Josh Benner

Category: Bible

  • Water into wine and the glory of Christ. Studying John 2:11

    Water into wine and the glory of Christ. Studying John 2:11

    In a previous post, I covered the story in John 2 of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding feast. In this post, I’ll look at the conclusion at that story which discusses the significance of that event. 

    “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” 

    Jesus manifested his glory. He displayed his glory. 

    In this passage, John uses the word sign instead of miracle. A sign is miraculous but it’s also meant to point to a greater meaning and purpose for why it’s being done. The Gospel of John actually records fewer miracles than any of the other gospels. For the most part, the signs in John’s gospel escalate in magnitude throughout this book. 

    He starts with turning water into wine. It escalates to healing people. That escalates to Jesus feeding multitudes and calming storms. The last miracle which Jesus does before his crucifixion is when he raises Lazarus from the dead in chapter 11. 

    But this is the first sign. 

    Something else that’s important to understand. I keep talking about different things that Mary, or John the Baptist, or the disciples probably would not have understood at the time. I talk about the theological significance of this event in beginning to show Jesus as a replacement of the Old covenant, of the Mosaic Covenant but the disciples who witnessed this miracle likely would not have understood that. 

    I don’t want to make it seem as though this event would have been insignificant to the disciples.

    The text tells us that this sign manifested the glory of Christ to his disciples. This was a game changer. In seeing Jesus do this, it led the disciples to belief in him. So two major things happen in connection with this sign. We see it as a sign pointing to Jesus’ work of replacing the Old Covenant with a New Covenant, and it was a display of his glory. 

    Both of those are important. 

    For the disciples, it would have been far more impressive to them to have been there, and saw the water, and tasted the wine, than it is to us to read about it. It was an amazing thing that Jesus did. 

    It was a glorious display of Jesus’ power. 

    Obviously mere human language doesn’t convey how truly glorious and awe inspiring these scenes would have to be. 

    Jesus’ entire ministry points us to his goodness and character, to his divinity and dominion. That he is God on earth, and that he is the Lord who takes away the penalty of our sins.

    The glory of Jesus Christ is an idea that we can take for granted. We just attach it to him. “Yes he’s glorious.” But how often do you sit down and think about that? 

    What does that word “glory” mean? To our ears, it’s a churchy word. Glory, glorious.

    The Hebrew word for glory is כָּבוֹד. Which conveys a sense of weight or heaviness, as well as importance. You don’t just casually look at God’s glory and think “oh that’s nice.” 

    It is meant to overwhelm. To cast fear into your heart at this powerful and glorious God. To realize how unworthy we are. And he makes us worthy, he gives us grace. And why? For his own glory. 

     Quoting from Psalm 29:3-4:

    3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

    the God of glory thunders,

    the Lord, over many waters.

    4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;

    the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

    Are you living to bring God glory? To enjoy him? To find your identity in him? 

    Jesus revealed his glory. Turning water into wine might not even seem all that impressive compared to the other things that he did during his ministry. But that shows just how glorious the Lord is. Doing so many things throughout the gospels that such an incredible miracle could seem almost underwhelming by the end of his ministry. 

    But it wasn’t underwhelming because it was because of this that the disciples believed in Jesus. The mighty work of Christ. 

    His signs show the glory of Christ. They show why he is to be worshiped. They show that he is worthy of honor, that he is to be believed.

    Jesus turned water into wine. He changed the molecules of water and made them a different substance. 

    His miracles authenticate his identity. And the culmination is his death and resurrection. And because that happened, because his other miracles and signs happened, because he shows his power over all of life, our only acceptable response is to come to him in worship. To realize his greatness. To realize that he is Lord. To bow down before him. To trust in him and his word because of his power.

    The Lord is glorious beyond comprehension.

    And Jesus shows us that in creation. He shows that in his holiness. He shows that in his gospel. Jesus shows that in his ministry and in his power. We see the glory of God in the mighty works that he does.  

    The first miracle John records of Jesus points us to his glory. It points us to his wonder. And it points us to his hour, the hour of his death when he took the penalty of our sins for us. We, who are not holy, who are not glorious, were made holy by the glorious Lord who took our unholiness and ingloriousness upon himself. And what was his sign? 

    Turning water to wine. 

    Jesus turns water into wine. At the Last Supper, on the night before his death, Jesus takes wine and calls it the blood of the new covenant. The next day, he was crucified and it was his literal blood that was shed for sin. 

