John 2 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00John chapter 2 verse 1. On the third
2. 0:03day, there was a wedding in Cana of
3. 0:05Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was
4. 0:07there.
5. 0:08And both Jesus and his disciples were
6. 0:10invited to the wedding.
7. 0:13When the wine ran out, the mother of
8. 0:15Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."
9. 0:19And Jesus said to her,
10. 0:21"Woman,
11. 0:22what does that have to do with us? My
12. 0:25hour has not yet come."
13. 0:28His mother said to the servants,
14. 0:30"Whatever he says to you, do it."
15. 0:34There's a little bit of tension here
16. 0:36because you sense that the mother of
17. 0:39Jesus, Mary, understands
18. 0:42that Jesus is approaching the
19. 0:46revelation of his ministry to the world,
20. 0:49that the hour is coming where people are
21. 0:50going to know the calling that is on his
22. 0:53life that may have been pretty hidden.
23. 0:56And perhaps she's knowing this based on
24. 0:59John because Jesus hasn't preached yet.
25. 1:01Jesus hasn't performed miracles yet. But
26. 1:04John, who all of Judea is going out to,
27. 1:08is pointing to Jesus. And people are
28. 1:10even walking away to follow Jesus
29. 1:14from John.
30. 1:15So, Mary is kind of nudging him.
31. 1:18And he says, "My time has not yet come."
32. 1:22And we're not talking about a difference
33. 1:24of months here or even days. We're
34. 1:27talking about a difference of hours. The
35. 1:29timing of right now versus in a few
36. 1:32moments. But she she's pushing him a
37. 1:35little bit. And he does not say,
38. 1:37"Mother, my time has not yet come." He
39. 1:39says, "Woman,
40. 1:41what does that have to do with us? My
41. 1:43hour has not yet come. My exact moment
42. 1:47has not yet come."
43. 1:48So, he feels like she's just a little
44. 1:51bit ahead of God's timing. She's being a
45. 1:53little bit of a pushy mother um to
46. 1:56ensure that this happens.
47. 1:58And you know that her motivation is
48. 2:00likely very good, but he's trying to
49. 2:02help her stay in the timing of God.
50. 2:06But, his mother is not
51. 2:08offended by his put off. She tells the
52. 2:12servants,
53. 2:13"Do whatever he tells you to do."
54. 2:16She's got faith.
55. 2:18Now, there were six stone water pots set
56. 2:21there for the Jewish custom of
57. 2:23purification, containing 20 or 30
58. 2:26gallons each. And Jesus said to them,
59. 2:29"Fill the water pots with water."
60. 2:31So, they filled them up to the brim.
61. 2:34And he said to them, "Draw some out now
62. 2:36and take it to the head waiter."
63. 2:39So, they took it to him.
64. 2:40When the head waiter tasted the water,
65. 2:42which had become wine, and did not know
66. 2:45where it came from, but the servants who
67. 2:47had drawn the water knew, the head
68. 2:49waiter called the bridegroom.
69. 2:52And he said to him,
70. 2:53"Every man serves the good wine first,
71. 2:56and when the people have drunk freely,
72. 2:58then he serves the poorer wine.
73. 3:00But, you have kept the good wine until
74. 3:02now."
75. 3:04This beginning of his signs, Jesus did
76. 3:07in Cana of Galilee,
77. 3:09and manifested his glory, and his
78. 3:12disciples believed in him.
79. 3:14After this, he went down to Capernaum,
80. 3:17he and his mother and his brothers and
81. 3:19his disciples, and they stayed there a
82. 3:21few days.
83. 3:23What is the meaning that we're supposed
84. 3:25to
85. 3:26draw from
86. 3:28the story about the
87. 3:29miracle at the wedding of Cana?
88. 3:31One is that timing is incredibly
89. 3:34critical.
