The First Sign of the Messiah

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John 2:1–12 Pastor Rob Kimsey March 24, 2024

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Messiah is recorded in John chapter 2 in the first 12 verses, really the first 11, but 12 kind of helps as a segue into the next event.
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So we will be looking at these first 12 verses this morning, the first sign of the
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Messiah. Please stand with me for the reading of God's Word. The Gospel of John starting in chapter 2.
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And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
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And both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him,
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They have no wine. And Jesus said to her, Woman, what do I have to do with you?
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My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it.
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Now there were six stone water jars set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing two or three measures each.
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Jesus said to them, Fill the water jars with water. So they filled them up to the brim.
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And he said to them, Draw some out now and take it to the head waiter. So they took it to him.
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Now when the head waiter tasted the water, which had become wine and did not know where it had, where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him,
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Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then the inferior wine.
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But you have kept the good wine until now. Jesus did this in Cana of Galilee as the beginning of his signs and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him.
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After this, he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days.
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You may be seated. The first sign of the Messiah. In an online blog about discerning whether something you see or read on the internet is true, one author asked this question.
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How can you tell if something is true? And the example of trickery they pointed to was a picture of a great white shark someone had shared on Twitter.
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And if you're online at all, you likely have seen this image. It's been circulated. The picture showed what appeared to be a great white shark in a flooded water on a highway.
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You could see the highway markers next to this, this pool of water, and there's a great white shark.
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The caption on the post read this, Whoa, my cousin in Tampa took this picture.
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Apparently Hurricane Ian pushed a great white shark inland and it's casually swimming around on Interstate 275.
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So even a claim of knowing where the thing came from. The article explained that an image that seems to show just that was shared by many people after Hurricane Ian struck
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Florida in 2022. It was also widely shared after Hurricane Harvey hit
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Houston, Texas in 2017. So apparently the shark was just hanging out for several years at these hurricanes.
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Yeah, it's a fake. It's a flooded highway image and then combined with one of a great white shark.
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The same image was circulating as far back as 2011 after Hurricane Irene slammed
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Puerto Rico. The author was making this point. When deciding whether to trust a piece of information, it's good to start with three main questions.
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Who said it? What evidence did they give? And very important, how much do you want to believe it?
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How much do you want to believe it? Who said it? Well, a source is where information comes from, right?
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You get information from sources every day, from teachers, parents, and friends to people you've never met on news sites.
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You can think of fan channels, social media. You probably have sources you trust and ones you don't.
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But why? What's the evidence? Well, evidence is what you show when someone says prove it.
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It's the details that support what a source is saying. Primary sources are people or groups who are directly involved with the information.
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They're the best sources, primary sources. Secondary sources are one step removed.
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For example, news stories based on primary sources. In some cases, they aren't as strong as primary sources but are still useful.
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And then do you want to believe it? Very important. Emotions can get in the way of knowing what's true.
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Messages that make you feel strong emotions, especially ones that are funny or make you angry are the most important ones to check, but they're also the hardest to ignore.
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And the advertisers know this. Many ads try to be funny or make the things they're selling look cool because they want you to focus on how you feel rather than what you think.
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And being older doesn't mean you're automatically better at spotting false information.
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41 % of 18 to 34 year olds and 44 % of adults 65 and older admitted to having fallen for a fake news story according to a 2018 study.
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So really not a difference there. Other research showed adults over 65 were seven times as likely to share articles from fake sites as younger people were.
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That's interesting and may or may not be helpful to us. I think there is common sense and wisdom in asking those kind of questions.
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Obviously in a world where we are being pulled in so many different directions and there is constant pressure to believe one thing or another or to pick one side or the other, in a world that's battling for control of your mind, it's good to have something in place to decide what to believe and what not to believe.
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For us as believers, we have a tremendous advantage because we have the
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Word of God. We can hold truth claims against the Bible. Really, does what you're being told match up with Scripture?
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And if it doesn't, then it's not true. But also if the Bible is true, and it is, and specifically the
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Apostle John's claims about Jesus, then truth will be clear to discern and will always pass the test of rigorous examination.
