[0:00] I have been looking forward to this Sunday for a long time. For on this Sunday, we begin a year-long journey in the gospel according to John.
[0:12] Ever since I started preaching on a regular basis, I have wanted to spend a whole year in John. About a year and a half ago, I sensed that the Lord gave me the go-ahead and said that 1996 was the year that He would fulfill my heart's desire.
[0:27] There simply is no other document like the gospel of John. Its impact on human history is incalculable.
[0:39] One recent commentator put it this way, These 21 chapters comprise a moral and spiritual potency, which over the centuries has transformed communities, toppled kingdoms, liberated multitudes, and remade human character on a scale without parallel in the accumulated literature of the ages.
[1:02] Why? Because there simply is no other subject like the subject of the gospel of John. Yes, the subject of John is the subject of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but not in the same way and not to the same degree.
[1:19] Matthew's concern is with what Jesus taught. One of the key phrases of his gospel is, When Jesus finished saying these things.
[1:30] Mark's concern is with what Jesus did. The recurring phrase of his gospel is, And immediately Jesus. Luke's concern is how Jesus taught and did what He taught and did.
[1:43] The recurring phrases of his gospel are, And as Jesus was praying, And Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. John's concern is Jesus. Pure and simple.
[1:56] John's passion is the person of Jesus. John's passion is to know Jesus and make Jesus known. Such passion is understandable, Given the fact that of the original band of disciples, It was John who enjoyed the most intimate relationship with Jesus.
[2:15] Yes, the other disciples saw him, And heard him, And touched him, And were fulfilled. They felt satisfied. But John, John was the one, For whatever reason, Who enjoyed a more intimate relationship with the Lord.
[2:30] You know that in John's gospel, He never identifies himself by name. He simply refers to himself as, The disciple whom Jesus loved. That was all he had to say for himself.
[2:42] That was all that mattered. The disciple whom Jesus loved. And out of that deeply intimate relationship, John wrote this fourth gospel, This most potent gospel.
[2:57] Now the beauty of the gospel is, That it grabs one at whatever level of understanding, Or faith one has at the time. Which is why at Billy Graham Crusades, Seekers and new believers are encouraged, To begin reading the Bible with John.
[3:12] But that is also why, Believers who have walked with Jesus a long time, Find themselves regularly drawn back to John. I have seen hundreds of people, Begin the walk of discipleship in John, And I have seen hundreds, Who after reading everything else, Anyone has ever written about Jesus, Keeps coming back to John.
[3:33] I started working through this gospel in 1968. 1968 was the year that the Lord called me, To full time ministry. And I have worked my way through this gospel, At least twice a year, Every year since.
[3:46] Which means I've worked my way through this gospel, Over 54 times. And it keeps getting richer, And richer, Deeper and deeper, It keeps going wider, And wider. I have the sneaking suspicion, That preaching all of 1996, In John will not be enough.
[4:03] It will not be enough for me. I'll get done at the end of the year, And I'll say, Well, Can we start over again? Because it will get richer, And deeper, And go wider. Live in the gospel of John, For a little bit of time, And you will soon find yourself, Living beyond the pages of the gospel, And living in the real presence, Of the Jesus of this gospel.
[4:28] That after all, Was John's purpose in writing it. Chapter 20 verse 31, These things have been written, That you may believe, That Jesus is the son of God, And that believing, You may have life in his name.
[4:39] Now here's my plan, For this year's study. I'm going to break the study up, Into a number of mini series. Series which are adjusted, For the different seasons, Of the Christian year.
[4:53] So, During the weeks of epiphany, We're going to work through, Chapters 2 to 4. Under the title, The old has gone, The new has come. Then during the weeks of lent, We're going to jump over, To chapters 18 and 19, And look at, Jesus arrest and trial, And crucifixion, Under the title, Beneath the cross of Jesus.
[5:14] Then on Easter Sunday, We're going to begin, An Easter trilogy. Celebrating the resurrection, On three consecutive Sundays. I'm tired of singing, Jesus Christ is risen today, Once a year.
