Stone Jars, New Wine, and the Kingdom of God

ReCAST Church of Mattawan

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You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. Good morning, everyone.

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After that introduction, I hope that I don't mess things up. So, I'm lucky enough to be able to share with you this

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Sunday and next Sunday as well, and we're on, as often as I come to speak, which is about,

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I don't know, maybe three times a year, we're on the slow plan to make it through the Gospel of John, so I figure in about 20 years we'll finish it.

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This week and next week, we're going to be in John chapter 2, and so if you have your Bibles today,

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I would ask that you would turn to John chapter 2. We're going to start by reading verses 1 through 12. I'm going to make just a few introductory comments to help lead us into worship, and we'll get into the text in a little bit more depth in a few minutes, but we're in John chapter 2, verses 1 through 12.

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John chapter 2. On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

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Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the water ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.

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And Jesus said to her, woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you.

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Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons.

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Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, now draw out some and take it to the master of the feast.

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So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water, now become wine, and did not know where it had come from.

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Though the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, everyone serves the good wine first.

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And when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.

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This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifest as his glory and his disciples believed in him.

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After this, he went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples. And they stayed there for a few days.

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Now as we think about this passage, it's helpful to just to look at the overall context of the book of John.

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John is a profoundly Jewish book. And throughout this book, we see

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Jesus revealed as the fulfillment of the Jewish law, the fulfillment of Jewish festivals, the fulfillment of Jewish customs, the fulfillment of Jewish culture.

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The book of John begins with these remarkable words. John chapter 1, verses 17 and 18.

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For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

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And throughout this book, we see that Jesus takes that which is historically prior, he fulfills the true and fullest meaning of that festival or custom, and then he replaces it with something new and something better.

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Your entire Old Testament predicts and foreshadows this man,

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Jesus, and his ministry. So in John chapter 2, we see that the temple was the center of Jewish religious life.

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It is the sacred place of sacrifice. It is the pride of the nation. And yet in John chapter 2,

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Jesus presents himself as the true focus of our worship and his own body as the temple.

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In John chapter 4, Jesus takes this idea of the temple and he says that geographically centered worship is soon to become obsolete and that people will worship

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God in sincerity and in truth. The rabbi was a cherished part of Jewish culture.

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He was a figure of authority and expertise in Jewish law. Yet in John chapter 3, we find

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Jesus instructing Nicodemus, the great rabbi, and calling

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Nicodemus to a spiritual transformation so profound that it was like being born again.

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The Jews rigorously maintained Sabbath adherence, and yet Jesus reveals himself in John chapter 5 as Lord of the

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Sabbath. The Passover is one of the most sacred Jewish holidays.

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The Passover is also called the festival of unleavened bread. Yet in John chapter 6,

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Jesus reveals himself on the Passover as the bread of life which has come down from heaven.

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In John chapter 7, we see Jesus attending the Feast of Tabernacles, a feast that commemorated how the

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Jewish people had come out of Egypt and were wandering in the desert, and God provided their needs over this 40 -year period where they were wandering around in the desert.

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Now at the Feast of Tabernacles, there were two symbols, light and water. And it is no coincidence that at this feast,

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Jesus in John chapter 7 says these words, And at that same festival,

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Jesus also declares, Finally, the shepherd is one of the most cherished images in the

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Old Testament. Throughout the Psalms, throughout the prophets, God himself is pictured as the shepherd of the nation of Israel.

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And yet in John chapter 10, Jesus says, And here also, in John chapter 2, in a small village in Galilee, Jesus reveals his majesty, his identity, and his glory.

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And he does this not through so many words, but he does this through an acted parable.

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He does this by turning water into wine. Now it may seem like an awkward pivot, but I feel like I need to say just a brief word about this because this passage often gets taken in a sideways direction.

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We need to talk just for a minute. Honestly, I didn't know where to insert this comment, so it may feel awkward, but I feel like we need to talk just for a moment about the issue of alcohol consumption and the

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Christian. Now there are churches, there are even denominations that forbid alcohol consumption and take a strong stance that it is sin.

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There are other Christians who drink socially and post about it on Facebook, all in the name of Christian freedom.

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And honestly, I was tempted to ignore this issue altogether this morning for this simple reason.

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This text is rich in meaning. This text is a revelation of the person of Jesus.

