In John chapter 2 today Jesus goes public and makes a grand appearance. Why is it that sometimes God works so suddenly and secretly, but other times His work is out in the open? Well, you could ask the same question about Jesus here in John 2. Two miracles in chapter 2, one secret, the other for all to see. The difference timing. Let's dig into the chapter and see how it unfolds and why. Verse 1, On the third day, the wedding took place in Cana in Galilee. Jesus's mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” Have you ever bit off more than you could chew, when you were supposed to come through and everybody else was counting on you but in the end you couldn't deliver? Coming up short and letting people down is a terrible feeling. Like forgetting to bring your wallet when you promised to treat somebody to coffee or a meal. It's hard to shake that kind of shame. These guests had come hungry and thirsty. This poor young couple, their marriage day was meant to mark the happiest time of their lives, but it was quickly becoming the most embarrassing and shameful day that they had known so far. And if you were there and you knew who Jesus was what would you have done? Mary thought he ought to do something, so she springs into action and by action, I mean she went to Jesus to solve the problem. The problem was the timing. Verse 4, “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My hour has not yet come.” “His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Mary knew that this was a wedding and not Jesus’s Messiah coming out party. She knew it wasn't about him and about the couple, so she ignored his protests and it's not his time to go public and turns to the servants, like a mom would, ignoring him and saying do whatever he tells you and it's good that she said that last part. Do whatever he says because what he was about to tell them to do seems strange. You see there were six stone water jars used for ceremonial washing; everyone who is at that party would have washed using that water. What is ceremonial washing for anyways? In the Jewish religion you had to wash your hands and face frequently before you ate, it was a bogus rule that the religious leaders made-up, but it was good hygiene. These jars would have been used right before the wedding feast, so water would have been ladled out to wash all the guests’ hands. So Jesus says to them fill them back up, so they filled them up back to the brim but then Jesus asked him to do something even stranger in verse 8, “Now draw some and take it to the master of the feast.” Draw some out and take it to the master of the feast! Now you have to imagine you're one of those servants and you were told to do whatever Jesus said you basically filled up a tub with bath water and now you're being told to ladle some out and give it to the boss, the master of the feast, the one you're trying desperately to please one who could fire you and the one who probably knows really good wine. Read verse 9, “And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you who saved the best till now.” You have saved the best till now, Jesus blew everyone's expectations, they expected mediocre wine but Jesus gave them the best they've ever had and here's the thing only the servants were let in on the joke this was secret nobody else knew what Jesus had done and John sums up the effect that it had in verse 11, “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” A small miracle revealed to a small number of people, but it had a big splash. Despite Jesus attempting to hide his glory though, heaven was breaking through, in fact it was coming to earth. Despite Jesus's glory being veiled by his flesh, people were beginning to see the light shining through the cracks, but whereas this was something Jesus wanted kept private since it wasn't yet his time his time was coming. The feast of Passover would be the place where Jesus would make his grand appearance. You see in the story of the wedding of Cana of Galilee, we see Jesus giving in to what his mother wants, but the story we're about to read is about Jesus being consumed with what his father wants. The chapter jumps locations to Jerusalem. Let's catch up with what happens. “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.” Small town boys in the big city. They were probably in awe of the temple a towering masterpiece of gold and stone built for worship but surrounding it, the hustle and bustle of “people selling cattle, sheep and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money.” I want you to place yourself in the sandals of the disciples as they milled through the crowds, their eyes were wide open taking in the sights sounds and smells, hmm this smells the aroma of spices incenses burning in the temple, meat barbecuing, the pungent odor of feces and urine of livestock, the wet hides and the smell of blood and slaughter. The sounds of sheep bleeding, goats and bulls bellowing animals panicking, the flutter of wings and the clinking of money heard among the rabble of voices shouting, haggling over prices getting angry shouting insults. Somehow it seemed less to the disciples like a place of worship and more like, well it's hard to put a finger on but something seems wrong to them, something is off. Suddenly a loud echoing bangs, as tables thunder on the stone pavement, cages clattered to the ground freeing birds with a flutter of wings and the unmistakable sound of coins clinking across the flagstones and the scramble and mad dash of people rushing in to grab as much as they can and that all changes with the crack of a whip, then one voice rises above the white noise screaming, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a market!” The second he said it; you could see it. That was the word it was like a market. People were using God to make money. The disciples realized at that moment that in their awe and wonder of the big city, they lost track of Jesus, last time they saw him it looked like he had been weaving strips of leather together, the whip. Then they remember something from their childhood. In verse 17, “His disciples remembered that it was written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” This seems personal for Jesus he even calls God his father and that alone was shocking, Jews just didn't talk like that, nobody felt they had the authority to call God, Father. Authority is exactly what's called into question in verse 18, by the religious leaders. “The Jews then respond to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will rise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you're going to raise it in three days?” But the temple had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. Destroy this temple and I'll raise it again in three days. If Jesus shocks them with the cracking of a whip and turning over tables. Jesus claiming he could rebuild the temple was like dropping a bomb in Jerusalem. John interrupts this normally scheduled story of Jesus with a spoiler alert. Jesus is going to die at their hands but the temple that Jesus will raise miraculously, will be the body they killed. Raising a temple in three days it took 46 years to build would be impossible but hey raising the dead to life would be even harder, but it wouldn't be unbelievable. In fact, John tells us that the end of verse 22 that his disciples believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken but it wasn't just them that believed. Look at verse 23, “Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.” Maybe you're thinking it's his time, he's in Jerusalem, he's coming out as the Messiah he's ready to rule and you'll be right for thinking that and John knows what you're thinking so he says in verse 24, “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.” This is a foreshadowing of what would happen at the same feast three years later but all good stories have foreshadowing and this is the greatest story ever told so let's leave it there and pick it up again in our next chapter. Let me ask you today, it was Jesus’s time, is it your time? Time to believe?
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