Six Stone Jars
John 2:1-11
by Jim Westmoreland
Years ago when Johnny Carson was the host of The Tonight Show, he interviewed an eight year old boy. The young man was asked to appear because he had rescued two friends in a coal mine outside his hometown in West Virginia. As Johnny questioned the boy, it became apparent to him and the audience that the young man was a Christian. So Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday school. When the boy said he did Johnny inquired, "What are you learning in Sunday school?" "Last week," came his reply, "our lesson was about when Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine." The audience roared, but Johnny tried to keep a straight face. Then he said, "And what did you learn from that story?" The boy squirmed in his chair. It was apparent he hadn't thought about this. But, then he lifted up his face and said, "If you're going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus!" The little boy was on to something. Not bad advice!
Perhaps the most memorable wedding in the Bible takes place in John 2. If this was a typical Jewish wedding, which everything in the text indicates that it was, then it was much different than our idea of a wedding. When the day of the wedding arrives, the man and woman come together and walk through the streets of the city in a grand processional. Along each side of the road the towns people are singing, dancing, cheering, throwing flowers and celebrating with the couple. When the processional arrives at the towncourt, the man and woman ritually purify themselves. A big part of Jewish life was keeping oneself clean in terms of your faith and your relationship to God by observing certain rules and rituals. After they had used the water provided for this cleansing ritual, the party begins. It doesn't just last for one night, but it lasts for up to seven days. Family and friends gather together to celebrate the union of these two people. Jewish weddings were a grand and exciting event!
Jesus and a few of his disciples were invited to this wedding event, where it seems that Mary, his mother, who was probably related to the host family was helping coordinate all of the details for this seven-day event. Midway through the celebration, the unthinkable happens, they run out of wine. It would be like running out of food at your wedding reception when only half the people have been fed. What a disgrace! So, Mary goes to her son and asks if there is something, anything, that he can do about it.
Jesus' response is a little surprising. He says, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me. It is not quite time to show the world who I am." Mary felt that Jesus would help in some way and she tells the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
And Jesus turns and sees six stone jars. These were not mayonnaise jars. These jars held 20 to 30 gallons each. They were not clay pots, because they could not be used to hold water for the rites of purification. They were six stone jars that were apparently empty. Jesus tell the servants to fill these six stone jars with water and bring them back. Then the miracle happens. They fill up the stone water jars with water, and, when the servant dips some out to take to the master of the ceremony, it has become wine! Not just any wine, but quality wine, the kind that is usually served at the beginning of a banquet. And, there is not just a little wine, but they filled the jars to the brim, which means there is about 120 to 180 gallons of wine available! Jesus not only provided quality, He provided quantity. He responded to this need with an abundance.
Why is it that John tells us about this miracle? Well, he certainly wanted us to see that this miracle served as the inauguration of Jesus' ministry. He has been baptized, He has called his first disciples and now He has performed his first miracle. But more than just an inauguration of ministry, I believe John wants us to see something more significant in this story. It is a declaration of His coming, of the coming of the One who can fill our hearts the way He filled those stone jars.
Isn't that always the way of Jesus? He is in the transformation business. Jesus brings glory to everything He touches. He transforms the useless into the useful. He transforms the lower into the higher. I think of a foot-in-the-mouth, impulsive fisherman named Simon who Jesus transforms into a rock of Christ-like character who becomes known as Peter. I think of a quick-tempered disciple named John who was ready to call down fire from heaven on some inhospitable villagers, and Jesus transforms him into the apostle who said "We ought to love one another." I think of a selfish, money-hungry, turncoat, tax collector named Matthew, who Jesus transforms into a selfless Gospel writer beloved by every age for the wonderful telling of the birth story of our Savior. I think of the demon-possessed Mary Magdalene who Jesus transforms into the first evangelist of the church. I think of that intellectual giant named Paul, who was one of the greatest threats to the early church. But, Jesus revealed his glory, and Paul was transformed from the church's greatest threat to its greatest missionary.
