. We actually said, dear woman, that’s not our problem.

Jeff
Yes.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. See, the reason why I think that she thought it was going to be a miracle is because, uh, she she just says they have no more wine and she doesn’t say anything else. It’s almost like there’s a look there. Hey, they have no more wine. Yeah, right. And then he’s like. And then he. Then he implies my time has not come, which means, like my my miracle. Right? My my my my revealing that I’m the Messiah or I’m the Son of God on earth. Right? Which means I believe there’s an implication there. But you’re right, she there is. There’s nothing described. Which means she totally could have thought. Yeah, from a practical sense. You step up and do something. I’m going to.

Jeff
Agree with you, because had he left that dear woman, that’s not our problem. Meaning, I’m not going to go buy more wine.

Chris
Right?

Jeff
But he doesn’t leave it there, does he? He adds on the my times.

Chris
Not my time is not yet come.

Jeff
So she’s hinting hey, Jesus. Right? Which then? Hey dude, that brings up a whole other thing. How did she know he could do miracles?

Chris
Yeah, well, had he done it before? She’s done all along.

Jeff
Yeah, but had he done it before? No. How do you know?

Chris
Well, because he’s the Son of God.

Jeff
Well, then why would she expect him to do one now at a wedding?

Chris
Well, I think this is after the baptism. So I think that I think that, you know, when you’re there at a baptism and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove. Yeah. I think that, you know.

Jeff
Well, what I’m wondering is, is he is he out back and he’s grilling for family. And then all of a sudden, you know, Elizabeth and Zechariah show up unannounced and she’s like, what are we going to do, Elizabeth? Zechariah? And he goes, poof! And now there’s eight burgers on the grill instead of six. Yeah. Had she seen him do something like that before, I don’t know. Well, I.

Chris
Mean, I mean, actually we don’t know. I don’t know.

Jeff
I don’t know.

Chris
Because it is weird that it could have been if.

Jeff
She’s expecting him to do a miracle. It’s almost like she knew he could do well.

Chris
Okay, think about this. Since we’re having fun with this. Yeah. Uh, is it possible that Jesus could have done private miracles in the home, but just not publicly? That’s what I’m saying, right?

Jeff
That’s what you’re saying, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Chris
So, so so you’re saying that it’s possible they could have done that? Yeah.

Jeff
So his brother Jude falls, breaks his arm in the middle of a baseball game and he’s like, oh crap, we’re going to have to end this baseball game. And Jesus comes like, no, let me just fix it. Go back out and play shortstop, right.

Chris
Don’t tell anybody. Right, right right right, right.

Jeff
So you wonder you wonder if that was if that happened something because I don’t I don’t disagree with you now because he if he had just left it with it’s not our problem. You could say she’s saying to Jesus, go buy more wine. Right. But he said no it’s not.

Chris
I also love.

Jeff
Then he goes, it’s not my time.

Chris
Not only is it unspoken, like they have no more wine, nothing else is spoken. And then he responds that way. And then it doesn’t say that Jesus agrees. It says that the mother, just by looks, just does just do what he says goes to the servants. Like like I know he’s going to do it right. I told him, because it’s a mother relationship with a son. So she goes immediately, says, do whatever he tells you. You know, I wonder if there was like a this like Jesus went, right. I wonder if there was that right.

Jeff
Well, he just called her woman. He doesn’t have much else he can say without sinning now. Yeah.

Chris
Well, but that was an affectionate tum. Yeah, you’re making fun. I know, but but no, that was actually a, uh, the most affectionate terms that he could use. Uh, and then, of course, he says, dear woman in this translation. Yeah. Uh, and by the way, let’s let’s talk about this. Jesus didn’t turn the water into wine before they dipped the water out, right, right. And gave it to the ceremony. Right? Right. You know what it reminds me of? Remember when they crossed the Jordan River and, uh, and they were holding the Ark of the covenant and the Jordan River was raging, right? Yeah, yeah. And then what did Joshua say? He said, uh, he said, start to walk. And, uh, as.