[5:24] We're going to have, Three Easter Sundays in a row. And we're going to work, Through chapters 20 and 21. Great. How about that? And then during, The Pentecost season, We're going to immerse ourselves, In John 13 to 17, The so-called, Upper room discourse, And give particular attention, To Jesus teaching, On the Holy Spirit.
[5:44] Then in the fall, We're going to listen to Jesus, Speak for himself, Against the backdrop, Of various Jewish feasts, In John 5 through 11. And then next Advent, We're going to go back, And take the second half, Of chapter 1, And listen to John the Baptist, Preach the gospel to us.
[5:59] While I'm at it, Let me give you a sense, Of where I think the Lord, Is going to take us after that. In 1997, I plan to preach, The whole year, Through the book of Genesis.
[6:13] And then in the first two thirds, Of 1998, I want to lead you through a study, In the book of Ephesians, The second third of 1998, In the parables of the kingdom, In Jesus teaching. Then in 1999, We're going to let the prophets, Isaiah and Habakkuk, Prepare us for the third millennium.
[6:29] And then in the year 2000, We're going to give ourselves, To a study in the book of Acts, As Jesus Christ, Shows us how to shape the church, For the new millennium. This is a responsive crowd.
[6:43] And in 2001, The book of Hebrews. Unless of course, Unless of course, Jesus answers, The prayer of the church, Maranatha, And comes before, I preach all that.
[7:00] Our text today then, Is John chapter 2, Verses 1 through 11. Will you stand, For the reading of God's word? I have to comment, On the, No I won't.
[7:23] Hear the word of God. Forgive me. I'm just so taken, I'm just so taken, By your response. It's so different, Than the first service.
[7:38] I think the first, You must have had a chance, To sleep in this morning. Our poor first service, Folks were really sleepy, Weren't they? They were. They didn't want to think, About the years. They didn't want to, Two thousand was too far, Two thousand was too far, For the first service.
[7:54] Hear the word of God. And on the third day, There was a wedding, In Cana of Galilee, And the mother of Jesus, Was there. And Jesus also, Was invited, And his disciples, To the wedding.
[8:06] And when the wine gave out, The mother of Jesus, Said to them, They have no wine. Jesus said to her, Woman, Then what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, Do it.
[8:20] Now there were six stone water pots there, For the Jewish custom of purification, Containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
[8:33] And he said to them, Draw some out now, And take it to the head waiter. And they took it to him. And when the head waiter tasted the water, Which had become wine, And did not know where it came from, But the servants who had drawn the water knew.
[8:44] The head waiter called the bridegroom, And said to him, Every man serves the good wine first, And when men have drunk freely, Then that which is poor. You've kept the good wine until now. This beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, And manifested his glory.
[9:00] And his disciples believed in him. Spirit of the living God, We believe that hundreds of years ago now, You grabbed hold of John, And you inspired him to write down these words.
[9:12] And now we pray, In your mercy and grace, That you will take these words off the page, And cause them to come alive in us as never before. For we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.
[9:24] You may be seated. A simple story, But one that we need to keep before us, Especially in these times, When it seems like the world is falling apart around us.
[9:41] The apostle John calls this event a sign. This, the beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. Jesus does not call it a miracle.
[9:53] It is a miracle. But he does not use that term. He calls it a sign. Sign is a technical term in the Gospel of John. It refers to a miraculous event, Which though important in and of itself, Points beyond itself.
[10:10] Points beyond itself to something more basic, Something bigger, Something more profound. Thus John goes on to say, And Jesus manifested his glory.
[10:22] Turning 120 to 150 gallons of water into vintage wine, Points beyond itself to glory. Beyond itself to glory. Turning water into wine at the wedding feast, Manifests the glory of Jesus.
[10:36] Which, in John's mind, Is also the glory of his Father. Now, In the Old Testament, This word glory, Has to do with the living God, Revealing his very essence.
[10:49] To see glory, Is to see what it is that makes God be God. To see glory, Is to see reality behind reality. At the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, Divine glory is breaking into the world.