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It is only incidentally about alcohol. But seeing that alcohol is mentioned, we should note that Jesus is not an aesthetic who advocates a rigid abstinence from every form of alcoholic beverage, but neither is

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Jesus here giving a tacit approval to a lifestyle of indulgence. I would urge you, as you consider this issue, to take into account all that the scripture says about alcohol consumption.

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And there are many relevant texts, and I would urge you to do that study with fear and great trembling and with knowledge that alcohol can be very dangerous to our souls.

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Paul reminds us that drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. That should cause us fear and trembling.

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If you are indulgent in alcohol, overindulgent in alcohol, and this text this morning is your proof text, can

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I suggest to you that you have an impoverished understanding of the text? This passage is only incidentally about alcohol.

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It is now and it is forever about one thing. It is about Jesus, the

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Messiah, the true bridegroom of Israel, the one who fills the old to its fullness, and from that fullness brings forth what is new and what is surpassingly greater.

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So as we go into worship, let's think about Jesus, the one who is greater, the one who fulfills the

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Jewish law and custom, the one who brings new out of old.

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Let's pray together. Father in heaven, my desire this morning, my prayer this morning for myself is that I may speak clearly and that you would speak through your word and that you would just encourage us, correct us, instruct us.

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Father, my desire for this congregation is that people would leave this place this morning thinking bigger thoughts of you,

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Jesus, and that people would worship you, Jesus, on account of what this passage teaches.

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And God, my greatest desire above all things is that you would be honored and glorified, that the name of Jesus may be magnified in our worship, in our listening, and as we go forth from this place.

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Lord Jesus, come, magnify your name. We ask this in your name alone. Amen. Our hope is secure.

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I will not fear anymore. That is a good word that we just sang. My hope this morning as we all turn together again,

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I invite you to turn to John chapter 2. My hope is that we will see from this passage again what it is that Jesus fulfills and what it is that Jesus promises.

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So we're just going to work our way through this passage, verse by verse, sentence by sentence, and see where we can get.

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So John chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

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Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. Now in the rural culture of ancient

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Palestine, weddings were supremely important. They were announced well in advance.

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Elaborate preparations were made, and on the day of the celebration, the groom and his entourage would go to the home of the bride, and they would take the bride back to the groom's home for an elaborate celebration.

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Now the time of the groom's coming was unknown, and so the bride and her bridesmaids needed to be ready at all times.

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A banquet followed in the home of the groom, and this banquet was a time of feasting, of celebration, of great joy.

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This banquet could last up to a week. Now I have a son who recently proposed to his girlfriend, and they are planning a wedding next

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May. And I can tell you after reading this, I am very grateful that I live in modern day America.

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A week -long feast and celebration that the groom is responsible for.

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Now the groom and his family were responsible for this wedding banquet, and they were responsible for providing all the food, all the wine, all the festivities.

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Now I want you to understand that Middle Eastern culture is an honor -shame culture, and so the honor of the groom and his family were at stake here.

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To run out of wine at a wedding banquet would cast a shadow of shame over the groom's family.

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And so serious was the issue of honor and shame that if the groom and his family were negligent in their wedding preparations, and that negligence resulted in shame to be given to the bride and her family, the bride and her family actually had legal recourse to seek damages against the groom and his family.

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So weddings were big deals, and honor was attached to the family of the groom.

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So that's background information as we come to verse number three. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.

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And Jesus said to her woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.

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His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Verse three, so now notice that Mary is attending to this problem.

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Now she has some level of responsibility here at the wedding. We can reasonably infer from this that somebody close to Jesus, maybe a cousin, maybe one of Jesus's own brothers, is getting married.

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Jesus, his disciples, Mary, and presumably Jesus's brothers and sisters have all been invited to this wedding.

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This was an extended family affair. Now I want you to store that piece of information in your mind. We're going to come back to it in a few minutes.

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But it's unclear exactly from this passage what exactly Mary wanted Jesus to do.

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Now some commentators point out that Mary remembered the prophecies surrounding

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Jesus's birth. And she remembered the visit from the wise men.

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She remembered all these prophecies. She knew that Jesus had recently been baptized by John.

