Save The Best For Last!

California has a reputation for producing the best tasting wine in the US especially Napa Valley as Niagara on the Lake would be for us in Ontario. I don't say that because I know that personally. After all, I grew up Baptist and the closest to wine that I got was Welch's grape juice.

However, if you have had a chance to be in a vineyard you will see how it takes months for the grapes to become ripe and then crushed. Wine has to go through the aging process of about 10 years in these great big wooden barrels and here is Jesus producing the best tasting wine in an instant!

At this point this miracle doesn’t seem all that impressive. It certainly isn’t raising someone from the dead like we looked at last week, but that is the beauty of John’s gospel. There would be a significant gathering of people, but not a huge one and only some of Jesus’ disciples get to witness it. One theologian describes it as a ‘sneaky’ miracle. It is really easy to understand this miracle but its significance is really important to see. There is deep theological significance and it shows us exactly what Jesus was about and why He came to earth.

Released From Shame John 2:1-3

Mary expects Jesus to perform a miracle and maybe wants the people there to recognize that there is something very different about Him and that He indeed was the Messiah. Jesus is about 30 years old and we don’t have any miracles that have been recorded earlier. I don’t think this was the case for Jesus growing up with His mother, “Hey Jesus, we need more flour for bread, can you make some?”

For this reason she goes to Jesus who is the oldest male in the family. Normally she would approach Joseph but he is not called upon leading some to think that He may have passed away by this time. There is an early church document from the 3rd century that tells us that Mary was the groom’s aunt and as such she would be part of the wedding family. To run out of wine in this culture at that time would be a huge source of shame for the family, extended family.

Jesus provides the wine at this time and saves the family from great shame.

2. Save The Best For The Last John 2:6

Look at Mark 7:3

The ceremonial washing was more religious than hygienic. This practice was used by the people in order to symbolically recognize that they were clean on the inside. It would be likened to the practice of a priest in a Catholic church who would sprinkle water on his hands before serving the eucharist.

These six stone water jars would be used all week by the guests and so a lot of water was needed for this type of cleansing to take place.

Think about that – there was 120 to 180 gallons of water being turned into wine. It would be comparable to 3 of those big wooden barrels that would be used today that hold about 60 gallons of wine.

That is a lot of wine!! It is important to remember that.

v8-10 The master of the banquet said that this was the best wine that he had tasted and again this is a very significant point as well in that it was kept till the very end of the celebration.

v11

To believe and put your faith as it is written here carries much meaning for this time than these words might be thrown around today. It was not just mental assent. Belief was to trust in someone with your whole life and the Greek meaning behind believing including possession by the person in whom we believe. In other words those who believe in Jesus become His possession. We are no longer our own and it will change the way we live. It will affect the way we spend our money, what we look at and how we spend our free time. It will change the way we think and ultimately our perspective will become more and more His perspective

We need to really understand the significance of weddings and wine especially to the Jewish culture in the first century.

Matthew 22 relates the kingdom of God to a wedding banquet. It may not be the first metaphor that might come to your mind when sharing about God’s kingdom, but this is the one that Jesus chose. Why?

The banquet was a coming metaphor in the OT to talk about the coming kingdom and Jesus knew that. When the new kingdom comes, there will be an incredible banquet like one that you would find at a wedding reception today.

Jesus chose a wedding as the location to make the people think about the kingdom of God.

3. Invitation Please!

Now, what about the wine?

Isaiah 25:6 When God renews His kingdom, there will be a feast prepared with aged wine, the best wine.
Jeremiah 31:31

Israel did not live up to God’s expectations in the OT. In fact, they broke God’s covenant because of their disobedience. However, God does not give up on them and the time of exile will end and the sign is seen earlier in this chapter – Jeremiah 31:12

Here we have it – the grain, the new wine and the oil.

One of the signs will be the presence of wine

Amos 9:11

The clearest picture is found here.

David’s line would continue and His sons will be kings and the Davidic kingdom will be renewed and when that happens it will flow from the hills. Jesus came through the line of David.

v13

When the new covenant comes there will be a lot of wine.

