Jesus Transforms Water into Wine... and so much more 

John 2 : 1-11

Andrew reflects on trust, transformation, celebration and the world-changing mission of Jesus that is grounded in local community. 

As we look at this extraordinary event, we can see it from a number of different perspectives – the community, Mary, Jesus and the disciples – but also think about what we can learn from it.

Weddings in Jesus’s day were week-long festivals.  Special food would be prepared for many guests and the week would be spent celebrating the new life of the married couple. Often the whole town was invited and everyone would come.  So … careful planning was needed.  To run out of wine was more than embarrassing; it broke the strong unwritten rules of hospitality.  Rumours that the wine was running out were circulating and it seemed that the wedding would be remembered in the community for all the wrong reasons.

Against this backdrop, Mary brought the problem to Jesus‘s attention.  She was probably not asking Jesus to do anything special, but just to get involved with others to help solve the problem.  It is thought that by now Mary’s husband Joseph had died and so, as a widow, she was used to turning to Jesus when help was needed.  It is not easy to know what Jesus meant when He replied: “Why involve me?  My time has not come.”  But perhaps that is the point.  Mary didn’t understand what Jesus was going to do, but trusted him to do what was right.

Mary knew that Jesus was much more than just her human son – he was the son of God. But she submitted to His way of doing things.  She took some of the servants aside and just asked them to do the same – “do whatever He says!”  Mary turned to Jesus and trusted in him.

And then Jesus makes his move and gets involved, and we see how something unexpected and miraculous happened.  He got the servants involved.  He got them to fill up the large water jars used for the customary, ceremonial washing of hands and then to take some of the contents of one of the jars to the master of ceremonies.  To everyone’s amazement they now had wine, not water, to drink and it was the best wine to be served throughout the whole wedding festivities.  Things were now back to front, upside side - the best wine was being served at the end of the event!  A remarkable, memorable intervention by Jesus.

The last group of people we see mentioned is the disciples (v 11)  “This was the first of Jesus’s miraculous signs”, the writer John says.  “He thus revealed His glory, and his disciples put their faith in him”.  When the disciples saw Jesus’s miracle, they believed.  The miracle showed His power over nature but also showed some key things about how Jesus was now going about His mission.   It was about helping others.  It was about speaking with authority. It was about being in personal touch with people.  There had been itinerant preachers before who had created a stir, but Jesus was different.  The Son of God had unique power and authority but He was also deeply engaged with people and concerned with all aspects of their lives.  He was fully human and was concerned for restoration and reconciliation at every level - nature, man and God.

Miracles of the kind that Jesus did and are described in the gospels are not just superhuman events, but events that demonstrate God’s power.  Almost every miracle that Jesus did was a renewal of fallen creation – restoring sight, making the lame walk, even restoring life to the dead.

As Christians, we don’t believe in Christ because He is a superman but because He is the God who continues His work of creation in those of us who are poor, weak, downcast or outcast, orphaned, blind, deaf … or with any other desperate need for re-creation.  The God of the universe is love – that’s His nature, shown supremely in sending His own son, Jesus, to make the way back to God possible and recreate in us the lives He always intended for us, transformed by His Holy Spirit.

Mark in his gospel describes Jesus explaining to a rich young man how his wealth was his personal barrier to entering into the kingdom of God, and he turns away.  The crowd are left asking “Who then can be saved?”  Jesus looked at them and said: ”With man this is impossible, but not with God: all things are possible with God”.  As someone else has put it, “a miracle is God doing what only God can do”  Our forgiveness and God’s acceptance of us is the greatest of all miracles.

So as we have looked at this first miraculous event in Jesus’s ministry from the perspective of those involved, what can we learn for ourselves?

Firstly, Jesus was on a mission to save the world, the greatest mission in the history of the world.  Yet He was deeply immersed in his local community and all that went on, and took time to be part of its festivities.  Perhaps we should see these not as being a distraction from other more important things but see them as part of our mission?  Here at St Denys I think we get this.  We see our mission as both local and global.  There are many examples of people here making it their priority to connect and engage, rather than retreating into their personal space and comfort zones.  Can we go wider?  Can we go deeper?  What new ways is God calling us to be alongside those in our community with whom perhaps we have less in common, or to share in activities that work to bring about a greater sense of community?

Secondly there are things we can learn from Mary.  As we have seen, when there was a problem, Mary turned to Jesus and trusted in him.  When we run into situations we do not understand, do we continue to trust that God will work in the best way?  When we take our problems to God, we may think that we know how He should take care of them.  But He may have a completely different plan.  Like Mary, we should submit and allow him to deal with the problem as He sees fit.  It is interesting, isn’t it, that one moment we are acknowledging God to be omnipotent and omniscient – those are the theological  words for saying that He has all the power and all the wisdom - and then we seem to think He needs our help with coming up with the solutions to our problems!  I am not suggesting for a moment that we should not be applying our God-given common sense and wisdom to the everyday tasks and decisions we face.  And, of course, there are no matters in our lives that are so insignificant as to not matter to God.  But when we bring a specific problem to Him, are we able to leave it with him, to trust him to know what is best and to let him show us His solution, in His time?  Patience has been described as a bitter plant that produces sweet fruit.

Thirdly, and finally, I want us to come back to the fact that this was a wedding and a joyful occasion.  It could have all ended badly but it didn’t.  We can see joy discovered in various ways, whether it was the servants through their obedience, the disciples in their growing understanding of who Jesus was, or the guests as they witness God’s power and benefit from His abundant provision.

The water in this story was not just transformed into any wine, but the best wine.  This speaks to us of the transformative power of God in our lives when we obey Him.  Our ordinary, everyday lives can be transformed into something extraordinary, something beautiful, something valuable, something joy-filled.

After the wedding, people went back to their everyday lives, which were often far from easy, but with a remarkable story to tell their children and their children’s children.  God is still at work today!  May we all come to know a deep, spiritual rejoicing that comes from recognising His power and love at work in our lives.  Amen!

Andrew M first preached this sermon at St Denys on Sunday 6th October 2024