JOHN108 - That Time Dad Chased the Spitters

John 2:1-11

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Music by Jeff Foote

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

When I was a kid, there was an incident that happened in Fort Collins, Colorado, while my dad was driving me home, I think from baseball. I seem to remember having a baseball uniform on. So we're driving down Prospect Avenue, heading west toward the mountains. We pass Shields Street. Don't worry, it's none of this, it doesn't matter where we were. We're driving along and we're in our 1979 Dotson 210 hatchback, which was very old back then. Dotson, by the way, for those of you who are a little bit on the younger side, that's what they used to call a Nissan. Well, maybe dad did something wrong. I don't remember him doing anything wrong or cutting anybody off on accident or anything. But these guys in their 20s come ripping up alongside us. And you know, it's a four-lane. So they they rip up alongside us. They're on the inside lane, we're on the outside lane. So I'm away from them in the passenger seat. And now looking back on it, I would say, oh, okay, they they were skezers, you know, they're not wearing a shirt, kind of skinny, probably got the build that they had from substance abuse, doing drugs or something. That's what my brain tells me. I, you know, I don't know, it was a long time ago, kid memories, right? And for whatever reason, they come ripping up alongside us, and the one guy leans way out the window, and the driver swerves over close, and the dude in the passenger seat spits on my dad. Like on the car and on my dad. We're doing like, you know, 30, 35. It's not a super fast street. I don't know if it hit him, but that was the intent. And there's this moment of realization. I look at my dad, I'm like, what what are you gonna do about that? And these dudes, they just speed off and turn into a neighborhood. You know, it's like the equivalent of just I gotcha, yeah, take that. I'm doing fake middle fingers, and they're fake, don't worry, it's it's all very moral. So they go turn it off into a neighborhood, and my dad thinks about it for a second, and he's and just something switches in his brain. He's like, game on. He follows them into the neighborhood in our dots in 210 with his kid. This might not be advisable, but I thought it was awesome at the time. And he, my dad didn't do stupid things driving through the neighborhood. There could be kids there or whatever, right? These guys thought dad wouldn't do anything. And then when they realized that he was following them, they sped very inappropriately through a neighborhood and dad backed off. And then I looked at my dad as these guys took off and felt like, man, all my dad did was just bow up on them and they ran. They fled like cowards. I could see sweat on my dad's forehead, I could see like a vein pulsing in his neck. And I just remember thinking, that is that was pretty awesome. Cool. Well, now I know what my dad will do if push comes to shove. That's how he will handle business. I kind of get how things are moving forward. There were implications to that. Now, look, I you I don't know, just insert your own little life lesson here about whether or not you should probably ever do that or chase people into neighborhoods, whatever. But likewise, I feel like the disciples in John chapter two have like they're they're floating on the power of Jesus' personality and his teaching. But probably a lot of other people have other ideas and they haven't seen him break the laws of time and space. They're very interested, they're willing to walk halfway across a country with him. But we learn at the end of the miracle at the wedding at Cana that they had not put their faith in him until John 2.11, after Jesus turned water into wine. So why? I mean, what is it? The obvious reason, obviously, that they would put their faith on him is that he broke the laws of time and space. They were probably all right there to see it, and they couldn't make sense of it. And they're like, okay, well, his words are amazing, his demeanor is amazing, his pedigree is amazing. There's the whole thing that happened at the baptism, that's amazing. John the Baptist is vouching for him, that's amazing. But now, the thing that he promised us at the end of John 1, I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. And he also said, You shall see greater things than what you've already seen. Well, it feels like that, he's starting to pay that stuff off. And apparently this miracle was enough for the small group of disciples, maybe at this point it's only five, to be like, okay, we're in for life. We will follow you to the grave. And they put their faith in him. Which, you know, John is probably one of these disciples, so that's an indicator that there was a next level of followership and loyalty that could be achieved after chapter one, whatever exactly it means to put their faith in him. They did it at this point. And I think what they're what they encountered here was just this sense of, okay, well, now we kind of know what's in you. Now we know how you respond to a little bit of pressure. Now we know what kind of potential, what kind of power you wield and might wield in more complicated situations, even than this? They got a little bit of a glimpse of what it's all about and what he is all about. So what is that glimpse? What is he all about? What would they be seeing here? How would the people who became aware of this miracle, either in the moment or who heard about it a week later and were like, what? I was at that party. Seriously, that's where that wine came from? Whoa, what would they think? What would they have made of it? Implication number one is it's the arrival marker of the Messiah. And it happens at a wedding. And I don't think that's a coincidence. I mean, what does a wedding consummate? A new paradigm, a new era, a new moment in the history of a family, a new arrangement, a new union. Well, and all in the context of celebration, by the way. Well, what are we getting here? Jesus is the new thing. It is the new moment, the new paradigm, and the history of redemption. Then throughout the gospels, Jesus treats his being around as being a very, very big deal. So, thing number one that I see happening here theologically that would blow everybody's mind and cause the disciples to quote put their faith in him. The meaning of the sign is it's an arrival marker for the Messiah. Okay, here's some other stuff that it symbolizes. One, it symbolizes lavish generosity in the same way that seeing my dad bow up on those punks who spit on him taught me, hey, my my dad is willing to push back. He won't just be bullied by strangers. Now I know how the things are moving forward. So this sets a precedent. Lavish generosity. People who understood the sign, didn't understand the sign, were witness to the sign, had no idea until after the fact that the sign had