The Gospel of John - New Wine

Every wedding has a crisis. It’s got to, or it wouldn’t be a wedding. Most of the time, it is family drama of some kind, but it could be anything. Even with the best planners and venues, something always goes wrong. Here in America, weddings are all about the bride. We don’t think a lot about the guests who will be coming to the wedding. Even the groom is kind of optional. The groom is mostly there as kind of a prop to showcase the bride. Think about it. We have television shows like, “Bridezilla”, but to my knowledge there are none about the groom. We sing songs like, “Here Comes the Bride”, but nobody is singing about the groom. But I digress. As I said, every wedding has a crisis, or it wouldn’t be a wedding. We need to understand that in Jesus’ day, especially at a wedding, hospitality is everything. If you invite your friends, family, and neighbors to a wedding, etiquette dictates that everyone has enough to eat and drink, not just on day 1, but all the way through day 7. That’s right, their weddings were a full week of festivities! So when Mary comes to Jesus and says, “We’ve run out of wine”, this is not just an inconvenience; it is a disgrace. It would be considered shameful to invite guests to a wedding party like this and then run out of food or drink. Worse yet, when you make a mistake like this in a small village or a small town, people won’t ever let you forget. But what if this story isn’t just about their shame, but yours and mine? What if this isn’t just a story about running out of wine, but a story about running out of anything? It could be peace, strength, hope, or even love. Join us this weekend as we discuss how Jesus lavishly pours out his provision in our lack, resulting in a full and abundant life.