[11:03] In turning water into wine, The very essence of the living God, Is being revealed to the world. Now, I want to ask two questions of this event. First, How does it manifest glory?
[11:17] What does the, What does Jesus reveal here, About the essence of God? Second, How does what he reveals, Impact our life today?
[11:28] What implications does it have for us, In this part of the world, Some 2,000 years later? What are the consequences for us, In 1996, Of keeping this manifestation, Of his glory before us?
[11:41] It seems to me, That in this event, We discover at least, Five aspects of the divine glory. Although I'm going to comment, On each of them, It's the fifth one, That I'm especially after this morning.
[11:53] At Cana of Galilee, Jesus first of all, Manifests commitment. Commitment to the institution of marriage. British commentator F.F. Bruce argues, That Jesus' presence at that wedding feast, Sets his approval, On the institution of marriage.
[12:10] The Lord of glory, Believes in marriage. He really wants it to work, And he can make it work, When he's given access to a marriage. Now, In emphasizing Jesus' presence at a wedding, John is not there implying, That marriage is the only relational status, Jesus blesses.
[12:28] Not at all. For he also calls people, To the life of, To a single life. He himself chose, A single life, All of his earthly career. What John is affirming here, Is that when a man and a woman, Enter into the covenant of marriage, Jesus stands with them, Willing and able to make it work.
[12:46] The Lord of glory believes in marriage. We are not, Therefore, Surprised, That when we read the rest of the New Testament, We find various authors, Use the analogy of marriage, To describe our relationship, With Jesus Christ.
[13:01] He is our bridegroom, We are his bride. We are also not surprised, That Jesus so often, Uses the marriage feast, As a symbol, Of the kingdom of God.
[13:12] In parable after parable, He says that when the kingdom of God, Breaks into human existence, Joy will flow, Like joy does at a wedding. Jesus Christ stands behind, The institution of marriage.
[13:24] So too, Those who behold his glory. The disciples of Jesus, Are to be those in society, Who advocate marriage. Who are preparing people for marriage, And who can help nurture marriage.
[13:38] At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus secondly, Manifests delight. Delight in the simple, Ordinary events of life. To put it more simply, Glory has fun.
[13:51] Or to put it even more simply, Jesus, the Lord of glory, Likes to party. Boy, there's a party group out here. Isn't it significant in John's gospel, That Jesus begins, And ends his public ministry, At a party?
[14:09] He begins in chapter 2, At the party at Cana of Galilee. He ends in chapter 21, At a beach party, By the sea of Galilee. This tells us, That the redeemer of the world, Enjoys the simple pleasure, Of our human existence.
[14:23] He laughed, He played, He went to fiestas. In fact, Jesus enjoyed people, And their ordinary pleasures, So much, That the religious leaders, Particularly the Pharisees, Were offended by him.
[14:33] They accused him, Of being a glutton, And a drunkard. Now, Any joy, Looked like drunkenness, Up against, The stiff, And stodgy religiosity, Of that day. This aspect, Of Jesus glory, Is something, That I, Have to intentionally, Hold, In front of me.
[14:52] Those of you, Who know me, Very well, Know that I can easily, Get weighed down, By all the wreckage, Around us. It's so easy for me, To allow all of the needs, And all of the trouble, Of our time, To dominate my view, Of the world.
[15:05] And I need to, Keep this picture, Before me. Jesus Christ, The liberator, The healer, Having fun, At a party. Now the fact is, Such feast, In Jesus day, Could last up to seven days.
[15:18] Seven days. Imagine that, There is the only one, Who can do anything, About the wreckage. There he is, The only one, Who can do anything, About all the violence, And the addiction, And the injustice.
[15:32] And he takes seven days off, To eat and drink, And to laugh and dance. Goodness gracious Lord, What are you doing? Don't you realize, That there is great need, In the world?
