Josh Benner

Category: devotional

  • The woman at the well. Studying John 4:1-9

    The woman at the well. Studying John 4:1-9

    In John 4, Jesus is on the move. He’s left Judea and is journeying into Galilee. He’s venturing out of Jewish territory. 

    John 4:1-2 says: 

    Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 

    First thing I want to focus on is where the text says that Jesus had to pass through Samaria. That’s relevant because it will be the location of our story today. There actually more than one route Jesus could have taken. But where the text says Jesus had to pass through Samaria, it’s an indication of the divine will. Jesus had to go this way because it put him in a place to have a divinely appointed meeting. 

    John 4:5: 

    5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

    John makes a reference to Jacob and Joseph. In the Old Testament, Jacob is the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. And the region to which Jesus has traveled is an area of land that had been owned by Jacob and given to Joseph.  We see that in Genesis 48. It’s this land to which Jesus has come. 

    The humanity of Jesus

    John 4:6:

     6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 

    When the text talks of Jesus being worn from his journey, it is a reminder to us that Jesus is human. During his earthly ministry, he experienced fatigue. We see him sleep. We see times where he eats and drinks. Times where he goes off by himself to be alone. He was fully man. 

    This verse tells us it was the sixth hour. That’s relevant to the story. In first century Jewish time keeping, the first hour was sunrise, so in it being the sixth hour, it’s around noon. 

    All of this is setting the scene for what follows. 

    John 4:7:
    A woman from Samaria came to draw water.

    Background on Samaritans 

    We need some background. 

    When we were looking at passages in Isaiah over Christmas, one thing we talked a lot about was how Israel split into two kingdoms. You had a northern and a southern kingdom. 

    In 722 B.C, the northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians. 

    Thousands of the Jewish people from the northern tribes were deported from their land. The Assyrians procreated with the Israelites, and so you had an ethnic group who was half-Jewish and half-Assyrian. 

    That is the ethnic group which became known as the Samaritans. There are still Samaritans today. It’s a very small community of about 800 people and they mostly live in Israel. There are some very significant distinctions between Jewish people and Samaritans. 

    Samaritans do not believe the entire Old Testament is scripture. They only believe in the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 

    Since they do not believe in the entire Old Testament, Jerusalem is not the sacred place to them that it is to other Jewish people. Because if all you have are the first five books, the Jewish people had not yet reached Jerusalem. 

    Instead, the sacred site of worship for the Samaritans then and now is Mount Gerizim. And actually, about half of present day Samaritans actually live there. 

    In the first century, there had been a lot of animosity between the two groups. About 160 years before Jesus had this interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well, a group of Israelite soldiers had destroyed the Samaritan temple at Mount Gerizim. 

    And there was later retaliatory attacks.  

    In John 8, when he’s being questioned, Jesus will be asked if he’s a Samaritan or has a demon (John 8:48), which essentially puts those two situations on the same plain. 

    The Samaritans were looked down upon. These two groups hated each other. 

    Within a generation of the life of Jesus, official Jewish teaching from their scholars ruled that Samaritans were inherently unclean and defiled. 

    In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gives the Parable of the Good Samaritan. A lawyer is questioning Jesus about the command to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus tells a parable about a man who had been severely beaten, left for dead. A priest and a levite both come by the man and stay on their journey, but it’s a Samaritan who sees the man, tends to him, sees that he gets taken care of. The Good Samaritan is the hero of the story. 

    It’s a spectacular picture of selflessness and love for your fellow man. 

    But when you understand that parable in the context of the hatred that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans, it makes the story all that much more striking. 

    I go into those details because the tensions will also color our passage this morning in John 4. 

    Give me a drink

    So we return to the passage. The woman is coming to the well in the middle of the day. Unusual for her to be coming to the well alone and also at the hottest point of the day.

    It was generally women who would come for water in the morning. The fact that she’s going at an off time alone suggests that she possibly doesn’t want to interact with others. 

    Jesus speaks to the woman at the end of verse 7 and says “give me a drink.” 

    Verse 8 adds the note that Jesus was by himself as his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

    So Jesus asks for a drink. A Jew speaking to a Samaritan. Verse 9, the woman is taken aback. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” 

    The verse ends with the parenthetical comment that Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 

    These are two groups who do not get along. As he often does in the gospels, Jesus is unconcerned with social customs or taboos. 

    We see Jesus touch lepers. We see him associating with sinners, with those on the margins. 

    Even within his band of disciples, he picks someone like Matthew who was a tax collector, a profession hated by Jews in the Roman world. 

    And here we see Jesus openly conversing with a woman in an ethnic group who was looked down upon.

    So the woman asks how it is that he could ask her for a drink. But Jesus will flip the conversation. 

