John 2:1-11: Out With the Old and In With the New

Jesus's first miracle was turning water to wine at the wedding at Cana. Jesus performs this sign to show that He fulfills the Old Testament Mosaic ritual system, and to prompt belief that He is Messiah and King. Listen to this podcast for an in depth explanation of this miracle, as well as to hear how this episode in Jesus's ministry gives us practical guidance here and now.

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org”

Transcript

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I'm back. Pastor Dave here, and this is Crosstown, my hometown. Yes, indeed, this is Crosstown, and I'm so glad that you could be with me here today. If you have been with us before, welcome back. If this is your first time with us, Crosstown is a place where we exposit God's Word, the Bible, to determine a text's meaning, to understand more clearly what God is teaching us in His Word. And of course, it's not enough just to know what the Scriptures say and mean. We also make observations regarding our culture and how it fits in with the biblical worldview. And at times we also weave in some apologetic observations to show how the word of God stands up to a text by religious, cultural, and philosophical naysayers. And of course, we want to take what we learn from Scripture and make practical applications to our own lives. We do these things at Crosstown with the hope that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross of Christ is our town square, and all we do, we do for the glory of God. At any rate, if you have not been with us before at Crosstown, I give you a hearty welcome. Make yourself at home as we continue our study in God's Word today, and I hope you find Crosstown a good place to learn. Again, I would like to mention, as I sometimes do, that the music you hear at the beginning of this podcast and also at the end is called Blooming Spring, a piece from Lemon Music Studio. They provided this music on Pixabay, a royalty-free music store, and I'm able to use it absolutely free of charge, and I'm thankful for that. Also, a shout out to Nellie Hickiana, a friend of mine in the Philippines. She and her family are faithful in proclaiming the gospel to the Filipino people. Sue and I have never met her family personally. We knew her husband, Daniel, who passed away some years ago of cancer, but we keep in contact with Nellie and all of her family members, Arno, Uno, Danelle, and Onyx, and we say hello to them and all the in-laws and grandchildren as well. Also, Arno, keep up the good work and preaching and teaching in your church in Davao City. The Lord will reward your good work in proclaiming the good news of his son Jesus Christ. Now, if you've been with us over the past several weeks, you know that we have been going through the Gospel of John verse by verse. We've already completed chapter one, covering that over a course of seven podcasts. And today we're going to begin chapter two, which, from the perspective of John's Gospel, this is the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. This is a very familiar passage and records for us the very first miracle Jesus performed. So hear the word of the Lord as it is found in John chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine. And Jesus said to her, Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, Fill the water pots with water. So they filled him up to the brim, and he said to them, Draw some out now and take it to the head waiter. So they took it to him. When the head waiter tasted the water which had become wine and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine, but you have kept the good wine until now. This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. When you think of Jesus' miracles, what do you think of? Usually we think of a public display where crowds look on, where we see a spectacular event open for all to observe. For example, the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 11. It was public, everyone could see it, it was obvious. When Jesus healed the Garrison demoniac, his entire village saw the transformation. When blind Bartimaeus received his sight, an entire throng of people following Jesus saw what had transpired. When Jesus healed the paralytic man let down through the roof on a pellet, the entire town was gathered to observe the miracle. Now these miraculous events all took place openly and boldly, which generally is how Jesus performed his miracles. But here we see a miracle that goes somewhat against that grain. It's done unobtrusively, almost in secret, and only a few perceive it despite the fact that it's in the middle of a celebration. From John's perspective, Jesus' public ministry begins here. The Synoptic Gospels tell us that after Jesus' baptism, he begins, as Matthew chapter 4, verse 17 says, he began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's more or less how the synoptics portray for us the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. John, however, sees Jesus' public ministry start here at this wedding. Now, in John's account, this