John 2:1-11: The Glory of Our Redeemer

John 2:1-11: The Glory of Our Redeemer 

This morning, we’re going to continue our series through the Gospel of John passage by passage. And the passage we come to today is designed the help us see the glory of Jesus. As we’ll discover, the text actually states that as its purpose explicitly—seeing the glory of Jesus. And here’s why that’s such a big deal: that’s where true Christianity begins. 

Take me for example. I grew up as a pastor’s kid. And my dad, being a pastor, would faithfully read a chapter of the Bible with me every evening. And after we read it, he would spend five or ten minutes explaining to me what it meant. It was a wonderful opportunity. But unfortunately, I failed to take advantage of it. It didn’t interest me. I found it boring. And so, evening after evening and year after year, I let just about everything my dad said go in one ear and right out the other. Of course, I became familiar with the biblical stories and biblical concepts—at least on an intellectual level—but I wasn’t really drawn to it at all. It was like some kind of blindfold was covering my eyes that kept me from seeing what we’ve been talking about: the glory of Jesus—his beauty, his loveliness, his power, his majesty, and his ability to save me from my sin and its consequences and satisfy the deepest desires of my heart in a way that nothing else can. That’s what we mean by the glory of Jesus. And in order to be saved, I had to see that—to really see it. 

And that’s what distinguishes a true Christian from a non-Christian. True Christians are those who follow Jesus, and the reason they follow Jesus is because they’ve seen his glory.  I think a lot of people imagine they’re true Christians because they were raised in a Christian home like I was or because they loosely subscribe to generic Christian beliefs or because they support Christian values. But those don’t necessarily mean someone’s a Christian. A true Christian is someone whose eyes have been opened to see the glory of Jesus in a way that fundamentally changes them. Thankfully, my eyes eventually were opened, and my prayer is that by the end of this sermon, yours will be opened as well. 

Let’s begin by turning to John chapter 2. If you’re using the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 736. John 2:1-11: “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory [there’s our main point]. And his disciples believed in him.”

To give you a little background here, you may be wondering why Jesus would care about meeting a need that was seemingly so trivial. I mean, they ran out of wine? Was that really such a big deal? And actually, in ancient Jewish culture, it was. Scholars tell us that running out of wine in that culture would cause more than just a little social embarrassment. You see, wedding feasts were a big part of the celebration and of the life of the community. Some of them could actually go on for a week. So it was important that things be done properly. Not only that, but there was a strong tradition of having your wedding feast reciprocated. That is, if one person gave a huge feast for his neighbor, and the neighbor didn’t reciprocate that when he got married, he could actually be taken to court and sued. So running out of wine was definitely a big deal. It was the only thing besides water they had to drink, so running out of wine would not only stigmatize these newlyweds for years into the future but could also open them up to financial distress—which they were probably in anyway since they couldn’t afford more wine.

But Jesus helped them in a big way. However, his purpose wasn’t just to help them out. He has a higher purpose as well. By changing water into wine, Jesus manifested his glory. That’s the main idea here. By changing water into wine, Jesus manifested his glory. And there are two aspects of Jesus’ glory that he manifested by changing the water into wine: the glory of his supernatural power and the glory of his offer of purification. The glory of his supernatural power and the glory of his offer of purification.

The Glory of His Supernatural Power

First, think about the glory of his power. Under normal circumstances, water doesn’t usually change its composition and suddenly become something else. Unless you add something to it or drastically change its temperature, water normally just keeps on being water. It certainly doesn’t transform into wine. I’m not a scientist, so I don’t know what scientific law that relates to, but I’m sure there is one. And normally, you and I are bound by scientific laws. For example, when I was younger, as badly as I wanted to fly, the laws of science and nature prevented me from flying. I couldn’t have jumped off the roof of my porch and flapped my arms as fast as I could, but I think we all how that would turn out. Perhaps some of you even know from experience how that turns out. Of course, we have airplanes. But even airplanes don’t defy the laws of nature; they simply use the laws of nature in order to get airborne. So we understand that you and I and everyone else in this world are all bound by the laws of nature. 

But Jesus displayed his power over the laws of nature when he turned this water into wine. Of course, there are some who would scoff at the idea of Jesus performing a miracle. That might be something that people back in more primitive and superstitious ages might believe, but certainly in this modern age, we’re beyond that. We’ve experienced the scientific revolution. We’ve experienced the technological revolution. Certainly we shouldn’t these primitive reports about miracles. But here’s the way I see it: If Jesus really is God in human flesh, as we’ve been teaching throughout this sermon series, and if he had a hand in creating this world, then certainly it shouldn’t be surprising that he’s also able to rule over this world and intervene in this world in a supernatural way. If he created the laws of nature, certainly he can also overrule the laws of nature. So it’s not as though believing the miracles of Jesus really happened is less scientific or less rational than not believing them. It’s simply a question of what presuppositions you start out with—whether you believe that God does or does not exist and whether you believe that Jesus was or was not God. 