[15:43] Can't you see, All the needs around you? Can't you hear, The cries of humanity? There are millions of people, Who still never heard your name, For every, Every leper you healed, There are more to be touched, For every Zacchaeus, You freed from the grip, Of materialism, There are more to be freed, And there you are, Taking seven days, To go to a party.
[16:03] Jesus Christ, The suffering servant, Knows how to have fun, Knows how to have fun, Which means then, That those who behold his glory, Are also going to learn, How to have fun. No one knows this better, Than Tony Campolo, Who is professor of sociology, At Eastern college, And I commend to you, His book, The kingdom of God, Is a party.
[16:23] At the wedding feast, In Cana of Galilee, Jesus thirdly, Manifests sensitivity, In particular, Sensitivity to the dynamics, Of culture, For first century, Middle Easterners, One of the highest, Cultural values, Was hospitality, It still is, And a wedding, Was a grand occasion, To exercise this hospitality, Ordinarily the whole village, Would be invited, And everyone expected, To be fed, And to be given enough, To drink for the whole feast, Now remember this feast, Can last up to seven days, Leon Morris, Who is an Australian, New Testament scholar, Points out that there was, A strong sense of reciprocity, A tit for tat, About Middle Eastern hospitality, Since the host, Was providing food and drink, The guests were obligated, To bring appropriate gifts, Now get this, If a guest, Did not bring, The appropriate gift, Legal action, Could be taken by the bridegroom, Against the guest, And vice versa,
[17:25] If the supply of food, And drink ran out, Guests could take legal action, Against the bridegroom, There they are, A young couple, Likely a relatively poor, Young couple, They have done their best, To live up to all that, Cultural expectation, And then the wine gives out, What are they to do, Where are they going to get, The money for that, They're in danger, Of suffering social shame, They're in danger, Of serious financial liability, What a scene, The Lord of glory, The Lord of glory, The Lord of glory, Sensitive to all those, Cultural dynamics, Acts to spare, That couple, From all that shame, Jesus provides, The wine they need, Isn't that good to know, The Lord of glory, Cares about such things, He really cares, He does not want us, To be ashamed socially, He cares about, Our reputations, Which means, That those who behold, His glory, His culturally sensitive glory,
[18:26] Will also care about such things, The disciples of Jesus, Are the ones, Who are supposed to lead the way, In helping people, Understand other cultures, This is all the more important, For the church, In southern California, Living in the most culturally, Diverse and rich place, On the globe, At the wedding feast, In Cana of Galilee, Jesus fourthly, Manifests sovereignty, Sovereignty, That is, Although he enjoys people, And he is sensitive, To our needs, He is not driven, By our needs, This we discover, In Jesus interaction, With his mother, She comes to him, And says, They have no wine, Now scholars, Have debated a long time, About what it is, That Mary might have had, In her mind, She must have realized, That her son, Was no ordinary man, She must have reflected, Upon all those things, That were said about him, At his conception, And his birth, By this time, Her husband Joseph, Has died, Mary is now a widow,
[19:27] She has become, Dependent upon her first born, Jesus has been carrying, The weight of the family, Mary has come to depend, On her son's resourcefulness, So she turned to him, Confident that he could do, Something about this problem, What was she hoping, He would do?
[19:44] John Calvin, Makes the interesting suggestion, That Mary hoped, That Jesus would, Give some pious exhortation, Which would have the effect, Of preventing the guests, From feeling uneasiness, And at the same time, Relieving the shame, Of the bridegroom, Close quote, Mary was hoping, That Jesus would stand up, And say something like, Look, We've all had a good time, Haven't we?