wedding at Cana is not only the beginning of Jesus' ministry, but also the first of several episodes or events that tell us that the old order of worship, the old system of rituals found in the Old Testament has given way to the new reality found in Jesus. We'll note this in today's text, and we'll note this in subsequent texts as well. But for now, let's again note chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. We are told here that the events that transpire were on the third day. John probably means this is the third day after Jesus called Nathanael to be one of his disciples in the last part of chapter 1. The wedding is at Cana, and though scholars are not 100% certain as to where this Cana is, it's probably located about nine miles north of Nazareth. We don't know exactly why Jesus and the disciples were invited to this wedding. Since Jesus and Mary are both there, perhaps this was a family member's wedding. On the other hand, according to John chapter 21, verse 2, Nathaniel was from Cana, so maybe he invited Jesus and the other disciples to this friend or family's wedding as well. As a curious aside, Mary is a character in John only two times, here and in chapter 19 at the crucifixion. Two other times she is alluded to in conversations between other people, but she's not a character in the story. However, she is never mentioned by name. She's always referred to as Jesus' mother. Why does she not play a more prominent role? We don't know for sure, though it's been suggested that maybe John doesn't mention her by name, so as not to confuse her with other Marys that are mentioned in this gospel. But be that as it may, these weddings were serious affairs lasting as long as a week or more. They were times of feasting and rejoicing and merrymaking, and here Jesus is in the very thick of it. We don't normally think of Jesus in these terms, do we? Too often we think of Jesus as a rather sombre, emotionally sober, stoic figure. Indeed, do we ever think of Jesus smiling or laughing or telling a joke? In the 1961 movie King of Kings, for example, Jeffrey Hunter playing the part of Jesus wanders about Jerusalem and Galilee with an emotionless, joyless face, with a gaze that goes right through everyone he looks at, who, rather than being an endearing character, is one who is haunting and intimidating, causing those around him to shrink away from him. Jesus goes against that conception in this text, and in reality, he often goes against that caricature. Oftentimes in the Gospels, we see Jesus going to weddings and feasts and celebrations and the parties of his day. Apparently Jesus enjoyed feasting and merrymaking. As a matter of fact, in Luke chapter 7, Jesus points out that his enemies accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard. Though certainly Jesus was not a glutton and a drunkard, apparently people were aware that he was one who enjoyed going to feasts and parties. Well, what's my point here? My point is, and this is not the main point of this entire text, we'll get to that a little bit later on, but my point for now is this, that it's okay to enjoy life. Certainly we should live selflessly, we should live generously so as to help the poor and the needy. At the same time, the Lord is generous to us. Shouldn't we then enjoy what he has given to us? In Acts chapter 14, verse 17, the Apostle Paul speaking, says that God fills our hearts with food and gladness. In 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, the Apostle Paul writes, Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. James 1, verse 17 says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shifting shadow. In Psalm 104, verses 14 and 15, we read, God causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine which makes man's heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which sustains man's heart. In Deuteronomy chapter 26, Moses instructs the children of Israel that upon entering the promised land they are to confess God's goodness to them. And then he instructs the Israelites in verse 11 of that text, and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household. Isn't it clear from these texts and from Jesus' example here in John chapter 2 that it is perfectly legitimate to enjoy the blessings God has given to us in food, in drink, in companionship, in an occasional feast or a party? Every so often we come across people who are constantly complaining about injustice or world hunger or sickness and other misfortunes, or they are not happy unless they make others feel guilty for enjoying themselves. We all agree that injustice and hunger exist in our world, and we should do our part to alleviate suffering when we can. But when a person refuses to be happy as long as someone else is unhappy, then that person will never be happy. Worse yet, that person will never be grateful to God, which is perhaps the most underrecognized sin of all. Yes, certainly we are to refrain from drunkenness, from gluttony, from selfishness, and from a lack of gratitude which fails to give God praise and glory for providing us with all of his good gifts. And certainly we should be generous, kind, and selfless. We should recognize that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, so the blessings that we enjoy now may not be ours tomorrow. But that doesn't mean we can't humbly enjoy God's blessings and rejoice and give thanks for them. Jesus did, and so can we. Let's continue on with our text. Let's look at verses three and four. