Joyful life with "my" bridegroom Jesus (John 2:1-12)

[Stephan Choe]

November 23, 2021

Joyful life with "my" bridegroom Jesus

John 2:1-12

Key verse 11: “This was the first sign that Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee, a manifestation of his glory. His disciples believed him. "

Every married person has fond memories of their own wedding. For me, our wedding was the happiest moment of our life. The collection of letters “I love you fervently and forever!” is a book that records our joyful marriage story.

The joyful fellowship we share with other Christians in the grace of Jesus Christ can be compared to celebrating a wedding with our friends.

Unfortunately, there are times in our lives when we don't have any joy.

How can we overcome such joyless times and live happily again?

Jesus wants to reveal the secret for this to us today.

May God make your life of faith a joyous like wedding feast with lots of delicacies.

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus begins his public appearance with a visit to a wedding feast. In John 2: 1-2 it says:

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana, Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there too. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding feast."

By attending this wedding feast, Jesus makes it known that He is come into the world to bring us an abundance of heavenly joy. Jesus attended the wedding feast in Cana and made plenty of water out of wine so that the guests could continue to celebrate a happy wedding feast.

This is in line with the words of Jesus in John 10:10 b:

"I have come that they may have life in abundance."

Therefore we should enjoy the joy of life that God has given us to the full. However, some believe that Christian life should always be lived with a sincere attitude rather than a joyful attitude. Of course we have to take sin seriously. However, we should live joyfully and gratefully and know that our Christian life is essentially about enjoying fellowship in love with God and other Christians. Therefore, our life does not always have to be tense, but should be happy, grateful and joyful. Like the bride and groom or the guests at a wedding, we should be full of joy and share this joy with others.

The reason is that Jesus made us children of God and gave us eternal life and the kingdom of God. And this Jesus is always with us. We are either heavenly princesses or princes. We are the bridal couple or the guests of a heavenly wedding. Isn't that reason enough to keep us happy all the time?

Didn't the apostle Paul also say in Thessalonians 5:16: “Rejoice always!”?

Now let's learn how to enjoy the joy of this wonderful wedding.

First: Recognize problems!

Can you imagine what would happen if food and drinks ran short at a wedding party? It can be very unsettling for newlyweds or those in charge of preparing for a wedding party.

Jesus and his disciples are invited to a wedding feast in Cana. The wedding feast in Israel lasts for a week. And Jesus and his disciples probably joined them in the middle of the feast. There are many more guests than expected, so the wine is running out. Running out of wine at the wedding feast is a serious problem. But the wedding party organizer does not know that the wine is running out and how to solve this problem.

But Mary quickly notices the shortage of wine and tells Jesus about it because she believes Jesus can solve the problem: "This festival ran out of wine!"

Living a joyous life of faith does not mean that we are indifferent to the serious problems we encounter. Rather, like Mary, we should recognize the problem quickly and talk to Jesus about it so that he can help solve the problem. We can turn our problems to Jesus in prayer. In this way we will not be spectators, but participants in God's work. So we can act as the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

Second: Trust in his answer to your prayer!

When Mary told Jesus that we were running out of wine, Jesus answers, “Mother, what have you to do with me? My time has not yet come."

Given Jesus' negative answer, it seemed that Jesus would not heed her request. Mary could have given up her hope of solving the wine problem through Jesus if she had understood Jesus' answer with "No".

But Mary believes in Jesus. She believes that Jesus would use the power of God to solve the wine problem. And she believes that Jesus would solve the problem his way. So she tells the servants to obey Jesus' instructions.

The servants listen to Mary, believe in Jesus, and follow Jesus' words. The result of Mary's faith is wonderful.

We have a generous God and a generous Savior, Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus gave a lot of good wine to the wedding feast, our God wants God to freely express His love for us through his actions. We have to trust God. We must accept Jesus, who offers us all the best wine in abundance. We should think about what we really need. Then we should say to Jesus what we need. Jesus will surely give us what we need.

Maria's request, however, initially seemed to have been refused. For Jesus answered: “My hour has not yet come” (4).

When we hear such an answer, we often give up our belief that our prayer will be answered. Has Mary given up trusting her request to be heard after hearing Jesus' response that her request seem to have been denied?

No! Despite the apparent rejection of Jesus, she did not give up her trust in Jesus. Rather, Mary was firmly convinced that Jesus would gladly and surely solve the wine problem. She just didn't know when and how.

But she said to the wedding workers: "Do what he tells you!" (5).