And that’s actually what this miracle was designed to prove. It was designed to prove that Jesus is indeed more than just a normal human being. Look what it says in verse 11. It describes this miracle as “the first of his signs.” Do you see that in the text? That means this miracle was intended as a sign of something, and was in fact just the first in a series of signs that were all designed to point to the reality of who Jesus is. After all, that’s what a sign is. It’s something that points beyond itself. Like if you wanted to take the family to Kennywood, and on your way to Kennywood you saw one of those yellow arrow signs pointing the way, you wouldn’t get out of the car and spend your day just enjoying that sign. It may be a really nice sign—well designed and very attractive—but the point of the sign isn’t the sign itself. It’s the amusement park the sign is directing you toward. And in a similar way, the point of our main passage here isn’t this miracle itself but rather what this miracle says about Jesus. It was a visible demonstration that Jesus was more than just another human being. He was God’s Messiah sent to rescue the world from sin, and he even possessed the very nature of God himself. So let me ask you this: Have you come to see Jesus this way? Have you seen these aspects of the glory of Jesus? Have you come to see him as God in human flesh? Have you come to see him as God’s Messiah sent to rescue you from your sin? 

The Glory of His Offer of Purification

And as we think about Jesus rescuing us from our sin, that leads us to the second aspect of his glory this text reveals. Not only does this text reveal the glory of Jesus’ power, it also reveals the glory of his purification—that is, the glory of the purification he offers to us. And in a moment, I’ll explain more about purification and why it’s so significant for us today. But first, here’s where we see it in the text. Notice how in verse 6 of our text, it mentions the six water jars Jesus had the servants put the water in. Look what it says, beginning at verse 6: “Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

Now the key detail here is the kind of jars Jesus had the servants use. Verse 6 says they were designed “for the Jewish rites of purification.” So these weren’t jars people would usually put drinking water in. They were more like wash basins to be used for ceremonial purification. You see, the Old Testament instructed the Jews to distinguish between things that were “clean” and things that were “unclean.” And these labels of clean and unclean didn’t refer to physical cleanliness but rather to spiritual and ceremonial cleanliness. If something was clean, it was fit for God’s service and pleasing to God.  And if something was unclean, it wasn’t pleasing to God. So the Jews wanted to purify things that were unclean and make them clean, and this was often done with water.  And these six stone jars mentioned in our text held the water that would be used for such purification.

So with that in mind, think about what Jesus might have been signaling by using these purification basins to hold the water he turned into wine. That wasn’t at all what they were typically used for. So what do you think he was trying to communicate by doing that? There’s a general consensus among scholars that Jesus was signaling the beginning of a new era. And in this new era, people wouldn’t be purified and cleansed from their sins by rituals or ceremonies as had been the case under the previous era. Rather, they would be purified simply through Jesus and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Not only was the physical water turned into wine, but the water of Jewish rituals and ceremonies would likewise be replaced with the wine of the New Covenant—that is, the new way people relate to God.

And really, that had been the ultimate goal of the Jewish purification practices all along. First of all, the reason God instituted a system of things being either ceremonially clean or ceremonially unclean in the Old Testament was to teach the Jews about sin and how sin stains us. That system was a teaching tool to help them understand the kind of effect sin has. And then God gave them various purification rituals, many of them involving water, as a way of foreshadowing the ultimate way they could be purified from their sin—through Jesus. So today, no longer is it necessary to purify ourselves through various rites and rituals. We have the wine of the New Covenant.  As 1 John 1:7 says, “The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

You know, I think we all have an intuitive understand that we need this kind of cleansing. I think we all sense—to one degree or another—our guilt and defilement before God. Because the Bible teaches us that God has given us a conscience that reminds us of our sin. It’s kind of like a warning light on a car that keeps blinking and telling us that something’s wrong here. Everything’s not okay. And there are a number of ways people respond to their conscience. One common way is to simply ignore the uneasiness they feel. They distract themselves with a wide array of different activities and keep telling themselves that everything’s okay, and over time they just learn to plug their ears to the voice of their conscience. The Bible describes it in 1 Timothy 4:2 as their conscience being “seared.” That’s the word it uses. Kind of like you might sear a steak by exposing it to very hot flames so the outside of the steak is no longer raw but very well cooked. That’s what some people have done to their conscience. And because their conscience is seared, their sins don’t really bother them anymore. The volume of their conscience is turned down lower and lower, until finally, it’s barely even a whisper. Sometimes I wonder of our society in particular has experienced a collective searing of the conscience. So that’s one way people respond to their guilty conscience—by ignoring it. 