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine. And Jesus said to her, Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come. Now to give a little historical and cultural context here, during these wedding celebrations, the groom was responsible for providing all of the refreshments at the feast. And if there weren't enough refreshments, this would be a very serious source of embarrassment. Not only that, according to commentator D.A. Carson, running out of wedding supplies could lead to lawsuits against the groom by the bride's family. I remember years ago at my daughter's wedding, our daughter Erin, she wanted cheesecake for her wedding celebration instead of the traditional wedding cake. Unfortunately, we ran out of cheesecake, and though we were mildly embarrassed, as you can see, that was nothing compared to a Jewish wedding in first century Israel. Nobody sued us, we didn't get in any trouble. We, as far as I know, were not talked about negatively by everyone in the community. But that's the way it was back in the old uh in the ancient world in Jesus' day, that people would be greatly embarrassed by such a uh cultural faux pas. Now, why Mary is so concerned about them running out of wine in verse 3 is something of a matter of conjecture. If this is a wedding for a member of Mary's family, perhaps this is a matter of family honor for her. Perhaps she assisted with the catering, so she's seeking to fix the situation. Regardless, note Jesus' reaction when Mary tells him the wine has run out. Again, look at verse 4. Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come. Now, when Jesus calls his mother woman, this may seem disrespectful to our ear, but though it is a bit terse in this culture, such an address was somewhat formal, but it wasn't considered rude or disrespectful. Something else to note here, Jesus says, What does that have to do with us? Literally, Jesus says, What to me and to you? Now again, this is a bit terse, but it was not considered rude. This was a common expression and roughly means this is none of our business, or perhaps why are you telling me this, or why are you involving me in this? Also in verse 4, note the phrase, My hour has not yet come. What does Jesus mean by that? Well, Mary knows, of course, that Jesus is the Christ. Now at this wedding she sees an opportunity for him to reveal himself. Perhaps then she is concerned less with the embarrassment the groom may undergo, and more concerned with Jesus showing the world who he is. Again, we can't be a hundred percent certain as to what's going on in Mary's mind, but it appears that she is saying, Jesus, here's your opportunity. Do something to fix this problem and show everyone here that you are the Messiah. But Jesus says, My hour has not yet come. You see, I think Mary is trying to get Jesus to fire all of his guns at once. But in revealing himself as the Christ, he remains reserved. Revealing himself must happen bit by bit until the ultimate manifestation of his glory, which takes place at the cross. In John, that's what the hour normally is, Jesus' crucifixion, as repeated throughout this gospel. To paraphrase verse 4, then, Jesus is saying something like this: Mother, you are getting ahead of the timetable here. What you want can't be done yet. The full manifestation of my glory can't happen until the cross. You want me to floor it, but I'm putting on the brakes. So with this gentle rebuke, Jesus reminds Mary that he is in control. Jesus is perfectly willing to help as this text bears out, and as verse five shows. Mary understands that in our text. But Jesus is in charge, not Mary, and he will follow the Father's timetable, not hers. We can be like Mary here at times, can't we? We want to be in control and we want God to act in accordance with our timetable, so we try to rush things, manipulate the Lord, and otherwise forget that things happen in our lives in accordance with his sovereign care and control. You know, if Jesus would just see things from my perspective, things would be so much better in my life. If Jesus could just understand the superiority of my plans, my life would run more smoothly. How circumstances would improve if Jesus would just take my advice? Doesn't Jesus realize I have first hand knowledge of this situation, so if he would just listen to me, he could fix it? If Jesus would just get with my program, the machinery of my life would hum along with a lot less problems. You know, if Jesus would have been on top of this, I wouldn't have had to have gone through the struggle that I went through. Now, friends, none of us would be so impious or brazen as to say these things openly, but our hand-wringing, our machinations, our complaints, and