Jesus never changes. He still transforms every life that surrenders to Him, every gift we put in His hands. How does He do it? The same way he did it then. Jesus takes our common, stone jars and fills us with His Spirit and we become fine wine to give life and hope to others. We move out of our comfort zones to be givers in whatever way we can. We are not observers. We are not "has beens" and we are not useless, unless we say and believe we are. Jesus takes our stone jars and transforms them into life-giving, joy-sustaining vessels of grace. We simply have to be obedient to his direction to glimpse His glory.
In this simple, compassionate act when Jesus took six stone jars and turned water into wine, the Glory and the true identity of Jesus was revealed.
Now listen to me! This happens every day! It happens every time we ask "What would Jesus do?" And then do it! Every time we go out of our way to be compassionate and loving simply because we have experienced the unconditional love and grace of God, we reveal the very presence of Jesus to the world. Once again, Jesus takes a stone jar and water is turned to wine, and the Glory and true identity of Jesus is revealed.
When Jesus is revealed in the ordinary things of life and we trust Jesus like Mary did, then we will be transformed. Because Jesus is in the transformation business. The water of our lives will be transformed to the Wine of the Kingdom. And that wine can transform the lives of others!
When Lewis Lawes became the warden at Sing Sing Prison in 1921, there was no tougher prison. But when Warden Lawes retired over twenty years later, that prison had become a humanitarian institution and a model for other prisons. Those who studied the prison gave him credit for the change. But when he was asked about the transformation, this is what he said: "I owe it all to my wonderful wife, Catherine, who is buried just outside the prison walls."
Catherine Lawes was a young mother with three small children when her husband became the warden at Sing Sing. From the beginning, others said that she should never step foot inside the prison walls or in any other facility that the prisoners would be using. But that didn't stop her! When the first prison basketball game was held, she insisted on going. She walked into the auditorium with her three beautiful children and sat in the stands with the hard-core criminals.
Other guests came up to her afterwards and asked, "How do you dare sit with these men? Why do you take your little children in there?" And she replied, "My husband and I are going to take care of these men, and I believe they will take care of me! I don't have to worry!"
She even insisted on getting acquainted with the records of the men. She discovered that one of the men convicted of murder was blind, so she paid him a visit. She stepped into the cold cell and sat down next to this man. Holding his hand in hers she warmly asked, "Do you read Braille?"
"What's Braille?" he asked. "Don't you know? It is a way that you can read with your fingers," she explained. "Well, I've never heard of it," he replied.
"I'll teach you then!" she said. And she taught that blind killer how to read Braille. Years later, he would weep out of love for her.
Later Catherine found that there was a deaf-mute in the prison, so she went to school to learn sign language. Soon she was communicating with him through the use of her hands. Many said that Catherine Lawes was the body of Jesus Christ that came alive again at Sing Sing prison from 1921 to 1937.
Then, one evening the car in which she was riding went out of control, and she was killed. The next morning her husband didn't come to work, so the acting warden came in his place. In an instant, the whole prison knew something was wrong. When they heard the news that their beloved lady had died, everyone of them wept.
The following day her body was resting in a casket in her home, three-quarters of a mile from the prison. As the acting warden took his early-morning walk, he was shocked to see a large crowd of the toughest, hardest-looking criminals, gathering like a herd of animals at the main gate. It looked as if they were ready to launch a riot.
He walked over to the group and, instead of seeing hostility in their eyes, he saw tears of grief and sadness. He knew how much they loved and admired Catherine. He turned and faced the men. "All right, men, you can go. Just be sure and check in tonight!" Then he opened the gate without another word and more than one hundred criminals walked, without a guard, three-quarters of a mile, to stand in line to pay their respects to Catherine Lawes. And every one of them checked in that night. Every one!(1)
It's amazing what one life can do when it's filled the Spirit of Christ. It's amazing how far a little water transformed into wine can continue that transformation process in the lives of others.
When Jesus is Revealed in the ordinary things of life and we Trust Jesus like Mary did, then we will be Transformed.
I believe that when Jesus looks at us He sees six stone jars. Do whatever He says to do, and let Him use our lives and our church to meet the needs of the people around us and bring them Life in all of its abundance. Amen.
Century Christian Church, January 14, 2007 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. Parables, Etc. (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; January 1990.