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If we examine the claims of John asking these questions, the truth will out.
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Who said it? In this case, it's the Apostle John, an historical person who was an eyewitness to the life, death, and resurrection of the historical figure,
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Jesus of Nazareth, as accounted in the facts of history in the Greek New Testament manuscripts and the extra -biblical historical writings of the early church historians.
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What's the evidence? John is the primary source as an eyewitness. The primary sources include the complete
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New Testament gospel manuscripts that go back 2 ,000 years ago and exist in physical copies in the thousands.
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I'm talking the original documents. A secondary source would be the other three gospel writers,
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Matthew, Mark, and Luke, whose writings in the original New Testament Greek gospel manuscripts are dated and survive as historical documents from 2 ,000 years ago.
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There are 2 ,600 ,000 pages of Greek New Testament manuscripts, just the pages themselves, almost 3 million.
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Bruce Metzger, the Bible scholar and translator, said this, the quantity of New Testament material is almost embarrassing in comparison with other works of antiquity.
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There are 5 ,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts in complete form.
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The theologian and Christian apologist William Lane Craig said this, the New Testament is the best attested book in ancient history, both in terms of the number of manuscripts and the nearness of those manuscripts to the date of the original.
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There are 23 ,000 total New Testament manuscripts. The Greek scholar and linguist
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Daniel Wallace said this, it just doesn't matter how you look at this.
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The New Testament far and away is the best attested ancient document from the
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Greco -Roman world. Do we have an embarrassment of riches? Oh, we sure do.
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In fact, on the basis of manuscript evidence, we can say that we have 1 ,000 times more evidence that Jesus Christ existed than we do that Alexander the
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Great existed. Did you know that we have more surviving original documents depicting
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Jesus of Nazareth than on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle's writings combined?
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And finally, the last question, do you want to believe it? In this case, if we answer fairly and truthfully in our hearts, then we can admit no.
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No, the unbelieving mind does not want to believe that there is a
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God. And we have to answer to Him for our sin? The unbeliever loves their sin and does not want to give it up.
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A desire to believe bias does not exist here for the unbelieving. From the majority of people, not wanting to believe actually lends credibility that it is true in some cases.
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And there is another side to that too. The one God has drawn to Himself with repentance and conviction of sin wants to believe in the hope that God will pardon them.
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You don't want to believe because that means being accountable to God. You will want to believe when you come to the hard truth and the realization that you are accountable to God.
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As we look at today's passage and the eyewitness testimony of the Apostle John, let's look with eyes unclouded by intellectual dishonesty, by worldly presuppositions, and by the prideful antichrist spirit of our contemporary culture.
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Who said it? What's the evidence? Do you want to believe it? In today's passage, the
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Apostle John records the first sign miracle of Jesus of Nazareth so that you can know that as the
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Messiah, Jesus is the only source of life. He's the only source of life.
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And I really broke this up just right down the middle, almost right down the middle. We'll look at it in two ways. The circumstances of the sign in verses one through five and the consequences of the sign in verses six through twelve.
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So let's look at the first five verses together, the circumstances of the sign.
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And on the third day there was a wedding, a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there and both
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Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And 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 do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it.
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John gives us more precise data on time and place. A few possibilities here on the third day, meaning that this is to be understood as the same day that Andrew and Peter were called.
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Remember that we spent four days starting with the eyewitness of John the Baptist. That doesn't seem to fit given that John says that Jesus desired to go into Galilee on the fourth day of that eyewitness account from the
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Baptist. It seems best to take this time referring to the last narrated event in the calling of Philip and Nathaniel.
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Cana was about three days journey from where John the Baptist was baptizing there near Bethsaida.
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The suggestion is that Jesus would take about two days to reach Galilee from there.
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And this was the third day from the calling of Philip and Nathaniel. The reference here in verse one in connection with the other mentioned days in chapter one means that there is a strong possibility that the miracle at Cana took place at the conclusion of a seven -day period.
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That would mean that the apostle John was recounting the events in the first week of Jesus' earthly ministry.
