“Paying
The Bills”
JOHN 2: 1-11 (NRSV)
Watching children grow is one of the
joys of being a parent. Kids learn so many things as they take on life’s
challenges. Among those things they learn are:
1) No matter how
hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your mom is mad at your
dad, don't let your mom brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you,
don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old
brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch
your food.
6) Reading what people write on
desks can teach you a lot.
7) Don't sneeze when someone is
cutting your hair.
8) Puppies still have bad breath
even after eating a tic-tac.
9) Never hold a dustbuster and a
dog at the same time.
10) School lunches stick to the
wall.
11) You can't hide a piece of
broccoli in a glass of milk.
12) Don't wear polka-dot
underwear under white shorts.
13) The best place to be when
you are sad is in Grandma's lap.
On that note did you know that Theologians
have long wondered if Jesus always knew He was God’s Son, or if he developed a
gradual awareness of it, or if it blossomed during His baptism, desert
wanderings, or transfiguration? Others of course say it was on the cross itself
after Jesus’ sacrifice, that God “adopted” Him.
When you consider this kind of stuff you
have to look for clues in scripture that reveal what Jesus knew and when He
knew it. This becomes an endless debate of religiosity that gets boring fairly
quickly as people argue back and forth on the finer meaning of words and
nuances of the Greek and Hebrew languages.
So when was Jesus mature?
Some people say that maturity begins
when you feel you are right about something without feeling the need to prove
someone else wrong (Sydney J. Harris). Ethel Barrymore said, “You grow up the
day you have your first real laugh at yourself.”
There is even an American Indian proverb
that says, “If you want a place in the sun, you must leave the shade of the
family tree.”Most families would agree that children become “mature” when they
begin paying their own bills, making their own plans, and provide their own way
in the world. Listen to John 2: 1-11 -
On
the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus
was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When
the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And
Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My hour has not
yet come.”His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now
standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification,
each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with
water.”
And
they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take
it to the chief steward.” So they took it.
When
the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it
came from (through the servants who drawn the water knew), the steward called
the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then
the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the
good wine until now.”
Jesus
did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory;
and his disciples believed in him.
When you think about Jesus there are two
big events that stick out even beyond his death and resurrection to the common
culture: His walking on water and turning water into wine. Doing these sorts of
things separate Jesus from the usual human, and suggest He has supernatural
abilities.
This passage tells us that Jesus turned
water into wine at a wedding banquet in Cana, in the Galilee region, at the
insistence of His mother. It is Jesus’ first public sign of power and we are
told His disciples believed in Him after seeing his revealed glory.
This is a familiar story for most of us,
serves as great fodder for Sunday School, VBS stories, and it serves as a slightly
“spicey” topic for a Sunday Morning Sermon, particularly given the churches’
stereotypical teachings about avoiding drinking strong beverages. Can you hear,
“Well, if Jesus made wine…”
There are two things we need to hear and
understand in order to see where Jesus’ head is at and why we’re reading this
passage. One is the phrase “On the third
day” and the second is, “My hour has
not yet come.”
Friends, remember that at the simplest
level of Biblical interpretation we always let scripture interpret
scripture. Every other location or scenario in the Bible that uses the term
“On the third day,” refers to Jesus’
death and resurrection. So we know that Jesus is speaking symbolically about
His death and resurrection in this passage.
Likewise, the term, “My hour has not yet come,” makes what
Jesus says into a prophetic statement about a messianic condition or prediction
He will fulfill such as His atoning death. In providing wine for a wedding feast He is proclaiming
His role as the upcoming Bridegroom “wooing” the church at the end of days.
This passage shows us that Jesus is in
control of His own destiny, knows who He is, and is one with the Father in
purpose. We need no longer concern ourselves with questions about when Jesus
knew who He was and what He was doing. Rest assured – God is in control and it
is His Will that will be done!
I know that Jesus knew who He was, as
fully human and fully divine, from the moment of conception. We know that Jesus
was present at creation (God spoke His Word of Light), just as the Holy Spirit
hovered over the surface of the waters as well. We see the doctrine of the
Trinity from the beginning of our world’s time.
It doesn’t make sense for God’s Son to have
a period of amnesia in order to be born as a man. Jesus didn’t need to mature –
the “My hour has not yet come,”
refers to the immediacy of the actions conspiring to use Him as a sacrificial lamb.
The people and circumstances of Israel
weren’t ready to put him to death yet!
A friend told me of an encounter he had
a few years ago at the beginning of the New Year. He had received the first
round of Christmas bills and was wondering how he could pay them off quickly so
he’d be ready to pay the taxes, heating costs, and other expenses that seem to
come so quickly in the early winter after the Holidays.
He was buying stamps at the Post Office
to mail bills when the postal clerk asked him, almost in passing, “Is there
anything else I can do for you?”
Before he thought about it he blurted
back to her, “Not unless you want to help me pay for Christmas?” He said the
clerk, without missing a beat, smiled, and said, “Isn’t that what Jesus already
did?”
Friends, the Wedding at Cana is the
first time Jesus begins to pay for Christmas, Easter, and our down payment on Eternity.
January 19, 2013 was the 450th
Anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism. Question 18 of the Catechism answers
our initial question regarding Jesus’ nature.
Listen to this timeless training tool
for our faith:
Question: Who then is
that Mediator, who is in one person both very God, (a) and a real (b) righteous
man?
Answer: Our Lord Jesus Christ: "who of God
is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption."
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,
the bills are paid! Amen.
