He Reveals

John 1:35-2:1

Welcome! Today we continue our exploration of the wonderful book of John. If you recall, we spent the month of January looking at the first two-thirds of the first chapter, what you might call the grand re-beginning of the Bible, that opens with the famous words “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” The Word, that is, Jesus, was there in Genesis. He was there when God said, “Let us make man in our own image.” And He was there with God, and as God, through all of the historical events recorded in the Old Testament. And He was there with God and as God in the hearts and minds of the prophets and poets and everyone else who contributed to the Old Testament Scripture, led word for word by the Spirit of God.

John wrote that “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us,” and John was there to see it, to see Him, to touch Him, to listen to Him, to learn from Him, to be forever changed by Him. In January we saw how John recorded the doings of one man known as John the Baptist, someone who lived out in the desert and preached a message of repentance, preparing hearts for the coming of the Word. When John the Baptist at last saw Him, he was given revelation and understanding by the Holy Spirit of God, and he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Although John the Baptist did not feel remotely worthy, he baptized this Jesus, this Lamb of God, and he saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Jesus. Because of this, and because the Spirit had prophetically told John the Baptist this would happen, he exclaimed, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

And so we pick up the story in chapter 1, verse 35. We will go from here through chapter 2, verse 11. This section of Scripture, if it were acted as a play, would have three scenes. So let us jump in to Scene One.

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” – John 1:35-38a

These are disciples of John the Baptist, people who had heard John’s teachings and callings for repentance, and who, presumably, themselves repented and probably were baptized by John. As his disciples, they continued to spend some time with him, although they also had to spend time making a living. But at this point in time, they are with John, and suddenly they hear John cry out this strange thing: “Look, the Lamb of God!” It would not surprise me at all if at first they started searching with their eyes for an actual lamb. Not seeing one, perhaps they looked more closely at where their teacher, or rabbi, John, was looking, and figured out that it was at a man.

This short passage leaves me with many questions. Perhaps the most pressing for me is why didn’t John follow Jesus? There is not enough detail in the passage to answer this for us – perhaps he was detained with other responsibilities, or perhaps he felt led by the Spirit that it was not for him to do. There is no question that John’s primary role was as a herald, a forerunner for Jesus.

So these two disciples, at this point unnamed in the narrative, figure out who John is talking about and follow Him. We don’t know if they tried to hide as they did this, although I like to imagine it this way. However, if there is one person in the entire universe you should not try to hide from, it is Jesus; as God reveals it to Him, He doesn’t even have to look to know exactly where you are, or where you have been, or even what you have been thinking. Anyway, Jesus turned to them and asked them, “What do you want?” An equally good translation would be “What do you seek?” or “What are you seeking?” Understand that there was no hostility or impatience in what Jesus was asking, unlike how we, most of the time, ask “What do you want?” Jesus’ question was not asked like this; it was asked openly, kindly, sincerely.

What a question to be asked by the Word who is God! How would you answer Him if He asked you, “What do you seek?” I know that I, as a seeker in the months and weeks and days before I prayed to receive Him, would have asked, “Is it true? Can I really trust these words are true?”

We could spend an entire message on the implications of this question for us. It is all too easy to seek the things Jesus offers without seeking Jesus Himself. We might be seeking salvation, forgiveness, even a heart that no longer wants to sin without seeking Him. He desires to give us these and many more good things, but above it all He desires us to become His disciples, to be with Him. He went to the cross so that we could be in intimate relationship with Him forever. What are you seeking?

They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” “Come,” He replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour. – John 1:38b-39

What was behind these two disciples’ question? I think they were trying to politely learn where they could more properly visit Him so as to maybe learn why John said such a crazy thing about Him. Following someone around wasn’t polite back then just as it isn’t polite now. Now Jesus could have replied by giving an answer to their question, and the conversation could have gone on along the lines of “my office hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,” from 11 until noon – oops, that’s the professor in me in talking. But my point is that Jesus’ invitation was pretty radical, if you stop to think about it. Here are these two quasi-stalkers caught in the midst of their quasi-stalking, and Jesus invites them to come along with Him! And they do. John even gives the time.

Actually I love that John gives the time. Although John never comes out and says it explicitly, John is almost certainly one of these two disciples. By marking the time, it is as if he is saying, “…and that moment when Jesus invited me to come with Him was the turning point of my life.” Well, it was the turning point of John’s life! And the moment we too put our trust and future in Him, when we start to “follow Him,” that too is the turning point of our lives.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). – John 1:40-42

Here we learn the name of the other of John the Baptist’s disciples: Andrew, brother of Simon Peter. And so Andrew and John spend time with Jesus, and apparently it was a profound experience. To those who honestly seek after God, it will always be so. As they spent time with Jesus, their hearts were stirred by the Holy Spirit, and at least Andrew, on this first meeting with Jesus, already felt in his heart that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah, foretold of in so many prophecies written by men inspired by God centuries ago.

