City Life Starter

By Scott Fiddler

The Word: John 2:1-8

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;

2and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.

3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus *said to Him, “They have no wine.”

4And Jesus *said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.”

5His mother *said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

6Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.

7Jesus *said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim.

8And He *said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him.

Ji assigned me verses 1-8 of John Chapter 2 this week, but I I did not get past the first four words of the first verse: “On the third day…” The words just jumped off the page screaming for attention. I had never noticed those four words before, but now they were obvious. The most important event in history had happened “on the third day,” namely the resurrection of Jesus. This is not to say these two events happened on the same day of the week but “on the third day.”

The third day was the day Jesus rose from the dead demonstrating to all that He had defeated death and paved the way for reversing the curse that had plagued God’s creation since man’s rebellion against God in the Garden. The same curse had not only spread like a spiritual cancer in humans but throughout all of creation, bringing poverty where there was once prosperity and scarcity where there was once abundance.

And now, Jesus, on the third day, was at a wedding in Cana, and the curse of scarcity was brought to the forefront by an embarrassing lack of wine. Jesus’ mother recognized the obvious embarrassment for the bride and bridegroom and mentioned it to Jesus (v. 3). Jesus, recognizing it may have been the third day but not yet that third day, said, “My hour has not yet come.” (v 4.). He then told the servants to fill the water pots with water, draw some water, and take it to the headwaiter. The servants obeyed Jesus.

Jesus gave a preview of what the third day would ultimately mean by turning water into wine, not just a little wine but 150 gallons of wine! There would be no more lack of wine at this wedding or for this couple for months or years to come. It was fitting Jesus’ miracle at Cana was His first because it was the broadest possible metaphor for what Jesus came to do. He did not come only to save people from their sins but to save and redeem His creation. (John 3:16).

Application

I love the song, Joy to the World, particularly this verse: “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.” This what the third day means to Christians. Jesus’ work of reversing the effects of the curse began with His resurrection on the third day and it starts in our lives when we surrender our lives in obedience to Him. It is at that point we give Jesus full reign to reverse the effects of the curse in our lives, and we become useful to Him in reversing the effects of the curse in the world around us.