Water Into Wine - a podcast by Lewis Marsh

Revealed: the Miracles of Jesus

Part One: Water into Wine, John 2:1-11

By Louie Marsh, 8-13-2023

 

Last slide Jesus hand over jar.

 

1) A miracle is: something NATURALLY impossible.

 

Miracle

 

human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause. – Dictionary.com

 

dunamis (δύναμις, 1411), “power, inherent ability,” is used of works of a supernatural origin and character, such as could not be produced by natural agents and means. It is translated “miracles” - W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 412.

 

2. semeion (σημει̂ον, 4592), “a sign, mark, token” (akin to semaino, “to give a sign”; sema, “a sign”), is used of “miracles” and wonders as signs of divine authority - W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 412.

 

2) God moves when I LEAST expect it.

 

“¹On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. (John 2:1–2, ESV)

 

In the New Testament era Jewish weddings were a very big deal. They didn’t just have a ceremony but a wedding feast. These feasts would go on for as long as the family could afford, sometimes even lasting a whole week!

 

Needless to say you stocked up well in advance for the event and there was one thing you absolutely could not run short of and that was wine. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened at a wedding feast that Mary, Jesus and His disciples were attending.

 

3) Can you change God’s PLAN?

 

 ³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  (John 2:3-5, ESV)

 

Mary springs into action in a way that tells us a lot not only about her personality but about how women functioned in the real world of the first century as well. 

 

Women were to be unobserved in public. The veil was one symbol that reflected this status in society. The veil was a requirement for every married woman. In addition to being a symbol of modesty and virtue, the veil also indicated a woman’s married status and subordination to her husband. In keeping with the idea that women were to be unobserved in public, men were not supposed to look at married women, converse with women in public, or even give a woman a greeting when they passed on the street. The oral law stated, “Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not with his own wife.” It was unusual for a Jewish teacher to converse with a woman in a public place. The rabbis taught that women were not to be saluted or spoken to in the streets, and not to be instructed in the law. Jewish women were not as restricted in public appearance as Greek women but did not have the freedom of first century Roman women.

 

Yet here is Mary taking charge. She’s a ball of fire and in spite of what her Divine Son says is absolutely sure he’s going to do something and so she orders the servants to stand by and do everything Jesus says! Clearly, within their own households and probably extended families, women wielded a great deal of influence, as they have done throughout human history.

 

4) Skip the fight – GET the point!

 

 ⁶Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.  (John 2:6-8, ESV)

 

·       Jesus ignores TRADITION

 

Jesus had the servants fill the ceremonial washing jars, which were used for washing the outside of the body according to the law and refilled them with something inside the body. That might not sound like a big deal to you, but to the pious Jews in attendance at the Feast it would have been. This demonstration is just the beginning of his countercultural teaching. Over and over he would come to challenge the ways of the religious leaders, and the thinking of the people.

 

·       Jesus does the impossible – QUIETLY.

 

⁹When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”  (John 2:9–10, ESV)

 

There was no dramatic pose or clever catch phrase like we would do today. No flashing lights, no earth shaking, no thunder or lightning. There was no nothing, and no time for anything either. The jars are filled, and Jesus says, take some and have it taste tested!

 

And just like that Jesus demonstrated both his authority and his power.

 

·       Jesus shows his authority extends to the MOLECULAR LEVEL.

 

“³He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV)

 

“¹⁷And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17, ESV)

 

In changing the water into wine, Jesus demonstrated his authority over all things down to the molecular level. Whether Jesus made wine or grape juice remember this: it takes a miracle for either transformation to occur. Water doesn’t change its molecular makeup without the authority of the Creator.

 

Dr. Cliff Lewis explained it this way: At a molecular level, the water, basically hydrogen and oxygen, was changed into wine that contains sugars, yeast, and water, which contain carbon and nitrogen along with oxygen and hydrogen. Thus, by changing water into wine Jesus demonstrated his authority over even the atomic structure of atoms by commanding oxygen and hydrogen atoms to disassemble and reform into other atoms of different configurations.

 

 The amount of energy it would take to perform this atomic deconstruction and reconstruction is staggering. This intermolecular energy being released is the source of the explosive energy from an atomic bomb. However, since Jesus caused the wine atoms to come back together, he would have to put this astronomical amount of energy into the atoms in order to have them reconstruct. To do so without any visible energy transformation of the liquid (John does not say anything about people noticing the transformation) indicates a mastery of natural law far beyond our current comprehension. And he accomplished it with no physical exertion.

 

Jesus didn’t have dehydrated wine! [picture].

 

5) This is a sign not an excuse to ARGUE.

 

And what happened? Well according to the Master of the Feast it was the best wine ever! If you translate the Greek literally here he basically said, “Most people wait till people are to drunk to know the difference and then bring out the bad wine. But you’ve saved the best for last!” The wedding feast is saved, everyone is happy, especially I’m sure, His Momma Mary!

 

There is some controversy around this miracle however. The question is was there alcohol in the wine or not? Debate can rage back and forth on this one. Occasionally people get pretty worked up over this. So let me say this as a complete teetotaler who’s never been buzzed much less drunk. I don’t know and neither do you or anyone else alive today. The only ones who know for sure are the people who were there that day and they aren’t talking!

 

“²³Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. ²⁴And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,” (2 Timothy 2:23–24, ESV)

 

6) The purpose was to help the disciples BELIEVE.

 

 ¹¹This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” (John 2:11, ESV)

 

·       Am I a disciple of Jesus?

 

“³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30–31, ESV)

 

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