91. Beginner Bible Course: Jesus turns water to wine (the miracles of Jesus)

EPISODE 91  The simple Bible overview of…JESUS TURNS WATER TO WINE – THE MIRACLES OF JESUS

We're going to take a look together at the miracles of Jesus. There were a bunch of them before we get started, we need to get a working definition of what a miracle really is. We use it pretty fast and loose in our language. A student says, it'll be a miracle. If I pass that quiz, or maybe you're out with your parents on black Friday and your mother said, Hey, there's a parking spot. It's a miracle. You get their point, but it'd be helpful to understand a more technical definition. Your dictionary will tell you a miracle is an extraordinary effect or event in the physical world that you can explain by any known human or natural powers. The Bible calls them wonders.

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I wonder how those happened. The most common term in the Bible for these extraordinary events or effects that can't be explained is the word signs. When I say signs, you think of literal signs, there's all kinds of signs out there. Informational signs, directional signs, warning signs, welcome signs. The signs Jesus gave those miracles were pretty much all four of those kinds of signs, but the most common miracle or sign Jesus gave was directional signs. They were signed posts pointing to something else. Mention you had a friend from out of state that texted you and said, Hey, I'm coming through Rochester.

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Could I see you in a couple of hours? You text them back. Cool. Let me know when you get here several hours, come and go and you haven't heard anything. So you text your friend and say, what's up. When are you going to get here? Your friend texts right back. We are here. We've been here for over an hour. Then she texts you a selfie. She and her parents are sitting under a sign. Welcome to Rochester at the city limits. Then she texts. Well, take care. We'll see you the next time we're in Rochester. Yep. That'd be pretty weird. Sitting out under the welcome to Rochester sign. That's put there to welcome them to Rochester. It's a signpost. It's not meant for people to stop and sit under the sign and experience Rochester when Jesus did miracles, many were signs and many of those signs were signposts pointing to something.

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Jesus did. Lots of miracles are signs. They generally fit under four categories. Nature, miracles, healing, delivering people from demonic oppression and raising the dead. As we go through the gospels, Jesus does a number of extraordinary unexplainable nature miracles. In the last episode, we talked about his cursing of the fig tree. That was a sign. In fact, it was a sign post pointing his disciples toward an important principle or teaching about God's expectation for his people. Later in this episode, we're going to talk about Jesus. First sign, turning water to that's a nature miracle.

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He also did things like feed large crowds, still terrible storms walk on the sea. And there are two about large catches of fish and an odd one about something inside of a fish. And I'm not talking about Jonah. That was the old Testament. The second category of miracles or signs Jesus did where healings Jesus did a number of miracles where he healed people's kids or servants sometimes by a word other times, by touching them in a few times, healing them from a distance. He healed people from everything from fever to atrophied limbs and even repairing optic nerves.

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One of these optic nerve miracles you'll discover Jesus does in two stages. Jesus' final healing in the gospels happens at his arrest. He puts an ear back on the servant of the high priest. All those are pretty extraordinary events that can't be explained by natural or human powers. Jesus third category of miracles. We're delivering people from demons. Some of you may think that's Hollywood fantasy and fiction. The new Testament says you're wrong. Jesus miracles include removing a demon from a person or sometimes a whole lot of demons from a person that's a hint.

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Why did Jesus do these signs? I think there's two answers. The first one is he often did these signs to be a signpost, to lead them to a conclusion. For example, when he made a whole lot of bread to feed a very large crowd, that was to be a signpost to what his statement afterwards, I am the bread of life. He raised his friend Lazarus from the dead to be what a signpost to a statement. I am the resurrection and the life. He healed people on the Sabbath. Why to point people as a signpost, that he was the one who was master of the Sabbath.

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We'll see, in a few moments, he performed his first sign, changing water to wine. Why that his disciples might believe in him when you come across a miracle, an extraordinary event that cannot be explained by human or natural powers, ask yourself if it's put there to be a signpost, look at the context of what Jesus said or how the people who experienced the sign reacted. Many of Jesus' miracles or signs were intentional signposts. Jesus wanted neither his audience nor us, his readers to linger onto that signpost. He wanted to lead us toward something deeper toward a truth or a personal application.