[20:08] We've all had enough, To eat and to drink, This couple has done, The best they could, Let's just be grateful, For what they've done, Alright? Well, Whatever it was, That she had in her mind, Jesus responds, Woman, What do I have to do with you, My hour has not yet come, Woman, The word sounds harsh, But it is not, It is not a degrading term, That he uses, This is the same word, Jesus uses, When as he hung on the cross, He saw the apostle John, Standing by Mary, And said, Woman, Behold your son, Scholars have suggested, That we render the term, Madam, Or my lady, Or woman dear, The important thing to note, Is that Jesus, Does not call her mother, He never calls her mother, If she wants his help now, She will not get it, On the basis, Of their mother, Son relationship, Jesus is letting her know, That she no longer, Has any parental authority, Over her, This is the beginning,
[21:10] Of the sword, For Mary, This must have hurt, Sovereignty, We learn here, That although Jesus, Is sensitive to cultural dynamics, He is not bound by them, He is not driven by them, In the Middle East, First or 20th century, A man is bound, To his parents, Until they die, He must do what the parents, Wish until they die, At this wedding feast, Jesus graciously, But decisively, Transcends that cultural value, What do I have to do with you, He says, Literally the words are, What to me, And to you, In the synoptic gospel, Matthew, Mark, And Luke, The demons, Speak to Jesus, Using this phrase, What to me, And to you, The implication being, What claim, Do you have upon us, Jesus is saying, To his mother, That she no longer, Has a claim upon him, As mother, She too, Will have to become, A disciple, Family ties, And cultural values, Will not affect, The shape of his ministry, He is Lord, And no one, Not even his mother,
[22:10] Can obligate him, To act, Someone has expressed, The implication of this, This way, The life of a Christian, Is a life of paradoxes, We must lay hold of God, And God wants this, We must follow hard, After God, We must determine, Not to let God go, And yet, We must learn, To let God alone, Mary seems to understand this, And so turns to the servants, And say, Whatever he says to you, Do it, That's a great model of faith, She does not know, What Jesus will do, But she does know, That Jesus will do, The right thing, She can trust him, To meet this need, In his way, Leslie Newbigin, Former bishop, Of the church of south India, Says, This is not apathetic resignation, This is expectant faith, Whatever he tells you to do, Do it, Jesus manifests his sovereign lordship, Which means then, That those who behold his glory, Will also like Mary,
[23:11] Surrender, To that sovereign lordship, We come finally then, To the heart of this event, At the wedding, In Canaan of Galilee, Jesus fifthly, Manifests creative power, Creative power, Simply by speaking, He turns 120 gallons, Of stagnant water, Into the finest of wines, And what strikes me, About this deed, Is that it is done, So modestly, No fanfare, No hype, He just tells the waiter, To fill up the jars, Draw the water out, Take it to the head waiter, And to the waiter's surprise, And to the head waiter's surprise, This liquid, Is vintage wine, And yet, In this modest deed, Jesus manifests himself to us, As the author of a new creation, Or more accurately, Through this modest deed, Jesus manifests himself, As the creator, Come into the midst of our, His broken creation, To make all things new, Now many,
[24:12] Many people, Have problems, With an event like this, And the other events, In the gospels, Many people, Including many theologians, Doubt, That it happened this way, One scholar, For example, Argues, That John has misunderstood, The comment made, By the head waiter, What really happened, According to this scholar, Is this, The wine runs out, Water is served, Why, That's the best joke of all, They lift their wine cups, As we do in fun, The bridegroom is congratulated, By the master of ceremonies, Who carries the joke, Farther still, Why, You've kept the wine, The best wine till now, It requires only a servant, Going through the room, Into the kitchen, For a wonderful rumor to start, I could cite other examples, Of the attempt to, Reconstruct, What really happened there, Well why not let the story, Stand as it is, In his gospel, John presents himself, As an eyewitness, Why not take him at his word, He's clearly not stupid, The story is told, In matter of fact terms, Six jars, Twenty gallons each, Cana,
[25:12] Galilee, Mother of Jesus, Why not let John's words, Mean what they say, How one deals, With the gospel records, Of Jesus extraordinary deeds, Is finally determined, By one's overall world view, If one holds, That the universe is closed, That is, If one holds, That everything that happens, Has to have its cause, In the visible, Measurable realm, Then the deeds of Jesus, Are going to be problematic, But if one holds, That the universe is open, That is, If one holds, That there is more to reality, Than that which can be measured, On an oscilloscope, Or stored in a computer, Then the deeds of Jesus, Are not problematic, You see, In the biblical world view, The living God, Is not only the creator, Of the universe, The living God, Is the sustainer, Of the universe, God not only made the world, God holds the world together, Moment by moment, That you and I, Are breathing right now, Because of the sustaining work of God, If God were to cease,