occurred, they would all come to the same conclusion. Lavish generosity. And further, endless provision. Now, that's at least how it comes off for the bridegroom and the master of the banquet, right? It's like, are you kidding me? How much wine do you have just sitting around? This is absolutely incredible. Well, wow, I guess we could do this all day. We could just do this forever. We could celebrate because resources apparently aren't an issue. Well, what do we figure out about Jesus as King? Resources aren't an issue. He is the God of provision, he is the God who provides, and he can make stuff out of nothing. And we see that imagery pay off in another scene that includes Jesus that is recorded by John, written much later in the Bible. It's all the way at the end. I'm doing the thing again where you just get my mumble voice while I stall. There's the maps. There's the okay, I finally got there. Revelation 19, 6 through 9. Some of you know exactly what I'm about to read. I'm just gonna give it to you from the beginning of 19, verse 1. After this, I heard what sounded like the by the way, for those of you who are new to the Bible and all of this stuff, Revelation is the last book of the New Testament. It's written by John, and it is the summary of all of theology. All the themes theologically, story-wise in the Bible, they all pay off and culminate in this vision of future things in Revelation. It's sad that people fight about this book of the Bible. It's supposed to be celebratory and awe-inspiring. Revelation 19, 1. After this, I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants. There's stuff in the previous chapters that make the whole prostitute thing make sense, but it seems to be pointing to corrupting powers of the world personified. And again they shouted, Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. There it seems to be a reference not to burning a person, but burning out the imperial city with Babylon being kind of an image. Anytime I get into Revelation, there's so much. Hey, side note, side note, side note, just roll with me. The point is righteousness and justice are finally being realized and visualized, and all the stuff that needs to be made straight and made right. It's all being accounted for. And then in verse 4 says this the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, who was seated on the throne, and they cried, Amen, hallelujah. Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise your God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great. Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and the loud peals of thunder, shouting, Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints. Then the angel said to me, Write, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. And he added, These are the true words of God. Now again, the character who is saying stuff like, Oh, then I heard this, and then I heard that, and then the angel said to me, That is John. The guy who was just a little kid at the wedding at Cana, and who wrote the Gospel of John, that's him. Now the Gospel of John and Revelation were written in pretty close proximity to each other at the end of John's life. He knows what he's doing here. I mean, it's entirely possible that what he saw here in Revelation even informed how he wrote his gospel. That's a longer conversation. But what he is seeing here, I mean, we're at the end of all things in Revelation 19. And so just bookmark it with me. Like hold your hands out, like two bookmarks, and with your left hand, wiggle that bookmark back and forth. That's a wedding. It's the wedding at Cana that presupposes this new paradigm that is defined by the God incarnate, by Jesus taking on flesh and by all that he's going to accomplish and reigning as king, a lavish king who brings about endless celebration and joy and rightness, who purifies, who can endlessly provide. We get just a little tiny glimpse of that in John 2, in the wedding at Cana. But then we no longer prophesy in part. Like we see this is everything, like full on, scales up the eyes. The veil between our temporal world and eternity is pulled back in the book of Revelation, and we see not a few people at a cool party in Cana that kind of hints at something about the greatness of Christ. We see the greatness of Christ. Evil is defeated and crushed metaphorically and literally. The multitudes who are redeemed by the work that Christ set out upon in his earthly body at the beginning of John and concludes with the cross and the resurrection, the redeemed are all there to celebrate. How big are these tables? How massive, what kind of provision would it take to pull this thing off? Yet pull it off, he does. People call this the wedding feast of the Lamb. The Lamb refers to Jesus, and there's some amazing imagery that likens him to the Lamb earlier on in Revelation. I think we talked about that a while back when we looked at the stuff where John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The point is this John says it's not just a miracle, it's a sign. Signs teach things theologically. This particular sign, water into wine, though pretty subtle, caused those who really understood it to put their faith in him. And then this is the culmination. This is the full realization of what is hinted at at the wedding that is, again, left hand out, the first bookend of Jesus in the flesh, as recorded by John. And now right hand out. This is the other bookend of that whole story of Jesus' redemptive work. Fun, fun, fun. Also, hey, I saw a few of you signed up to be patrons of the program. We haven't talked about that in forever around here. I figured I was badgering you about the book a lot. You know, I wrote that book a few months ago, and I totally wanted all of you to buy it. And you did. Thank you for that. Some of you are even buying like a hundred copies for your church. I know who you are, by the way. Thank you for vouching for me like that. That's I mean it's that's pretty crazy. That means a lot. Thank you. But the way this podcast happens is that some of you just volunteer to kick in on a free podcast. Like you don't really get anything else. There's not like super secret access or something that we do if you're a patron. It's a goodwill gesture on your part. And so I don't know why, but I saw a couple people signed up over the last couple of days, and I just want to take a minute and say thank you. That's very meaningful. I'm also thankful to all of you who supported at some point and then will stopped because that's also completely reasonable as well. You can always tap out whenever you want to. And I'm just grateful for your help when you were uh able to be a part in that way. And thanks to everybody who doesn't, because I'm just glad you're here too. Cool. Uh, if you want to know more about that, there's always a link down below. If not, that's totally cool too. I'm Matt. This is the 10-minute Bible hour podcast. Let's do this again soon.