    He provided the wine for the wedding.  The wedding is significant. In Revelation 19, as the book of winds down, it talks of another wedding feast, a greater wedding feast, the marriage supper of the lamb. And at that wedding, Jesus is the groom. In our passage today, Jesus saves the wedding, but it points to the greater wedding feast and our attendance has been secured because Jesus saved humanity. 

    And it is because of the blood of that lamb, of Jesus, that he is able to sustain the great wedding feast. The groom supplies the wedding. And Jesus as the groom has provided. And that was given to you at the moment you placed your trust in him.

    That his death became your death for you because of his glory. And that no matter what you’ve done, you can be forgiven. Because God is overwhelmingly glorious.

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  • Jesus, water, and wine. Studying John 2:1-12

    Jesus, water, and wine. Studying John 2:1-12

    Summary: In John 2, Jesus and his disciples attend a wedding feast. The feast runs out of wine. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, approaches him about the situation and after saying that his time has not yet come, he performs a miraculous sign when he turns water into wine. 

    1. Conflict

    On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

    Jesus is at a wedding feast in Cana, which is a town in Galilee. And the feast runs out of wine. This was a serious faux pas and huge social embarrassment at the time. Now the groom was responsible for the financial burden of the wedding.

    In the first century, in this region, weddings could last over a week. Many in the town would have been invited. They were huge parties. So Mary approaches Jesus, saying “they have no wine.” She seems to feel some sense of a burden to try to help out. 

    Jesus gives a seemingly abrupt response in verse 4. Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

    Some translations like the NIV try to soften the language by saying “Dear woman,” but what he literally says is “woman.” 

    Now if my mom had asked me for something and I said, “woman,” I would have gotten backhanded. But it’s a different culture than our culture, and this should not be taken as a sign of disrespect. 

    Towards the end of this gospel, when Jesus is on the cross, he entrusts the care of Mary to the Apostle John and he again uses the same word.  

    John 19:26: 

     When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

    So while it may sound odd to our ears and language, Jesus is not disrespecting Mary. 

    The hour

    Back in our passage, Jesus asks “what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 

    Throughout John, Jesus refers to his hour, and the hour is referring to the time of his death.

    To give just one example. John 17:1, Jesus is praying shortly before his arrest:

    “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,

    In Verse 5, after Jesus gives his response to Mary, Mary is undeterred. There’s no offense in what he’s said. 

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

    As I said a few moments ago, we don’t know exactly what she expected. 

    We all face situations where we have to trust in Jesus and where we don’t know exactly how he will work things out, but we have to trust him, nevertheless. 

    We have situations with our health, where we don’t know how things will work out. But we have to trust in Jesus. We have situations in our hearts where we struggle with brokenness, despair, depression, but where we must turn to Jesus, even when we may be tempted to think that even he can do nothing. We have situations in relationships where there is so much brokenness and damage that all hope seems lost, but we must turn to Jesus, and depend on Jesus, and lean on Jesus. 

    He says to Mary my hour has not yet come.

    It’s the beginning of his ministry. Everything Jesus does is building up to the crucifixion. 

    That’s the purpose of his ministry. His hour. His death for a sinful humanity. And part of that seems to also be captured in Jesus’ response to Mary. 

    This story is showing that Jesus operates based on the will of God, not of Mary. He is not here at the whims of man or of the world. He is here for the divine mission and the divine mission. 

    2. Resolution 

    The text tells us in verse 6 

     Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

    So they find six stone water jars. Not just any jars, but jars that were used for Jewish rites of purification. At this wedding feast, water would be poured out onto the hands of the Jews for washing before they ate. Jesus tells them to take these jars of water and to fill them up. Six jars, 20-30 gallons. Upwards of 180 gallons, or by modern standards, roughly 900 bottles of wine or 150 boxes of Franzia. 

    And Jesus instructs the servants: 

    “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.

    Verse 8: And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.

    Now the story doesn’t explain the process by which Jesus turned the water into wine. We just see the result. 

    Verse 9: 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),

    So the servants were aware that Jesus had made the wine. 

    “the master of the feast called the bridegroom10 and said to him, “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.”

    What the master of the feast is saying is that they would normally use the better wine first and then go to the cheap stuff, but when he tastes the wine that Jesus made, he says that it’s the better wine. 

    Think about that for just a moment. Hundreds of gallons of water. And somehow, Jesus turns it all into premium wine.

    Out with the old, in with the new  

    And we have seen something else of theological significance. 

    Jesus is showing a transition of the old to the new. He’s using the jars of water used for Jewish purification rituals to do his mighty work. It’s symbolic of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant which Jesus is ushering in. 

    That’s not saying that he replaced the old covenant in that action. That’s not saying that the people who saw this miracle grasped the significance at the time. 

