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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching with Pastor Skip Heitzig. Jesus is at the wedding and let me just tell you if you're planning a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus. Make sure he's the center of the wedding.
Make sure he's the center of your relationship. It's a good wedding if Jesus is at your wedding. They ran out of wine. The mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.
Wine was a symbol of joy. This was a huge faux pas. This was a huge social embarrassment. For a groom, let me just tell you, for a groom to not have wine at the wedding would be a stigma that that family would live with the rest of their lives. That's how serious this was. It's like he can't even provide wine at his own wedding.
How's he going to provide for this girl? That was the stigma he would have to live with. In fact, in some cases, this would have been grounds for a lawsuit in that culture. During that time, the family of the bride could actually bring charges in a court of law for not providing wine at a wedding. Now wine was a symbol of joy.
Back to the Chronicles of Narnia story. A symbol of joy. Psalm 104 speaks about God's provision to us as humans. It says, he gives the wine that gladdens the heart of men. So it is always a symbol of joy. To not have wine at the wedding is like not having joy present, the symbol of joy present at the wedding. So Mary's there. The mother of Jesus says, they have no wine. Now I don't know for sure, but probably Mary walked up to him with kind of like winking.
Like that little grin going, hey, they have no wine. As if perhaps a suggestion to Jesus that he ought to present himself at that time. This is now where you present yourself as the Messiah, the deliverer. Now why would Mary be anxious to do that?
Think about it. Mary knows more than she's saying. Mary knows who this is. Think of what's in Mary's memory banks. An angel appeared to her and says, Mary, you're pregnant.
How can that be? I've never even been close to a man. I know Mary, you're a virgin. But that's even prophesied, you're going to give birth as a virgin to a son.
You're going to bear a son. Because she was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Then when she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth and the babe in Elizabeth's womb, John the Baptist, jumped when Mary entered the room because of that babe inside of her. She would have remembered the shepherds coming to visit when Jesus was born saying, we saw angels tell us to come visit you.
We saw angels tell us to come visit you. Or when the Magi came and presented gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Or when Jesus was presented at the temple and Simeon said, now I can die in peace, Lord, as he held up Jesus in front of Joseph and Mary.
I can die in peace, Lord, for my eyes have seen your salvation, this baby. Or when Jesus was 12 years of age and he was in the temple teaching the elders, Joseph and Mary were part way back to Nazareth, realized Jesus wasn't with the company, went back and there is Jesus teaching. And Jesus said, don't you know that I must be about my Father's business? Now all of those events, the Bible says Mary kept them in her heart, pondered them in her heart.
So she knows who this is and she thinks this would be the great time for you to assert yourself, present yourself to the nation, beginning here, close to your hometown. There's something else and I believe it would be very difficult for Mary to want anything else than that. There had been a rumor circulating about the origin of Jesus. How did she get pregnant?
They were only engaged, the ceremony hadn't taken place yet, but she's pregnant. In that culture, at that time, something that was the grounds of being stoned to death in that culture and Joseph didn't want to put her away privately. And there was talk, if you remember, the leadership of the Jews said to Jesus one day, we were not born of fornication. As if to say, we know that you were.
Those are the rumors going around. There was some affair that your mom had. We weren't born of fornication. So all of that, Mary had to carry around. She was very anxious to see Jesus reveal himself.
So I don't know if that's what she is saying, but she does make this suggestion seemingly, they have no wine. Because listen to Jesus' response. Jesus said to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me?
My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Now, when I first read that verse, I thought Jesus was sure being harsh. If I called my mom, woman, I don't know how you were raised, but I would have my mouth washed out with soap. It happened on more than one occasion. Not that I called her woman, but that I got my mouth washed out with soap. She wouldn't tolerate that. My dad wouldn't tolerate that.
Woman. But in that culture, during that time, to use this term, it was polite, but it was formal. It was formal. It was not intimate.
And this is important to make this distinction. It wasn't harsh. It wasn't disrespectful.
It was respectful. Ma'am, woman. Whenever I go somewhere, if I'm at Starbucks even, I'll say, yes, ma'am. And it's funny how people get upset when you call them ma'am. I don't know how to describe it.
I don't know how to describe it. I don't know why that is. But don't call me ma'am. And I say, my mom would make sure that I called you ma'am, ma'am. It's a sign of respect. Well, it makes me sound old.
Well, get over it. Let someone be respectful. Sir and ma'am, let's bring that back.
Nothing wrong with that. But anyway, so woman, it's sort of like a formal and polite ma'am. Or if you prefer Downton Abbey, my lady. To call somebody by this term woman is the equivalent of saying my lady. Now, Jesus uses the term woman in speaking to different women six times in the New Testament. Always a term of respect. When Jesus was on the cross, I'm now reading out of John chapter 19. You don't have to turn there.
I'll just read it to you. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, that is John, standing by, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. And he said to the disciple, behold your mother.
When Mary Magdalene appeared after the resurrection, Jesus said, woman. Now, it's a formal term, it is not an intimate term. So that's important to understand.
