Fill er’ up!
John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2:2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 2:3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” 2:4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” 2:6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 2:7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 2:8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. 2:9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 2:10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” 2:11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
To really understand this passage of Scripture there are a couple Jewish traditions we must first understand. In our modern culture we see a wedding as an event between 2 people/families and a few close friends. That’s not how it was in Jesus’ time; weddings were a community event. The entire area came out to celebrate the event. Being from the rural south I relate this to a County Festival. It lasted for a couple of days, and there were hundreds or thousands of people who came out; some were friends, but many were total strangers. They came out anyway to celebrate with you, and give you their best wishes. It reminds me a lot of the Wedding Feast that waits for us in Heaven. There will be friends and family there, but there will also be people that we never met on this Earth. They will all be there to celebrate our arrival in Glory. It was this kind of environment that Jesus stepped into, and performed the first sign to show that He was the Messiah-sent from God. His disciples there believed that He was who He claimed. When Jesus’ mother Mary presented Him with the problem that was being faced Jesus rebuked her, and said, “It’s not time for me to show the world who I am yet.”(my paraphrase of verse 4) But, being at such a large event He knew that no one would notice what had happened which we can see in verse 9. The second tradition that Jews had in that day(orthodox Jews still cling to it) was that of ritual purification that we read about in verse 6. Before they could enter the temple and make their sacrifices to God they had to cleanse themselves. As a symbolic gesture that they were purifying themselves before worship. Jesus commanded the servants of the house to get the waterpots that were used for this purpose, and fill them with water. This was a way of telling them that they would no longer need to purify their bodies with water, but He would soon purify their hearts with His Blood. In today’s language Jesus was saying, “There’s a new sheriff in town.”
There are 3 distinct messages that we can draw from this passage of scripture today; Jesus wants to fill us with His Life. Jesus wants to fill us with His Light. Jesus wants to fill us with His Love . Jesus is life, and in Him and Him alone can we find true life. Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. God(Jesus) has given us His life we owe everything including our life to Him.
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. Jesus came so that we could have life overflowing. Nothing gets “under my skin” more than Christians who live their life in defeat mode. When problems come they seem to give up like the problems cannot be beaten. But Jesus told us in John 16:33 that we are going to have problems, but through Him we can overcome it. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”. Jesus Christ is the life; only through Him can we experience the abundant life that He promises. And only through Him can we have eternal life with God in Heaven; when we experience the abundant life He gives we HAVE TO share that life with others 2 Corinthians 3:4 “And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 3:6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The Holy Spirit which we have from God gives life to all who believe, and we are filled with this life the moment we believe in and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We as Christians are expected to take this life, and share it with others. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives within me…”. If Christ lives in us then we must follow His example, and give our lives to share His life with others!!!
Jesus is the light of the world! He fills us with that light so that we can discern between right and wrong-light and dark. That is not to say that we will always choose the right way, but if we are filled with His light then we will always have a sense of what we are doing is wrong. Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. 60:2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. 1 John 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. God(Jesus) is the ultimate light, and if we are in Him(filled with light) then we cannot walk in darkness. We may stumble into the darkness, but we will always be uncomfortable until we come back to the light of His glory!
Jesus is the epitome of love. Jesus is love. His very essence is love. Love for you; love for me. Love for all mankind. He showed us His love by His sacrifice on the cross(Romans 5:8), and because of the unconditional love that He showed us; He wants us to be filled and share that love with others. Because of who we are in Him, His love should be overflowing in us; and should “spill” out on all mankind. As Christians we have a tendency to judge people when they are acting in ways that the Bible condemns. And we forget that we are sinners, and act in ways that are also condemned by the Word; but Jesus does not condemn us for our sinful actions rather He reaches into the slop that we are in and He pulls us out wipes us off. We see in the Old Testament how God dealt faithfully, through love, with the children of Israel, even though they were a stubborn people, and this should be the example that we follow as we deal with people today who do not accept our witness, not by condemning them. Lamentations 3:21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. 22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not This example follows through in the New Testament with the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many people say that John 3:16 is the Bible in a nutshell, and I partially agree, but John 3:16 is only half the story in my mind. In John 3:17 we find the words that complete the story, and show the fullness of God’s grace. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved God does not condemn us or others for sins, but rather sent His Son into the world to save us. If we do not have, and show the FULL love of God then we are failing to do what we were saved to do.
Today, if you are not filled with His life, His light and His love. Jesus wants to pour Himself into you! Simply, ask, and it will be given to you
Yes, You Can Ministry 