A Taste of Things to Come: a Wedding

(John 2:11)

When you’ve gone to church for a long time, or you’ve read through the Bible repeatedly, it is easy to miss “the first time” something happens. We miss it because we are really familiar with the story. It seems we are so familiar with the story that we focus on the end and not the beginning. 



Members of New Life Bile Fellowship reenacting what the wedding crlebration could have looked like



As Jesus turns some 120 gallons of water into wine, we marvel at the fact that he did the miracle, but we can lose perspective easily, after all what is water into wine compared to the cross?

Did you catch it? 120 gallons! I’m not a wine drinker, I’m pretty much a tee-totaler in my lifestyle, but 120 gallons seems like a lot of wine to me. How many people were at this party? How much longer would it be lasting? Did Jesus really need to make that much more wine or was he just showing off for his mom and these first disciples?

I realize that it sounds heretical to say Jesus may have been “showing off.” The whole testimony of Jesus is that he was “sinless” and showing off seems a bit like pride and that is one of those “seven deadly sins,” right?

It is quite possible that Jesus was showing off, in a good way. After all, looking at his miracles, they’re supernatural. Isn’t that in and of itself showing off?

What if Jesus was showing off so that his disciples and family members, and even those low servants, who knew what had happened, could get a taste of things to come?

Imagine if Jesus is showing off because he gets excited about weddings? He is a single guy, betrothed (we know this because we know the full story) and preparing for his wedding day. Imagine if his participation in the celebration is his way of saying, “just wait, there’s more to come!”

We tend to see Jesus as uptight and unemotional. Allow your imagination to fill out the picture of who Jesus really was/is. Imagine Jesus excited about weddings, grieving at funerals, and enjoying parades. Could it be in each of these, he is helping us get a taste of things to come?

On an application side, if Jesus gets invested in these things, shouldn’t we? Maybe that is what he meant when he later tells the crowd that he has come to give life to the fullest (John 10:10). Let your marriage show off God’s power. May your funeral be a testimony of your commitment to Jesus. Throw a parade celebrating a better day to come! If we live this way, we live as appetizers, giving others a taste of things to come. And maybe, we will be reminded of what it was like to experience Jesus for the first time.