Gospel of John Series - "Fill my Cup, Lord"

                                                             “Fill My Cup, Lord”

John 2:1-11

I am imagining Jesus speaking these words to his mother, Mary, “Woman, why do you involve me?” Let’s look at the text, “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.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Mary and Jesus had been invited as well as his four disciples to the wedding in Cana. The betrothal had already happened earlier in the year, and now the wedding nuptials and the celebration for five to seven days. It is here, whether the third day of the week or the third day of the wedding celebration, that the dilemma of the celebration happens: No more wine! And Mary must have heard of the crisis, and she enlists the service of her son, Jesus. Jesus must have looked startled or at least bewildered, thus the “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus probably saw the dilemma as well, and his next response came out as sort of a problem for Mary, “My hour has not yet come.” Jesus knew that God, the Father, gave him the words to speak (Jn. 12:49) and the miracles to perform. And Mary in her motherly way, tells the servants around the wedding feast, “Do whatever he tells you.” Jesus might have remembered when Samuel was posed with a problematic request. He was asked by the Israelite people to give them a king from among men. Samuel asked God what to do, and God responded, “Listen to all that the people are saying to you” 1 Sam. 8:7. 

Application - I don’t know about you, but when my mama said to do something, there was no arguing. I learned this as a child, mama represented the softer side to obedience. It would hurt her if I didn’t obey. Whereas my father, I learned He represented the law, the harder side to obedience, I didn’t want to disobey him because I knew there was coming judgment in the form of a spanking.

Jesus knew his mother’s heart. She wouldn’t ask unless it was important, and the connotations of the sentence spoken were done in kindness not rudeness.

We have learned that Jesus only spoke what the Father told him to say. This is pure discipline of the tongue! And the obedience of the servants, to fill six 30 gallon stone water jars, wouldn’t be an easy task. Yet it was done, even to the point of filling to the brim of each jar.

What has Jesus asked you to do? Did he do it in kindness or in judgmental law? Did he ask you to do something that didn’t seem at the appropriate time for you? Obedience to the Word of God is not optionable, nor is it to be shrugged off. When the disciples were asked to leave their businesses and family to follow Jesus, there wasn’t any rolling of the lot, flipping of a coin, or rock, paper, scissors. They obeyed without questions, “Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” Matt. 4:22

Ask yourself today, are you willing to obey when he asks you to do something for God’s glory?

Next, Jesus works his first miracle. Wine was a custom in the wedding ceremony. During the nuptials, the groom and the bride would drink from two cups. Maurice Lamm explains, “At the wedding, the wine symbolizes both kiddush, sanctity, and havdalah, separation, as the blessing itself indicates: "...who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us about [some say 'separated us from'] illicit relations…" As wine is used at the threshold of the Sabbath to sanctify it and to separate it, so it is used at the threshold of marriage to separate it from the prohibited and to sanctify the bonds of proper marriage. By Maurice Lamm Also wine was a common symbol of God’s bounty and of spiritual joy, and the wedding was an ordinance from God to man and woman. 

Jesus gives the orders to the servants. Let’s look at the text. “Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty 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.” 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.” 

It is after the dilemma has been discovered, possibly by the master of the banquet, or a servant in charge of the wine that Jesus responds with some peculiar orders. He sees six empty ceremonial washing stone water jars, 20 to 30 gallons, in other words not small jars and tells the servants to “Fill the jars with water”. The servants obey and fill the six jars to the brim with water. They would have brought the water to the jar, not the jar to the water. More about the stone jars in the application.

It is at this point, the miraculous happens. Water turns to wine, not cheap wine but fine wine, the best. And Jesus gives the second order, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” Nothing is known of what the servant thought of bringing this new wine to the master of the banquet, but the servant would have taken a cup, served the master of the banquet first, to get his approval before serving it to the wedding guests. To the surprise of the Master of the banquet, he questions the groom quietly, “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.”

There is no mention of the surprise or confusion of the bridegroom over this new discovery. The master of the banquet must have joyously approved the dispensing of the new wine. 

And John brings us to the reason for the miracle, “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.” 

Application - God desires to work miracles to reveal his glory. Throughout the story, God has revealed himself through His Son. Mary saw it in believing Jesus could solve the wine problem. The servants believed after knowing that they had filled the stone jars with water, that it now was new wine, even to the point of not telling the master of the banquet where the wine came from. And the glory of God was revealed to the master of the banquet. He was flabbergasted at the improper switching of the best wine and the cheap. God’s glory always reveals the power and majesty of his presence.

Now this brings us to the symbolism of the ceremonial washing stone water jars. Stone jars could only be made from a single boulder or rock. The Romans used a lathe to take a single rock and make it into a portion of a pillar. In the same way, stone jars were lathed, and they weren’t cheap. The bridegroom’s home in which the wedding nuptials took place, was considered by scholars to be a priestly home. If clay jars were used they would have violated the law, “First, the importance of stone vessels is that they are not subject to the impurity laws in Lev 11.32–35 which demand that clay vessels which become unclean must be smashed. So though they are much more expensive to make in the first place, in the long term they are more economic because they can be used repeatedly, even if they come into contact with things which are ceremonially unclean. So their presence indicates either that we are in a priestly household, or at least a household concerned with purity.” Ian Paul

Also, there is a view that the six ceremonial stone jars represent the six church ages of grace. I have yet to study that deep enough.

Second, the wine symbolizes the bounty and spiritual joy given to all who partake of this cup from God. The new wine also symbolizes the Holy Spirit (Matt. 9:17). God’s presence and blessing at the wedding is symbolized in the two cups of wine shared by the bridegroom and bride, mentioned earlier in the lesson. The separation from the illicit lifestyles of the world and sanctity of holiness in a real relationship with God together are wonderfully represented by the new wine from the cheap wine. This brings the third point of the wine, its representation of the grace of the law, and the grace of the Spirit. John in Chapter 1:16-17 “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” 

The wine served at the beginning of the wedding feast of 5 to 7 days was the cheap wine, testified by the master of the banquet. The cheap wine represented the grace of the law. It was never meant for salvation to eternal life, the grace of the law was a favor of clemency from the judgment of the law by obeying the laws of Moses. The new wine represented the grace of the Holy Spirit. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Eph. 2:8 

The grace of the Holy Spirit leads to sanctification, to produce in us the Christ-like character by the power of the Holy Spirit. He makes the changes that make us children of God, who bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The lesson from the making of water into wine is not about if we should drink wine or not. It is really about obedience to God’s call, to be useable to do 

what doesn’t seem logical, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are changed, we become more like Jesus in character and speech (only speaking what God wants said), and all of this miraculously happens for the Glory of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. There is an old Hymn that speaks of the cup of the new wine, “Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up, Lord! Come and quench this thirsting of my soul; Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more–Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!” 

What is your heart and life thirsting for? Ask Jesus to fill your cup with the new wine of the Holy Spirit. Amen

  I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation (JD Farag). Please, Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He is Life and that eternal, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis

 

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http://uss-warfare3.webnode.com