Another way people respond to their uneasy conscience is by trying to appease it. Think about the remote tribes we hear about that practice animal sacrifice or even human sacrifice in order to make things right with their gods. Why do they do that? In many cases, it’s related in some form or fashion to the uneasiness they feel about their moral condition. Or take medieval Europe as another example. In medieval Europe, some adherents of Catholicism would try to alleviate their guilty conscience by practicing what’s called “self-flagellation,” where they would actually whip themselves as a way of imitating the suffering Christ experienced. Of course, these may seem like some far out examples, but think about the ways many Americans try to appease their uneasy conscience. 

One of my favorite TV shows of all time is 24, where federal agent Jack Bauer has the task of defending America against an imminent terrorist threat. And in the line of duty, Jack has to do some pretty bad things to people in order to defend America. Many would say he definitely crosses the line on several occasions. But of course, he justifies it by pointing to all the lives he’s saving in the process. However, Jack still harbors a deep sense of guilt for his actions, and he says one line in season 8 of the series that I thought was very interesting from a spiritual perspective. He tells a fellow agent that his goal in life is to do enough good things to make up for all the bad things he’s done. And I think that’s the attitude a lot of people have. Even if they haven’t done the kinds of things Jack does on 24, they still have an uneasy conscience. Something within them keeps telling them that everything’s not okay. So they respond to that by trying to do enough good things in life so that the good outweighs the bad. They try to help people and volunteer for charities. Or maybe they become really religious and dutifully engage in different religious rituals. All of these things represent their attempt to appease an uneasy conscience. Or maybe they try to deal with their conscience in another way besides ignoring it or trying to appease it. Perhaps they attend endless counseling sessions or turn to prescription drugs or even abuse drugs. 

And yet, none of these things are ultimately sufficient. Because the reality is that regardless of how many people you help or how many religious rituals you engage in or how many pills you pop, none of that takes care of the root issue. Try as we might, we’re not able to cleanse ourselves. Kind of like a stain that no matter how many times you treat it and wash it, the stain just won’t come out. That’s what it’s like with our sinfulness. And our conscience serves as a warning light about that and continually testifies to our need for cleansing. Maybe you can identify with that this morning. Maybe you’ve experienced that restlessness, that uneasiness, deep within you. Maybe even right now, you have a sense that there’s something seriously wrong with you morally. That may very well be your conscience, and God gave that to you so you would see your need for Jesus. He’s the only one who can help you. 

He can even help you if you’ve done specific things that are causing you guilt. Maybe you have more than a general uneasiness about your moral condition and have done specific things that haunt you to this day. Maybe you’ve hurt somebody, failed somebody, or done something you thought you’d never do. And ever since then, you’ve been carrying around a deep sense of guilt that you just can’t get away from. Of course, there’s a such thing as false guilt, but maybe the guilt you feel is legitimate. You really have done something wrong that your conscience keeps reminding you about. I have good news for you this morning: you can be free from that. You don’t have to carry that load for the rest of your life. You can be free from that. You can be forgiven and cleansed entirely. As Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” And the way that happens is through Jesus. That’s how we experience true cleansing. In fact, that’s the only way. Here in our main text, Jesus uses the Jewish purification basins to turn the water into wine to declare that true purification—true cleansing—isn’t about rituals or ceremonies or anything else we try to do to. True cleansing comes through Jesus. 

Conclusion

You see, when Jesus died on the cross, he took the punishment for everything bad we’ve ever done. He died in our place, as our substitute. All of our sin was placed on his shoulders, and he suffered the penalty for it. And now, because Jesus not only died in our place but also resurrected from the dead, he’s able to cleanse everyone who will look to him to do that. As that old hymn says, “Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power. / Come ye weary, heavy-laden, lost and ruined by the fall. If you tarry until you’re better, you will never come at all. / I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in His arms. In the arms of my dear Savior, oh, there are ten thousand charms.” 

We said that the main purpose of this passage in John 2 is to help us see the glory of Jesus. And I don’t know what could be more glorious than a Savior who offers us such cleansing—such salvation—with open arms. It cost him so much, and yet he offers it so freely. Have your eyes been opened to see the glory of this Jesus? Is he more than just a historical figure to you? Have you really seen his glory? If you have, there will be evidence of that in your life. It will change you in a profound way. 

And maybe you have come to see his glory and you’ve seen change in your life, but you still feel guilt about things you’ve done. Maybe it’s things you’ve done before salvation or maybe it’s more recent things you’ve struggled with since being saved. Maybe you’ve looked at pornography again or relapsed into substance abuse again or lost your temper with your kids again or caught yourself gossiping again. And every time you fall back into those sins, you just feel like the most worthless person in the world. It sickens you to think about what you’ve done. Let me encourage you to view that failure as an opportunity to look to Jesus anew and afresh. View it as an opportunity to let the reality of the cleansing he offers wash over you all over again. View it as an opportunity to rejoice in the gospel in a deeper way than you ever have before.