⏱ 9 min read

• Wedding Bells! Wedding Dinners! Wedding Dresses! Wedding Guests! Wedding Stories!
• Weddings are exciting and today we’ll be following Jesus around as a wedding guest (or was He?)
• Maybe you didn’t know, but Jesus was a popular guest at almost every party in His day. He wasn’t boring at all; He loved to party and fellowship:

Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.
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.

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!” ~ John 2:7-10

• I must first mention that the stories in the Bible are symbolic and there are deeper meanings to draw from them.
• This is the very first miracle Jesus did (v11) and people often ask, why did Jesus do this? [Some others quote this story to support drinking – please let’s be serious okay?]
• But why did Jesus do this?  His first miracle at a wedding party; not even in a temple or at Jerusalem, but at a simple village wedding?

#1. Relationships are very important to God.

Our God is the author of relationships (it all started in the garden of Eden); which is why I believe that a marriage without God should be called a sexual partnership or something else.

And because He’s the author, Jesus will not allow the relationship to fail as long as we bring Him into the picture. He will step in for our sake.

• Get this, Christianity is about relationship with God and with your neighbour (Matt 22:37-39). 
• 1 John 4:20 says, “If you claim you love God and hate your neighbour, you’re a liar.” So clearly Jesus is very much concerned with our relationships.
• Our choice of friends and loved ones is very important to Him. If Jesus truly is the centre of it all, then let Him be the centre of your relationships.

#2. Why did Jesus turn water into wine? 

Psalm 104:15 says, ‘wine gladdens the heart of man.’ It was what the couple needed at that wedding feast so they would not be shamed and their first day of marriage be turned acerbic (sour/bitter).

• Dear friend, God wants us to have joy and be happy. He came to this earth to bring us great joy.
• Isaiah 61:3 says “He came to give us the OIL OF JOY/GLADNESS.” In the beginning, we were created in Eden to be happy and to enjoy life.
• Eden means ‘His presence’, ‘delight’, and ‘pleasure‘. And “in His presence there is fullness of joy!”

Do you remember the message of the Angel to the shepherds when Jesus was born? “Behold, I bring you good tidings of Great Joy!” (Luke 2:10-11). So my spiritual father often says,

 “True Christians should be the happiest people on earth” ~ Rev Simon Ampofo.
[By the way, I am just sharing with you my notes from a sermon he preached years ago].

• Even in challenges, we can say like Job, ‘My redeemer lives!’ I want you to pause and reflect a bit on this next statement: 
• The means/act by which you were born to this earth is from pleasure, why are you always worried and troubled?
• It is the enemy that seeks to take away and steal our joy (John 10:10). It is his primary strategy.

Beloved, sin causes us to lose joy. And the enemy knows it is your strength as a Christian: “Do not be grieved; for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” (Nehemiah 8:10)

Dear friend, happiness is from the soul (based on happenings or external circumstances). But joy comes from within, from the Spirit of the Living God; It bubbles up from within. May we have the fullness of joy that Jesus gives!

#3. No more wine!

Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:2-5)

So back to our story… now as the wedding party was going on, they ran out of wine; they had no more wine; it was finished! They used to have it, in surfeit/excess amounts maybe, but now they had none.

• Several people find themselves in this state, they have no joy. And maybe some used to, but not anymore.
• They have no joy in their relationships or marriages, none at their school or workplaces, etc.
• Example: Beloveds who used to enjoy free night calls, talking for hours, suddenly there is no more joy, and you can’t talk for five minutes without any arguments.

• But this couple was smart and showed prudence: they had invited Jesus at the start. 
• And you see, Jesus is so concerned, that as long as we have Him in the centre of things, He will come through for us.
• Let’s make sure He’s involved in all we do, and when the going gets tough, we can go to Him directly to get new wine.

#4. Do as Jesus says

Mary submitted to Jesus’ way of doing things. She recognized that Jesus was more than her human son— He was the Son of God. So she told the servants what I want to tell you today: “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

• You see when we bring our problems to Jesus, we may think we know how He should take care of them.
• But He may have a completely different plan from ours. And we should submit and allow Him to deal with the problem as He sees it best.
• Dear friend, are you submitted to Jesus? What is He asking you to do?

#5. Fill the jars to the brim with water!

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim (John 2:6-7)

• The number six (6) is the number of man (Revelation 13:18).
• Remember also, you and I are jars/vessels made from clay (our bodies) and God made man on the 6th day.
• So symbolically, we represent those jars or mankind represents those jars.

And Jesus gives one directive to get the wine (joy) back: ‘Fill the jars with water‘ (v7)… and they filled it to the brim.’ For us to have renewed joy, even better than the joys of our past (NB: the new wine was better than the old wine)…

We need to fill ourselves with the water of the Holy Spirit. I’ll take that again, to have this joy from within, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 
I’ll take it a third time: Fill yourself with the water of the Spirit!

• If you’ve run out of wine: out of joy in your life, in your relationship, in your spiritual life, your finances, your work, etc., ask the Lord to fill you up with the water of the Holy Spirit.
• He says, “Whoever believes in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38).
• Pray this prayer, “Lord I believe in You, let rivers of living water flow in me. Fill me anew with your Holy Spirit.”

May our earnest prayer be answered in Jesus’ name! Heyy… you’re blessed and higly favoured and dearly loved! Do kindly share this with others also. Hopefully, it will be a blessing to someone else.

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