Bible Text: John 1:14-18 , John 2: 1-11 | Preacher: Rev. Roy Cowieson
As many of you likely already know
My own Mother passed away two years ago
At the end of October 2013,
4 mths after we arrived back in Canada from Scotland
I was 70 at the time.
She was in her 100th. Year
And I rather think it was her idea to stick around
For as long as she could
To find out if I would ever mature.
All that to tell you that in all my 72 years
I have only lived with a woman who was not a mother for 2 years.
And just in case your minds are racing
Let put it to rest to tell you
That these were the two years after Christine and I were married
And before Derek was born.
Consequently, I have lived with a Mother for 70 years
And I have to tell you what I have discovered
Is that there is a special tie
A unique bond between Mothers and sons.
I have felt it – As well as witness it
As I am convinced there was between Jesus and His mother, Mary.
To-day we join them, mother and son
as they attend a wedding in the small hamlet of Cana in Galilee
When we enter the story,
The wedding had obviously taken place
And we do not know if we are still in the middle of the meal
Or that could be over
And it is now party time, with dancing and celebration
guests milling around, and sharing time
As you do at weddings most often
With family members and friends
You only see at weddings and funerals.
Then the wine ran out
And it was only when this catastrophe took place
That Mary comes into the picture.
Now I have to admit had this happened in our day
And Mary commented on the source of wine having run dry
We would think Mary had a problem.
After she pointed out to Jesus the lack of wine
He says something to her that is very strange.
He calls her ‘ Dear woman, why do you involve me,
My time has not yet come.’
At first reading it really is a surprise
To read of Jesus speaking to His Mother this way
It us, it is a surprising response
Not in itself disrespectful, but certainly abrupt
and not the way we would expect Jesus to talk to her.
If we examine the words, ‘ why do you involve me ?’
We could be excused for thinking
That it is possible Jesus did not want to be bothered
He was enjoying himself
Yet on further examination
We discover that these exact Greek words in this question
Are used another 5 times in the NT
And every time they are used
They are spoken by demons to Jesus.
One example of this is found in Mt. 8:29
And when we see them used elsewhere
it is the same every time these words are used
Where each time Jesus is trying to intrude
Trying to gatecrash their domain
And trying to exert control
And they use these same exact words basically saying,
“We do not want you here
You are intruding, you are pressing in here
This is not your territory “
As Jesus speaks these words to Mary
It is no different
The Son is telling the Mother
Mom, you are treading on territory that is not yours
This is not your business; this is not your concern,
This is not your area of influence.
This is my domain.
You might ask me to-day, WHY THE STIFF ARM ?
Well if we look at the Scripture in this exchange closely
I have to ask myself why Jesus did not just say
‘ OK Mom, I see the problem, I’ll handle it’
Because that is exactly what he did
Jesus went ahead and changed water into wine
Very good wine at that – He did perform the miracle
So why the fuss ?
I have to ask you….. who of us at some time in our life
Exasperated at a Mother’s insistence
Have heard ourselves say, ‘ OK, Mom, you win
Because it’s you, I will go and get it done for you ‘
But Jesus,
If you are going to agree with your Mother
And do exactly what she had in her mind
Then why not simply go ahead and do it.
Without the fuss.
So, why the stiff arm ? Here is what I think.
I believe at this point
Jesus is doing something that had he not
There might have been no Calvary’s cross
Consequently no redemption
No salvation
This early in John’s narrative of the ministry of Jesus
here we find the Master making it abundantly clear to his Mother
Probably in full view of his disciples
Jesus wants Mary to know
That because they have a unique physical relationship on earth
Gives her no advantage whatsoever
To guide His unique ministry.
It is as though Jesus turns a key in his relationship
In the light of His Father mission
and the shadow of the finale of the cross
Of course it is true, that hour of self- sacrifice has not yet come
But already its demand is upon Him.
That demand requires that all previous relationships
Especially the close ones have to be revised
In another place, on another day
He did the same with his own siblings
When some people called out to Jesus
When he was speaking in a house,
‘Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you’
Jesus answered them
‘Who are my mother and brothers ?’
And as Jesus looked around at those who were listening
He said, ‘ Here are my Mother and brothers.’
What is Jesus saying ?
The family of Jesus is quite simply , His followers
faith filled followers
people like you and I
Not brothers, sister or even a precious Mother
But dedicated, devoted followers
Who have a saving, fellowship relationship with Jesus.
The one sure thing that guided Jesus
During his earth bound ministry
And that was made very clear in all gospels
It was His Father’s will alone that guided Him.
I am sure you are familiar with the passage
Where Jesus states, ‘ I do nothing on my own authority
But speak just as the Father taught me.’ John 5: 17-19
The miracles of Jesus are not at his Mother’s disposal
Nor at Peter’s or even John’s, or Paul
Or anyone else for that matter
Jesus operates entirely at the Father’s call,
He and the Father are one,
They have but one will.
