The New age

The New Age

John 2:1-11

How many of you traveled to work last week on horseback? Probably no one. Yet, just over a century ago, that was the most common form of transportation. How many of you read stories to your children last night by candlelight? Again, probably no one. Today, we flip a switch, and the room fills with light. How many of you stored your milk or meat in an icebox packed with blocks of ice? Likely none. We rely on refrigerators powered by electricity to keep our food cold and safe. These everyday conveniences remind us how quickly the world changes. What was once ordinary has been replaced by something new.

These are things we rarely notice in everyday life, but they represent dramatic shifts from an older way of life. Many of us here still remember life before smart phones—and many of you wish we could go back to those days—but we can’t. The world is always moving forward. The new is always trying to break through and replace the old.

That’s part of God’s creational order. God gave us dominion over the earth—to exercise authority over it—and by doing so, we manipulate and improve it for the good of others.

The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ is no different. He lived a very normal life with his family in Nazareth. His father Joseph trained Him as a carpenter, after which He worked as a carpenter himself.

But at His baptism the heavens opened, and a voice from heaven declared, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” and, with that, Jesus’ life, once mundane and consistent, was suddenly marked by divine purpose. That proclamation came from above changed everything. He was now on a divine mission to bring about the will of the Father. The Spirit of God descended and remained, and Jesus began His earthly ministry as the Messiah on His way to the cross.

This was not just the beginning of His ministry; it was the beginning of a new age. The old was fading away—the new had come. Jesus ushered in the Messianic Age. We see this in how our history books divide time into two periods: “Before the Common Era” and “Common Era”. However, these divisions were only popularized in the 1990s. For centuries, time was divided as “Before Christ” and “After Christ” (Anno Domini, “the year of the Lord”). As we will see in our text today, the dividing line of history was inaugurated when Jesus came and ushered in the new age of the Messiah.

The Setting of the Sign

Many scholars divide the Gospel of John into two halves. The first twelve chapters are known as the “Book of Signs” while the second half, chapters 13-20, is referred to as the “Book of Glory”. The first of the signs takes place at a wedding. 

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” John 2:1–3

In the ancient world, weddings typically lasted about seven days, and it was the groom’s responsibility to pay for all the food and drink for the entire celebration. Mary and Jesus were invited to this wedding. It could have been a distant relative or a close friend, although some suggest it was more intimate, perhaps close enough that Mary had some responsibility for the catering. We see that Jesus also attended the wedding. But He was not alone; He brought His new disciples. Our passage today is in John 2, but in chapter 1, John tells us that Jesus had just begun gathering followers.

Now, perhaps Mary knew this family well. After all, if you’re a guest at a wedding, you usually don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes. You don’t know they’ve run out of food or drink. But if you’re part of the inner circle, you know. Mary knew, and she diagnosed the problem quickly: “They have no wine.”

This was a big deal. Running out of wine would have brought shame upon the bridegroom. 

Our culture struggles to understand shame because we live in a guilt-innocence culture—an individualistic society where people break laws, are found guilty, and seek justice or forgiveness to rectify a wrong. But the New Testament world was an honor-shame culture, a communal society where the actions of one person affected the whole group. Failing to provide wine wasn’t just embarrassing; it dishonored the groom, his family and, by extension, the bride and her family. If Mary was involved in hosting, it would have brought shame upon her too.

Now, we might ask: what was Mary’s motive behind saying this to Jesus? “They have no wine.” Why tell Him this? We don’t know for certain. It could have been something natural, a regular response for Mary to turn to her oldest son for help. Tradition suggests that, by this time, Joseph had died, and Mary, as a widow, had learned to depend on Jesus, her eldest son. He was the one who most likely cared for the family and provided for them as a carpenter. When problems arose, Mary naturally turned to Him. She was doing what any mother might do: looking to the one she trusted most to act wisely and take responsibility to help her. 

The Bible does not give us a lot of details about Jesus’ life before His baptism, but it is logical to assume that He lived those 30 years as a faithful son, caring for His mom and half brothers and sisters. He was a faithful carpenter working with His hands to provide a life for His family. Scripture says that He “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Jesus knew what it meant to bear the weight of work, to serve others without recognition, and to provide stability and strength to those under His care. In His humanity, He dignified the everyday labor of men and showed what mature manhood looks like: responsibility, reliability, initiative, and humility.

