Delectable Wine

How often is that a word that you use? "Delectable" (not wine). It's a rich, colorful, rich word. This how the master of a wedding feast once described something that Jesus was the sole provider of. In this case it actually was wine, but the word goes far beyond the wine.

You may already be familiar with the story in John 2, where Jesus attends a wedding feast at Cana (you can read it again in the passage to the right), and in the midst of a feast in which the wine ran out, Jesus provides wine. Only the servants (and Jesus' mother, and His disciples perhaps) know that it was Jesus - and yet this is the first of Jesus' "signs" of Jesus ministry. This is the miracle that introduced the ministry of Jesus, and yet only a few really knew what happened.

What was this miracle about? Empty stone water jars used for ceremonial washing, become filled, and Jesus replaces the water with wine - and all this in a context of a wedding celebration. The servants are the ones who see it more clearly than those running the celebration. There is something rich and symbolic going on here that is well worth pausing and reflecting upon!

That's what Pastor Jon invites us to do as he shares John 2 with us this morning and invites us to see what the servants saw. If you would like to listen to the sermon again or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library here. If you prefer, you can also access the livestream version here.

John 2

NIV

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.