Jesus Supplies What We Need to Know!

2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/20/13
John 2:1-11


Jesus Supplies What We Need to Know!
I. That he will provide for our immediate needs
II. That he is the Lord of glory


If you’re a parent, you know that young children can only handle limited information. When tragedies occur, such as the recent school shootings in Connecticut, you speak truthfully with them but you spare them the details that might upset them or that they simply can’t understand. On the other end of the emotional spectrum, you also don’t divulge all the details of a special vacation that you’re planning. You may tell them that you’re planning to go somewhere they’ve never been before, but you don’t tell them it’s Disney World. You know that the more details you share with them, the more they’ll pester you for more. So you intentionally keep them in the dark. It’s for their good and yours.

It should come as no surprise, then, that our God does the same with us, his dear children by faith in Jesus. Have you ever prayed that the Lord would reveal to you just what is going to happen to you and how your situation is going to turn out? Be careful what you wish for. I’m sure you can think of things that happened to you that were hard enough to get through in the moment. Imagine knowing ahead of time that they were going to happen. Instead, Jesus gives us just the right amount of information. Often that information is limited to this: I’m not going to reveal how it all turns out. I just want you to know that I am right here with you and I’ll take care of everything. So trust me.”

That’s exactly what happened in the familiar account before us this morning, the record of Jesus’ first miracle, changing water into wine. We learned this lesson as little children in Sunday School and took to heart the simple details, but what profound truths it contains—truths that we’re still trying to grasp and hold onto well into our adult lives. And one of them is this: Jesus supplies what we need to know. Not everything. Just what we need to know. May God’s Holy Spirit deepen our confidence in that truth and bring us his comfort as we review this familiar account this morning.


Part I.

I’ve had members ask me, “Pastor, if I pray about this minor thing in my life, am I bothering God?” I always tell them the same thing I tell children when I am teaching them about prayer. If it’s on your heart and in your mind and you feel the need to talk to God about it, then, by all means, pray to him. He loves to hear you talk to him about anything and everything.

One way of looking at this event in our text is that Mary, the mother of Jesus, “bothered” Jesus. You know the details. There was a wedding in Cana. Mary had been invited. In fact, she may have been asked by the family of the wedding party to help organize the food and drinks for the guests. For some reason, they ran out of wine. Perhaps the groom’s family didn’t plan properly. Perhaps more guests attended than the groom was expecting. We’re not sure. We just know the detail that they ran out.

So Mary approached Jesus. John tells us, “When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’” Why would she approach Jesus? Because she, better than anyone on the face of the earth at that time, knew who Jesus was. He was her son and also the Son of God. She knew the promises of the Old Testament that the Savior would do miraculous things. It was also evident to her, by the fact that Jesus had begun assembling his disciples who were with him that day, that Jesus was now beginning his earthly ministry. She wanted him to take care of this immediate need.

Jesus gave her this reply, “Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” Sounds rather harsh, doesn’t it. Even disrespectful. He doesn’t even address her as “mother.” He calls her “woman.” But Jesus wasn’t sinning here with his reply. He was indicating that he now must pay perfect attention to the high purpose for his coming to this earth, that being to carry out his Father’s will to save all people. That purpose superseded everything and everyone else, even his mother. He could do nothing unless it was the will of his Father. His time for doing miracles hadn’t come and he let Mary know it.

But Mary still trusted him for help and what a model of faith she is for us! We don’t hear that she pleaded with Jesus or argued with him. Instead, we hear that she turned to the servants who were there to help with the wedding banquet and said, “Do whatever he tells you.” Amazing, isn’t it? She apparently grabbed on to one little word that Jesus had spoken to her, the word “yet.” He didn’t tell Mary “no.” He told her “wait.” He didn’t lay out for Mary everything he would do. He only gave her a little information, just the right amount for her.

And then his time arrived. We don’t know how much time intervened between his conversation with Mary and his instructions to the servants, but we don’t get the impression that it was long. He instructed the servants to fill the large stone jars with water. When that task was completed, he told them to take some to the master of the banquet and let him taste-test it. The water was now wine, some of the finest wine, and not just a bottle or two, but more than 100 gallons. John closes his comments on this event so simply, yet so profoundly, “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee.”

Jesus supplies what we need to know—that he will provide for our immediate needs.

This first miracle is one of the “quietest” miracles that we know of. John even mentions the fact that the master of the banquet hadn’t observed it, only the servants and perhaps Mary. He didn’t perform this one before thousands, as he would later in the feeding of the 5,000 and, at another time, in the feeding of the 4,000. And he does it simply in response to a single request, that of his mother. In that regard, this miracle is like so many others that he performed. A single person’s need. He responds. Personally.

In that regard Jesus hasn’t change at all. We may wrongly get the impression that he doesn’t care about us the way he did about these people. We may think he doesn’t know what we’re going through, but he does. In our hour of need he comes to us and reminds us that he is our Savior, the one who supplied our greatest need when he sacrificed himself for our sins on the cross. Daily he provides our forgiveness, even for our sins of doubting his love and care. And then he reminds us that, if he has supplied our greatest need, won’t he also supply for our immediate, daily needs? Of course he will, in just the right way, at just the right time. And then our hearts and minds are calm once more. Jesus supplies what we need to know.

Part II.

Some years ago our church sign displayed the following message: The world’s most important question—who is Jesus Christ? As Christians we know that each person’s answer to that question has an eternal impact. No other question even comes close in importance.

While not expressly stated in our text, the disciples that Jesus had gathered to this point were asking themselves the same question. Just days earlier some of them had been followers of John the Baptist. They were with John when he pointed to Jesus and invited them to look at the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John tells us that some of them—Peter, James and John—then started following Jesus. No doubt they wanted to know if Jesus truly was the promised Savior of the world.

And what they witnessed that day helped them come to the only right answer. By this time Jesus had already been baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. After he was baptized and was coming out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke his words of approval, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17). Jesus willingly was baptized because that was what his Father wanted him to do.

And now on this day the disciples watched as Jesus continued submitting to his Father’s will. His mother requested his help. Jesus’ response indicated that it wasn’t time yet. He needed to wait until his Father in heaven approved. Jesus wasn’t some maverick out to do as he pleased and serve his own needs. He was here to do his Father’s will and thus serve as our substitute. He had to obey his Father perfectly because we don’t.

And then, after displaying his humility, he displayed his almighty power. Again, this was not done in front of crowds. He didn’t perform this miracle to impress his mother or the wedding guests. We know from what John tells us that the servants who filled the jars knew about the miracle. Did they tell others? We’re not sure. If I were one of them, I certainly would have. I’m sure you would too.

But this miracle wasn’t meant to impress a crowd of people, just his disciples. John concludes our text with these words, “He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” The disciples had questions about Jesus. Just who was he? Jesus answered their question. Jesus supplies what we need to know, that he is the Lord of glory.

Jesus is the Lord of glory. He is not the fix-it man for our lives. He never said he’d rush in and prevent or remove trouble. In fact, he told us, “In this world you will have trouble” (Jn. 16:33). The disciples found that out all too soon. All but this writer John died tragic deaths for their connection to Jesus. But Jesus has overcome the world. He even used those tragedies to call his disciples home to heaven. That’s what Jesus wants us to know about him. He is the One who has washed our sins away and made us his own dear children by faith in him. He will guard and keep us. He will strengthen and guide us until that day when he calls us into eternal glory. We can be confident of that because he not only died for us, he rose again and lives in all glory. He will share that glory with us. That’s all we need to know. May that truth comfort and sustain you as you live to his glory now. Amen.