    But it’s not just about turning water into wine, Jesus does this miraculous act to point to something greater. 

    Jesus is Lord of the big things and the small things

    Something else that’s important in this passage. I mentioned earlier that running out of wine would have been a huge social embarrassment. But let’s keep in mind, that Jesus intervenes here. It’s not like this was a life and death situation. It’s not the end of the world.

    Jesus is Lord of the big things and of the small things. And of everything in between. We need to trust him in all situations and seasons of life. Big and small. And to know that there is no situation that’s too inconsequential for us to approach Jesus. It’s not like we’re nagging him, and if we come to him in the small things, we’ll wear him down in the big things. That Jesus is fully of grace and goodness.

    Obviously we turn to Jesus, look to Jesus, pray in the big things, but never feel like something is too small to bring to our Lord. 

    It’s common after a football game to hear a player thank God when talking to the media. Some people mock this and say “does God really care who wins a game?” 

    God isn’t a part-time God, he’s a full time God. 

    1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says: 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

    It doesn’t say to rejoice only when things are good, to pray only for the big things, to give thanks only in the victories. But we should live a life that is devoted to Christ and is lived with a focus on Jesus to the Glory of God. Jesus is the Lord of all things.

  • What was Jesus’s first miracle? An overview of John 2

    What was Jesus’s first miracle? An overview of John 2

    Summary: In John 2, Jesus and his disciples attend a wedding feast. The feast runs out of wine. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, approaches him about the situation and after saying that his time has not yet come, he performs a miraculous sign when he turns water into wine. 

    It’s debated what Mary was expecting when she came to Jesus. At the end of our passage, John tells us in verse 11 that this was the first of Jesus’ signs at Cana in Galilee. But the best evidence from the gospels seems to be that this was the first miracle he performed, anywhere. 

    That’s the view I hold. And on that view, it seems unlikely that Mary would have expected Jesus to perform a miracle here. Jesus is her faithful son. She’s going to him for help in a time of need. The miraculous works of Jesus are done for specific purposes within his ministry. 

    The Bible doesn’t tell us very much about the early years of Jesus. Aside from his birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, there are just two other events recorded of the early years of Jesus and they’re both in Luke’s gospel. Luke 2 tells us of the baby Jesus being brought to the temple. And then we’re told a story from Jesus’s childhood where his parents go to Jerusalem for the Passover and mistakenly think he’s with them when they leave. And that’s all that we have of the younger Jesus. 

    So what was the rest of his childhood like? Was he doing miracles? 

    At the end of John, the apostle talks of how the world would not contain the books about what Jesus had done were they all to be written down (John 21:25). But I don’t think we should assume he was doing miracles his entire life. Again, the miracles are done for specific purposes within his ministry to point to his divinity and glory.  

    In Mark’s gospel, during the ministry of Christ, the people in his hometown are seeing the mighty works and hearing the teaching of Christ, and this is all new to these people. 

    On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him (Mark 6:2-3). 

    With the fact that the author will say that this is Jesus’ first sign, I don’t believe Jesus had done any miracles prior to this. 

    Before his ministry began, I don’t hold to a view that Jesus was just doing miracles left and right as a kid. Biblically, there’s no support for that. Theologically I think it makes more sense that he wasn’t.

    His miracles aren’t magic tricks. In the X-Men comic books and movies, the various characters are mutants who live in the natural world and are born with various powers. But they have to be trained to control their powers. 

    In the original X-Men movie, before some of the main characters wind up at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, the characters are all realizing the powers they have. Rogue’s power is that she absorbs your energy just by touching you and so she goes to kiss her boyfriend and puts him in the hospital. They have these powers that they can’t even control. 

    I think it’s important not to have that image in mind for the younger Jesus. 

    He’s not a superhero. He’s God incarnate.  

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  • Catholic priest uses wrong word for 26 years. Baptisms invalidated

    Catholic priest uses wrong word for 26 years. Baptisms invalidated

    A Catholic priest in Arizona used the wrong word when performing baptisms for over a quarter of a century. Now his diocese is saying that the baptisms are invalid. 

    The issue is that the priest, the Revered Andres Arango was saying “we baptize you” when he was supposed to say “I baptize you.” The Catholic teaching is strict to their exact wording and because he say “we” instead of “I,” they are viewing these baptisms are invalid. 

    Baptism is a subject where there is a vast array of beliefs across Christendom. There are opinions on what baptism accomplishes, when a person can be baptized, who can do the baptizing, how a person is baptized, what is said when a person is baptized, the necessity of baptism. And then there are procedural questions. Are they sprinkled or dunked? If they’re dunked is it once, or is it three times (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)?  And there are many other questions. 