Now a more literal reading would say that Andrew first found his brother, with the emphasis on his, and experts in Greek say that what is implied is that the other disciple, the one who refuses to name himself, later brought his brother. This is consistent with the other gospel accounts, which mention the four disciples, Andrew, John, Andrew’s brother Peter, and John’s brother James.

And so, apparently after spending quite some time with Jesus, they leave, and Andrew, to his credit, runs to his brother to tell him the good, no, the incredible news: we have found the Messiah! The Messiah! And so Andrew gets his brother to go with him, and knowing Peter, as revealed elsewhere in this and the other gospels, it probably didn’t take much to get him going – he probably would have run all the way there if he knew the location – the two of them are back with Jesus.

Does Jesus say, “Sorry, my office hours are over?” No. Does He tell him to come back tomorrow? No. Instead Jesus looks at this stranger and tells him his name. I guess he wasn’t such a stranger to Jesus. None of us are. You know, a day will come when we meet Jesus face to face, and He will have us at a great disadvantage. He will know us better than we know ourselves. In contrast, it will take us eternity to get to really know Him, for He is the infinite eternal God.

Back to Peter, Jesus tells him not only his name, implying that He knew all about him, including his impulsiveness, his instability, and his many other faults, but He also gave a future name for him, a name loaded with prophetic meaning, calling him a rock, a stone, the very picture of steadfastness, solidity, stability. And it didn’t come quickly, but as you look at Peter in the book of Acts, you can see that God raised him up to live up to his new name.

We now turn to Scene Two.

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, He said to him, “Follow Me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. – John 1:43-46

It says “Finding Philip.” Who found Philip? Jesus. Who had really found Andrew and John? Jesus. It wasn’t an accident that Jesus walked by John the Baptist and that he cried out about the Lamb of God and that Andrew and John happened to be there when that all happened. And it wasn’t happenstance that Andrew told Peter and John told James and that Philip told Nathanael. In John 15:16 Jesus reminds His disciples of this by saying, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” And in the same way, God chose us. It is certainly a paradox, the fact that our salvation is entirely His work and yet we have a critical role, to believe in Him, to call on His name, and I will leave it for the theologians to sort it all out. Honestly, I’m not sure we need to sort it all out, or even that we can. It is a paradox that our salvation depends on faith and yet it is the calling of God, and I am content to rest in that paradox. What I do know is that there is nothing I can boast in with regards to my salvation – yes, I had to choose to believe in Him, but it was His work, His doing, and He gets all the credit.

Anyway, how interesting that Jesus, right after “meeting” these guys, says He is going elsewhere. Is that an accident? No. Jesus from the very beginning is working to turn these guys into real disciples of Him, and pulling them away from home, at least now, to start, is how He intends to begin His work. The very act of leaving is a kind of test – are you willing to go with Him or to stay in your own comfortable world. And likewise we could say that Jesus calls us out of our world from day one as well. Not that we necessarily have to move to another city, but that we move out of the figurative city of sin and into a new city where we rely on Him to make us holy, set apart, called out. Remember how the Greek word for church, ekklesia, really means “called-out ones.” These six will indeed follow Him, but we are getting ahead of our story.

Let’s talk about Nathanael’s opinion of Nazareth. On the one hand he may have simply meant that the Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem, as per Old Testament prophecy (Micah 5:2). But he also may have meant something more derogatory about the place Nazareth. It is interesting if this second situation was the case, because others didn’t think much of the whole region, of Galilee, as we see in Acts. Now Nathanael was himself a Galilean, so if this was a putdown, it’s doubly strong coming from him. The best analogy I can think of is if a person from the “wonderful” state of New Jersey speaks negatively of Atlantic City. You know Atlantic City is bad if even the “New Jerseyeans” (or whatever they are called) hate it!

