Jesus Is Always the Answer
John 2
starts out with a really neat story: the wedding at Cana. How neat is it to know that by the time Jesus
leaves to do His ministry and collect disciples that Mary has already learned
that there is a quality about her Son upon which she can rely? When the wedding runs out of wine, Jesus is
her answer. We know from the other
Gospels that Mary does struggle with Jesus’ identity – but for the record, so
does everybody. It is nice to know that
while she might struggle with the rest of the world at understanding who Jesus
is; she also knows that whatever He is, He is the answer.
In this
story, there is a disservice done to us by our typical English translations in Jesus’
response to his mother. Most
translations say, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?” We hear the word “woman” and assume that
Jesus is being cold and distant. But we
need to flip to two other places in the Gospel of John to understand this
word. In John 20:15 Jesus appears to
Mary Magdalene and addresses her with this same word, “woman.” This is not a sharp address at all in John
20:15. Additionally, in John 19:26 as
Jesus is hanging on the cross He looks to His mother and using the same word He
says, “Woman, behold your son.” This is
also not a cold or sharp response.
The truth
is that this word is just a word of identification. It is a word that identifies the intended
recipient as a female of a sufficient age to be married. In fact, the Greek language doesn’t even have
a separate word for “wife.” The Greek
uses this same word to mean “wife.” {If you’re curious, the same is true for
husband. The word “husband” in Greek is
actually the same word as “man.”} So
this word that we hear in English as a cold and insensitive word is actually a
word that can stretch the breadth of meaning from identifying gender to
identifying a spouse. It is a
multi-functional word of respect, not a cold and distant retort.
God’s Abundance
Then Jesus
has the jars filled with water. They are
filled to the top. Yes, as some say
Jesus may be trying to prove that there was nothing but water in the jars. But more likely I think that this is a symbol
of the fullness and completeness of God’s work.
When God works, He works abundantly.
God doesn’t do anything halfway.
What is
the response to God’s action here? The
people are amazed! The person who is in
charge of the wine is amazed! The people
who know what they are talking about are astounded by God’s action.
Jesus is
willing to display God’s greatness to those who are willing to see it. But to those who want to use and abuse God’s
work Jesus gives discipline. We now move
from a miracle of Jesus to the complete opposite of the spectrum.
The Temple Context
The temple
was supposed to be a place to come in and experience the presence of God. It was supposed to be a holy place. As God has freely given to His people
throughout their entire history with Him, it was supposed to be that way
now.
Yet,
merchants saw the temple as a place to make money. They knew that they could guilt people into
buying animals for sacrifices. They knew
they could charge a tax for exchanging money from the Roman currency to the
more ritually pure Jewish temple currency.
People who were coming to find God were put into a vulnerable place and
taken advantage of by those who should have been revering God’s space. These merchants and temple authorities did
not desire to look for God. They desired
to look for their own benefit.
Jesus’
response to the self-monger is always the same: it needs to be driven out of
the temple. If we are the temple of God,
why should we expect anything except for Jesus to desire to drive the
self-monger out of us, too?
An Easily Missed Paragraph
As we
approach the end of this chapter, we have a small paragraph that is tucked away
neatly between two powerful passages: the cleansing of the temple and Jesus’
conversation with Nicodemus. Truth be
told, I don’t ever remember studying these verses in the Gospel of John. But they are incredibly powerful. I should remember these, but I don’t. I will in the future – they are that
powerful.
John
2:23-25 say that many believed in His name.
Why did they believe? They
believed because they saw the miracles that He was doing. The believe because Jesus is acting in
power. Seems reasonable, right?
So let me
cause you to ponder today. What does the
Bible say is Jesus’ response to their belief?
It’s one thing to hear that many saw Jesus and believed. But it needs to be tempered with Jesus’
reaction to them.
He would
not entrust Himself to them as He would entrust Himself to His disciples. Jesus didn’t trust them! In a sense, we can say that while they
“believed” in Jesus, Jesus didn’t “believe” in them.
They were
responding to the miracles. They were
thinking that Jesus was a pretty neat guy.
They were seeing Him as a wonderful performer. But were they actually becoming
disciples? Were they devoting their life
to Jesus Christ?
The
unfortunate answer is no, they were not.
They “believed in Jesus,” but Jesus never knew them. This passage is further evidence that one can
believe in Jesus in word but not believe in Him in heart. One can believe in Jesus without actually
becoming His disciple.
As we see
here, just because I attest to “believe in Jesus” doesn’t mean that I actually
do believe in Him enough to become His disciple. Just because I say that “I believe in Jesus”
doesn’t necessarily mean that Jesus believes in me. If you are struggling with this point – as
you should – go back and read the words of the Bible again. Don’t trust me, trust God’s Word.
This tiny
little paragraph will completely and totally set up the conversation with
Nicodemus that will dominate the conversation about the next chapter. Upon reading these closing verses of John 2,
we should be asking ourselves … what needs to happen for Jesus to “believe in
me” as He did with His disciples?
That is
one of the most important questions that a disciple can ask. I cannot stress the importance of that
question. We’ll tackle that question
tomorrow.
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