Jeff
They step, put.

Chris
Your feet in the raging river. Right. In other words, like Joshua didn’t stop the raging river of the Jordan first and said, oh, now that it’s safe. No, no, uh, you know, go ahead and walk across. Even though they were holding, uh, a relic where if they touched it, they died, right, right. He says no, go ahead and step into a raging river. And the people have to take a step of faith into a raging river. And as soon as they did so, the waters parted. In the Old Testament, if you know that story. And so Jesus has a way of, uh, having us do things that aren’t as easy. They require faith, right? He says, fill it with water. Yeah. Uh, remember Elijah, he says, you know, uh, I’m not going to call fire down from heaven. He says, I want you to go ahead and, you know, douse it with water seven times. I think that God has a way of doing things in such a way to where it requires faith. And it’s it’s amazing. It’s actually a lesson that sort of hidden in here. Yeah. They fill up the jars now, he says, now dip the water out and give it to the master of ceremonies. So they’re probably thinking themselves, no, I’m not going to do that. Right. But yet Mary says, do whatever he tells you, right. So they’re dipping. They’re like, this is crazy. This is crazy, this is crazy. But they still do it. Yeah. And then it says. As then the master of ceremonies takes it, and then immediately that’s when it turned, when.

Jeff
The master of the ceremonies tasted the water, right. Which that was now wine.

Chris
That was now wine, right?

Jeff
It was water. Water, water, water. Wine.

Chris
Right right right right right right.

Chris
Which means which means he saved it until the last possible second. And so it required faith on every level.

Jeff
So sometimes, you know, those of us that are big planners or those that want to have all of our ducks in a row, it can be frustrating when we have to wait for God to answer a prayer. But God God isn’t just looking to answer the prayer. God’s looking to demonstrate his power. And this was his first statement. It says literally, this miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. Right? So, uh um uh, God does miracles today. Uh, I’ve had people ask recently, I think somebody on a Bible. Guys, uh, one of the questions got sent in was, why don’t miracles happen today? They do, they do. Miracles happen all the time. Uh, we need to be living a life that needs miracles, for one, because it’s about God’s glory. It’s not just about our comfort and satisfaction. Right? Right. And in this situation, it wasn’t just about the wedding. It wasn’t just about the bridegroom. It wasn’t just about the family’s embarrassment. All those things were why Mary responded. And she went to Jesus. But Jesus decided, okay, right now is my time. I’m going to announce my glory. And then his disciples believed. So if you want to see miracles in your life, live a life that requires that, uh, the only answer is the glory of God and that other people will believe because of what he does in that moment. Yeah, right. So you need you need to be around lost people a lot. And that’s when I see the most miracles, when, you know, we’re part of the Timothy Initiative, great church planting movement around the world. We hear stories of miracles all the time on a daily basis, in places where there is no other way for the gospel to go forward, where the power of God is demonstrated for the glory of God.

Jeff
And then people come to faith because of this thing, and it’s because there is no beachhead, there’s no foothold of the gospel there. You and I have a church on every corner. And in that instance, then we’ve got Scripture right in front of us. We we have all these miracles in front of us, but we what we want is like something that feels magical in the moment. Uh, but those, those miraculous moments happen in the context of God’s glory and people responding by faith, uh, to Christ. Yeah.

Chris
That’s awesome.

Jeff
That’s great. It’s pretty cool. I love this whole this whole story is a delight. One last thing in passing, and that is Cana was was even more obscure than Nazareth. So this isn’t like he went into Tiberius. He didn’t go to Caesarea maritime, these big cities where the Romans were. So these are little backwater, nothing little towns. And I delight in the fact that God loves to do great things in normal, everyday places. Right?

Chris
Yeah, yeah. That’s great. Well, that’s a great place to end. And, uh, hopefully we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.