Now I know you have another question for me
And it is likely this….
WHAT CAN WE DO WITH THIS INFORMATION
How does it impact us
How does it help us.
Well, one of the ways we can be helped
is to take a good close look at Mary
We can learn from her.
Here in this setting we see her approach Jesus
Totally as His Mother
Mary recognises the problem with the wine
And as she has his ear, mentions it to Jesus
Then she gets this reproach.
No longer will she have his ear, in His ministry, His Mission
And especially in His journey to and on the cross
But what we do know from here in Cana
And in many places in the gospels and even at the cross
Mary responds with faith and as a result is honoured.
With Jesus we cannot influence him with good works
Or Long service, Or pedigree
Or even a bright education,
Not even good standing in the community
That will not cut it.
It is clear from this exchange between Mother and Son
That any weight of influence upon Him that she might have had
had no special standing
it bore no weight .
That is why I believe that the Holy Spirit included this little exchange
To inform the readers
In previous generations as well as in our day
That Jesus is declaring right up front
That the pathway to His favour
comes to Him in one way
And one way only and that is through personal faith in Him.
He cannot be influenced any other way
As the Bible tells us in Timothy
‘There is one mediator between God and man
And that is Christ Jesus’
Not through your parents,
no matter how faithful and devoted they were
Not through a sibling, or a special friend
Who have served the Church
Could have been as a missionary, a pastor, or simply at a Food Bank
Or even your spouse
We cannot influence Jesus through other people
Nor through acts of service,
Or even gifts of money,
Of course conversely
Your parents could have been the most ungodly people you ever knew
Same with your spouse
You could have found them lying, cheating, good for nothing
And God’s love is such
that does not hinder you from the favour of Jesus,
or even from the full blessing of Him
We stand alone, on our own before Him.
Where the only thing that matters is your living faith in who He is
And what He did at Calvary for you.
Part of the Glory of Jesus is this radical freedom
from family bonds, ties and partiality.
The fullest Glory we see in Jesus
is settled in His radical allegiance to His Father.
I believe that in this passage we see the first hint
Of Jesus’ full surrender to His Father
Jesus yielded fully, submitted totally to His Father.
In the familiar passage in Philippians, we read
‘ he emptied himself, made Himself nothing,
taking on the very nature of servant….
Humbled Himself, became obedient to death,
Even death on a cross.’
Jesus surrendered to God
Even though He knew where His life would take Him
To be rejected of men, eventually lead to a cross.
To surrender today is decidedly ‘ not cool’
Especially living in a military town
We do not want to admit defeat, forfeit a game
Yield to a stronger opponent
Today we are taught never to give up or give in
Winning is everything
We are the captain of our own ship
We plough our own furrow
We advance under our own steam.
Consequently surrender is unthinkable.
But my friends surrendering to God is the heart of worship
It is the heart of service
Your surrender to Him
My surrender to Him to be our natural response
to the fiery outrageous, merciful love of God.
This act of personal surrender of Jesus to the Father
Is modelled for us throughout the NT
In the church we have used different names for it
Often it is called consecration, or making Jesus Lord,
Or taking up your cross
Or even dying to self.
Basically it is saying, I Surrender to you
It does not matter one iota what we call it,
What matters is that we do it, each one of us.
Simply because the Lord God wants all of your life
All of my life
95per cent is not enough – all of it.
The English writer C.S. Lewis once wrote
‘The more we let God take us over ,
The more truly ourselves we become- because He made us.
It is when I turn to Jesus
And I give myself up to Him
That I first become to be really who I am.’
One of the early verses in John’s Gospel, chapter 1
Often shared in the season of Advent……..v14
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
We have seen His Glory,
The Glory of the One and Only
Who came from the Father , full of Grace and Truth.
It is these five words at the heart of that verse,
‘We have seen His Glory,
That I believe sets John out on a journey to write this Gospel.
The disciples have seen His Glory
And they are so eager to share it with others
They have this singular desire
for us who come after them
To catch what they caught
To see what they saw,
The Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
As I close this morning,
I want to leave you with two things,
The first is this
that Glory that was seen by these disciples in the man, Jesus
began with his single minded consistency
His steadiness,
His total focus that He came from the Father
His reliability
His total dependence upon His Father
That He belonged to the Father
That He had come from the Father
That alone He would fully obey the Father’s will
That in everything He did on earth would bring Glory to the Father
The other lesson to take away this day
Is much more personal
As we leave this morning
And go out into the week that lies ahead
Remember this
That Jesus is swayed
only by those who despair of pedigree,
and through their surrender to Him
rely and trust and depend only upon His Grace.