[26:15] This sustaining work, If God were to go to sleep, Or if God were to die, Everything would collapse, Everything would fall, Into a rubble of nothingness, What we call natural law, Is but a descriptive way, Of talking about the way, The creator ordinarily, Works his world, The creator however, Because he is the creator, Can periodically choose, To work in a different way, The creator can even do something, He's never done before, God can slow down, Or speed up, The normal process, The living God, Can even do it all, In another way, I think it was St. Augustine, Of the third century, Who said, That the creator, Is always making, Wine out of water, Only in a natural process, At Cana of Galilee, He simply speeded up, The process, Now, As helpful as that observation is, It does not do justice, To what happened that day, For Jesus did more, Than alter the subatomic structure, Of the liquids, Jesus brought into being, Something brand new,
[27:16] John is careful to tell us, That those six water pots, That were used, Were there for the Jewish, Purification rites, The first century Jews, Had all kinds of, Rituals involving water, And they were all designed, To bring purity, And to bring cleansing, And to bring spiritual vitality, But none of that ever did it, It never brought the spiritual vitality, Into being, Why?
[27:38] Because all those rituals, Were merely negative actions, Leslie Newbegin again, The water removes uncleanness, But it does not give, The fullness of joy, What the law cannot supply, Jesus gives in super abundance, Jesus actions go beyond, Rectifying a defect, Jesus brings into being, Something that is really new, Now, John calls this first act of Jesus, The beginning of Jesus signs, The beginning, This word that he uses, The word arche, Does mean, The beginning as first in a sequence, But it also, And primarily means, Beginning as representative, Of the whole series, Beginning as primal, And archetypal, Beginning as, Everything else in the series, Is patterned after it, John is saying, That Jesus' deed at Cana, Pictures everything else, That is to come, This is a picture, Of what all of Jesus' deeds, In the world, Are about, Jesus comes into the world,
[28:40] And touches things, And what he touches, Transforms, Jesus comes into the world, And touches things, And what he touches, Becomes new, Saint Irenaeus was right, When he said, The glory of God, Is a human being, Made whole, But he did not go far enough, For the Cana event tells us, The glory of God, Is the whole creation, Made new, Now, What are the implications, For us then, Who live in the shadow, Of the third millennium, What are the implications, For us from looking at this, It seems to me, That this event, Gives us tremendous hope, If I'm reading our culture right, One of the dominant words, That describes where we are, Is hopelessness, And this event, Gives us hope, If this Jesus, Is in the picture, There is hope, If he did it then, He can do it now, If he did it in Galilee, He can do it in Glendale, If he manifested, This transforming glory, In Galilee,
[29:41] He can do it in Glendale, He entered into people's, Ordinary joys in Galilee, He can do it in Glendale, He involved himself, In people's potential, Embarrassments in Galilee, He can do it in Glendale, He provided for people's needs, In Galilee, And did it super abundantly, He can do it in Glendale, He created something, That was brand new, Out of the old, In Galilee, He can do it in Glendale, Or Burbank, Or Pasadena, Or Los Angeles, Jesus' action, At Cana of Galilee, Gives us tremendous hope, He can take a stagnant marriage, And fill it with new joy, He can take a strained, Dysfunctional family system, And fill it with new grace, He can enter a stressed out, Under pressure workplace, And fill it with new peace, He can take hold of a budget, Be it a family, Church, City, University, Nation budget, Shake out the waste, And make it work redemptively, He can enter the halls of government, And cause new righteousness to flow, He can move through this city,
[30:42] And cause rivers of new life to flow, Do you believe that? Isn't He still the author of a new creation? You and I cannot turn water into wine, Some of us have tried a long time, We can't do it, You and I cannot change the shape of broken humanity, But He can, And He has, And He is doing it right now, That's what the Cana event means for us today, There is hope, Jesus has manifested His glory, He's manifested His essence, He is the one who comes, And makes all things new, Generously new, Well does that mean that we just, Sit there, Passively, And wait, Passively, For Him to act?