Men, this is a needed word for us today. We live in an age when masculinity is often confused or caricatured. Many men abandon their responsibilities, while others use their strength to dominate and serve themselves rather than those under their care. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16,

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 16:13–14

This is the call of manhood: watchfulness, steadfastness, and spiritual courage. True manhood looks like Jesus: gentle yet firm, sacrificial yet steadfast, servant-hearted yet strong. Brothers, we must lead our homes with tenderness, fight for purity with vigilance, and labor in the world with joy for the glory of God. Be the kind of men your families, your church, and your world can depend on. Be men who reflect the strength and compassion of Christ Himself. We want our mothers and our wives to look at us when there is a problem and say, “Can you help?” 

One of the greatest challenges facing our culture is that many young men are not acting like men. They are not watchful. They are not standing firm in the faith or living in the strength God has given. A recent article in the New York Times, which highlightes this “Boy Crisis”, states,

• 10% of men aged 20 to 24 are neither enrolled in school nor working, which is double from 1990

• Since 2010, the suicide rate among young men has increased by ⅓

• 25% of men 15-34 admitted to experiencing a lot of loneliness the previous day

• 15% admitted to having no close friends, which is up from 3% 20 years ago. 

Al Molher, who has spoken about these issues extensively on his podcast, notes, that one of the main contributing factors for the lack of flourishing of young men,

……is the prevalence of modern technology, which gives boys the opportunity. All children frankly, and men as well as boys, by the way, the opportunity to just check out and go into a virtual world, video games, internet and all the rest.

Many other factors are included as well: fatherlessness and lack of godly male role models, lack of friendship, the rise of  pornography and entertainment options, etc. While this is not the main point of this passage, it is an issue that we must consider as a church, as a broader evangelical community, and as a society.  

Many young men struggle to take initiative, to work hard at something that does not offer instant results, or to lead with conviction in a world that celebrates comfort. In John 2, we get a glimpse that  Jesus did just the opposite—He labored, persevered, and obeyed even when it cost Him everything. Brothers, the call to “act like men” (1 Corinthians 16:13) means rejecting passivity and embracing purposeful strength. It means showing up—at home, at work, at church—and shouldering responsibility with grace and grit and modeling a Christ-likeness to our families and neighbors. The world needs men who will do hard things for the glory of God, who will take up the towel to serve, and who will take up the cross to follow Christ.

Yes, it was probably natural that Mary turned to Jesus at this moment because He had demonstrated a life of faithfulness and dependability. So men, when your wife or your mother asks you to do something, consider it a blessing not a burden. 

Now, it could have been a natural response for Mary or it could have been deeper. Perhaps she was thinking of the prophecies concerning her son, remembering what the angel said, recalling His baptism, and wondering if this was the time for Him to show His divinity. In the end, we don’t know for sure. But John makes it clear what he wants us to see. 

The Savior of the Sign

As we read verse 4, Jesus’ response to Mary seems cold and harsh, but in it, He reveals His messianic purpose. 

Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Here, Jesus distances Himself from His mother. He’s respectful but abrupt. Some of your translations, like the NIV, say “dear woman,” but the Greek word gynai simply means “woman.” It can be used politely but not intimately.

It’s the same word Jesus used on the cross when He said, “Woman, behold your son.”  He isn’t being rude. He’s being clear. It would be like someone today saying, “Ma’am, what does that have to do with me?” Respectful, but distant. Why? Because Jesus is signaling that He no longer answers to His mother; he answers to His Father in heaven. His mission is now divine. He is set to obey the Father in all things, even to death on the cross. He says, “My hour has not yet come.” If you’ve read John’s Gospel before, that phrase—“my hour”—is a thread running throughout the book. The “hour” refers to the hour of the cross: Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and glorification. 

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:23–24

When Jesus references “the hour”, He is including His death and resurrection. During the high priestly prayer of John 17,

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. John 17:1–5

In John 2:4, Jesus is laying out His divine purpose to his mother. Since His baptism, His mission has formally begun. 

If you’re here today and you’re not a Christian—or you’re just exploring the faith—you might ask, “What does that mean? Why is that hour so important?” Why are the cross and resurrection so important?  They are important because the cross and the resurrection are the center of the Christian story and the dividing line of all history. 

The Bible tells us why the world is the way it is. After God made the world good, man rebelled against God and brought sin and death into the world.  Every time we see suffering—death, disease, disaster—we are reminded that the world is broken, and because we know the world is broken, we know why “the hour” is so important. The hour is when God saves all those who would believe. 

Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Father in life, and He lived in perfect obedience to the Father in death. Jesus came to that hour, the hour of His death, an hour that every single one of us will also face, the hour of our own death, and He came so that when we take our last breath, our hour could be connected to His hour. The hour when He, right before His last breath said, “It is finished.” He came for that hour when He would hang on the cross, taking on Himself the sin of everyone who would repent of their sins and trust in Him.

