Have you ever had to explain the unexplainable? For
example, did you realize that there are things that we do every day as we live
life here on earth that are unexplainable? Have you ever tried to explain why
we yawn? I mean what purpose does yawning fulfill? And have you ever tried to
explain why yawning is contagious? While there are many theories, scientists
disagree as to why we yawn and what purpose yawning serves. Have you ever tried to explain to a teenager
why there is a stage of life called adolescence? And why does adolescence seem
to be getting longer and longer? While there are many theories, scientists
disagree as to what purpose adolescence serves.
Have you ever tried to explain why we experience
dreams? Or what dreams mean? While there are many theories as to why we dream,
science is still at odds as to the true purpose of dreams. Have you ever tried
to explain why people blush? Do we blush because we are embarrassed? Do we
blush because we are angry? And what is the purpose behind blushing? No one is
sure.
And then there are great mysteries that are left
unexplained. Mysteries like the Bermuda Triangle. While there have been many
theories that have tried to explain the wide range of incidents that have
occurred in that region of the world, the Bermuda triangle remains
unexplainable. And how do you explain the mystery of Stonehenge? While we know
how the rocks got there, the point and purpose behind that collection of rocks
remains unexplained.
Have you ever tried to explain the unexplainable
feeling of déjà vu? This morning, have you ever tried to explain what it means
to fall in love with someone? I mean we cannot see love, we cannot measure love
on a scale, yet love exists and is powerful. The reality is that there are things that we
experience in our day to day lives; there are historical and geographical
mysteries; there are feelings and emotions that we have difficulty explaining.
Instead they seem to be unexplainable.
And in the Bible, we see events in history that defy
scientific explanation. Events in history like Moses parting the Red Sea in
Exodus 14. Events in history like the
day that God made the sun stand still in Joshua chapter 10. Events in history
like a teenage girl who was a virgin giving birth to a child who claimed to be
God. Events in history from the life of the man who claimed to be God that are
recorded in the accounts of His life in the Bible called the gospels.
And, at the church where I serve, we are going to
spend our time together in the weeks leading up to Easter in a sermon series
entitled unexplainable. During this series, we are going to spend our time
together looking at seven unexplainable events from the life of Jesus that are
recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of
John. The gospel of John was written the
person who had perhaps the closest relationship with Jesus while He was on
earth, a man named John. John is referred to as the disciple Jesus loved. John
was Jesus best friend.
And it is in the gospel of John that
we see John, as he looked in the rearview mirror of his life, record for us
some things that he experienced while living in relationship with Jesus that seemed
to be unexplainable. And as John gives us a front row seat to these events from
history that seemed to be unexplainable, our hope and our prayer during this
series is that we would be able to see how these unexplainable events from history
that occurred through Jesus reveal for us several timeless truths about Jesus
that have the potential to powerfully impact how we view Jesus.
So let’s launch into this series by
looking at the first of these events from history that seem to be unexplainable,
which is recorded for us in John 2:1:
On the third
day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;
and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran
out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
John brings us into this unexplainable event from
history by providing us the context in which this unexplainable event took
place. John tells us that three days after inviting Phillip and Nathaniel to
follow Him, Jesus, along with His mother and His disciples attended a wedding
in Cana of Galilee, which is located in what is now Northern Israel.
However, to fully understand what is happening here, we first need to
understand what a wedding looked like in Jesus day. During Jesus day a
bridegroom would make a wedding proposal to the bride and her family. The bride
and her family would then agree to the wedding proposal. At this point, the
bridegroom would then go back to where his family lived and would prepare a
place for them to live, with his family. The bridegroom would basically build
an addition on his parent’s house for them to live in.
After the addition was completed, bridegroom
would then come back with his entire family banging pots and pans in a loud
parade-like celebration. The parade would then stop at the bride’s house, where
a wedding ceremony and reception would take place, which would often last up to
a week. At the end of the celebration, the bridegroom would pick the bride up,
and take her to be with his family.
However, there was a problem at
the wedding. And that problem was the wedding reception ran out of wine. The
family of the bride had failed to have the proper amount of wine on hand. Most
likely, the reason why the wedding reception ran out of wine was due to the
fact that they were poor.