[31:26] On the one hand, Yes, On the one hand, We have no choice, But to wait, But on the other hand, We don't wait passively, For the event of Cana tells us, That you and I have an active role to play, And it is this, We are to invite Jesus to the party, John seems to emphasize this, In verse 2, He emphasizes that Jesus was invited to the party, The point, Someone has said it this way, He goes where He is invited, He goes where He is invited, Jesus Christ finds an invitation irresistible, And we invite Him, Into the various spheres of our lives, We will witness, And experience, His transforming glory, Now I know in some circles, Even in some Christian circles, The statement I made, Is judged as naive, It's judged as simplistic, It's judged as irrelevant, Given the great needs of our time, But it is not, Given who Jesus Christ is,
[32:27] It is not simplistic, It is not irrelevant at all, We are not talking about the Avon lady here folks, You know sometimes it seems that way though, Sometimes it seems that way, That you and I think, On Sunday morning, We are talking about somebody you can, It is not the Avon lady, This is the recreating creator, Coming to our midst, And inviting Jesus to the party, Is the most relevant, The most logical thing, That any individual, Any church, Any community, Any nation can do, For what Jesus touches, He transforms, Is your marriage stale?
[33:09] Invite him in, Go home, And kneel down by your bed, And invite him in again, Is your family system strained? Invite him in, Is your neighborhood dark, Or cold, Or empty?
[33:24] Invite him in, Walk the streets of your neighborhood, And invite him in, Are your local schools, Under siege by drugs and gangs, Invite him in, No one needs to know, That you are doing the invitation, You will get in trouble, If you do the invitation, No one needs to know that, But just stand there, In the hallways of the school, And invite him onto the schoolyard, And invite him in all the classrooms, Are you concerned, About what is happening in the government?
[33:50] Invite him in, I am dead serious, Invite him in, He goes wherever he is invited, And wherever he is invited, He transforms what he touches, Invite Jesus to the party, And then do what he says to do, Mary says to the servants, Whatever he says to you, Do it, That's when the transformation starts, When we do what he says to do, He alone can create the new life, But he does it through our obedience of faith, Fill the water pots with water, Says Jesus to the servants, You know those servants could have said, That's a really silly thing to do, Or those servants could have asked, What possible good will that do?
[34:34] Besides we've got enough water, In these other water pots, What possible connection can there be, Between filling those jars, And meeting the need for wine, Those servants could have stood there, Like many of us do, And debated with Jesus, Instead they did what he said to do, And through their apparently unrelated, And their apparently insignificant, Act of obedience, Jesus brought into being, That which is brand new, Invite him to the party, And then do whatever he tells you to do, Today the tables are turned, He has invited us to the party, He's invited us to this meal, To this really simple meal, In honor of him, Do this in remembrance of me, He says, Take a piece of bread and eat it, Take a cup and drink it, We could stand there, And we could think, What an insignificant thing to do,
[35:37] In light of all of the significant issues, Of our time, Come on Jesus, Ask me to do something significant, Or we could ask, What possible good, Will this do, In light of my horrendous needs, This text tells us, You listen to his mother, She says, Whatever he says, Do it, Because whenever anyone, Has heeded his mother's words, Her son, Has caused new wine, To flow, In abundance, The Dad's words, Which can bringiver says, Who's with some dead, And love her, Who's with some dead, Triple miles, And love her, Down of the ramp, This text turns out, That trip offers poor, Now we can drive, To the lady, We're moving, To do it, Where does the right, To do it, Where do the right, To do it, To do it, To do it, To do it, To do it, To do it, That trip thirstyye, To do it, To do it, To do it,
[36:37] To do it, To do it, To do the right, To do it, To do it,