Regardless, I love Philip’s response: Come and see. When we are talking to others about Christ, this is a good template for us. Rather than getting dragged into a meaningless discussion off the central point of who is Christ, we would do better getting people to “come and see.” This may have different contexts depending on the situation. For some people, it may mean “Read the Bible for yourself.” For others, it may mean, “Try praying, talking to God. See what happens.” For others it might possibly mean, “Try coming to a Bible study,” or “Try coming to church.” It really depends on the individual situation as to what is appropriate.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” – John 1:47-49

Wow! What a quick and complete change of heart! It might be the quickest such turnaround in the Bible. I think it is pretty likely that something here has been unsaid – there is a story behind that moment under the fig tree, something happened there that we are not privy to, but it was something profound, and I think it was something directly tied in to Jesus’ compliment to Nathanael, that in him there was nothing false. Perhaps Nathanael made a decision under that fig tree that would cost him personally, a decision to stay true despite the cost. Perhaps it was simply something about the content of a silent prayer Nathanael made to God under that fig tree. Another theory is that Jesus is talking about a moment under a fig tree long before this day, perhaps even something that happened to him as an infant. It is pure conjecture, but some have suggested that maybe his mother hid him under a fig tree to protect him one particular day from Herod back at the time of Jesus’ birth.

We simply don’t know. You can ask Nathanael in heaven, I guess. You might get an answer like Aslan’s answer in the Narnia books to those who want to know what will happen to someone else, though, basically that it is not for you to know. But the bottom line is that it proved to Nathanael without a doubt that Jesus was fully deserving of two astounding titles, Son of God, and King of Israel. Both of these were titles in the Old Testament prophecies for the coming Messiah.

Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.” He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” – John 1:50-51

Sometimes I wish the Bible came with emoticons, those little faces that can smile or frown or show other emotions. I think there should be a smiley face after Jesus says “You shall see greater things than that.” Surely He was smiling as He said that! It reminds of how, when Hannah was three or four, we went out driving to look at Christmas lights, and just driving out of our neighborhood, she was saying “Oooh!” and “Wow!” I don’t know exactly what I said, but it would have been appropriate to say, “You shall see greater things than that!” I think we went to the display down by the beach towards Anderson, and she was actually silent for a while, because it was as if, since she had used “Oooh!” and “Wow!” and such lesser displays, there weren’t really appropriate words for what she was seeing now. And this is true not only for Nathanael, but for us. Pardon the grammar, but compared with what awaits us in Heaven, “We ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

As for what Jesus said Nathanael would see, this refers to Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28, in which Jacob saw a stairway or ladder resting on the earth with its top reaching to Heaven, and there were angels ascending and descending on it. From the top the Lord told Jacob that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him and his offspring. Note that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in that He is that offspring, descended of Jacob, and that through Him all nations are blessed, because He has become that ladder to Heaven, that through Him and only through Him, man can bridge the gap between this world and Heaven. After Jesus died and rose from the dead, Nathanael, at least figuratively, saw the first fruits of this sacrifice; he saw those who could now ascend to heaven because of Jesus, our Ladder, our Stairway.

Before we go on to Scene Three, let me just say that we are going to look at one of Jesus’ miracles. Led by the Spirit, John chose to record eight miracles in his gospel. This is the first. The other seven occur in Chapters 4, 5, 6 (there are two in this chapter), 9, 11, and 21. And so, on to Scene Three:

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, why do you involve Me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” – John 2:1-4

Cana was a two-day walk from the location where Chapter 1 took place, about 22 miles. Cana was in Galilee, about 8 miles away from Nazareth, where Jesus had grown up. We don’t know why Jesus’ mother Mary was there, other than she was invited, although it seems like she had a more official role. Perhaps she was a relative of one of those getting married.

Now Jesus has just begun his ministry. It’s only been days since He was baptized by John the Baptist and gone on to gather together His first disciples. They are here with Him. And so you can view this coming first miracle not only as a beginning but also as an ending; that He is now in a way saying goodbye to His family, not that He won’t visit them, but that His life is changing now and will never be the same.

Now from what I have read, wedding feasts were the biggest events a family would ever have. They normally began on Wednesdays, with a great feast, and following this was a ceremony, and there was more feasting and merrymaking for as long as the family could afford it, from two to seven days. Each night they would dress the bride and groom back in their wedding clothes and parade them around town like royalty. Some of you are probably thinking one day is enough! Maybe others of you are thinking that sounds like fun. I’m not going to reveal which group I belong to.

Jesus and His disciples were invited to this wedding. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Jesus went to Galilee, because He had already been invited. Perhaps the nature of the invitation was to bring whoever you want to bring, so Jesus brought the disciples with Him. Or perhaps when He got to Cana the disciples were invited to join in.

