Welcome back to the course. I'm excited to study with you today and hope you are too.
When thinking about the Gospel and the Church, we must remember that we, the church, are the bride of Christ because Jesus purchased us with His own blood. All believers are, in this life, "engaged to be married" and will one day celebrate the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:19).
Right now, as people who are "engaged," we look to Jesus for love, comfort, enjoyment, and fellowship, rather than to this world for those things. In this lesson, let's see the glorious truth that Jesus is our Bridegroom who gave His life to make us His own (Ephesians 5:22-33) and how He began to reveal His glory at a wedding.
“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. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." 4 "Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet come. 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you." John 2:1-5 (NIV)
Question 1: What issue arose during the wedding?
In Jesus’ day, weddings were significant events that were long and drawn out - there was a time of betrothal, a price was paid for the bride, and the wedding feast alone could go on for a week. And it was at such a wedding feast where Jesus was a guest when this humiliating problem arose, the wedding couple ran out of wine. To us, this would be a small thing, but, at that time and place, such an incident would have brought life-long shame to the couple. And this is why Mary turned to Jesus for help. She wanted to spare this couple the shame of their failure.
Jesus responds to His mother in what seems to be an abrupt way by saying, “My hour has not yet come.” But looking back, we understand that Mary was actually asking no small thing. Where Mary saw the shame of this one moment, Jesus saw the weight of shame and guilt that He would bear for the failures of the whole world. Where Mary was asking Jesus to save one wedding feast, Jesus came to save His bride, and to enjoy an eternal wedding feast with her.
Question 2: In light of John 12:23-32, what was Jesus referring to when He said, "My hour has not yet come"?