Don’t turn the wine back into water.

Steve Brown:
Don’t turn the wine back into water. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to communicate the freeing truth that God’s not mad at his children. Steve invited our friend Justin Holcomb to teach us all this week. Justin is a priest, seminary professor, and he’s written, co-authored, or edited more than 20 books.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Justin Holcomb is here. I love it when he teaches. I learned, you know, I’ve been doing this a long time, longer than a lot of you have been alive. And I’m probably the most religious person that you know. But every time I sit down with Dr. Holcomb, I learn new things. And we’re looking at the events that take place in the church here. And this week we’re spending some time on Epiphany. And if you’re not familiar with that you’ve missed some really good stuff. Let me read the Scripture and then we’ll pray and then we’ll get down. This is from John the 2nd chapter and I’ll start at the 1st verse.

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the marriage with his disciples. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now six stone jars were standing there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know it. Where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, but when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” this, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and is disciples. And there they stayed for a few days.

Let’s pray quickly. Father, thank you for your word, for the amazing manifestations of your love, for your mercy, for the miracle of turning water into wine. Do it again. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Justin Holcomb:
Amen. So here we are celebrating Epiphany, looking into some texts. These are all passages that are read during the time of Epiphany. In the weeks after Epiphany, January 6th. And the big themes are God revealing who Jesus is, the God man, the Son of God. And this is a great picture because it even says in John 2:1 through 11 it says this is the first of the signs, so his first sign. This is the first of seven signs miracles in John. And so this is, we just looked yesterday at the baptism of Jesus, which was the start of the public ministry. This is the coming out party. Like, okay, what’s the public, what’s the first thing going to be that he’s going to do? He’s going to show up at a wedding and turn water into wine. And there’s lots of things in this that we can pull out, but we can, we only have a few minutes, so we’ll pick a few, but this, we need to hone in on this sign is to tell us really who Jesus is. This is Jesus saying, this is who I am, and this is what I’m about. The thing about wine is actually a really big deal. First, it’s Jesus, we learn from Colossians, all things were created by Jesus. It was the plan of the Father, empowered by the Spirit, through the Son. And so, he created all things and in things he sustains, but he has the power over material universe. And so, this is a way of Jesus saying, okay, I’m God, I made it and I run it. So, that’s important. Here the Messiah is one who in the fullness of time, ushers, is ushered in as the long for Messiah. And so, this thing about wine is huge. Wine is evidence of blessed fruitfulness and provision. And when the Messiah comes, wine, it will flow in overwhelming abundance and the mountains will drip with the best wine for the joy of God’s people. That comes from Joel 3:18, Amos 9:13 through 14, Jeremiah 31:12. So, the idea of really amazing overabundance of wine, wasn’t Jesus going, hey, let me do you a magic trick. He knew the Scriptures he inspired, and then learned them as fully man also, and he knew exactly what he was, so when Jesus shows up, he’s saying, I’m the fulfillment, and this is a highlight of joy, an overabundance of joy when the kingdom of God shows up. When the king shows up, most people are afraid. But when this king shows up, it’s time to celebrate. This goes right back to the wise men theme of joy. And John the Baptist being shocked, but also thrilled that he gets, he’s like, I can’t untie these shoes at his baptism. And so, this is noteworthy, but let’s jump on this too. And again, we’ll kind of put all the ideas in the room and then unpack what we want to. So, that’s an Old Testament fulfillment of overwhelming joy and overabundance. Jesus decided to use the pots for purification. This is Jesus just being funny. I think he’s like, you see those pots, the things that you use because you’re not pure and you’re dirty and you’re defiled, fill those with water. So, the fact that he takes purification ritual tools to then put the wine, and then it says it right there, it says wait a second, usually when people are drunk, they get the cheap wine out, but you save the best for last. One, this is a side thing, but just the dignity he gave to this family of letting them, I just love the fact that again there’s a little picture of imputation going on there. But the fact that there’s an extravagant overabundance, there was too much great wine at the end. This is the extravagance of Jesus. He does this at his feedings, too, when he feeds the 5,000. I love the fact that he feeds the 5,000. And there’s so much, like he had a few fish and a few loaves. And so, he could have made the right amount. He was like, I just want to make sure y’all understand how this works. I’m the God of too much goodness for you. And then every disciple says they all had a basket. So, I just love the fact, I think he made too much just to be like, Hey guys, I got this covered. You have to pick up the extra goodness that I did. But there’s a picture of extravagance of Jesus, extravagant joy, extravagant celebration. And so, those are the main themes of, and this reveals who Jesus is, his character, and what he’s doing.