    Because baptism is such an important part of the Christian faith, there have been many views over the centuries. 

    For the record, my view is that baptism is an outward action that is a public display of an inward faith. True baptism is done by the Holy Spirit for a person who is regenerated. That is the actual cleansing of the human soul, and this cleansing is symbolized with water through baptism. And so in my view, I don’t take the rigidity that Catholics have on baptism where it can be nullified by a person unwittingly saying one wrong word. It’s based in places such as Ezekiel 36 and John 3. 

    Why does one little word matter so much? 

    On the website for his local diocese, they say: 
    “It is not the community that baptizes a person and incorporates them into the Church of Christ; rather, it is Christ, and Christ alone, who presides at all sacraments; therefore, it is Christ who baptizes. The Baptismal Formula (the words used in the Rite) has always been guarded for this reason: so it is clear that we receive our baptism through Jesus and not the community.”

    I find that argument interesting (I also find it to be a bad argument, but still interesting). I find it interesting that you can’t say “we” because it’s not the church who is doing the baptizing but that you must say “I” because it is Christ who baptizes…

    But in practice, it is the priest who’s doing the baptizing. And I find it interesting that if the priest says “I,” that it’s tantamount to Jesus himself saying “I.” 

    So the baptism is contingent upon the grace of Christ and (in the Catholic view) a human priest serving as a mediator. Yet, if the priest says the wrong word, then the grace of Christ can’t be conferred to the person who has made a good faith attempt to be baptized? So Jesus is gracious, but the priest can make a mistake where the sacramental benefit of baptism is withheld? Sincere question. Doesn’t that imply that the priest is more powerful than Jesus? (I’m sure no Catholic would agree with that statement). 

    This certainly goes to part of the heart of the disagreement between Catholics and Protestants. Scripture and tradition. The Catholic Church gives essentially equal weight to tradition as scripture. And so their tradition and teaching is a certain wording. And even though that wording is found nowhere in the Bible, they view their interpretation as being absolutely binding. 

    There is also the issue of human priest as mediators. The role of a priest is that they serve as a mediator between man and God. Jesus is the great high priest who mediates between us and God (Hebrews 4:14-16). This is why most Protestants don’t believe in a priestly office today. Because we don’t have fallible priests who can say the wrong thing and mess us up with God. We believe in a great high priest who is perfect, Christ the Lord. 

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  • The scriptures point to Jesus. Studying John 1:45

    The scriptures point to Jesus. Studying John 1:45

    I’m doing a study in John 1. In John 1:35-51, we see a series of affirmations about Jesus made by his first disciples. So far, we’ve looked at Jesus as the Lamb of God and Jesus as the Christ. In this post, I’ll look at Jesus as the one to whom the scriptures point. 

    Jesus is the one to whom the scriptures point 

    45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

    -John 1:45

    We don’t know why Philip sensed this in Jesus. Just like we really don’t know why Andrew thought Jesus was the messiah. 

    But that’s really not what matters to the story. 

    What matters for us is what is being affirmed about Jesus. 

    Where Philip talks of Jesus as being the one about whom Moses wrote in the Law and the prophets, that’s referring to the scriptures of our Old Testament. 

    Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament. Everything Jesus does or says in his ministry has resonance in the Old Testament. He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies. He fulfilled the Law. He fulfills the promises of God. 

    All throughout the Bible, God is working his plan and his will. None of it is random or by chance. 

    The Old Testament is not just a bunch of stories or myths. It’s the real story of God’s work in his people which culminates in Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament to bring redemption to the world. 

    In John 5, Jesus is talking to a group of the religious leaders and they miss Jesus for who he is. John 5:36-38 says:

    the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

    The scripture points to Jesus and Jesus’ life and ministry point back to the scriptures which he came to fulfill. This is something else which matters about these affirmations which are being made about Jesus. 

    Lots of people throughout history have claimed to be significant religious figures. Some have even claimed to be divine. 

    It’s true today and it was true in Jesus’ day. What ultimately validates Jesus is not what John the Baptist said, or what Andrew said, or what Philip said. What matters is what Jesus did. 

    Fulfilling prophecies and displaying his divinity and glory. His life matters because he points us to life. His death matters because in that all who believe in him are dead to sin. And his resurrection matters because that is the only hope for eternal life. 

    Jesus literally died and rose so that all who believe in him when they die, can literally have eternal life with Jesus. 

    Everything in the Bible is about Jesus and points to Jesus. 

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