September 15, 2013
John 2:4, 7, 10 — Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
The governor of the feast saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
Pastor Hayes preached a great message yesterday on John 2:1-11. It was introducing, in a way, the topic of Jesus’s miracles, so it touched a number of points. One in particular that doesn’t get enough attention is the way that the miracles are signs that point to Jesus’s divinity — the signs produce wonder, and the wonder produces belief. But I haven’t been prompted to reproduce Pastor’s thoughts, but to bring out another point that struck me as I heard the passage again.
Why is it Jesus says in this context “mine hour is not yet come”? He is plainly not saying “it’s not time for me to start my ministry.” I don’t believe, either, that He is saying, “It is not yet the time for me to be giving signs.” No, I believe He is giving a much more poignant message. “My lady,” He is saying, “it is not yet time for me to be pouring the wine — the wine that is my blood.” But having gently, oh so gently rebuked His mother, He graciously decides — a good son above all — to yield to her wishes but also to deliver a wonderful sign.
Jesus turned the water into wine. And it was no niggardly, counting the cost miracle. There was no reckoning “So, we’re three days into the feast so four days left. Say 75 guests a day, 3 glasses each. A jar and a half should cover it”. No, He said, “Fill the six pots with water.” Then He turned them all into wine. At the least that’s about 100 gallons — say 500 modern wine bottles. Why so much? Because there is no limit to the generous forgiveness available to believers through the pouring out of Jesus’ blood.
Jesus turned the water to wine … and what wine it was. So great that the man charged with running the feast was astonished. “Why wait until now to bring out the good stuff?” Well, of course, any wine that Jesus created as a sign of His blood was bound, I suppose, the be better than any wine that the greatest winemaker could make. But I think too it is a reminder of the lesson that it is not always the first in line who get the best in God’s economy!
That’s what I took away from that old familiar story when I heard it this time That Jesus’ first miracle pointed to His last. The water that turned into wine pointed to the blood that turned into living water. The abundance of the wine pointed to the complete sufficiency of the blood. The wonderful quality of the wine pointed to the perfection of the blood. And the timing … His timing couldn’t have been more perfect!