90. 3:35It seems that God was going to confirm
91. 3:40Jesus' ministry through another. And
92. 3:43that when John does that, the next day,
93. 3:47he's at the wedding of Cana, and he's
94. 3:49able to start fulfilling that ministry.
95. 3:52And that doesn't seem coincidental to
96. 3:54me. That seems to be Jesus submitting to
97. 3:56the order of God
98. 3:58in how the Lord is confirming through
99. 4:00the voice of another
100. 4:02what his ministry is. And then
101. 4:05timing is everything. Jesus is waiting
102. 4:08for the moment when he's hearing the
103. 4:10Father tell him, "Now is the time."
104. 4:13And his mother nudging him
105. 4:15um just even 5 minutes ahead of schedule
106. 4:19doesn't seem to uh
107. 4:21accelerate that.
108. 4:22Um and then it's very meaningful that
109. 4:25the first
110. 4:27miracle that Jesus performs is at a
111. 4:29wedding. And I don't think that's
112. 4:32coincidental. It is in some sense, but
113. 4:35it's perhaps significant of
114. 4:38the the idea that just like
115. 4:43in the in the beginning
116. 4:45it all begins with God creating
117. 4:47a relationship between a man and a woman
118. 4:49in the garden. In the same way
119. 4:52the grace and power and glory of God
120. 4:57begins to be revealed
121. 4:59in the forming of covenant love between
122. 5:01a man and a woman.
123. 5:03And it's it's God saying that this is
124. 5:05very important. This is the environment
125. 5:07where the ministry can begin.
126. 5:10Um
127. 5:11it's also meaningful to me that
128. 5:14in keeping with what we said in the
129. 5:15previous chapter about glory
130. 5:18it says that as Jesus begins to work in
131. 5:21these miracles
132. 5:23it says that he manifested his glory and
133. 5:27his disciples believed in him.
134. 5:30So when God works through human flesh by
135. 5:33the power of his divine spirit that is
136. 5:37the manifestation of glory.
137. 5:41The Passover of the Jews was near and
138. 5:44Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
139. 5:47And he found in the temple those who
140. 5:48were selling oxen and sheep and doves
141. 5:51and the money changers seated at their
142. 5:53tables.
143. 5:55And he made a scourge of cords
144. 5:57and drove them all out of the temple
145. 5:59with the sheep and the oxen and he
146. 6:01poured out the coins of the money
147. 6:03changers and overturned their tables.
148. 6:07And to those who were selling the doves,
149. 6:09he said, "Take these things away. Stop
150. 6:12making my father's house a place of
151. 6:14business."
152. 6:16His disciples remembered that it was
153. 6:18written, "Zeal for your house will
154. 6:21consume me."
155. 6:23The Jews then said to him,
156. 6:26"What sign do you show us
157. 6:28as your authority for doing these
158. 6:30things?" Jesus answered them,
159. 6:33"Destroy this temple and in 3 days I
160. 6:36will raise it up."
161. 6:38The Jews then said, "It took 46 years to
162. 6:41build this temple and you will raise it
163. 6:44up in 3 days?"
164. 6:46But he was speaking of the temple of his
165. 6:49body.
166. 6:51So, when he was raised from the dead,
167. 6:53his disciples remembered
168. 6:55that he said this and they believed the
169. 6:58scripture and the word which Jesus had
170. 7:00spoken.
171. 7:01Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the
172. 7:03Passover during the feast, many believed
173. 7:06in his name observing his signs which he
174. 7:09was doing.
175. 7:11But Jesus on his part was not entrusting
176. 7:14himself to them for he knew all men.
177. 7:17And because he did not need anyone to
178. 7:19testify concerning him for he himself
179. 7:22knew what was in man.
180. 7:25So,
181. 7:27we have John telling the story of the
182. 7:29cleansing of the temple
183. 7:31immediately on the heels of the story of
184. 7:36the miracle at the wedding in Cana.