You can't just bypass this and go, well, he's treating his mom respectfully. It's more than that. Because he says, what does your concern have to do with me? Literally in Greek is, what do you and I have together?
What do we have in common? What this is signaling is a change in their relationship. She has been the mother, he has been the son. He has obeyed her all of his life.
Mom is making a suggestion, they have no wine. What does your concern have to do with me? In other words, what is happening here is a change in relationship, the very change Jesus predicted when he was 12 years old. I must be about my father's business. You're my earthly mother, but the day is coming when I must be consumed with not my mother's business, but my father in heaven's business, not my mother on earth. So he is signaling a change in that relationship. He is now in his public ministry. He is now consumed and on the father's agenda.
I must be about my father's business. And then I love what Mary says, whatever he tells you to do, do it. I want you to mark that in your hearts. Mark that in your hearts.
Whatever Jesus tells you to do, do that. I grew up in a religious system that believed that Mary was sinless and that Mary herself was, they called it, assumed into heaven. And that brand of Christianity I was raised in, Catholicism, is called the assumption of Mary. And it is quite an assumption, by the way, that she was assumed into heaven. And as a sinless person, she just ascended into heaven, was assumed into heaven where Jesus crowned her queen of the universe. And some sects of Catholicism even say that she is the co-mediatrix and co-redemptress of the human race.
I have a problem with that. The problem I have with that is actually solved by Mary herself. Because Mary, when she was told that she was pregnant, she said something very interesting that reveals how she saw herself, not as sinless, not as one who deserved to be assumed bodily into heaven. She said this, my soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoices, listen, listen, in God my savior. She acknowledged that she needed a savior. Only sinners need saviors. The only people that need saving are people that are fallen human beings, and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. To call God her savior, she's saying something about herself and she clears up the problem.
You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, we want to tell you about this month's resource titled The Holy Spirit Then and Now, which comes with two books by Chuck Smith. The Book of Acts commentary will help you understand how the Holy Spirit worked in the early church. And Power, a biblical balance on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, will help you see how he works in you. You'll be inspired as you discover that the same spirit who worked in Paul, Peter, and the early church is active and involved in your life today. We'll send you the Holy Spirit then and now as our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to reach people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. So on one occasion Mary comes and the brothers and sisters of Jesus, the family, comes to where Jesus is ministering and somebody tells him while he's in the middle of the sermon, hey your mom and your brothers are outside they want to see you. And Jesus said well who's my mom? Who's my mother?
Who are my brothers? And he looked around at the crowd and said whoever listens and keeps the will of God the same is my brother, my mother, my sister. On another occasion and this is perhaps the most poignant, Luke chapter 11. Somebody saw Jesus and uttered something that sounded like what I was raised with. Somebody in my church would have said this in Luke chapter 11. It said blessed is the woman that gave you birth and blessed are the breasts that nursed you.
And Jesus answered and said more than that blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. So listen to Mary. If you love her, if you revere her, if you want to honor her listen to what she's saying to you. Whatever he says to you do it. Obey Jesus. You want to honor Mary? Obey her son. Those are her words.
Whatever he says to you do it. Now that we're there, verse six, John chapter two verse six. Now there were there set six water pots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece. So a capacity of between 120 and 180 gallons.
That's a lot of water, right? What do they use that water for? Purification. Now the fact that, and notice it says stone water pots, not clay, not earthenware, but stone.
Why? Because the Jews believed that earthenware can contaminate can be defiled easier than that which is coming straight from the earth. Stone.
Stone can't be defiled. So water for purification was kept in stone containers because it just for ritual purification was the best way to keep water. Just as an aside, Matthew chapter 15.
Just keep this in your head. On one occasion, the religious people got mad at Jesus because he said your disciples aren't keeping the traditions of the elders. They don't wash the proper way before they eat. Now that is a reference to utilizing stone water basins, pouring water a certain way so their hands were up like this and then water poured down so that the water dripped off the fingers from the rest and then putting it up again so it would go from the fingers to the rest. They had a very elaborate way of washing their hands before they ate. So this was for ritual purification in stone water pots. Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water and they filled them to the brim. Now don't bypass these little words. Why would John write that they didn't just fill them up but they filled them to the brim?
Because he wants you to know something. There's no possible chance that anything was added to that. Those water pots were completely consumed with water. It's not like somebody just filled them and said that's good enough and somebody kind of like threw wine in there later on. It was filled all the way to the brim, the very top. John wants you to know this is a bona fide miracle.
Nobody was fudging on it. And they filled them to the brim and he said to them, take some out now and take it to the master of the feast. That would be the MC, the one in charge of the festivities. And they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water that was made, wine.
Okay, now stop there and just think about this. 180 gallons of wine. There's not a wedding party on earth that can drink 180 gallons of wine. Why?
Why that much? It's how Jesus does things. It's a lavish gift. It would have been such a gift to this couple. They would have been able, if they wanted to, to sell it and live off the proceeds for a long time. Because there was plenty for the wedding feast and it was so good.