Mary's attitude towards Jesus teaches us how to be when we pray to Jesus. We must tell Jesus what we need and trust that Jesus will solve our problems in his time and in his way. Jesus' solution could be much better than we can imagine.

One student went to high school. But going to school was terrible for him because one of  his classmates kept harassing him.

But his mother prayed with him and said to God. "God make my son's classmate my son's best friend!"

But the son could hardly imagine that his harassing classmate would become his friend. He thought to himself. "There is no way he will be my friend!"

But his mother believed in God and answered his prayers.

What happened then?

The classmate who bullied him became his good friend. And the two always went together.

Jesus can do a lot more than we can imagine. We must trust God, tell him what we need, and trust that he will grant our requests.

Third: Enjoy yourself!

Wine is often described in the Bible as a means of joy. For example, Judges 9:13 says, “Should I forego wine that is pleasing to God and men?”

Some people believe that God takes pleasure in exposing our sins. But the opposite is true. God has great joy when he gives us joy.

Jesus began his first public appearance to begin his service as Messiah by attending a wedding feast in Cana and by blessing the wedding feast. In this way, He revealed himself as the Savior to bring true joy to those who lack joy.

God is a Triune God. This means that God came in the form of Jesus and is with us in the Holy Spirit after Christ's Ascension. That is why our Bridegroom God-Jesus is with us through the Holy Spirit.

Usually we cannot see the Holy Spirit coming upon us. However, through faith in Jesus Christ, we can receive the Holy Spirit and feel the joy of the Holy Spirit. And we receive great joy when we are filled with the Spirit of God.

But how can we fully feel the presence of the Holy Spirit? In other words, how can we be filled with the Holy Ghost and experience great joy?

In this text, just as Mary was able to experience the miracle of the change of water into wine through trust in Jesus and obedience, we can experience the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit through trusting Jesus completely and obeying him. Then Jesus works miracles and fills us with his spirit. And we can experience great joy there.

So we have to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, trust him completely, tell him about our problems and leave the solutions to the problems entirely to Jesus. Then God fills us with his spirit and solves the problems in his way.

I will tell you about my experience of the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit.

On April 5, 1970, I began to believe in God and Jesus. And during the summer vacation of the year, I was invited to a week-long summer Bible school held by the student church. First, I completed the daily questionnaire from the Bible text from the Acts of the Apostles, discussed the questionnaires afterwards in group study, and then listened to the sermon of the missionary Sarah Barry. After that everyone wrote their own impression of the sermon and the next day share in the group their own personal impression. So I had to spend all day and all week for this Bible school. I didn't know beforehand that this Bible school was so demanding of time. So I was caught up in the feeling of losing time.

Then one day when my patience was at the limit, tears rolled from my eyes. Then with these tears my heart opened wide to the spiritual world. And I experienced God's great love for me and felt great joy.

This was an experience that transformed me from a self-centered person to a God-centered person. From then on, I trusted God and lived a life of joy.

A wedding feast is a happy day. Jesus is come to accept each of us as his bride and to bring us great joy. Jesus is the source of our joy. God doesn't want us to serve him joylessly. Rather, our Lord wants us to trust him and serve him with great joy. He wants our life to be like a wedding feast.

This Bible verse tells us to turn our gaze and heart to the Heavenly Bridegroom. Only he can give us true joy and God's love. He came into the world to give us the love of God and the joy of heaven in abundance. Jesus is our bridegroom. He loves us. That's why he wants to give us a lot of joy. When we accept God's love and joy, we become very happy. With this faith and joy, we can safely bear the cross we must carry. But without faith and joy it is difficult to carry this cross. Therefore, we must think centered on Christ and appreciate His gift of joy. Then we can bear the cross with great joy. God help you to receive the abundant joy that God gives you!

I would like to introduce you to a Korean song with English translation.

기도할 수 있는데 왜 걱정하십니까

기도하면서 왜 염려하십니까

기도할 수 있는데 왜 실망하십니까

기도하면서 왜 방황하십니까

주님 앞에 무릎 꿇고 간구해 보세요

마음을 정결하게 뜻을 다하여

기도할 수 있는데 왜 걱정하십니까

기도하면서 왜 염려하십니까

You can pray; why are you worrying?

Why do you grieve despite the prayer?

Why are you disappointed even though you can pray?

Why are you wandering in spite of the prayer?

Try to kneel before the Lord and pray to the Lord.

You can pray with all your will with a pure heart,

Why are you worrying too much?

Why do you worry despite the prayer?