Sunday Gathering - John 2 : 1-12 - Karen Dunning - Sermon Only

Karen Dunning, a semi-retired teacher, preaches on John 2:1-12, the wedding at Cana. She opens by recapping chapter 1 the way a teacher recaps previous learning: John the Baptist pointing to Jesus, and John 1:33, where God tells him that the one on whom the Spirit descends is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit. Then she reads the passage — and warns that anyone who reads it only at that level, as a story about wine running out, will never grow.

That is her theme: do not read the Bible on the surface. She draws on a holiday in Fuerteventura, where the mountains were the greenest they had been in fifteen years after unseasonal rain; two weeks earlier they were brown, and two weeks later they would be again. The seeds were there all along, waiting under the surface for water. A new Christian friend, overwhelmed by the Bible and staying with a single verse for days while journaling, is letting the word settle and growing because of it.

She then digs into the details, and her method is to ask questions. Why were Jesus and his disciples invited? Because weddings in that culture drew whole villages and lasted days, so “on the third day” means they had already been around. What does “woman, why do you involve me” actually mean? She notes the Greek has no English equivalent and it is not harsh — it is almost a set phrase meaning “what has this situation to do with you or me?” And why “woman” rather than “mother”? Because, she suggests, Mary is not speaking to her human son: she knows who he is and speaks to him as God’s Son, just as she had said “your will be done, I am your servant” at the annunciation. Mary never instructs him. She states the problem — “they have no more wine” — and then tells the servants, “do whatever he tells you.”

The six stone jars were for ceremonial washing: the old way, cleansing by the law. Jesus has them filled to the brim and sends the wine to the master of the banquet, who has no idea where it came from. John uses the word “sign” rather than “miracle”, and this is the first of them. Her reading is that the old ceremonial washing gives way to something new, since the wine now stands for the blood shed on the cross and we are under grace. She defines glory as the revelation of God’s presence in saving action, and dwells on the quality of the wine — free, extravagant, gracious, generous, given when he did not have to give it. The sermon closes on choice: Jesus chose to act, and chose to die for us, and we choose how far we let his grace into our lives.

Bible passages

• John 2:1-12 — the passage for the morning, read in full from the NIV
• John 1:33 — John the Baptist’s testimony that Jesus baptises with the Holy Spirit, recapped from last week
• Luke 1:38 — Mary’s “I am the Lord’s servant, your will be done”, behind Karen’s reading of her confidence here
• Exodus 30:17-21 — the ceremonial washing the stone jars served, the old order of the law
• John 20:29 — “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”, applied to us after doubting Thomas
• 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 — the wine of communion as the sign of the blood shed on the cross
• Hebrews 5:12-14 — milk rather than solid food, her image for reading only at the surface
• Ephesians 1:7-8 — the closing prayer’s “rich in kindness and grace … purchased our freedom … forgave our sins”

Key points

• A teacher recaps: chapter 1 introduced Jesus, with John the Baptist pointing to him
• Reading only on the surface keeps you on milk; the word has to be allowed to settle
• The seeds were already under the surface, waiting for water — Fuerteventura’s mountains after rain
• Weddings in that culture involved the whole village and lasted for days
• “Woman, why do you involve me” is a set phrase, not a rebuke: what has this to do with you or me?
• Mary speaks to him as God’s Son rather than as her son, and never tells him what to do
• “My hour has not yet come” points forward to the hour of his suffering and death
• The six jars held water for ceremonial washing — the old way of being made clean
• John says “sign”, not “miracle”; this was the first, and it revealed his glory
• Glory is God’s presence revealed in saving action
• Cleansing by the law gives way to the wine of the cross, and to grace
• The wine was free, extravagant, generous and gracious — given when he did not have to
• Jesus chose to act and chose to die; we choose how much of his grace we let in

Calls to action

• Do not surface-read: sit with a passage, let it settle, and dig for what is underneath
• If you have never become a Christian, decide what you will do with Jesus
• If you are a Christian, consider afresh what the sign at Cana showed and what the wine signified
• Open the places in your heart you have kept closed, and let his grace reach them
• Choose how far you allow the power, grace and forgiveness of Jesus to affect your life

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/wN7RiZ9X024