and in truth as we hear and respond to your gospel in Jesus name amen this is God's word 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 Jesus said to her woman what does that 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 Jewish rights of purification each holding 20 or 30 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 then when people have drunk freely than the poor wine but you have kept the good wine until now this is the first of the signs Jesus did at Cana and Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him so we're going to look at four things the occasion the hour the jars and the wine occasion our jars and wine and the first is the occasion it's a wedding Jesus is there along with his disciples John doesn't mention how Jesus came to be invited he wasn't a well-known figure yet because he hadn't done any miracles we don't know if he was friends with the family could be that his family knew his mother Mary and since Mary was invited so was Jesus and his disciples now weddings at that time were a little different than our weddings first of all there was a betrothal period and the betrothal period lasted a year so the man would go and talk to the father of the young woman he wanted to marry once he had procured permission he then would have a meeting for with other people in the town and state his intentions and then there would be one year one year to wait when the day finally arrived for the wedding it wasn't a day it was a week and it was a party a festive party and there was wine and so running out of wine at the party was more than a minor embarrassment because it would have put it into the festivities because the wine is what made it a party and the wedding itself didn't take place to the third day of the week the couple would no doubt suffer embarrassment or even humiliation that would probably stick with them the kind of thing that would be referred to in the future remember when Isaac and Esther ran out of wine at their wedding and I don't know if that was their names or not but could have been or if someone had an embarrassing situation in the future they might say well at least it's not as bad as Isaac and Esther's wedding so it wasn't an insignificant problem to run out of wine now Mary finds out about it and we don't know how she found out whether she was told by somebody which would make sense or she simply noticed it but whichever is the case she brings the information to Jesus to tell him they have no wine now Jesus response as we get to the hour is he says woman what does this have to do with me my hour has not yet come now this is not normally how someone would talk to his mother even today but especially them woman what does this have to do with me now some of your translations might have tried to dress this up some of them might have said might say dear woman that's not what he said he said woman it was brusque there was no getting around it so there but there's no need to try to make it sound more palatable to us he says my hour is not yet come why does he say this and what does it mean well in John's gospel the hour spoken this way always refers to the death of Jesus it refers to his sacrifice a few places I'll mention is one is in John 7 verse 30 so they were seeking to arrest him but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come John 8 18 to 20 I am the one who bears witness about myself Jesus said and the father who sent me bears witness about me therefore or they said to him therefore where is your father and Jesus answered you know neither me nor my father if you knew me you would know my father also these words he spoke in the Treasury as he taught in the temple but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come so according to this as Jesus is speaking what a lot of the Pharisees at least would have thought was blasphemy equating himself with the father but no one arrested him because his hour the hour of his death had not yet come in John chapter 12 Jesus in verse 23 says the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified and verse 27 now my soul is troubled and what shall I say father save me from this hour but for this purpose I have come to this hour father glorify your name then a voice came from heaven I have glorified it and I will glorify it again in John 13 one now the Feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world having loved his own who were in the world he loved him to the end and in John's high our Jesus high priestly prayer in John 17 he says when Jesus had spoken these words he lifted up his eyes and said father the hour has come glorify your son that the son may glorify you so when Jesus says to his mother woman what does this have to do with me my hour has not yet come he's he's thinking about the hour of his death the hour of his suffering the question is why why is he thinking about that well he's at a wedding he is a single man now whether you're single or married or in a relationship and you hope someday to get married when you're at a wedding you think about your own whether it was your own wedding day that's happened already or it could be your wedding day that you're hoping to happen soon or you might think of the wedding of a son or a daughter if you're old enough but if you're single and you not in a relationship you might think about your own wedding what will it be like will I ever even get married you aren't a relationship I know this is sort of a generalization but if you're in a relationship a man and a woman and you're at a wedding and you've been in this relationship for a while the man might get an elbow somewhere along the line because she's wondering when are we ever going to get married now at 30 years old I'm sure there were people that wondering was we're wondering why isn't Jesus married I mean it wasn't the norm for somebody at that point in history in that culture at 30 years old to still be single well why why was he still single Jesus knew why which is why he says the hour is not yet come his bride is the church his bride is the people he came to save but to save them he's going to have to die he's going to have to be crucified he's going to have to suffer humiliation and not the humiliation of running out of wine he's going to be abandoned by his friends except for one he's going to be beaten scourged mocked the Pharisees and the soldiers are going to mock him the people as he carries his cross on the way to Golgotha are going to mock him and spit at him as the scripture said cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree before that he's going to pray in the garden of Gethsemane father if possible take this cup from me but not my will but yours be done finally when he's crucified he's going to cry out on the cross my god my god why have you forsaken me this would explain why Jesus says this to Mary woman what does this have to do with me my hour has not yet come he's saying it's not time for me to die how does Mary respond does she say how dare you no she doesn't how does she respond she turns to the servants and she says do whatever he tells you she may not have understood not completely anyway but she knew enough about Jesus to know he's trustworthy and I think that's a great lesson for us for example if you have kids a lot of you do you have to tell them to do things or not do things and in our culture people think you have to explain to your children your reasons for everything if to get them to agree with you no you don't they just have to do what you say because a lot of times even if you explain it to them they're not going to understand or if you explain it to them and they disagree then what they don't get a vote they just have to do what you say and for us it's the same with Jesus we don't always have to understand but we should do whatever he tells us because he's trustworthy Proverbs 3 5 says trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding Paul said in 1st Timothy 115 saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am foremost the reason that we do what he says to us even if we don't understand is because we can trust him we can trust him that he knows best that he wants the best for us that he loves us that he cares for us that