MISSION WOODS CHURCH
Sunday, June 14, 2026
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  • Awesome God
  • There's Something About That Name
  • Jesus, What a Wonder You Are
  • Jesus Name Above All Names
  • Fairest Lord Jesus
  • More Precious Than Silver

      • John 2:1-4ESV

      • John 2:5-7ESV

      • John 2:8-9ESV

      • John 2:10-11ESV

      • John 2:12-14ESV

      • John 2:15-16ESV

      • John 2:17-19ESV

      • John 2:20-22ESV

  • I don’t know about you, but I find comfort in the fact that Jesus was invited to, and seemed to enjoy parties. I was first introduced to this passage early in my faith journey in a message titled, “Jesus was a party man!” An idea I very much liked in my young days.
    Most of us are familiar with the scene. There’s a party going on and they run out of the main beverage - wine. Mary, Jesus’ Mother, “informs” Jesus, “They have no wine.” Now, as a guy… I mean no disrespect to our women friends here, but did anyone else notice she doesn’t ever ask Jesus to do anything. Yet he seemingly knows right away what she’s saying as is evident by his response.
    John 2:4 ESV
    And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
    I think it’s important to say that his response is not as blunt as it appears when we read in English. When Jesus says, “Woman,” this is not a disparaging use of the word, but is a more honorific and even tender use as when at the end of the Gospel while on the cross Jesus looks down at Mary and His disciple John and again addresses her as “Woman.” It’s more equal to saying something like “me lady,” or “my dear woman”. And then adds, “My hour has not yet come.” Jesus hour always refers to the purpose for which He came which immediately points us to the cross.
    Mom says, “Do whatever he tells you.” And that’s where we get into our passage.
    John uses a mirroring sort of pattern at least in part, in how his Gospel is structured. Stories you find at the beginning of the Gospel are a sort of a foreshadowing of things you find at the end. Let’s dive in.
    John 2:6–7 ESV
    Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
    Question, if these jars are used for purification, why are they empty? Scholars point to the running out of wine as symbolic of the loss of faith in Israel at the time. Yet as we saw last week there are those that are still looking for the Messiah.
    If nothing else they were depleted and Jesus has them fill them to the brim. Later in the Gospel Jesus will say he came that we might have life to the full. They take a sample of this liquid that is in these purification jars to the master of the feast and it is “the good wine”.
    And John records John 2:11 “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” Throughout John you will notice that he calls them signs or miraculous signs depending on your translation. Commentators point to this emphasis saying when we think of a miracle we see it and point to it. A sign points to something beyond itself.
    John continues on the theme of purification in the second part of this chapter at the Passover - again remember that mirroring that John does in this Gospel. So it’s the passover and Jesus goes up to Jerusalem, and John 2:14
    John 2:14 ESV
    In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.
    Let’s talk about the temple:
    At Jesus time it was not just the temple like that which Solomon had built. It was not a complex. There was of course the central temple we are more familiar with, with the bronze bath, the altar for sacrifices, the outer court, the inner court, and the holy of holies. Solomon built this temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah in the spring of 967 or 966 B.C. It was completed seven years later.
    Additions though include a courtyard for women to gather - remember they separated the men and women in the temple in those days. And then there was also a Gentile courtyard on the temple grounds for God fearing Gentiles.
    Non-Jews were excluded from the building proper. By conducting their business in the temple complex, these individuals disrupted the worship of non-Jewish God fearers and thus obstructed the very purpose for which the temple existed.
    John 2:15 ESV
    And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
    In discussions in our Bible Studies this week it was noted that the animals were needed for the required sacrifices required. But they were IN the temple.
    John 2:16 ESV
    And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
    And even though they’ve allowed the defilement of the space in this way, Jn 2:18
    John 2:18 ESV
    So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”
    What? Are they kidding? Jesus response confuses them and points us once again to the end of the Gospel, John 2:19
    John 2:19 ESV
    Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
    And we read that He is speaking of His body.
    So let’s take a step back. What does this mean for us? What is it that John is trying to get us to understand?
    We talked last week about John’s purpose in writing his Gospel, Jn 20:31
    John 20:31 ESV
    but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
    So life, yes, but what have we seen so far in what has been written. Last week we began and discovered that even the Pharisees, a group the gospel writers seemed to enjoy vilifying, were looking for the Messiah, the Savior.
    We too need the Messiah, we too need a Savior. Perhaps the thing that the Pharisees missed, and perhaps the thing that we continue to miss today is the WHY we need a Messiah and Savior. And as we get into chapter 2 and John starts to flesh that out.
    He starts with running out of wine.

    Has your joy run out?

    Most of us at some point in our life are like that wedding feast. We’ve run out of wine. We’re tired, fatigued. We don’t have anything left. We’ve run out of wine. Perhaps you’re feeling that now.
    You’re out of energy. Your sense of joy has been depleted. You don’t feel full of life and if you were to describe your life right now you might use the word, “empty.”

    Are you feeling empty?

    Before the wine ran out, the jars were empty. John uses 6 jars each holding 20-30 gallons. That’s a total of 120 to 180 gallons! That’s a lot. So often in our lives what precedes our joy running out is our jars are empty.
    At the wedding feast there were six jars. We have different areas we can feel empty: Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, Spiritually, Socially… okay, I couldn’t come up with six, but you get the idea. And Jesus has the servants fill them. The jars couldn’t fill themselves.

    Are you keeping your temple clean?

    Think of what you let in.
    Are you allowing the temple to be defiled?
    What kind of things do you put in your body - food, drink, vitamins, etc.?
    What kinds of things do you put in your mind? What are you reading? What are you watching or listening to?
    What are you doing emotionally? Are you dwelling on negative experiences, spiraling around an injury - physical, mental, emotional, spritual, social…
    What are you doing spiritually? You’re here, that’s a big one, but how about your personal spiritual life. How’s your prayer life? How’re you doing connecting with God’s Word by reading your Bible?
    Rat infestation
    Mouse infestation - It doesn’t matter how small the contamination is, its a contamination.
    Leaks

    Let Jesus clean the temple.

    It is Jesus who had the jars filled with water. 120-180 gallons of water. And he turned it to wine - wine was the lifeblood of a wedding feast in those days. Jesus is the life of the party.
    Take some time and do a real assessment.
    How’s your joy level? Is your joy tank full or in need of replenishment?
    Are you running on empty?
    One summer while working at a camp one of our pools was losing like a foot of water per day, and we couldn’t find the leak. We finally found a hole about and inch and a half wide in the side of the pool. If you are not cleaning the temple, the debris will puncture your wall.
    Jesus comes and fills the jars, provides and over abundance of wine and can do the same thing to our life.
    John 10:10 ESV
    I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
    There is so much emptiness in our lives. I read the Gospel of John and it is clear he doesn’t want us to be empty. He doesn’t want us to lack joy. He wants us to believe and have this abundant life that Jesus is talking about.
    Praise God. Amen.

      • John 2:4ESV

      • John 2:6–7ESV

      • John 2:14ESV

      • John 2:15ESV

      • John 2:16ESV

      • John 2:18ESV

      • John 2:19ESV

      • John 20:31ESV

      • John 10:10ESV

  • O Bless The Gifts
  • O How I Love Jesus (Hymn #92)
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MISSION WOODS CHURCH
info@missionwoodschurch.org
(253) 922-5555
http://www.missionwoodschurch.org
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