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The time was seven days since the witness of John the Baptist. The place was
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Cana of Galilee, the hometown of Nathaniel. We know that from the gospel of John later in chapter 21.
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Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee.
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So we understand that he is from, Nathaniel is from Cana. New Testament scholarship promotes a probable location in Kirbet Cana, a village now in ruins approximately nine miles north of Nazareth.
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We can rightly assume that Cana was near the city of Nazareth since the mother of Christ came there to attend the marriage.
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In verses one and two, John gives us the who of the time and place. The who were
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Jesus' mother and the disciples. This would have been the five disciples that are mentioned in chapter one.
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Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathaniel, John who is the unnamed disciple from verse 35 of chapter one and likely
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John's brother James. Remember James and John were called on the same day as Andrew and Peter.
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John tells us Mary was already there and Jesus and his disciples were invited too.
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Verse three starts this exchange between Mary and Jesus as John records the exact words they had spoken.
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Mary would have likely seen this as an embarrassment to the host as she noticed the wine had ran out and she communicated it to Jesus.
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In verse four we might think that calling Mary woman seems odd but the vocal form of the word for woman is in no way disrespectful.
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Jesus would later use this same term on the cross when he told his beloved mother that his disciple
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John would take care of her as he was preparing to hand his soul into the father's hands.
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John chapter 19 when Jesus then saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved referring to John standing nearby he said to his mother woman behold your son.
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Jesus loved his mother and another verse where John describes himself in making it clear he is the unnamed disciple in chapter one.
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Go back to chapter one just starting in verse 35. On the next day John again was standing with two of his disciples.
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The John there is the Baptist and he looked at Jesus as he walked and said behold the lamb of God and the two disciples heard him speak and follow
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Jesus and when Jesus turned and noticed them following he said to them what do you seek they said to him rabbi which translated means teacher where are you staying and he said to them come and you will see so they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day it was about the 10th hour 10 a .m.
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One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew Simon Peter's brother so we don't get to hear who the other disciple was there it was
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John it was John the apostle there is an implication in in our passage this morning that Mary may have been asking
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Jesus to do something about the wine situation obviously she knew who her son was but she was probably not directly asking
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Jesus to do a miracle I don't think that's the right way to take this passage we can literally read this question
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Jesus asks like this what to me and to you what to me and to you the assumption that his response is irritation because he points out his hour has not yet come is not correct this is a
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Hebrew idiom this was a form of expression natural to the
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Hebrews one Hebrew language scholar pointed this out the the similar phrase what to me also occurs in the
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Hebrew Bible at times in combination with to you as in John chapter 2 verse 4 the most generic way to capture what the full statement what to me to you means is what is there that concerns me in you context should steer the translator to word choices that move the translation from this neutral meaning to something that captures the situation whether it is adversarial or congenial there is no reason to see
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John's use of the idiomatic expression as indicative of irritation or that his mother had become insufferable to Jesus when
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Jesus says to Mary what to me to you he isn't saying what is it now lady he's basically asking his mother who brings a concern to him what can
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I do for you what can I do for you there may be a degree of reproach but this is not rudeness his question before gently setting her straight implies gentleness and the phrase simply asks what is shared in common between the two parties the takeaway here in Jesus's statement of the hour was that his earthly ministry had started and it would not end until the time of his death and resurrection of course in the ascension in the interim he would now be engaged in the purpose of his mission on earth in other words
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Jesus placed all of his activities under the completion of that mission the phrase about his hour not coming always referred to his death and then exaltation in resurrection meaning
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Jesus was now on the father's divine schedule as he came to do the father's will however what
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Mary and the disciples didn't know and couldn't know is that Jesus was about to do his father's will and reveal or authenticate the messianic claims that his disciples had rightly made about him and that he himself had made remember he says the son of man he's already referred to himself as the one
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Daniel had described Jesus was about to show I am the son of man I am the son of God I am the king of Israel I am the messiah here let me show you and Mary got it real quick look how she responds in verse five a couple things to consider here at this point in her life her husband