    Because the matter of ultimate significance in the story is not about her giving a drink to Jesus, it’s about the water he can provide. 

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  • Eve and the Serpent. Studying Genesis 3:1-7

    Eve and the Serpent. Studying Genesis 3:1-7

    The doctrine of original sin is one that has confounded many throughout the centuries, but especially in recent decades. A talking snake talked Adam and Eve into sinning and that brought condemnation for all of humanity? 

    That is the teaching of the Bible and the event is picked up again and referenced in the New Testament as the event which brought sin into the world (cf. Romans 5:18-19; 1 Corinthians 15:20-21). 

    People question this event. Why would God care so much about people eating fruit of a specific tree? I’d ask why man felt so compelled to disobey? And even now, we continue to question the command! 

    In Genesis 3, we see a paradigm that so often plays itself out in the human heart in regards to our sin. Doubting God’s Word, Distorting God’s Word, rejecting God’s Word, doubting God’s goodness and choosing to disobey. 

    Doubting God’s Word

    Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

    -Genesis 3:1

    This is how the serpent begins the discussion with Eve. At the beginning, he introduces doubt when he questions God’s word and asks Did God actually say ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

    He is introducing the idea that God’s Word is subject to human judgment and opinion. 

    Distorting God’s Word

    In response, Eve goes to far and ends up misquoting what God had said. Genesis 3:2-3 says: 

     2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 

    The problem is that in Genesis 2:16-17, the specific command is: 

    16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 

    So the Lord commanded not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve changes God’s Word by suggesting that they cannot eat or touch the fruit of this tree. There are other distortions in what Eve says, but for this post, we’ll mainly focus on her adding to what God has commanded. 

    Rejecting God’s Word

    Genesis 3:4:

     4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 

    The serpent flatly contradicts God’s Word and denies the weight of the consequences for disobedience. Again, we see how these issues with the scripture work their way into our own decisions. We doubt God’s Word, we twist it to make it say what we want it to say, we disregard it when it’s not what we like. The results this leads to are disastrous. 

    Doubting God’s goodness

    The serpent continues to speak in verse 5: 

    For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

    I love how Ken Mathews sums this up in his commentary of Genesis. In the serpent’s rejection of God’s word, he is implying “God is not good and gracious; he is selfish and deceptive, preventing the man and woman from achieving the same position as “Elohim””

    False promises 

    After contradicting God, the serpent explains why the rejection of God’s command will actually be better than obedience. The rest of verse 5 records the serpent saying: your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

    Once again, this plays into the heart of human sin. We doubt God’s goodness. When we sin against God’s commands, we are acting as though God is holding back something good from us or that we know better than God. 

    This way of thinking treats God as our adversary. 

    From temptation to sin

    We see the response of Eve in Genesis 3:6: 

     6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 

    With her eyes, she sees the fruit of the tree is good. In eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Eve is seeking out wisdom independent 

    The serpent had distorted God’s Word but not everything he said was an outright lie. He deceived and tempted eve with half-truths. Indeed the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened. But they were open to recognize their nakedness. Eve thought that eating of the fruit of this tree would make her like god. John Sailhamer observed that instead, Adam and Eve realized they weren’t even like each other as shame and hiding were introduced. 

    In the process of this first sin, we see other issues of the human heart. We see the pride of thinking that she knows better than God. There is also covetousness of thinking that true fulfillment will come from something that Eve lacks. These elements in our decisions to sin and our commissions of sin have played themselves out time and again throughout history. 

    The end of verse 6 mentions that Eve gave some of the fruit to Adam. We’re not sure if he heard the exchange between eve and the serpent, and there’s no indication as to what his thought process was which led to the eating of the fruit of the tree. 

    Sin is introduced into the world. 

    Genesis 3:7 says:

    7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 

    The serpent told half-truths. He had given the empty promise that Eve’s eyes would be opened upon eating the fruit. That part was true. For both Adam and Eve, their eyes were opened, and what they saw was their nakedness. The serpent told her she would be like God. This appealed to our desire for glorification. The serpent told Eve that she would have the knowledge of good and evil. That was true too, but what that knowledge brought was the knowledge that Adam and Eve were now evil. 

    Genesis 3 records nothing good coming of eating this fruit. It’s not depicted as some magical moment of bliss. Their eyes are opened. They have sinned. In their nakedness, they sew together fig leaves to cover themselves. It’s an attempt to hide from their sin. But they cannot hide from an all knowing God. 

    Sources: 

    K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 236.

    John H. Sailhamer, “Genesis,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990), 52.