If you’re here and you’re not a Christian, if you want to have hope for eternal life, meaning that when your hour comes, you’re safe in the Lord. If you want to know that you will live again even after you die, the only way to live again is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Put your faith in Him this morning. Even today, confess your sins to God. Talk to the person next to you or the person who invited you or find me at the door after the service. Don’t leave this room without making a commitment to Christ.

Notice how Mary responded to Jesus. She didn’t go back to Him and say, “I’m your mother, do it.” No, instead she said, “I’m your servant.” Then, she said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” This is never bad advice. Do whatever Jesus tells you. 

The Symbol of the Sign

But now we are back to the problem: the wine is gone, and the bridegroom and his family face potential shame. What does all this mean? 

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.  John 2:6–8

Jesus was probably addressing the chief waiter, not the host or hostess, and the servants did exactly what Jesus told them to do.  

When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” John 2:9–10

I’d like to make a few comments before we dive into the symbolism here. Jesus turned water into wine. Now, this wine would have been alcoholic; it would have been fermented. Some people say that it wasn’t, but we know that if that had been the case, the head waiter’s comments would make no sense when he said, “You have brought out good wine.” It tasted like wine; it was like wine of that era.

The Bible does not condemn the drinking of wine. In fact, Paul is very explicit in his instruction to Timothy, 

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:4–5

We do not want to be people who condemn the natural world. That which God made is good. It is to be received with thanksgiving to the Lord and made holy through the Word of God and prayer.  This means that we should only use that which is natural in the world to glorify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to address two errors that we should be cautious of when we approach a topic like alcohol.

The first error is legalism. Legalism is the belief that, by following certain rules, we have a better standing with God. Therefore, we want, or demand, that others follow the same standards or convictions that we have so that they, too, can have a better standing with God.

The second error is licentiousness. This is the belief that we are free to do anything we want because we are free in Christ and, therefore, we are free to live however we please.

Those are two errors. Some of you may lean one way; others may lean the other way, but both are wrong. We cannot earn greater favor with God by following certain rules. We are not saved by works done in righteousness but by His mercy. Conversely, we cannot live any way we want. We live under the law of Christ, and we are bound to live for His glory and for the good of His people.

Please consider this as a point of instruction, not a mandate, but a pastoral nudge. I would strongly encourage you to lay down your right to drink and/or severely limit drinking on the occasions when you do partake. In all my years of ministry, I have never heard anyone who does not drink say, “I really regret not drinking.” However, I have heard countless people say, “I wish I had never started.” Maybe you need to reconsider laying down alcohol as a safeguard for yourself, for the good of the church, and for the glory of God.

Now, back to the text. Jesus turned water into wine. Why? What is the symbolism here? In John 2:1, John writes, On the third day. John does not provide many dates in his gospel. He notes only a few at the beginning of the book. In chapter 1, he began by echoing creation. “In the beginning, God...” Now, in chapter 2, we see, “On the third day.” If you count out all the days that John has mentioned, this is not the third day of John’s gospel, it’s the seventh day, which is the Sabbath day, or the age of the new Sabbath. Jesus has arrived to usher in the age of rest, the age of the Messiah, when God’s people will rest from their labors.  They will no longer try to earn their salvation, but they will rest in the person of rest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe God is showing us that the old system, the Old Covenant, is being pushed aside, and the New Covenant is coming forward. The old is being replaced by the new. Notice the picture in this narrative: the six stone jars that would have been used for the Jewish rites of purification: a clear symbol of the Old Covenant. Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He took that which represented the Old Covenant and used it to usher in this new wine. Now, why wine?

When you read through the prophets, specifically the Minor Prophets, one of the prophecies throughout the Old Testament is that when the Messiah comes, it will be the age of new wine, the age of blessing and abundance. Amos foresaw a day when “the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it” (Amos 9:13). Joel echoed the same hope, declaring that “the mountains will drip with sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah will flow with water” (Joel 3:18). Hosea, too, looked forward to the time when God would restore His people, saying, “The earth will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil” (Hosea 2:22). Each of these prophetic images points to the coming of the Messianic age—a time of renewal, joy, and abundance flowing from God’s restored presence with His people. When Jesus turned water into wine at Cana, He was not simply saving a wedding from embarrassment; He was revealing that the long-awaited age of promise had arrived. The new wine had come because the Messiah Himself had come.

 Jesus is clearly communicating that He is the Bridegroom who is to come. Isn’t it interesting here that the bridegroom doesn’t have a name? It doesn’t concern us who the bridegroom is in this passage because as we read this, I believe John is trying to get us to see that Jesus is the Bridegroom.