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But there's a second reason why Jesus did miracles or signs. Those extraordinary events that couldn't be explained by a known human or natural powers. More times than not Jesus didn't do it because of this or that. He did it just because for no other reason than compassionate love over and over in the gospels we read and Jesus was moved with compassion for him, for her, for them, there are three other things. The new Testament teaches about Jesus. Miracles are signs that we should understand. The first comes at the end of John's gospel. John said, Jesus did many other signs that are not recorded in this book.

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And I'm guessing not by Matthew, Mark or Luke, either the gospels don't contain the complete record of Jesus signs that he did as signposts or just cause compassion moved him to do. So. John goes on to say why he reported the science. He reported in his gospel of John. He gave seven of them that you might believe that Jesus is the son of God. And that believing you may have life in his name, at least for John's gospel. The purpose of the science was to lead. You and I to consider was Jesus who he claimed to be. The second observation about science comes directly out of Jesus' mouth.

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Many times his audience, especially as critics, prodded him to do a sign, do a trick. They said it was to give proof that he was God, Jesus seldom complied in several occasions. He said an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign and I'm not going to give it to you while John said the signs of Jesus would prompt belief or faith. In some people Jesus recognized with other people, no amount of supernatural science would change their mind about who he was. That evidence would only make those people harder, hearted and more accountable to God for rejecting the sign. And that leads to the third observation on science from the new Testament.

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After one of Jesus, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, Jesus followed it with this, but no sign shall be given it except the sign of Jonah for just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. So shall the son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. And that was in Jesus' mind. His greatest sign we'll find as we go forward, he's speaking about his death, burial and resurrection after three days, and we'll learn going forward. It's having faith believing in that sign that in John's words gives us eternal life, which leads us to Jesus.

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First sign at the wedding in Cana, in Galilee. This happens very early in the ministry of Jesus. It's only two days after he chose Andrew and Simon and Philip and Nathaniel, who is also called Bartholomew. These four men tag along with Jesus to a wedding Kayna is in Galilee only about four miles from Jesus' birthplace Nazareth. Jesus mother has been invited there as a guest who knows probably Jesus' brothers and sisters were there too. I can almost hear Jesus say to those four men come on with, you'll get to meet some of my family. Jewish people really know how to celebrate. I mean, their weddings are our weddings on steroids.

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Weddings were a week long celebration. Mary comes to Jesus with a problem they're running out of wine at this party. She's apparently not the mother of the brighter groom, but she's probably a close friend of the one who was, this is a big full pie as it would be in our day. Imagine a wedding reception where the cater ran out of food with 50 people still left to be fed. Ouch. How embarrassed would you be as the mother of the bride? So Mary comes to Jesus and says, Jesus, we're almost out of wine. She may not be asking Jesus to fix it, but he goes into guy, fix it mode and thinks that way.

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He says to her mom, it's not my time to do these things yet. Jesus knows signs and wonders will be a part of his ministry. It's predicted all over the old Testament for the coming savior and King. As Mary walks away, she says to the waiters, if he changes his mind, do what he says. Mary knows what he's capable of. And if you don't understand that, go back and listen to episode 84, Jesus looks around and sees six stone water pots sitting there. These water pots were pretty big 30 gallons. They were used for people to wash up those tall trash cans in your kitchen. Those are 13 gallons.

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So these are pretty big pots. And they're six of them. Jesus says to the waiters, fill those things up with water. That's six times 30 gallons. You do the math when they're full. Jesus said, okay, cheers guys, go serve it to the guests. The waiters comply. When the guests tip their glasses, their responses, this, wow, this was a good year. Most people serve the vintage wine to toast the bride and groom. Then they bring out the cheap stuff, but you've saved this the best for last. And there was plenty of it. The writer, John, then comments. This was the first sign Jesus did.

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There it is the miracle, but was it assigned post? Yes, it was to display his glory, his disciples, Andrew Simon, Peter, Phillip, and Bartholomew believed in him. There's an overview of the miracles and signs of Jesus. There will be reading as we go through the gospels. There'll be signposts pointing us somewhere. And very often that somewhere is that we might believe in Jesus. Believe it's the most important word in the gospel of John. And one of the most important words in the rest of the new Testament, it will come up over and over again in the signs of Jesus.

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What does it mean to believe in Jesus? We're going to take a look at two conversations. Jesus had with two people, a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman in those two conversations. Jesus makes it clear what it means to believe in him. And we'll eavesdrop on those two conversations in our next word picture.