|
“Jesus
IS Glory”
a sermon by
Thomas L. Jenkins
Text: John 2:1-11
“Jesus did this…and revealed
his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
The Gospel According to John was
written with a purpose. John himself wrote: “…these
have been written that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God, and that believing you may have life in His name.(20:31)”
The word “these” in this sentence is referring to the
“signs” performed by Jesus. This
book is often the most popular New testament writings among American
Christians. When Billy
Graham made recommendations regarding the reading of the Bible, he would
very often advice his listeners who had not really ever read the
Scriptures to begin by reading The
Gospel of John.
The book of John was written for us to see and believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and to lead us to realize that as we experience faith
in and with Jesus Christ we are also participating in the very life that
He has in relationship with God the Father through the power of the Holy
Spirit.
John used mostly signs. And
these signs were the miracles of Jesus, healing the blind and sick,
walking on the water, feeding thousands of people with a few loaves of
bread and a small number of fish, bringing Lazarus back to life after
death, freeing people from being possessed by demons, arranging for a
net out in the waters to be made completely full of fish.
These miracles were signs in the sense that they are meant to
direct us to Jesus, who He is in our lives, and to grow in our
understanding of our relationship with Him.
The signs were not laid out in the book trying to make us think that if
we can just believe in Jesus in the right way then we will be able to
have him perform all the miracles in our lives that we want and need in
order to live a totally happy life in this world.
No, these signs are meant to point us to Jesus in such a way that
we know who He is, what became of Him, and how God has already used that
to affect us in our true life.
All these signs in John’s witness to whom Jesus is are witnessing to
this truth in a same way that it was in the conversation Jesus had with
Nicodemus. This
conversation may not seem to be a miracle to us, but the greatest
miracle of God on our behalf is revealed in this talk.
Nicodemus is basically asking Jesus, “Who in the world are
you?” And Jesus is
answering him, “Nicodemus, in order for you to be placed in the right
relationship with God, in order for you to receive the very life God
desires for you, in order for you to be saved from the force of evil in
this world, you must be born again.
And that is who I am Nicodemus.
I am your birth from above.
I am your second birth. I
am for you who you need to be. You
are in me and I am in you. By
my passing through the heavens and being born in this world, God has
accomplished what you need. You
have been born again in me.”
That conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus speaks to us the same
message of all the signs recorded by John on our behalf.
And that is the message of the first sign recorded by John as
Jesus turned water to wine at this marriage in Cana of Galilee.
We all have continuous situations in our lives that bring us
difficulties and problems. We
may also have lots of things that bring us happiness and enjoyment.
We may very well go through times where we also, like Charles
Dickens, say, “These are the best of times and the worst of times.”
And some of the difficult problems that we have in our lives
right now, in tens years from now, as we look back on them, may actually
be something we can smile about when we do see how and where God helped
us through it all.
This first sign of Jesus turning water into wine, as miraculous as it
is, is a sign pointing to the truth that Jesus IS glory.
This is not just pointing us to the truth that Jesus is capable to
control this creation because he is the Son of God.
Yes, he can walk on water, he can feed thousands of people, he
can heal the sick and demon possessed, and he can bring the dead back to
life, but this sign is pointing to something even deeper for us.
Just as Jesus was telling Nicodemus that He, Jesus, was Nicodemus’
birth from above, Jesus is being revealed to us in this sign, telling us
that that He is water turned into heavenly wine for us.
This is very much like us going to Jesus and asking him much the same
question, “Who are you? Who
are you in my life? How am
I to relate to you? What am
I to believe about you? What
am I to think, feel, and do when it comes to me understanding my
relationship with you?”
And Jesus is answering us: “If an illustration will help you
understand this. I will use an analogy. It’s
like this. You are water.
You need to be changed into wine.
I am your change into wine, sent to you from God.
You have been changed. It
has already been accomplished in me.
That is who I am to you, for you, and in you.
I am the wine you need to be in order for you to live in the
eternal life of God.”
That is almost like a parable. But,
that is what this miracle, as a sign is pointing us to.
This story is not merely that Jesus can change water into wine
(God does that naturally through rain, grapes, and time, through the
years.); this sign is pointing us to see Jesus in His glory for us. Water being changed to wine is revealing to us how our lives
have been changed in Christ. We
were water, but we have now been changed into wine.
We were human being who lived lives under the power of sin and with a
sense of being separated from God, but now we have actually been placed
in the very life of God. We
have been included in the relationship of love between God the Father,
God the Son, in God the Holy Spirit.
Our old Adam and Eve was being water, our new Adam and Eve is
being wine sent from God.
So, if we want to think something about ourselves today, based on what
God is showing us, we can see ourselves in this way: “My human life
used to be like water, but now my human life, in Jesus Christ, has been
converted to the wine of heaven. Before
I even asked God to do this for me, God did this for me in Jesus Christ
and now I am staring to see who I truly am in God’s vision.”
One more item from this passage I want to bring out, so that we can
understand about ourselves, that this is a process of growing in deeper
understandings of what all this means.
When Mary saw that they were out of wine the first thing she did was go
to Jesus, her Son and told him about the situation: “They have no
wine.”
We do not know all that Mary had come to see and know about her Son.
We read about the shepherds coming to see Mary on the day of
Christmas and telling her about their experience with the angels, and
how she took in what was said to her and embraced it in her heart and at
the same time pondered over it for many years.
Then it is recorded in her life about Jesus, when He was about 12
staying in the Temple to talk with the scribes and Priests instead of
walking home with His parents. And
his response to his mother was, “Didn’t you know that I must be in
the house of my Father?”
Mary, even being the mother of Jesus was continually growing in
understanding who her Son is.
The Roman Catholics put a lot for interest in learning from and about
Mary, the mother of Jesus. I
think that is a good thing. When
people ask me if I believe in Mary and want to obey her, I remember what
she said to the servants in this story.
“His mother said to the
servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.” Mary is a good pastor!
We need to obey Mary, and do whatever Christ is telling us.
What He is telling us this morning is to believe that He is our
birth from above, He is our change from God; we have been converted in
Him. That is our truth. We
were water; we have now become wine in Jesus Christ and we need to grow
in what that means in our lives.
Let us pray…
Amen
|