When The Wine Ran Out

John 2:1-11
March 20, 2022
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

The story that we just read is easy to summarize. If I had to do it in one sentence, I would say this. Jesus showed his glory when he made water into wine and his disciples believed in him. That’s it. Jesus showed his glory when he made water into wine and his disciples believed in him (I would add one more thing to the sentence, but we’ll go through that next Sunday).

But while the story may be easy to summarize, it is very deep in its meaning. There are very deep and meaningful things going on in this story that show the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And there are many things to believe about him.

First of all, Highland, you should believe in Jesus’ amazing miracle. Jesus took something that was a part of his creation and he made it into something new. Into a new creation. He took water and he made it into wine. This is amazing. And the reason why this is amazing is because it is humanly impossible to make water into wine.

If you know anything about wine, then you know that the creation of wine requires basically two things: grapes and time. You start with grapes. Then you extract the juice from them. Then you take the juice and store it. And then you wait. You give time for complex molecular chemistry to take place so that the sugar in the juice converts into alcohol. And you wait for the wine to age. The aging process actually takes several months to several years. This is how wine is created. Grapes and time.

So when Jesus made water into wine, he showed that he is God. This means that Jesus is God. It is humanly and scientifically impossible for water to be made into wine. The servants at the wedding filled the six stone water jars with water. And then they drew some of it out for the master of the feast. And it was wine. There were no grapes. There was no time. This is amazing. And this shows that Jesus is divine. That Jesus is Lord over creation. That Jesus is above and has full control and power and sovereignty over his created universe. Jesus is God.

But there’s much more to think about here. Yes, it is amazing that Jesus created wine from water. And that fact alone is more than enough for us to handle.

But the story shows us that what was really amazing was the quantity of the wine that Jesus created. Jesus created 120 to 180 gallons of wine. The math is six stone water jars multiplied by twenty to thirty gallons each. 120 to 180 gallons of wine. That is a lot of wine. If you took the wine that Jesus created and drank one glass of it per day, it would take you 10-15 years to finish it all. That is a lot of wine. An abundant, overflowing amount of wine.

But the story also shows us that what was really amazing was the quality of the wine that Jesus created. When the master of the feast tasted the wine, he called the bridegroom and commented on how the wine was good wine. The guy was impressed that the bridegroom had saved the best for last. Jesus did not just create any wine. Jesus created the finest, most supreme, and most excellent quality wine.

But why did Jesus do this? What is the point of Jesus creating so much wine and so much good wine? What was it about the miracle and the quantity and the quality of the wine that manifested Jesus’ glory so that his disciples believed in him?

The answer is quite obvious… if you know the Old Testament. Jesus’ disciples most likely knew the Old Testament pretty well. And John, the writer and narrator of the story, surely wants the reader to remember the Old Testament. When the disciples saw a miraculous creation of wine that was abundant and overflowing and most fine, most supreme, and most excellent, they should have thought of the legendary and epic promises in the Old Testament about salvation from sin and from death - legendary and epic promises that poetically used wine as a metaphor for God’s glorious blessing of salvation.

God talked a lot about how there will one day be wine - and a lot of it. He talked about it in Amos 9. He talked about it in Joel 3. But perhaps most famously, He talked about it in Isaiah 25:6-9. Listen to these words from the Lord. Words of promise of salvation from sin and from death.

“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the LORD God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’”

Dear Highland, here’s the story about you. You were once sinners who were dead in your sin. You were once like a bride at God’s wedding. Except you had a huge spiritual problem. You were an unfaithful bride. You were an adulterous bride. You were disobedience and rebellious toward God. You were like a bride at a wedding whose wine had run out. Just like Israel in the Old Testament. The disciples of Jesus would have remembered this sad story. We all should remember our sad story too.

But God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ Jesus died for us. Jesus lived for us and died for us and rose again for us. Jesus saved us from sin and from death. And Jesus is the fulfillment of all the legendary and epic promises in the Old Testament. The wine had run out. But Jesus is the ultimate master and the ultimate bridegroom of the wedding. It’s his wedding. Christ Jesus has united himself with us the church. We are the bride of Christ. And he has poured out the wine of his salvation in order to save us.

And so when Jesus made water into wine at that wedding in Cana, his disciples made the connection between what they were promised in history and what they were seeing at that wedding. Jesus will make a feast of rich food and well-aged wine. The time has come for Jesus to swallow up death forever and wipe away our tears and take away our sins. The love and the grace of Jesus is abundant. The joy and the hope of his salvation is overflowing. Behold, this is our God. Jesus is the one we have been waiting for. Jesus will save us. Jesus is the Lord. We see his glory. We believe in him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

And Highland, I hope and pray that you would believe in Jesus. Believe in who Jesus is. Believe in what Jesus has done. For you. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Lamb of God. Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, and he is our King. Jesus is the ladder of Jacob. Jesus is the one whom Moses and all the prophets wrote about - prophets such as Amos and Joel and Isaiah. Jesus is the master and bridegroom of the wedding between him and his bride that is his church. And Jesus blesses you with his salvation. Jesus blesses you with a quantity and a quality of love and grace and joy and hope that is abundant and overflowing and legendary and epic.

Know this. Believe this. Learn this. Cherish this.

Know Jesus. Believe in Jesus. Learn more about Jesus. Cherish Jesus.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Soli Deo Gloria