John 2 - Jesus Turns Water into Wine, And Overturn the Money Changing Tables in the Temple!

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Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

One of the reasons O love the gospel of John is that we get to see stories we don't in other gospels for instance this one, which reveal sides of Jesus we don't see in the other gospels. There are several things I love about this story. 

First, we see interaction between Jesus and his mother.  When the wedding party ran out of wine, which would have been a huge "faux pas" in the Jewish culture, Jesus' mom told him to take care of it. This leads us to believe she knew something of his supernatural power, or she just expected him to do something about it. Jesus gives her an unusual response basically says, "Mom it is not my time yet".  He calls her "woman", which is an unusual way to address her with.

“So far from being a rough and discourteous way of address, it was a title of respect. We have no way of speaking in English which exactly renders it; but it is better to translate it Lady which gives at least the courtesy in it.” (Barclay) 

Rather than listening to Jesus, his mom merely says to the wine stewards, "Do whatever he tells you to do!" Jesus had a choice. Either he could disobey his mother publicly, or do what she had asked of him. He did the latter. 

He asked the servants to fill up large jars with water, and when they took it out to the banquet host and the host of the banquet tasted the water and it had already become wine, and not just cheap wine, but the finest. What I love about this is Jesus not only obeyed his mother's request, but he also saved the the bride and groom certain embarrassment from running out of wine. And finally, it shows that he was not against celebration at special events like weddings. 

Whether or not Jesus endorsed drinking alcohol cannot really be deduced from this. But it is most likely Jesus enjoyed a glass of wine and didn't consider it immoral to do so, as it was very much a part of the Jewish tradition. In another situation Jesus got blasted by the Pharisees because he hung out with the tax collectors and "wine gluttons". Basically you could translate this "partiers". 

Of course, alcoholism is a huge issue in our culture, so we can't take this lightly. Whether a Christian should drink or not should be up to each believer based on the Holy Spirit's guidance. There might be some situation where you might have a glass of wine in a social setting, or other settings where you would choose to abstain. We had to avoid legalism on the one side but also realize the side of our sinful nature that is easily prone to addiction, especially when one drinks to be a different kind of person. Many Christians who grew up in alcoholic families choose to abstain. I think the key thing is the Holy Spirit's guidance on this matter. Obviously drunkenness is summarily called sin in the bible. Finally, every denomination has handled this differently over the year so mutual respect is important. I.e. Many Baptist church are strongly against drinking, where as Lutheran church are less so.  

While Jesus probably never "over indulged", he always used people and situations to show them what God's kingdom is like. He did through not through judgment and criticism of people's behavior but through grace and kindness. 

There is another metaphor in play here. The banquet host praised the bridgeroom for saving the best for last. God had saved the best for last in sending His own Son to save the people from the embarssament of sin.  

Jesus Clears the Temple Courts

While Jesus had compassion and connected with "sinners", in this passage he shows a different side of his personality and passion. When Jesus saw the moneychangers taking advantage of the pilgrims who brought their temple tax, he was furious. There were men sellling sheep and cattle probably at exorbitant prices to make a profit. Why was so Jesus so mad about this? Because these guys were trading on God. They making money on people's obedience to the Old Testament laws. 

Jesus showed his anger by overturning their tables, and he took a whip and drove the animals out of the temple courtyard. More important than being mad was why Jesus was mad. They had made a mockery of the house of worship. They had turned worship into a sideshow. It was more about greed than God. It was then the disicples remembered the Old Testament verse, "Zeal for your house consumes me" from Psalm 69:9. 

The Pharisees were offended, which shows they basically approved of this activity, or in the very least let it slide. They asked Jesus where he got his authority to make such a statement. They asked him for a sign. Jesus gave them a sign, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

He was referring the temple of his body, which would be crucified, buried and then be resurrected three days later! It's what we just celebrated YESTERDAY ON EASTER SUNDAY! The leaders did not get what Jesus was saying. They took it literally. They reasoned the temple had taken 46 years to build, so in what sense would the temple be rebuilt in three days. Only later would the disciples understand what he meant, but many of the Jewish leaders never did. 

Though most churches don't have "money changers" on their campus "hawking" for church funds, I wonder how we "sell out" God? There be a lot more subtle ways than having sheep and goats near our hospitality tables. Do we do this when our services become more about us than God? Or more about "the show" we put on than worship. Or, more about human personality than the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Having a been a pastor for 27 years, I certainly have always wanted our worship services and the church campus to be marked by excellence, but there is a point where it can border on idoltary. Again it is subtle but leaders in churches need to be very intentional about everything we do in worship pointing to God and his grace poured out through Jesus Christ. We need to keep "the main, the main thing."  

The church is not a building it is the body of Christ, and each one of us are a part of it. This is why there should be no competition between churches in their community. In Fallbrook, we have several churches lined up on what people call "Church Row". I am blessed to have relationships with a lot of pastors from these churches. We have tried to coin the phrase, "The Church of Fallbrook", so it is not about any one of our churches. The focus is on the kingdom of God leading people in the community of Fallbrook to worship the KING! AMEN!