Now, they ran out of wine, and Jesus’ mother, who may have had some kind of official role, told Jesus. Now to be clear, this was wine, not grape juice. As a child my family grew some concord grapes, grapes often used for wine, and without refrigeration, it is impossible for these grapes not to ferment. In fact, they would ferment right on the vine. We basically picked “wine drops” when we ate those grapes. Wine was drunk daily; it was a part of life back then. Now, regular drinking wine was more diluted than the wine you buy today, but it was still fermented. Now, I don’t think you can use this passage either way to discuss whether you should drink wine today. There are plenty of other verses strictly prohibiting drunkenness, and there are yet other passages showing that no food in and of itself is prohibited, but the decision about whether an individual will choose to drink drinks with alcohol is a personal one and there is freedom to choose either way. I have chosen not to drink, partly because of a family history that includes alcoholism and partly for other personal reasons, but I would never look down on someone who chooses to drink within the guidelines of Scripture, and neither should anyone else.

Anyway, Jesus replies to His mother by asking why she involves Him and by saying His time has not yet come. Now by involving Him, and by looking at His answer to her, we can conclude that she knows what He can do. Remember how even with the events of His birth, Mary “treasured up these things in her heart.” These “things” are still there in her heart. She sees that things are changing with Jesus. Here He is with disciples! And her request was not a selfish one – it was a severe embarrassment to run out of wine. And you couldn’t just go to the local “ABC Package Store” to pick some more up. And it’s a “small” miracle request, isn’t it? In fact, have you ever noticed that all of Jesus’ miracles are “small” miracles? He chose simple things. He could have chosen much more flashy things. Really, even the miracles in Egypt were “flashier” than the ones Jesus did.

We can safely say that the reason Jesus didn’t do “big” miracles is because He didn’t want to. There is no question He could have done anything. He could have teleported all the Pharisees and others who hated Him to Pluto for a few seconds, let them choke on the gases and shiver in the extreme cold, and pop them back here. But that wasn’t His way.

Now when Jesus calls her “Woman,” this is not a put-down. Jesus is not being rude to His mother. At the same time, it is not the word for “Mother.” Perhaps the closest thing we have in English, although it harkens back to an earlier time, would be to say, “My Lady.” It engenders respect, but not the family tie. I think Jesus did this because, in effect, He was saying that He had now entered the public ministry, entering into His role as the Savior of the world, and His former family ties would no longer be the same. Mary needed Jesus as her Savior, just like everyone else. Unlike what the Catholics say, Mary was not sinless, and had no special position with regards to salvation.

Now, from what I have read, the translation “Why do you involve Me” is not the best way to translate the Greek passage. This passage is an idiom, which literally means, “What do we have in common.” In fact, from what I have read, we tend to read this almost exactly the wrong way. Jesus is not saying, “This is your concern, not Mine,” He is actually saying the opposite: “This is My concern, not yours.” And “My time has not yet come” is similarly better translated as “My time to come is Mine to say.” In other words, Jesus is saying to His mother that He knows, and He will decide what to do.

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then He told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” – John 2:5-8a

I love this! It is good His mother said what she said to the servants, or they might have refused. First of all, do you know how much this amount of water weighs? It weighs about 1000 to 1500 pounds, and most likely it had to be brought up bucket by bucket from a well, a pretty major job. And then they are supposed to just take some to the master of the banquet? Where’s the hocus pocus? Where’s the magic wand? Where’s even the prayer? Nothing! How would you like to be that servant, bringing some out to the master of the banquet?

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” – John 2:8b-10

The master of the banquet was something like the head waiter. And he tastes it and it tastes incredible. And he makes the joke (but true) that normally you get people drunk and then bring out the cheap stuff because at that point they can’t tell the difference.

Those servants who had to labor bringing up all that water and who probably were quite worried when bringing some to the master of the banquet were actually the privileged ones – they got to see Jesus’ miracle first-hand. And of course those with Jesus also saw it – His brand new disciples.

On one hand this was truly a small miracle – so few got to see it, and it seems to us like it was for such an unimportant thing. But I challenge you to find any chemist who can turn 150 gallons of water into extremely good, smooth, balanced, aged wine, or into any kind of wine at all.

This, the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him. – John 2:11

What do you think they thought? I am sure they thought that traveling with Jesus would be unlike anything any of them had ever done before. They knew He was no ordinary man – and as it says, they put their faith in Him. Their understanding of just who He was was still evolving, but the word Messiah was certainly circulating in their discussions and thoughts.

I want to close with just a few quick thoughts about the symbolism of this miracle. Here you had a people gathered together whose old wine had run out. And so Jesus made new wine miraculously come from plain water, “wineless wine,” you could call it. I find in this miracle symbolism of the gospel – Jesus came to make something new miraculously come from something else that was without the essence of what it was for – through His death and resurrection, He makes new people from “peopleless people,” that is, He makes redeemed people out of those who cannot possibly redeem themselves. And as each new person comes to saving faith in Christ, He again reveals His glory, and we, His disciples, put our faith ever more completely in Him.