Steve Brown:
You know, you would think that God incarnate would do something at church? Something a little bit more religious. This is a party.

Justin Holcomb:
You think he would show up like, I mean, he did, in Luke, he shows up and he reads the scroll and he says, that refers to me. But, so he doesn’t, and it is noteworthy that this is his first miracle. This is a Messianic fulfillment. I mean, this is his way, it’s called the Messianic secret. People all referred to him as the Messiah. He never referred to himself as the Messiah. He always referred to himself as the Son of Man, which is that means, he’s the judge of the universe. And so, that’s why people wanted to stone him. But this is him saying, he grabbed on to this whole thing about wine and the overabundance of wine when the King, Messiah shows up and he harnessed it. I mean, this wasn’t, again, it’s easy for us to look at that and go, Oh, this is a nice story of overabundance. It is. It’s a nice story of him caring for people in scarcity. It is, but it’s really a highlight of the Messiah. I love the fact that the long form Messiah also fits with an extravagance of God’s joy and grace in scarcity. Cause we think when we show up in our scarcity, that that’s annoying to God. And that’s when he says, hold my beer. Watch this. I mean, so there’s a, the disposition of Jesus is revealed here in his heart for joy, for celebration, for people knowing that when he’s the king who shows up, goodness overflows from the mountain and it’s a party again. And party is the word you picked on. It’s a party. The kingdom of God is a party.

Steve Brown:
You know, what is it in us that rejects that? Well, we don’t like that. We’re going to get letters about what you just taught us, which is so Biblical and orthodox that it blows me away.

Justin Holcomb:
Yeah, I referred to it in the last show. I said, God is holy and gracious. This is in our communion prayer. We say, Holy and Gracious Father. If you pick one of those without the other, you’re going to go, God is either holy and you’re going to be a moralist or he’s only gracious and not God into a gentle sky fairy who gives you lollipops. But we, what we have the picture of is a Holy and Gracious God because he’s holy, he was so gracious that you have the Incarnation cross resurrection. But he’s not just gracious, he’s also holy because the righteousness he requires is the righteousness, his righteousness requires him to require. He fulfills the righteousness of his holiness also, so we need to have the holiness and gracious. So, I think what happens is all the grace people need to hear that he’s holy, and all the holy people need to hear he’s gracious and party.

Steve Brown:
And that’s the truth.

Justin Holcomb:
It is.

Steve Brown:
And this teaches, this is Epiphany.

Justin Holcomb:
Yes. This is the heart of Epiphany. This is what you celebrate in the season of Epiphany.

Steve Brown:
And we have seen at the beginning of this series, Epiphany means revelation, that Jesus shows us what he is, and thus at the same time, he shows us who the real God of the universe is, what he’s like, what he likes, and that would be us. Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve Brown and Justin Holcomb. We’re in a special series called Epiphany: Light for the Nations. And I trust you’re enjoying it as much as I am. Still one more day to go, so be sure to join us for that. And in case you didn’t know this episode and all of our shows, podcasts, articles, and videos can be found at keylife.org and I’ve shared this with you before, but only once. Steve has actually recorded the entire Book of Philippians. And that recording is part of a special bundle we offer for, I think a very reasonable $10, but because we love to give away as much as we can, I’m going to give you a special website where you can hear that audio from Philippians for free. Got your little pencil ready? Okay, here goes. keylife.org/philippians that’s keylife.org/philippians go there to hear that special audio from Steve. It’s just one more feature we bring you at keylife.org for free. Something we’re able to do thanks to the generous support of listeners just like you. If you’d like to donate, call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. If you’d like to send your donation by mail, just go to keylife.org/contact to find our addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Or you can e-mail [email protected] you can always charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. And of course, now you can give safely and securely through text. Simply pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.