Sermon - John 2:1-11 - Do whatever He tells you - Littleby Baptist Church - March 24, 2019

Last week as part of Life and Ministry of Jesus we looked at two simple words, ‘Follow Me.’ Words uttered by our Lord when He called those who would follow Him. Thankfully our Lord will use anyone! Our past does not limit us, what we have done does not keep us away, the true measure of our worthiness is how we respond when Jesus says, ‘Follow Me’. I pray that when God guides you that you will follow Him.

As we continue our series this morning, let’s look at what Jesus did when His mother asked Him for some help.

John 2:1-4

“2 On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’s mother was there, and ² Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. ³ When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.” ⁴ “What does that have to do with you and me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.”

Before we get into this, I do want to point out that while I would not want to see how Alexis would respond if one of the kids responded to her calling her woman. The way we read it today it could be seen as rude. In Jesus day, it was a polite and loving way to refer to a woman that is respected. While it may seem weird to our ears, Jesus was being respectful and caring as He talked to His Mother.

It is believed that Jesus’ Mother and brothers were at this wedding due to some family connection. The Bible does not tell us the nature of the connection, but His family and His disciples were there with Him. Must be some connection for all of them to be there. Another thing that points to this is that Jesus’ Mother is concerned about the wine running out. She would not be worried about if the host ran out of something if they were just guests. She was concerned that the host would be ridiculed or dishonored for running out of wine. It was important enough to her to ask Jesus to intervene. These are the actions of someone who is invested.

Jesus respond to His mother’s request by saying, ‘My hour has not yet come’. Chronologically, this is the first miracle by Jesus of the 35 found in Scripture. Since this is the first recorded, it leads us to think He has not been walking around performing miracles like we find in the Gospels, but on the flip side His mother knew that He could do something. Leads one to think that while this is the first documented miracle it was not His first miracle. Jesus statement was probably more around the start of His public ministry.

John 2:5

“⁵ “Do whatever he tells you,” his mother told the servants.”

Mary hear what Jesus said, but she knew she had to leave it in Jesus’ hands. There was absolutely nothing she could do on her own to rectify the situation, so she gave it to Him and let it go.

Sounds like something we need to do? There are things in our lives that we need to remember that we cannot fix them on our own. We cannot save someone. We cannot heal our loved ones. We cannot mend broken relationships. We cannot give peace to others. We cannot provide for everyone.

While God can use us in each of these situations to touch someone’s life, we do not have the power to fix ‘it’. That is something that only God can do.

When a problem pops up, when we reach a point where we do not know what to do, when we get to that point where we want to give up, or just flat out have hit another brick wall… we need to give it to Jesus. We need to lay it at His feet. Every obstacle, challenge, temptation, and decision needs to be given to Jesus. Pray about it and hand it over to the Creator of the Universe.

Philippians 4:6

“⁶ Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

We need to give it to God… when something is hitting us, when worry creeps in, we need to pray and present our concerns to our Lord.

Matthew 19:26

“²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

When we are battling things that seem down right impossible or the hill we are climbing is too steep for us, we need to remember that it may seem impossible to us but it is not impossible to our God. He is the creator of all things, He formed our bodies while we were in our mother’s womb, He breathed air into our lungs, He can take care of anything we are facing.

Matthew 11:28

“²⁸ “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Trusting in our Lord will not make all the problems go away, but it will allow us to rest in His love. A love that knows no end and will give us His peace and allow us to focus on what is really important. It does not matter what your struggle is, make sure you are giving it to Jesus. Don’t hold back, don’t hide it from Him, and don’t let it interfere with you keeping your eyes were they belong.

Here is part of our struggle, when we are hit with a challenge we focus on the challenge. As the challenge grows or becomes overwhelming we struggle to see a path forward. As the challenge before us grows it becomes the center of our focus, and makes it hard for us to keep our eyes on Jesus.

How many have told someone they make a better door than a window when they are blocked the TV? The same can be said for our troubles. They make great doors. If we attempt to tackle our problems on our own, they grow into doors that prevent us from seeing the Keeper and Perfecter of our Faith. When the problem turns into a door it is blocking our view of Jesus.

Mary handed over the problem to Jesus and we need to do the same, and the first step is to return our focus where it belongs. We need to focus on Jesus and lay our concerns at the foot of the cross.

John 2:6-8

“⁶ Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. ⁸ Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.” And they did.”

These guys were probably wondering why this crazy man was wanting them to fill the jars with water. They needed wine, not water. We know what is going to happen so we understand why Jesus is telling them to do this, but when you are in the moment, when you are faced with the problem and it is clouding your view, it can be very hard to listen to Jesus and not question what He tells you.

These guys were unknowingly demonstrating to us, exactly what we need to do. When Jesus tells us to do something, we need to do it! There was no talking back, no saying this is a waste of time or effort, no questioning why they should listen. They just did it.

Jesus told them to fill the jars and they did it. Jesus told them to take some and give it to the headwaiter and they did it. I wonder what they expected to happen? Did they expect the headwaiter to thank them for a glass of water or spit it out asking where the wine was? Regardless, I bet they were surprised by what happened.

John 2:9-11

“⁹ When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom ¹⁰ and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.” ¹¹ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”

Mary knew she could not fix this problem on her own.

The servants did what they were told without question.
The result far exceeded what anyone expected!

Should we be surprised?

Marry asked Jesus to intervene but did she expect Him to provide ‘fine’ wine?

The servants did what they were told, but did they expect to see wine at all?
The headwaiter was obviously not expecting to taste the best wine of the celebration at this point.

When we give our challenges to Jesus, when we truly ask Him to intervene, when we follow His commands, we will be amazed at how He works. If you read your Bible you will note that Jesus does not do anything half way. He did not provide foul tasting wine, He did not half cure the leaper, He did not half raise Lazarus from the dead, and He did not only cleanse half of our sins.

When Jesus does things, He goes all out. He provided the best wine. He cleansed at least 10 lepers, He raised Lazarus from the dead, and He died to cleanse us of all of our sins.

There are no half measures with Jesus… when He does something it is truly Awesome. When Jesus moves in our lives, when He acts on our behalf, when He breaks through barriers, the results are more than we could have ever imagined.

Jesus transformed water into wine to show us that He can do more than we can imagine. He can transform the ordinary into something extraordinary.

He can transform our weakness into strength.

He can transform our doubt into trust.
He can transform our fear into faith.
He can transform our sickness into health.
He can transform our brokenness into joy.
He can transform our lostness into salvation.

2 Corinthians 5:17

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”

Jesus can transform us from our sinful selves into a new creation. Are you ready to lay your struggles at Jesus’ feet? Are you ready to trust in Him? Are you ready to follow His commands?

Trust in Jesus and He will transform you.


God Bless,

Robert