we're his bride so what does he tell them to do he says now there were six stone water jars John does therefore Jewish rights of purification each holding 20 or 30 gallons Jesus said to the servants fill the jars with water and they filled them up to the brim why would Jesus choose those jars one commentator points it out he says since they ran out of wine the empty wine cast would have been the logical containers to have the servants fill with water that makes sense I mean no one would be the wiser you have wine casts fill them back up with water he didn't even really have to fill him with water he could have just filled him with wine but Jesus preferred the stone jars used for ritual bathing even though storing wine in them was not their purpose this reveals that the scene is described by John still quoting was intended to involve symbolism that would foreshadow his passion and the establishment of his church the jars represented ritual purification and hence the Jewish law mark 7 is an example of this in verse 1 now when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were unwashed defiled for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands holding to the tradition of the elders and when they came from the marketplace he did not eat unless they wash there are many other traditions they observed such as washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches so think about this this these jars are used to wash the word for hands here is fists which indicates a traditional washing the jars are used for the purpose of ritual purification for the purpose of symbolizing a cleansing a cleansing from sin so the choice of the water jars is purposeful and symbolic Jesus isn't opposed to washing in fact in Ephesians chapter 5 Paul writes husband love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present to the church the church to himself and splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish and again in Titus chapter 3 he saved us not because of works done in righteousness according to his own mercy by washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior each jar would hold 25 to 30 gallons that's a lot of water 20 to 30 gallons and they filled them to the brim and then Jesus has now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast who is the master of the feast well the master of the feast is remember this is a seven-day party the master of the feast is the presider we might today call somebody that did that the MC the master of ceremonies but there had to be somebody to direct the revelers as to what they were supposed to be doing next or not doing otherwise the party could descend into chaos if somebody's not directing so they take it to the master of the feast and we get to the wine you see what Jesus is doing here he's used these purification rights of the Jews he's using that water the water of purification and changing it to wine and it is wine about which Jesus will say this is my blood poured out for the sins of many it's wine which we use in our communion for the same purpose or even more of a purpose than the water he's making his announcement he's explaining who he is and what he intends to do he's the bridegroom he will have a bride he will have a wedding feast but to accomplish that he will have to pour out his blood for the sins of many now when the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine he did not know where it came from though the servants who had drawn the water knew and the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him everyone who serves the good wine first 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 there are two things I want to point out here just briefly and and less consequentially this is real wine I don't want to offend anybody I know some of you might have been taught this was not real wine it was very weak or maybe simply juice but it doesn't make any sense if everyone serves the good wine first and then when people have drunk freely then the poor wine why because after they had become somewhat intoxicated they can't tell the difference the mirth makes no sense if the wine isn't wine so how did it come about that and we do as well we offer grape juice in the outer circle of each tray if that's what you prefer but how did it come about for so many churches to not use wine but use grape juice instead well turns out that in the 1800s I don't remember the exact day but the 1800s there were a couple of brothers who were teetotalers I don't know why I do quotes air quotes but you know what a teetotaler is right they don't drink alcohol which is fine if you don't want to but they didn't think anybody should drink it and they thought that it was wrong to celebrate the Lord's Supper with wine but the problem was that it to use just grape juice wasn't safe because grape juice would go bad in just a few days unless they could pasteurize it which they came up with a way to pasteurize grape juice so they used Louis Pasteur the Frenchman's inventedness to serve their American sensibilities so it's French ingenuity American sensibilities a lot of people wish it was the other way around but that's what happened those brothers names are Welch you've heard of Welch's grape juice that's where it came from it was first intended to be for communion because they didn't think they should use wine but Jesus comes to bring a feast a feast and a festival like we have never known one minister said Jesus comes to bring you and me into union with him heaven is a long-awaited marriage feast you've heard those old fables of forest running with wine child's play small stuff let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory for the wedding of the lamb is common the bride has made herself ready fine linen bright and clean was given her to wear fine linen stands for the righteousness of the saints and the angel said to me blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the lamb and he added these are the true words of God all of creation began with a marriage Adam and Eve all of creation will end with a marriage a marriage that will last forever between Jesus Christ and his bride the church so how do you apply this I have four things I'm sure there are more but I have four the first is that where's to be joyful glorify God and enjoy him forever the confession and catechisms tell us not only the joy that awaits but present joy you can find joy in this life no matter how much sorrow there is secondly there is hope hope in the midst of the present sorrow no matter what sorrow you have no matter what it is we can sip the coming joy Edmund clown he said that Jesus sat in the midst of joy sipping the coming sorrow so that we could sit in the midst of sorrow and sip the coming joy there's hope there's love a lot of people believe they're gonna miss love so many people worry they might they might miss it they worry that they'll never meet the right person or they worry they'll never meet anybody to get married to or they're worried that they marry the wrong person already but you won't miss love because we all all of us who are believers in Christ have the most loving the most generous the most caring the most merciful groom wedding partner that there ever was and he loves us for the joy set before him he endured the cross despising the shame so that he might spend eternity with us as his bride so there's joy and there's hope and there's love but there's also trust Jesus saved this young couple from humiliation embarrassed and embarrassment for providing the best wine this this should tell us that Jesus is concerned with us with our lives with our troubles with what's going on with us and we can bring it to him we can tell him about it we can trust him with it and he saved this young couple from humiliation and embarrassment but he saves us even more than that he saves us from a eternity of sorrow and regret and despair through the sacrifice of his blood represented in the wine of the Lord's Supper you can trust him if you haven't trusted him yet trust him now let's pray father in heaven thank you for your word thank you for your gospel thank you that we can drink freely from the river fountain of your delights we pray this in Jesus name