185. 7:40And there's two possibilities here. One
186. 7:42possibility is that he cleansed the
187. 7:44temple twice.
188. 7:46I think the more likely possibility is
189. 7:49that John is not attempting to tell us
190. 7:52these accounts in chronological order.
191. 7:55Instead, he has some other meaning for
192. 7:59why he's telling these things in this
193. 8:01order.
194. 8:02And we do this all the time. We will
195. 8:05tell things in a thematic order
196. 8:08instead of a chronological order.
197. 8:11So, if it's if it's this, if John is
198. 8:14telling these things thematically, we
199. 8:16ask
200. 8:18what does this mean then? Why Why does
201. 8:21he tell the miracle of Cana and then
202. 8:25immediately tell
203. 8:27the cleansing of the temple? What is the
204. 8:29connection
205. 8:31between these things? And I
206. 8:33I think that one, he's just said in the
207. 8:36story of the miracle of Cana, he said
208. 8:38that he is revealing his glory. He is
209. 8:41manifesting his glory to his disciples
210. 8:44and they are believing it.
211. 8:47And then
212. 8:49we're seeing an example of what unbelief
213. 8:52looks like.
214. 8:53We're look we're seeing an example of
215. 8:55what provokes unbelief. That it's not
216. 8:58just a miracle
217. 9:00of good wine, of more blessing, of more
218. 9:03pleasure at a party,
219. 9:05but when Jesus begins to move in
220. 9:07discipline, in rebuke, in correction, in
221. 9:10cleansing, that that is the occasion
222. 9:13that provokes rejection and a challenge
223. 9:16to his authority.
224. 9:19Something else that stands out to me is
225. 9:21that
226. 9:22John wants us to understand right at the
227. 9:26beginning that
228. 9:27that Jesus is presenting his body
229. 9:32as the temple.
230. 9:34And that links up to what John has said
231. 9:37early on in his opening chapter.
232. 9:41The word became flesh and dwelt among
233. 9:44us. And literally that means the word
234. 9:45became flesh and pitched its tent among
235. 9:48us.
236. 9:49Now, the pitching of a tent goes back to
237. 9:53uh Moses.
238. 9:55When Moses pitched the tent of meeting,
239. 9:58the tabernacle,
240. 9:59and that was the place where the glory
241. 10:02of God was going to dwell.
242. 10:05Between the the the cherubim,
243. 10:08above the
244. 10:09the ark of covenant in the area called
245. 10:12the mercy seat. So, John is telling us
246. 10:15that Jesus was the tent of meeting. His
247. 10:18human body
248. 10:20was the place that the glory of God was
249. 10:23going to live. This is incarnation
250. 10:25language.
251. 10:26The children of Israel had long since
252. 10:28accepted that God was in heaven, but
253. 10:31that he had placed an earthly throne in
254. 10:34this tabernacle, ultimately this temple,
255. 10:38and that was going to be the place where
256. 10:39he dwelt, and that was going to be the
257. 10:42contact point, the touch point between
258. 10:44heaven and earth.
259. 10:45So, John is is trying to draw a
260. 10:47contrast. And he's saying, "In order to
261. 10:50be part of what Jesus was doing, we
262. 10:52needed to understand that his attention
263. 10:55is being pulled away from that temple
264. 10:58and toward a different temple, the
265. 11:00temple of his body, the temple of his
266. 11:03humanity." And that's going to be
267. 11:05thematic as we move forward. Jesus is
268. 11:08the tabernacle. Jesus is the temple.
269. 11:11Jesus is the holy place. Jesus is the
270. 11:14throne of God. Jesus is the is the area
271. 11:18where human beings are going to find
272. 11:19connection with the heavenly, with the
273. 11:22divine, from here on out. And I think
274. 11:24that's why John takes an event that
275. 11:26happens years later and puts it right up
276. 11:29at the beginning, because he's trying to
277. 11:31tell us in another way
278. 11:33his body is the temple.