Word got out, it's so good and they have 180 gallons of it. It was just a way to bring joy. I can see Jesus smiling like, look at those water pots. I'm going to give them such a gift, such a blessing, that they'll be able to live off the gifts, such a blessing, that they'll be able to enjoy for weeks and days and months to come.
We could even make money off of it. So the water was turned into wine. Now I did the exact opposite at my wedding. I managed to turn wine into water.
Now let me explain. At my wedding, I didn't want any alcohol at my wedding because I know people get stupid whenever there's alcohol around. They just, even at a wedding, they get stupid.
They drink too much and they say stupid things. I didn't want it. There's not going to be any alcohol at my wedding. So I had some problems with some family members and, you know, go to have alcohol. I said go out and go to a bar afterwards if you want. But it's my wedding.
We're not going to have it. So I did concede to have what's called Martinelli's sparkling apple juice. You familiar with that? Now when it's in a glass, it looks like champagne. It bubbles up. It has the color of, you know, alcohol. But it's just apple juice, sparkling apple juice.
So you should have seen just the look in people that is going, our dream has come true. Behold, alcohol for moi. And when they drank it, it's like, oh man, it's sparkling apple juice. So I didn't do that as a trick, but it was funny to see wine turned into water, so to speak.
Just wanted to share that with you. When the master of the feast tasted the water and saw that it was made wine, it did not know its origin or where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water, they knew. You know, servants know stuff. If you're a servant, if you're busy serving, you know things others don't.
They knew. The master of the feast called the bridegroom and he said, you know, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine. First couple drinks, you want to make the impression, it's like, oh, that's good.
When the guests have well drunk, then the inferior, but you have kept the good wine until now. This is the beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. Now this first miracle was an act of creation.
I don't think it's by accident that John wanted to include this as first. You see, the first act of God was an act of creation in Genesis. The first act of Jesus in his ministry was an act of creation.
He turned water into wine. His first miracle. Now, verse 11, this is the beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him.
After this, he went down to Capernaum. He, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they stayed there many days. There's two things John wants you to know about this miracle. First thing he wants you to know, first thing he wants you to know, this is the first miracle Jesus ever performed.
Why is that important? Because if you are a student of ancient literature, you may have come across apocryphal books like the Gospel According to Thomas. Have you ever heard of the Gospel According to Thomas? It's a book that is not a biblical book. It's an apocryphal book. But in that book, they have Jesus as a youth growing up in Egypt making clay birds and then throwing them up and make turning them into live birds. And so this little tradition is even in the Quran it's mentioned, has been passed down. It's not legitimate because this is the first miracle Jesus ever performed.
He didn't make clay pigeons and turn them into live pigeons. There's another old saying that when Jesus was in Egypt as a little boy, he cursed a boy playing some sport with him. He cursed him and the little boy fell down dead and Jesus had to walk over as a little boy and heal him.
It's all fictitious. And we know that because this is the first miracle Jesus did. John wants you to know, this is miracle number one. The second thing John wants you to know is in doing this miracle, it cemented the fledgling faith of these five disciples. You know, they were following him, but when they saw this, they believed in him.
Their faith went deeper at this point. Now it brings up a question. I just want to touch on it because I'll be asked it afterwards if I don't bring it up. And I don't mind being asked it, but why not answer before I get it asked. Is it okay for Christians to drink?
And I love the answer I heard years ago and it stuck with me. I tell people I drink as much as I want to and I don't want to. I don't want to drink so I drink as much as I want to.
I just don't want to. Now the Bible doesn't say anything bad about wine. In fact, in some cases, it commends wine. Timothy was told by Paul in 1 Timothy 5 to take wine as medicinal purposes for his often infirmities. He had a weak stomach.
It's like, dude, you have such health issues. You need something to kill the germs in the water. Drink wine for your stomach's sake, your often infirmities. So it was used, prescribed by Paul the Apostle for medicinal reasons. Now again, they drank wine in the New Testament.
I don't have a problem with drinking wine per se, but I'll just say I've chosen as a pastor not to do it. Because now it's not an issue. If I don't do it, it doesn't become an issue. If I do it because I have liberty and I have freedom, somebody's going to see me and say, hey, I saw Skip at the bar the other night slamming a couple things down, man.
It's like, whoa. You can see how that would be complicated. Or what if somebody who struggled with alcoholism sees it? It could be detrimental.
It could be destructive. So here's the rules for doing things that are gray areas in the Christian life. Because I know you've all had questions about, well, would the Bible say I can do this? And it's funny how the questions we ask, it's almost like, well, what can I get away with and still be saved? I think there's a better way to approach life than these questions. But nonetheless, listen, it's answered for you in the Bible. Listen to what Paul says in Corinthians. All things are lawful for me.
I can do anything, but listen, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you The Holy Spirit Then and Now, featuring two books by Chuck Smith to help you understand how God's Spirit worked in the early church and how he's active in you today. To request your copy, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