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And so some commentators suggest that what's happening here is that Mary is steering

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Jesus and encouraging Jesus to perform a miracle and to therefore reveal his identity. Now I'm quite certain that Mary believed

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Jesus to be the Messiah. But I do not believe that she was pushing Jesus to perform a miracle and thereby demonstrate his power.

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He had not done any miracles yet prior to this one. What's happening here is that Jesus is the firstborn son.

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Joseph, from the time Jesus is 12 years old, we never hear of Joseph again. Joseph is out of the picture.

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He's most likely deceased. And Mary had come to lean on Jesus as both the family provider and as solver of problems.

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This is a patriarchal culture. And so Jesus was responsible for providing for and caring for the family in the absence of his father.

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And so Mary was just simply doing what she had become accustomed to doing, is that when there's a problem and there's a crisis, she turns to Jesus and asks him to take care of it.

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He was best equipped to do that. Now there are some in the

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Roman Catholic tradition specifically who take this passage and would draw from it the conclusion that Mary serves as an intermediary between people and Jesus.

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In other words, just as the servants came to Mary with this problem and then

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Mary brought the problem to Jesus, so also we should pray to Mary or maybe another saint and that individual,

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Mary specifically, can take the problem to Jesus. Now is that conclusion warranted from this passage?

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Should we embrace Mary as our intercessor and as our mediator on the basis of this passage?

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And I would answer that question with a decisive no. We should politely reject that interpretation of this passage and I'd like to give you five reasons why.

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Briefly, number one, Jesus teaches in the book of John extensively about prayer.

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In John 13 through 17, the Upper Room Discourse, he specifically teaches his disciples about prayer.

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Now if Jesus intended to establish Mary as an intermediary, it would have been an opportune time for him to teach about it elsewhere in the book and specifically in the

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Upper Room. Instead, during his Upper Room Discourse, Jesus makes no mention of any intermediary between his disciples and him.

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What he says instead in John chapter 14, verses 13 and 14, listen to this, Whatever you ask in my name, this

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I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name,

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I will do it. Reason number two why we should not accept this interpretation.

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We simply don't see this teaching in the New Testament, not in the epistles of Paul and Peter and John.

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We don't see this teaching in the book of Acts reflected in the conduct, in the prayers of the people of God in the book of Acts.

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We are encouraged to pray for each other, but we are nowhere taught to direct our prayers to anyone but God.

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Number three, Jesus alone in the New Testament is presented as the one mediator between God and men and Jesus alone is presented as our interceding high priest, the one who represents us before the

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Father. Listen to Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25, Therefore he, Jesus, is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

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Again, Hebrews chapter 4, verses 14 through 16, Since we have a great high priest who has ascended into the heavens,

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Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firm to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet he did not sin.

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Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

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Jesus alone is presented as our mediator and intercessor. The fourth reason is if this passage is intended to establish

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Mary as an intermediary between people and God, then what about all the other passages in Scripture in which somebody came to Jesus on behalf of somebody else?

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In Luke chapter 7, a Roman centurion, instead of coming directly to Jesus, sends

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Jewish elders on his behalf. In Matthew chapter 15, a

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Syriac Phoenician woman came to Jesus on behalf of her demon -possessed daughter. Both of those prayer requests were granted.

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In Matthew chapter 20, the mother of James and John, the wife of Zebedee, came to Jesus with a rather self -serving request on behalf of her children.

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Now, do these passages establish an intermediary role for the unnamed Syriac Phoenician woman, for Jewish elders, and for the wife of Zebedee?

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No, they don't. Finally, the final reason we reject this interpretation is that this passage teaches the opposite.

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Jesus is actually gently and respectfully rebuking his mother.

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He's putting a respectful but necessary distance between himself and his mother here at the beginning of his ministry.

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In verse 4, many have read this, and wrongfully so, as a disrespectful way for Jesus to address his mother.

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He calls his mother woman. Now, this is not the most endearing way that Jesus could have referred to his mother, but again, his point was to use a term that would put a respectful distance between himself and his mother.

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Now, why would he want to do that? Well, this term, let's go back to the term for a second. Jesus sometimes did use this term to refer to a woman in John chapter 4, the woman at the well.

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He uses this term. He uses this term woman to refer to the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8.

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He uses this term for Mary Magdalene when he rose from the dead in John chapter 20. And finally,

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Jesus uses this term for his mother again in John chapter 19 as he was hanging on the cross, and he turned to John, and he gave

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John responsibility for caring for his mother. Listen to these words of Jesus as he hung from the cross.