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Joseph was likely dead and Mary would have been used to asking
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Jesus for help in different situations it doesn't mean she was asking him to do a miracle also even if Mary didn't understand what
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Jesus was going to do she knew to listen to him and she directed others to listen to him
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Jesus's answer to Mary is perhaps difficult to understand but maybe that is the point although Mary did not understand what
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Jesus was going to do she trusted him to do what was right those who believe in Jesus but run into situations they cannot understand must continue to trust that he will work in the best way in verse five she says essentially do whatever he says do whatever he says remember
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Mary is more than Jesus's mother he is her savior
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Mary submitted to Jesus's way of doing things of course considering his birth and the angelic encounter at her conception
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Mary knew who Jesus truly was she would have recognized that Jesus was more than her human son
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Jesus was the son of God Mary knew this yeah it made me this this passage and thinking about Mary's just automatically do whatever he says it made me think of a time a few years ago my family and I went to Hawaii God blessed us to be able to go to Hawaii for our summer vacation and we rented some wave runners it's a fun activity you rent them for an hour and you go out they kind of like push you out on a little pier so there's there's me and my son
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Noah and we get pushed out immediately we tip over so now we're like trying to climb back in my son was driving
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Jackson some of you have visited with him he's visited a few times here Jackson at the time was old enough to drive by himself my daughter
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Maddy was not so Jackson is driving Maddy's on the back and they pushed him out immediately they fall over so they're climbing back up and Jackson just looks real nervous and he's kind of like barely throttling it looks kind of iffy like I hope he can do this and one of the instructors had come over and was sort of like pushing him out in the right area to go do the wave running and this guy was sort of like long hair you know you're in Hawaii he's like no shirt he's the he's the guy working there he has a hat he kind of looked
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I don't know like a really friendly guy but you kind of look like a hippie just like long hair this kind of like eccentric personality and as he's looking at my son going out who he has just helped get back on he looks at him and he kind of he just sort of like as he's looking at my son driving away he says
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Jesus take the wheel and it was a funny you know moment
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I don't know if this guy was saved or not I didn't get a chance to speak with him but you know we hear this this statement
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Jesus take the wheel but you know there's something in that where here's this this guy and it totally unconnected just this circumstance that happens but in that little moment when
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I saw that happen yeah it's funny but also it's like this is deep inside every person
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I don't know whether he was a believer or not but there's an idea that Jesus is the one that's in control of the events in our life and at some point you know we have to let him guide us we have to trust him in whatever is going on in our lives
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Mary may not have understood what Jesus was about to do but she trusted
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Jesus to do what is right for all of us who believe in Jesus but run into situations we cannot understand we must continue to trust that he will work in the best way that's not always our way you must continue to trust
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Jesus to do what is right when you pray to God and you share your problems to Christ you may even think you know how
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Jesus should take care of them but God may have a completely different plan like Mary we should submit and allow
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Jesus to deal with the problem as he sees best he's the
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Lord you are not we don't have to understand we don't have to agree we need to trust we need to follow his plan not ours
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John recorded the first sign miracle of Jesus of Nazareth so that you can know that as the
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Messiah Jesus is the only source of life the circumstances of the sign show that Jesus knows exactly what he is doing and he does not act without intention and purpose the circumstances of this first sign show that Jesus knows exactly what he is doing and he does not act without intention and purpose what a helpful you know just these little clues in here these little details that John gives us for us to remember nothing in our life happens that hasn't first passed through the hand of the
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Father we need to trust Jesus so that's the circumstances of the sign and now we'll look at the consequence of the sign the consequence of the sign in verses 6 through 12 now there were six stone water jars set there for the
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Jewish custom of purification containing two or three measures each Jesus said to them to the servants fill the water jars with water so they filled them up to the brim and he said to them draw some out now and take it to the head waiter so they took it to him now when the head waiter tasted the water which had become wine and did not know where it came from but the servants who had drawn the water knew the head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him every man serves the good wine first and when the people have drunk freely then the inferior wine but you've kept the good wine until now
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Jesus did this in Cana of Galilee as the beginning of his signs and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him after this he went down to Capernaum he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples and they stayed there a few day a few days