This past week, I had the privilege of preaching in our Friday night RUF meeting on passage from the Gospel of John where Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast at the wedding in Cana where he and his disciples and his mother had been present.
I opened with a reference about Murphy's Law and its somewhat humorous if not sarcastic view of the world like, "If it's too good to be true, then it probably is," or, "If something can go wrong, it will go wrong," or, "Things always go from bad to worse.
This wedding was definitely a case of something that could go wrong (running out of wine) actually going wrong (bringing shame upon the host) and things rapidly deteriorating. We might add another law to Murphy's catalog: "The wine always runs out" (with special thanks to Fred Harrell). 
Mary tells Jesus that the wine has run out and he responds by saying, "Woman, what does that have to do with me. My *hour* has not yet come." I think Jesus was thinking about his own coming wedding day (Rev. 19) and what it will take for him to secure the wine that will never run out. The Bible speaks of the coming day when the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all people's, a banquet of aged wine (Isaiah 25), and of the coming day when the mountains will drip new wine and the hills will flow with it (Amos 9). Jesus speaks about his kingdom as a feast (Mt. 8, et. al).
Why do I think Jesus was thinking about this day? Well, he says somewhat abruptly that his hour had not yet come. In the Gospel of John, "hour" always signifies the coming death of Jesus. Jesus was thinking about what it would take to secure the wine that never runs out for His people on the Great Day of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
At any rate, I enjoyed teaching this passage to an audience of around 60 folks (including some of our SALI interns). I 'm still developing my thinking on the significance of Jesus having the jars filled with water that were used for jewish ceremonial washings. At the very least, Jesus is saying that the old ways of cleansing are being replaced by his way of cleansing. He secured the purity that sinful people need to stand in the presence of a holy God. What I'm still thinking through is the connection this has, if any, to wine being symbolic of his blood. Remember his words at the Last Supper: This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The Lord of the Feast
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
John, I like the new look. Well, I especially like the fact that your text no longer begins halfway down the page. Anyway, your interpretation of "my hour" is what I taught in my first RUF Bible Study at TAMU. I have always embarassingly wondered if I was right about that.
BTW, The reason I wondered about it is b/c every commentator I could find said that it referred to the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Even Calvin said this, as I recall.
I think John is my favorite NT writer, even though (or perhaps because) I find him the most difficult to understand. The NT expands and unfolds its meaning to those who spend the effort to immerse themselves in the OT, or so it has been my experience in both my own personal reading and in evaluating NT commentaries.
It is good to see you posting again (or, more appropriately, it is good to see your posts again). You can be sure that I'm jealous of the Franklins, noisy kids and all!
Hey Rich,
I think you were right on your interpretation. The reference to hour occurs in John some three times always referring to his death. I used to think that she was pushing him to start his ministry, but he wasn't ready. Tim Keller helped me to see the connection with his death.
Hope all is well. Tell Olivia "Hola" for us.
John
Hey Joshua,
I think that John is one of my favorites too. Someone has said that his gospel is shallow enough for a child to play in and deep enough for an elephant to swim in.
Keller had an interesting thought on this passage. He said that Moses turned the water to blood as a curse and Jesus turned the water into blood / wine as a blessing. Not sure what I think about that, but it definitely has some appeal for me, especially in light of his words at the last supper!
John
John,
Like the blog. And, I love the Cana Wedding Feast in the Gospel of John. It is so incredibly rich.
I like your point about Jesus and his "hour" in the gospel of John. Here, Mary’s request generates a symbolic down payment on that. He transforms water meant for the Jewish rites of purification. (It is very interesting to note that the term used in the Septuagint of that water in Numbers 19 is literally “baptizmois”).
Some other thoughts that I've picked up about the wedding feast at Cana.
In Jn. 1:29,35,43; 2:1, we see reference to a succession of days, with each verse starting with the words, “the next day,” “the next day,” “the next day,” and finally, “on the third day” (which counting from the first reference, is the seventh day). This is a clear reference to the seven days of Creation in Genesis. The marriage in Cana, therefore, was on the seventh day, where Jesus, the Lamb of God, comes to a marriage feast. Continuing to follow the Genesis motif, Jesus comes on the seventh day to usher in the new Creation at a marriage feast. Jesus, the new Adam, and Mary, the new Eve, are the only ones identified at the marriage feast in Cana. There, Jesus calls his mother “woman,” which rather than being a rude way of talking to her is instead a reference back to the “woman” or Eve in Genesis.
Jesus uses six stone jars of water that were used for ceremonial washing (Take note that in Num. 19:11 12, ceremonial washing for uncleanness had to be done with water and had to take place on the third and seventh day).
The baptismal water of the Old Covenant ritual of purification is what Jesus decides to use to provide the best wine at the wedding feast. All of this prefigures what He expected to deliver when His “hour” came.
John is trying to get us to see that there is a mystical marriage getting ready to take place that we should be able to see spiritually through this ordinary and mundane marriage [at Cana].
He continues the idea in Jn. 3, where John the Baptist talks about Jesus as the Bridegroom (v 29).
The best wine, the wine of the New Covenant, has been saved until last, given to us in the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Post a Comment