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This is not a disrespectful way to refer to his mother. What is more irrelevant to our discussion is the expression that follows.

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He says, woman, what does this have to do with me? Now, this expression is difficult to translate into English.

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If you literally wouldn't translate it, it would say, what to me and to you? But the idea of Jesus' statement here is, mom, my thoughts on this matter are one thing.

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Your thoughts on this matter are a different thing. Jesus is essentially saying, my time has not yet come.

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It's not time yet for me to pour out the fullness of messianic blessing on the nation yet.

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Now, Mary was just asking Jesus to solve a problem. I don't think there's any deeper meaning than that in Mary's request.

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But you know what? Jesus is famous for taking people's statements and drawing out a deeper meaning and significance than even they intended.

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And in that, Jesus is rendering a gentle correction to his mother. You see, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, here at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, everything, including family obligations, must be subordinate to the will and to the timing of God the

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Father. The initiatives of the Father and the timing of God the Father must take priority.

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And for that reason, we see Jesus gently distancing himself from his family. Not even

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Mary, his own mother, should presume to have the inside track. And not even Mary, his own mother, should presume to force

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Jesus' hand in anything. D. A. Carson, New Testament scholar, says it this way.

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This is good. This distancing must have been extremely difficult for Mary. She had born him, nursed him, taught his baby fingers elementary skills, watched over him as he fell over as he learned to walk.

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Apparently, she had come to rely on him as the family provider. But now he had entered into the purpose of his coming, and everything, including family ties, had to be subordinated to his divine mission.

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She could no longer view him as other mothers viewed their sons. She must no longer be allowed the prerogatives of motherhood.

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She, like every other person, must come to him as the promised Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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Neither she nor anyone else dare presume to approach him on an inside track. In verse 5,

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Mary shakes off this gentle rebuke and tells the servants, do whatever Jesus tells you.

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That's a good word for them and for us. Let's go on to verse 6 and 7.

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We're getting into the heart of the passage now. Now, there were six stone water jars there for the

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Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, and they filled them to the brim.

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Now, these six stone jars were used for the Jewish rites of purification, the washing of hands, the washing of cooking utensils and pots and things like this.

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The Jewish people, according to the law of Moses and according to the traditions of the

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Jewish elders, were required to maintain ritual purity.

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And they had elaborate rules to that end. Now, it is significant that these six jars were made of what?

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Made of stone. The Ten Commandments given to Moses were written on tablets of stone.

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A clay jar could become ceremonially unclean. A stone jar could not. Now, Jesus in the

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Bible does not do pointless things. He does not say pointless things. By performing this miracle, he's communicating something.

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He's communicating something about himself. And in order to understand Jesus' intended meaning, it is important that we understand that these stone jars represent the

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Jewish system of purity and the Jewish law regarding purity. These stone jars represent the meticulous laws regarding purification.

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Now, notice what Jesus does. He takes these jars and he has them what? Filled to the brim.

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Jesus fulfills the Jewish law and custom to its fullness.

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Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 and 18. Jesus says this,

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The law of Moses prescribed continual blood sacrifice of animals to remove sins.

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Jesus, however, is the final atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

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Hebrews chapter 10, verse 14. The law of Moses prescribed a

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Levitical priesthood to serve as an intermediary between God and his people.

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Jesus, however, is our great and final high priest who intercedes for us to the Father. John chapter 4, the law of Moses prescribes worship at a temple of stone in Jerusalem.

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But Jesus teaches that the Christian community is now the temple of God, thereby ensuring that Christianity has no geographic center.

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Jesus says in John chapter 4, The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the

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Father. The hour is coming and now is when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

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And here, the law of Moses prescribes elaborate regulations for ceremonial purity, which foods were clean and which foods were not clean, which things people could touch and which things people could not touch, which people were clean and which people were not.

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And these meticulous rules were designed to keep the people of God holy and separated from the pagan nations surrounding them.

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Jesus, however, abolished those laws and he broke down that dividing wall. In Acts chapter 10, verse 15, it is written,

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What God has made clean do not call common. Jesus here, in the form of an acted parable, is doing with his actions what is later explicitly explained with his words.