The Jewish people expected that the sign would be a lot of rejoicing and a banquet to inaugurate the new messianic kingdom and so Jesus does just that at a wedding – a lot of wine and a lot of good wine!

This is not just a miracle to help save a family. It is to symbolically recognize that the new covenant has come and Jesus has inaugurated it.

Here is the aha moment. It was symbolic that Jesus used the water from these ceremonial cleansing jars that represented the whole Jewish system of cleansing. The cleansing has now been fulfilled in Jesus. We don’t have to pour water ceremonially over our hands to be clean. We can now confess our sins to Jesus and have them forgiven. He has made it complete and brought pure perfection to being clean.

Remember the master of the banquet said that this was the best tasting wine. That is really important as well. In Hebrews 8:6-8 we see that Jesus brought a superior covenant. It is no longer about Moses, the Law and Judaism. Jesus is now the fulfillment of all that and has shown us a better way.

Maybe you are carrying a lot of shame. Jesus came to take away your shame and wipes the slate clean no matter what shame you carry from bad choices, bad decisions, relationships gone bad…you name it. We don’t have to carry the burden of that weight anymore.

If only people could really believe that Jesus takes away their shame, they would live such rich and full lives. Too often we are all too easily crippled and paralyzed by it and that is what He never intended for us.

God is faithful to His promises….Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos looked forward to the day when God would fulfill His promise. He is a reliable God. He will keep His Word.

Isaiah 25:6; Jeremiah 31:10; Amos 9:12

All three passages talked about the nations, all the peoples of the world

Genesis 12:3 - God has always had his eye on the nations. There is a new attitude about the nations and the importance of bringing the light to everyone.

We need to be about blessing our world.

The Takeaway

The fullness of His acceptance, love and faithfulness comes with understanding we are His and He is not for us only, but for all.


In the miracle of the water being turned into wine, Jesus fulfills the old and brings the new. He takes away our shame, He shows us He is faithful and reminds us that we are to be a blessing to our entire world.

Questions For Discussion

Explain the gospel in terms of a wedding banquet.
Is there shame in your life that you need to be released from? How can Jesus make that a reality in your life?
What is the new expression for your life? What can become new wine in you?

Just Believe!

Healer of diseases. Master of nature. Conqueror of demons and death. Jesus not only preached the kingdom of God in word, but He demonstrated it in power through his miraculous deeds. As we begin this new study over the summer we will take an in depth look at the miracles of Jesus. It will open our eyes to the way He impacted the lives of those He touched. This study will also reveal God’s heart and how significant that is to us today.

Read Mark 5:21-43

Be ready for supernatural breakthrough!

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, He is very popular with the crowd and is swarmed wherever he goes. A desperate synagogue ruler approaches him and pleads for the life of his little daughter. Jesus is moved by his request and begins to make his way with him to visit his daughter.

As He walk with him, a divine interruption takes place and we have the story of the encounter with this ‘unclean’ woman.

What strikes me first is what might have been going through the mind of the synagogue ruler. If he worked in the synagogue, he would be familiar with all the customs and teaching associated around ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’. For Jesus, the one that you want to touch your daughter, to be touched by an ‘unclean’ person would make you ‘unclean’ for a period of time and would disqualify you from any religious or spiritual ceremony.

Breakthrough on understanding of what it means to be clean...

However, Jesus makes the point of teaching the crowd through even the healing of this woman that He was the one to all of us who are unclean must come to be clean.

We are all so easily fixated on this idea of ‘cleaning up my act’ and yet just like Eustace in C.S. Lewis’ book, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we try to peel the layers away of our own dragon like sinful selfish tendancies when we need his powerful claw in our lives.

Welcome the unwanted

In a time when you did everything possible to separate yourself from not being contaminated by impurity and so much emphasis was placed on the sterilization of the spiritual environment and the outward person, it was impossible for such a person as her to have any hope.

The fact that she was bleeding meant that she was unclean and therefore unable to have any contact with people in a public place. She could easily have been divorced on account of this or be permanently single. No one would marry an ‘unclean’ woman. The fact that she was bleeding in this way meant that she would be unable to have any children which was a huge scourge on a woman. She was marginalized, an outcast from society.