Now as you might imagine, this
would have been quite embarrassing. But not only
would this be embarrassing; in the culture of the day, this would result in the
family of the bride being slurred by the rest of the community. In the culture
of the day, this could result in the family of the bride being sued by those in
attendance for failing to provide enough resources for the wedding reception.
And like any good mother, Jesus mother, sensing the
potential embarrassment to this newly married couple, approaches Jesus and
makes the statement “they have no wine”? But why would Mary make that statement
to Jesus? I mean, what did Mary expect Jesus to do? Was she expecting a
miracle? After all, Mary knew that He was the Messiah.
I don’t know if Mary was expecting a miracle here.
You see, at this point in Jesus life, Jesus had not performed any miracles. Instead,
I believe that Mary was looking to Jesus with the expectation that Jesus would
fix the problem. I mean, Mary knew that Jesus had the ability to fix this
problem. After all, He had twelve disciples following Him around.
Surely Jesus could do something, whether miraculous
or not, to fix this situation so that the bride and her family would not suffer
embarrassment and scorn from the community. John records for us Jesus response
to His mothers request in verse 4:
And Jesus
said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not
yet come."
Well, that sounds harsh, doesn’t it? So what is
going on here? Did Jesus really call Mary woman instead of mother? Did Jesus
really say “Woman, what does that have to do with us?” Is Jesus disrespecting
His mother here? I do not believe that is what happened here. You see, Jesus is
not a teenage boy mouthing back to his momma. At this point in Jesus life,
Jesus was a thirty year old man talking to His mother who was most likely in
her mid forties. These are two adults having a conversation.
You see, the reason that Jesus called Mary woman,
instead of mother, was to remind Mary that her relationship with Jesus was more
than simply a mother and a son. Jesus here is reminding Mary that He is also
the Messiah. Jesus here is reminding Mary that He is God in a bod. And as
Messiah, as God-in-a-bod, Jesus does not submit His kingdom mission and will to
anyone, even His earthly mother.
Jesus is basically saying to Mary, “Mary, I love you
and you are my mom, but make sure that you do not forget who I am. Make sure
that you do not forget that I am God. Make sure that you do not forget that I
am an adult who has been given a mission to accomplish. Make sure that you do
not forget that I am the one who sets the agenda when it comes to what I do and
how I do it. I am now an adult who has been given a mission to accomplish. And
what you are asking Me to do in terms of disclosing who I am at this point in
time to everyone who is at this wedding is not a part of that mission.”
Jesus here is reminding His mother of the reality
that, in Jesus adult life and ministry as Messiah, all must recognize His
status and place, even His mother Mary. Now I want us to take a minute and
imagine yourself as Mary. Place yourself in her shoes. You are the mother to
God. You are responsible for making sure that God-in-a-bod makes it to adulthood.
And now your Son, who you changed diapers for, who
you cuddled and held when He was sick, reminds you that He is now an adult.
Your Son reminds you who He is and the He has a mission much bigger than your
little request. You are Mary. How would you respond? We see Mary’s response in
verse 5:
His mother said to the servants,
"Whatever He says to you, do it."
John tells us that Mary responded to Jesus statement
to her by telling the servants to do whatever Jesus requested. Instead of
arguing with Jesus; instead of attempting to direct Jesus to fix the
embarrassing situation and problem, Mary humbly allows Jesus to decide what He
was going to do. Here we see the mother of the Son of God humbly submitting to
the will of the Son of God. Here we see Mary provide us an amazing example of
how a Godly woman lives in relationship with Jesus.
While evangelicals are often critical of Catholics
for making too much of Mary, as evangelicals we often make the mistake of
making too little of Mary. Mary gave up the life that she could have had in
order to live a life that was often marked by gossip and ridicule as a result
of being the mother of Jesus. Mary is a very godly example of a woman who did
the right thing and trusted in God throughout her life, even though it was not
the easy or popular thing to do.
Friday, we will see how Jesus decided to do when it
came to this embarrassing situation...
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