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He is fulfilling the Old Testament customs. The old has gone and the new has come.

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Out of the old, Jesus brings something new and something better. So now if the old is represented by the six stone water pots and Jesus fills that to the fullness, what is the new that Jesus brings?

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Jesus brings forth new wine. What is represented by the new wine?

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Let's read in verse 8. Jesus brings the

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Jewish legal system to its intended fulfillment and he brings forth from that system the new wine of the kingdom of God.

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Soon after this event, Jesus begins to travel throughout Galilee announcing, Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand.

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And he announces the kingdom with his words. Here he announces the kingdom for the discerning listener and the discerning observer.

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He announces the kingdom with his actions. The kingdom of God is likened throughout the

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Old Testament prophets. The kingdom of God is likened, the messianic age is likened to a wedding banquet with Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as the bride.

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On that day it is Jesus who will provide a banquet feast for all nations.

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A feast complete with richness, blessing, choice food, and wine in great abundance beyond what we could possibly imagine.

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Take a look at this verse from Isaiah chapter 25. This verse more than any other is the background to this passage in John chapter 2.

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On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, and of aged wine well refined.

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And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.

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He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. And the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth for the

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Lord has spoken. You see friends, by filling these stone water jars and then bringing forth new wine for the wedding banquet,

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Jesus is for the discerning listeners saying the messianic age is at hand. The true bridegroom of Israel has come.

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The marriage celebration of the Messiah, the long prophesied feast of rich food and lavish wine is at hand.

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God has not forgotten his people. God has not forgotten his promise.

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He will indeed swallow up death forever. He will indeed wipe away every tear from every eye.

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He will indeed remove the reproach of his people. Jesus is making all things new.

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This messianic age, the kingdom of God, that Jesus so clearly announced here is also described in Isaiah chapter 11 verses 6 through 10.

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Let me read this for you. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together and a little child shall lead them.

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The cow and the bear shall graze and their young shall lie down together and the ox shall eat straw or the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

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The nursing child shall play over the hole of a cobra and the weaning child shall put his hand into the addlers den.

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They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the

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Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse who will stand as a signal for the peoples.

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Of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place will be glorious. This kingdom of God, this wedding banquet,

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Jesus announced it here. Jesus gave a foretaste of it here but we are still waiting for that banquet to come in full.

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Jesus announced the kingdom of God. He inaugurated the coming of the kingdom of God and when he returns, one day when the sky is rolled back like a scroll and the trumpet sounds and Jesus returns for his bride, then the kingdom of God will be consummated on this earth.

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Jesus gives us and his people a foretaste here in John chapter 2 of the kingdom banquet that he is preparing for all nations.

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This is a sign. Now a miracle is a revelation of power. A sign is intended as something more.

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A sign is intended to communicate something that God wants communicated. Jesus is not simply displaying his power, he is displaying his power for the purpose of revealing his identity as Messiah.

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For the purpose of giving people a foretaste of this coming banquet. In fact, almost everything

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Jesus does in his ministry is giving a foretaste of the kingdom of God. When Jesus heals the blind and the lame, he is announcing that day when our bodies will be made new in the kingdom of God.

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When Jesus casts out demons, he is announcing that day when Satan will be thrown in the pit of hell forever.

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When Jesus raises the dead, he is announcing that day soon when we will be raised from the dead and given new bodies.

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And here when Jesus turns water into wine, he is announcing the coming of the kingdom banquet.

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The announcing of the kingdom of God. Friends, are you encouraged by that? I think we need to hear that this morning, especially in wake of Dayton and El Paso.

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Maybe you read the news this morning. I don't know what hardship or despair or disappointment you are experiencing this morning, but I do know this.

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God has not forgotten his people. The kingdom is both here now as a foretaste, and it is coming with decisive finality soon.

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The bridegroom will soon return for his bride. And on that day, he who changed water into wine will change injustice into justice.

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He will change weeping into dancing. He will change sickness into health. He will change death into life eternal.

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Verses 11 and 12. This, the first of his signs,

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Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

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After this, he went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

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Now, Jesus had not at this time assembled his full band of disciples, but we can assume from the text that Peter, Andrew, John, James, Philip, and Nathanael, at least, were present at this wedding.

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And when it says his disciples believed in him, we shouldn't take that to mean this was the moment of their salvation, which they believed and were saved.