Who are the marginalized in our world, who are the outcasts in our community?

Mardi Dolfo-Smith, of the 10th Avenue Church on the west side of Vancouver, says that twice a week, people come in to her church for free food and sometimes shelter.
When the church started to renovate three years ago, the city's planning department said it needed a social services permit, because helping the poor is not in the church-use permit. The church has since applied for a social services permit, but not all churches have the same resources to meet the permit's onerous conditions, she says. "We're concerned that the city is separating our faith into different areas. We're also concerned that this will be too onerous for other faith communities, smaller ones, ones that maybe don't have the resources that we have."
The real issue is that churches are called to help the poor, and always have been, says Dolfo-Smith. "We have people eating here and then in the winters, we have up to 25 people sleeping here at night."

Dolfo-Smith says some neighbours worry that means the area isn't as safe and they have complained to the city"Part of our religious worship is actually caring for the poor. It's not a separate thing that we kind of do if we feel like it. It's something we're actually commanded to do."

Last week Sharon was getting really down about the Good For Nothing store because of the overwhelming work involved. A lot of clothes were soaked because of the rain as the bin was overloaded. As she was sorting the verse kept popping in her head...'don't be weary in well doing...don't be weary in well doing...' After a time of prayer with Rebekah and Erin a lady comes into the store who found us on the local dateline. It turns out that she was in such desperate need of clothes after losing her place and only with the clothes she was wearing. They were able to minister to her, find lots of clothes and surprise her with food certificates. Later that morning a store called to give the store their slightly damaged merchandise and so much was great stuff. It really blessed her day and reminded her why it is so worth it to see this ministry happen. After the morning was over she looked up the partial verse she remembered to discover the rest of the verse....in due time you will reap a reward!

Expect Jesus to show up and do the unexpected!

She knew who He really was! She knew exactly what she was doing. This was not just a random reaching out for Jesus. It was specific in what she knew about the promised Messiah.

Tzitzit – Numbers 15:37-41 refers to tassels (the fringe) on the corners of your garment…prayer shawl

The word in Hebrew for corners is ‘kanaf.'

She believes that there is healing power in the corner of his cloak. Malachi the prophet wrote that the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. (4:2) The word that Malachi uses for wings is also ‘kanaf’ – the edge of the garment where the tassels would be attached.


Jesus response to her is also really significant. He calls her a daughter. There is no distinctions for Jesus, He teaches the sanctity of all human life and no one is an outcast with Him. There is nothing that can keep you from touching Jesus, no sin, no disease, no pain that He cannot bring healing to.


He tells her to go in peace – shalom…it is the presence of the goodness of God. It is the presence of wholeness, completeness. He does more than provide physical healing for her, He places the blessing of the presence of God all over her. To be saved or healed is more than just getting something, it is being someone – it involves all of you as Rob Bell writes in his book, 'Velvet Elvis'.

However the story on this miracle is really the inside story of a miracle yet to take place which we cannot miss the significance of. Jesus is still teaching, still calling people to faith, still ready to do the impossible.

Don’t bother the teacher anymore…. v35 Imagine being the father in that moment...

What a death sentence that statement was. It was more than just knowing your daughter is dead, it is the loss of hope, loss of faith, loss of courage. How often do you feel like giving up? How often do you feel like, ‘why bother’!

That is the voice of the enemy and when you get into that pit, remember the voice of Jesus – don’t be afraid, just believe.


The Takeaway

Ignore what they say, don’t be afraid and believe that Jesus will show up! v36

Jesus calls the father to incredible faith and teaches the all important truth that when God is involved, never give up, never lose hope...yes bother Him as He wants to hear us, He wants to save, He is ready to do the supernatural in our lives!

Questions For Discussion

Share about a time when God brought a divine interruption into your life and how you recognized it.
Why are we so easily fixated on trying to ‘clean up our own act’?
Why is it hard to welcome the unwanted?
How do you practically ignore the ‘voices’ in your head that tell you to not bother, it’s not worth it when it comes to believing or serving God?