How Did He Do That?
When you were a kid, did you like watching a magic show? I still enjoy seeing a magician perform. Here's a short clip of one doing a cool "act of transformation."
As we read John 2:1-11, we see Jesus doing a genuine and an amazing act of transformation. Moses may have turned water into to blood as an act of judgment, but Jesus turned water into wine as an act of kindness. This was Jesus' first miracle he ever performed. (No, as a boy Jesus didn't turn clay birds into real ones as the Qur'an and The Infancy Gospel of Thomas claim; both written hundreds of years after Jesus' earthly life.) By the way, 35 different miracles are recorded within the four gospels. John let's us know that Jesus did many more than that. John picked out 7 of them to focus on. Why? Read 20:30-31 to find out now and underline it in your Bible please. John is giving you the very reason why he wrote his gospel. If Ecclesiastes was a pre-evangelism book, the gospel of John is definitely an evangelism book.
Notice that John calls Jesus' miracles signs. Why? Well, what does a sign do? It gives us important information and points us in the right direction, doesn't it? Jesus' miraculous signs did just that. For example, they verified that he was who he claimed to be- 'believe the miracles that you may know that the Father is in me, and I in the Father" 10:38. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" John 14:6. There is only one way to the Father and that is through faith in Jesus alone. His miraculous signs pointed this out clearly.
So as you read the story of Jesus turning the water into wine, keep in mind that it is written to convince the unbeliever to believe that Jesus is the promised Savior. It is not to assure you that Jesus will transform your bad circumstances. Sometimes he does, other times he doesn't. We follow Him because He has transformed us, not to get him to transform our circumstances. That is guaranteed in heaven not here on earth. Another important thing to notice in the story is that Jesus said, "My time has not yet come" 2:4. This phrase we will see later in 7:8,30; 8:30. Then at the end of Jesus' life, we discover that his time had come- 12;23; 13:1; 17:1. The entire gospel is moving toward that crucial time- Christ's death and resurrection. He was 100% focused on carrying out that mission He was sent to accomplish. Thank You Lord for staying on target. You made the one way for us to be saved and transformed.
We already saw in Proverbs that drunkenness was condemned, so Jesus certainly was not promoting drunkenness by turning so much water into wine. Running out of wine for one's guests would have been a total embarrassment, which Jesus prevented for those newlyweds. (Today, it might be like having no food or even cake for your wedding guests. How cheap!) What a great quality wedding present Jesus gave them. (And what a far greater quality wedding present He's given us; and all the more awaits us as well.) Notice also that he did it rather privately. We will see Jesus performing other miracles without calling attention to himself. He delighted in humility. And notice that the miracle didn't require anything of the newlyweds. The miracle isn't recorded to show us "five steps to take to get Jesus to fulfill your needs." You know why it's written- 20:30-31.
Then what was the significance of this miraculous sign? First it revealed Jesus' glory (doxa), which means his majesty, infinite worth, honor and praiseworthiness. John was there to see this first miracle revealing Jesus' glory. Earlier he wrote in 1:14- "We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." Second, the miraculous sign motivated his first few disciples (not all of them had been called yet) to put their trust in him. Their faith would grow all the more. Isn't that how it is with us? We put our trust in the Lord for our salvation, but our trust has grown deeper as we have learned so much more about our glorious Savior and King. Again, this is the thrust of why John included this story. He wants to help people put their faith in Jesus too, so that they also can be transformed, like water into wine.
1.- People need to put their faith in Jesus so that they can be transformed. Share a story of some unsaved person you have recently witnessed to or given a Greatest Minimovies card to. (At Sunday's M3 meeting, I will give you an encouraging update on how many people have been watching them.)
2.- Read through John 2:1-11 and pick a verse or phrase that grabs your interest and share some of your thoughts about it.
Jesus did an Act of Kindness for that newlywed couple. Be on the lookout for an Act of Kindness you can do for others and then seek to help them. (Please remember to put a point in the A column on the scoreboard when you do acts of kindness above and beyond the norm.)
George Doherty is spreading gospel seeds even at restaurants. He wrote, "I gave out a couple cards to servers but I didn’t have a chance to talk to them." That's fine George. Way to go!
Nic wrote, "I gave a card to one of my students. She confessed to being liberal in her beliefs and grew up going to a liberal church. I told her that my views are probably a lot more conservative but challenged her to go back to the Bible afresh and gave her a mini movies card and invited her to church." Way to go Nic!
As you go to put your points on the scoreboard, is there anybody on your fire-team or squad that you see needs an encouraging call? It's refreshing to hear from some of you who have let me know you are reaching out to any who are MIA. Excellent! Thanks!
Your anger, Moses and Jesus, shallow faith, and dropping out of M3. You guessed it. Find out more about all of that tomorrow.
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