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In other places in scriptures, it also says the disciples believed in Jesus. I like what

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J .C. Ryle says about this. He says, they believed more confidently, more implicitly, and more unhesitatingly.

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From this time, they felt thoroughly convinced, in spite of much remaining ignorance, that he,

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Jesus, whom they were following, was the Messiah. And so it is with us.

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We take that initial hesitating step of faith, and God causes us to be born again into his family, into his kingdom.

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And then, step by step, day by day, through many difficulties and disappointments, our faith matures and grows until one day, whether it be through death or through the return of Jesus, faith becomes sight.

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In spite of much remaining ignorance, we walk by faith. Now, remember earlier,

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I asked you to store something in your mind. I asked you to remember that Jesus' brothers, that this was a family wedding, and that Jesus' brothers were very likely present at the wedding.

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So they, like everybody else, Jesus' family, just like everybody else, drank the new wine, and at least through second -hand accounts, saw and experienced this miracle.

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Now, notice what it says, though. It says, his disciples believed in him. Now, Jesus immediately goes with his family, his brothers and his disciples, down to Capernaum for a family getaway after this wedding, and Jesus' disciples and Jesus' brothers both had access to the same miracle.

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Jesus' disciples and Jesus' brothers both had access to Jesus after this miracle. I'm sure they talked about it, but in John 7, verse 5, it says, not even

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Jesus' own brothers believed in him. Why did the disciples believe and Jesus' brothers, at this point, did not believe?

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I thought about that question while I was preparing this message, and I think it is simply this.

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The revelation of God, whether it comes to us through a miracle or through the Word of God, must be met with a humble, responsive, obedient heart.

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You see, a miracle will reinforce the faith of somebody who already believes, and a miracle will encourage faith in somebody who is inclined to believe or who is open to believe, but a miracle rarely produces faith in somebody who folds their arms and sets their chin and stubbornly clings to unbelief.

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You see, Jesus never performed miracles to draw a crowd or to impress people. The signs that Jesus performed point to deeper realities, and that's the true mystery of a miracle.

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Without eyes of faith and without a heart of obedience, the meaning can easily be lost to us.

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For those without eyes of faith, a miracle, a sign, is just a spectacle. It's a firework show.

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It's something unexplained that we can easily forget, but for those with eyes to see and those with hearts of faith and hearts of wisdom, a miraculous sign points to a deeper spiritual reality.

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When Jesus turned water into wine, he was revealing to the observer that the

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Mosaic legal code written on tablets of stone had reached its fulfillment. Jesus brings forth new wine, a new way, the kingdom of God.

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He is the bridegroom, and he is preparing a banquet for all nations. Can I tell you something?

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You are invited to that banquet. Have you accepted the invitation?

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Do you belong to Jesus? The bridegroom could return at any moment for his bride, and the banquet could start at any moment.

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Are you ready for the return of Jesus? If you are unsure this morning, if you're visiting with us, if you are unsure this morning about your relationship with Jesus, I would urge you do not leave this place without getting this issue settled.

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There is nothing more important than this. And for those of us who do belong to Jesus and who are part of the family of God, we're now going to move into a time of worship and a time of communion.

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The elements are the bread and the juice are in the back. We invite you to partake of those.

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You can take the bread and the juice. You can return to your seat and reflect there and partake of those.

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Now, these elements look backwards to the death of Jesus on the cross.

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Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me. And so the bread represents his body that was broken for us, his blood represents, or the wine represents his blood that was spilled for us, that we might have forgiveness of sins.

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But can I tell you something? These elements not only look backwards to the death of Jesus on the cross, but they look forward too.

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They look forward to that great banquet that we are waiting for. That banquet in which

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Jesus will remove the covering from all nations. He will wipe away death forever. He will prepare a banquet of rich food and rich wine for all his people.

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The wedding banquet of the lamb. So as we participate in communion this morning, I invite you to look backwards, but also to look forward with joy.

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Let's go ahead and pray together. Jesus, we say with sincere hearts, come quickly.

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We want to experience the fullness of your kingdom. We have gotten a foretaste of it and we are hungry for more.

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Thank you for your promises. Your promises are good. I pray that this congregation, that these people would leave today with encouragement and hope and eager expectation that you would return and that your banquet would arrive soon.