  • Destroy this temple, and in 3 days, I will raise it up. John 2:18-25

    Destroy this temple, and in 3 days, I will raise it up. John 2:18-25

    Summary John 2:13-25: As Jesus begins his ministry, he cleanses the temple in Jerusalem. In the first century, the temple had become a commerce center during Jewish holy days and so Jesus will drive the merchants out from the temple in verses 13-17. In verses 18-22, we see the response to Jesus

    John 2:18: So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

    That is not an inherently absurd question. Jesus is driving people out of the temple, and so they want to know how his actions are justified. It seems like they expected some grand miracle. 

    Instead, Jesus tells them of a future sign which he will perform. 

    Verse 19:  Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 

    Jesus says that’s the sign he can do. 

    20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”

    The religious authorities look to how long it’s taken to build the temple and it therefore seems absurd that Jesus could possibly raise it in three days.

    They miss the point. 

    Rebuilding the temple

    At the time of Jesus, the temple in Jerusalem was actually still under construction. I always thought it was complete and when they talk about 46 years,  they’re referring to how long it took to complete the work. 

    Incorrect. 

    Little bit of history. 

    The Jewish people built a temple during the reign of Solomon. That’s the first temple. It was destroyed in 586 B.C. when Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians. 

    About a century later, reconstruction began of the second temple. That temple was pretty modest, and it saw a major renovation which began around the year 19 B.C.

    In other words, the major renovation BEGAN about 46 years before Jesus cleanses the temple here in John 2. 

    By the time of Jesus, they’re saying that construction had been under way for 46 years. 

    Construction would not be complete until 63 A.D. which was some 35 years after the time of Jesus. 

    I point that out because 46 years is a long time. But the actual temple renovation took more like 80 years. 

    And if it sounded absurd that someone could rebuild in just three days what had taken 46 years, imagine it from their perspective in the first century as they looked at a temple that was still being renovated. And someone saying he could build that in three days. 

    The authorities don’t challenge Jesus’ claim. But Jesus isn’t referring to the building anyway. 

    John makes that explicitly clear in the next verses. 

    Verses 21-22:

    21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. 

    Jesus is the temple and he’s referring to his death and resurrection. 

    Jesus died and rose on the third day.

    Jesus is the true temple

    The significance of the temple in the Bible is that the temple is the place where God is with his people. 

    That’s why the temple was so important in the Old Testament. 

    When Jesus says “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19, yes, it’s referring to his death and resurrection. But it is also pointing to Jesus as the greater temple. 

    The temple was just a building. Merchants could encroach upon the holiness of the temple. But in Jesus, we have an incorruptible temple, an incorruptible savior through whom we are brought into the presence of the Lord. 

    And we are again reminded of that death that Jesus would die for sin. 

    In chapter 1, we see Jesus called the Lamb of God (John 1:29), referring to his sacrificial death. In John 2:4, Jesus pointed forward to his crucifixion. 

    This book is constantly pointing to his death. 

    Eight full chapters of John are dedicated to the final week of Jesus’ life. 

    Why so much about his death?

    Abraham Lincoln’s two secretaries John Hay and John Nicolay wrote an expansive biography about our 16th president. It’s 5,000 pages and they talk about his death on just 20 of those pages. 

    Between the four gospels, roughly one third to one half of the books are devoted to Jesus’ death. 

    Why? Why is there this constant focus on his death? Because it is the only way to redemption. It is the only way to God. It is the only way to forgiveness. It is the only way to heaven. 

    There’s no other way than through the presence of God on earth who was torn down and raised back up three days later. 

    Jesus cleanses the temple but in cleansing the temple, it points to himself as the temple who does not need cleansed. 

    The temple was always meant to point to Jesus. 

    In the Old Testament, you have all of these exact specifications for the temple, and its precursor, the tabernacle. You have dramatic Old Testament texts which talk of the presence of God filling the temple. You have Israel who continues to fall into sin and idolatry, in spite of warnings from God’s prophets. Eventually they’re conquered, they’re exiled, they lose the land, the temple is destroyed.

    They would later be freed from exile and given the command to rebuild the temple. 

    But all of that is pointing forward to the true temple. 

    In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It was the unmitigated presence of God. And humanity sinned. Paradise was lost. 

    God gave the law through Moses. Humanity continued to sin and God continued to be faithful. 

    The temple was built and sin continued. The temple was lost. 

    And on the grounds of a new temple, we again see sin. We see people dishonoring a holy place. 

    Left to our own devices, we’ll continue to lose the temple, to squander God’s grace because we’re sinful. 

    But instead of having a building which represents the presence of God, we’re given a person. 

    Jesus Christ, the eternal God of creation himself becomes the temple. We are welcomed back into the garden because Jesus left heaven. We are welcomed into the presence of God because Jesus was forsaken. We are invited into the presence of God because Jesus is the true temple.

    We are given grace which cannot be lost because it was bought by a savior who does not sin. 

    The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). 

    Jesus came to be with us so that we could be with him. 

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  • 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.