Remember John’s gospel was written 20-30 years after Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Each of them shared the same story about the Pharisees questioning why Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast.

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.  Matthew 9:14–16

Jesus responded, “When the bridegroom is with us, then we will celebrate and feast. But when I go, that’s when you fast.” The new age has come, and shame will be reversed. 

The bridegroom in John 2 is not ashamed, but honored. When the Messiah comes, shame shall be reversed. The great fear is that because the wine is gone, the bridegroom will bring shame upon himself, shame upon his family, and shame upon his friends. But notice what happens in John 2. Look at what the master of the house says: “Everyone serves the good wine first; when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you, you have kept the good wine until now.”  He has not only avoided shame, he has brought honor.

Isn’t that beautiful? That is what the age of the Messiah brings to His people. The age of the Messiah can also do that for those of you who deserve shame because of the sinful lives you’ve lived. Yet, instead of shame, you will be honored because of this Messiah. You will be given the reputation of Christ. He will credit His life to you.

This is a wonderful and glorious thing! The Bridegroom has come with new wine and a new covenant. He has come to take your shame. 

The Sign’s Significance

How important is this sign? Look at John 2: 11.

  “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”

Do you remember the whole purpose of John’s gospel?

“I write these things to you that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.” John 20:30-31

This, the first of the signs, did what? It manifested His glory: not to everybody but to His disciples, His mother, and the servants. That’s how our Lord manifested His glory. It wasn’t to the masses or the wealthy, instead He came to the servant quarters. He came to His poor family from Nazareth. He showed that He had the power over creation. He was the One who spoke the world into existence in Genesis 1, who was in the beginning with God, the One about whom John had said,

  “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:4

If Jesus Christ made everything, He can turn water into wine. He can do anything! Because this material world is His. It’s His creation, and He can do as He sees fit.

When the disciples saw it, when His mom saw it, what happened? They believed. What about you? When you hear this sign, when you hear of Christ — do you believe? Do you believe the things that we’ve been talking about: that in Christ your sins can be forgiven and your shame can be removed? Do you believe that Jesus Christ died in your place to pay for your sins? Do you believe that Jesus Christ came to take His hour on the cross for you so that, in your hour, you can die in peace and go to heaven with God forever? Do you believe?

Do you believe that Jesus Christ came to usher in the new age of the Messiah? We’re living that out right now as God’s people. When we gather and assemble here, we are modeling the end-time reality that, one day, Jesus Christ is coming back, and we are going to live as holy, righteous, and godly Christians in the age of the Messiah, Yes, we will struggle with sin, but we will fight and fight and fight to be pure so that God will be pleased with His Bride when He returns finally and fully as our Bridegroom. 

Friends, Jesus came for the hour of the cross, to take your sins and mine, and the sins of all those who have yet to repent and believe. Jesus manifested His glory so we could experience His glory on that day. When we breathe our last, we will be ushered from this life of pain and toil and sadness and grief and shame into glory, where there is joy and hope forevermore. 

Church family, this miracle in Cana was not just a sign that Jesus could do something extraordinary. It was a sign that He came to make all things new. The water of ritual was replaced by the wine of redemption. The empty jars of the Old Covenant were filled to the brim with the grace and glory of the New. That means that we, the church, live today in the age of “new wine”—the age of the Messiah.

When Jesus turned water into wine, He was saying, “The feast has begun.” The joy, the abundance, and the restoration the prophets longed for had arrived in Him. The good news for us is that this joy is not reserved for heaven—it begins now, among God’s redeemed people. The church is meant to be the place where the world tastes that new wine—where grace overflows, where joy endures even in sorrow, where love covers shame, and where Christ’s presence transforms our ordinary into His glory.

Brothers and sisters, don’t live as if the jars are still empty. Don’t walk as if the Messiah has not yet come. The world is parched, desperate for meaning and hope, but we know the One who turns emptiness into fullness. Let our worship be marked by joy, our fellowship by warmth, and our mission by generosity. We live in a world of scarcity, but we serve a Savior of abundance.

Every time we gather around the Lord’s Table, we drink the cup of the New Covenant in His blood, a reminder that the age of new wine has begun. Every time we leave this place, we go out as vessels of that same new wine, carrying His grace into our homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods so that others may taste and see that the Lord is good.

Beloved, the Bridegroom has come, and the feast has begun! Lift up your hearts, lift up your eyes, and live as people of joy, people of hope, people of the risen Christ until the day He returns to drink it anew with us in His Father’s kingdom.