our doubts in the midst of our problems and decision making reveal that we often think we can run our lives in in this world better than Jesus can. We want to be in control when we really don't know up from down, heads from tails, or left from right. C.S. Lewis's book, The Lion, the Witch in the Wardrobe, is the first book in the Chronicles of Narna series. And if you recall the story, if you've read it, Peter and Susan Edmund and Lucy Pevensey go through a wardrobe, it's something of a walk-in closet, and when they come out on the other side, they are in a place called Narnia. Now Narnia is under the control of the wicked white witch, who is the Satan figure, and the lion, Aslan, is the Christ figure. To make a long story short, two talking beavers tell the four children about Aslan, who is to defeat the witch and lift the curse from Narnia. In chapter eight, the Beavers tell the four children they will be having a meeting with Aslan, and this conversation goes on. Is he a man? asked Lucy. Aslan a man? said Mr Beaver sternly. Certainly not. I tell you he is the king of the wood and the son of the great emperor beyond the sea. Don't you know who is the king of beasts? Aslan is a lion. The lion, the great lion. Ooh, said Susan. I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion. That you will, dear, and no mistake, said Mrs. Beaver. If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly. Then he isn't safe, said Lucy. Safe? said Mr. Beaver. Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you. Then later in chapter seventeen, which is entitled The Hunting of the White Stag, Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy are instated as royalty for their part in defeating the White Witch in the great battle. There is a great banquet to celebrate the victory and the coronation of the four children. Then we read this. But amidst all these rejoicings, Aslan himself quietly slipped away, and when the kings and queens noticed that he wasn't there, they said nothing about it. For Mr Beaver had warned them, he'll be coming and going, he had said. One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down, and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know, not like a tame lion. Aslan, of course, was the Christ figure, so what Lewis wrote regarding Aslan is what he meant for us to understand about Jesus. Jesus is not a tame lion. He's wild and can't be harnessed or caged. Though he loves us and cares for us, he is not under our control, and we must never try to put a leash on him. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will always do what is best for us, but always according to his timetable, according to his sovereign control, and we must trust him. Now, having said all that, we recognize Jesus is ready and willing to meet the need at the wedding in Cana, and we see that as we go on. Look at verse 5. His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. In spite of Jesus' gentle rebuke, Mary recognizes that Jesus is going to do something to remedy the problem of the lack of wine. Also, since she is giving instructions to those at the wedding, this may be evidence that she was involved with the catering, as we mentioned earlier. Verse 6. Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing 20 or 30 gallons each. Available are these six water pots of stone for Jewish ritual purification purposes. Since stone is more waterproof and leak proof, they were considered better than earthenware for ritual purposes and were not liable to uncleanness as outlined in the Old Testament law. Twenty or thirty gallons is literally two or three measures, so by our reckoning, these six water pots had a total capacity somewhere between Hundred and twenty to a hundred and eighty gallons. Jesus said to them in verse seven, Fill the water pots with water, so they filled them up to the brim. This is pretty straightforward. Jesus commands that these water pots be filled with water, so they were topped out to capacity. Verses eight and nine. And he said to them, Draw some out now and take it to the head waiter. So they took it to him. When the head waiter tasted the water which had become wine and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the head waiter called the bridegroom. Here we see some water is then drawn and taken to the head waiter, who is the one in charge of the feast and the servants. We might call him the master of ceremonies. At any rate, he tastes the water that has become wine. He doesn't know any of what has happened, though the servants who drew the water knew. And since verse eleven tells us that this prompted belief among Jesus' disciples, they also knew. But apparently, going back to something I said a little bit ago, this miracle was not evident to everyone at the wedding. Jesus is revealing himself rather inconspicuously. Now there are two ways to look at what has transpired here. First of all, water is put in the pots, Jesus turns it to wine, and the wine is drawn from the pots and given to the head waiter. But there's a second way we can understand this text. Water is put in the pots, it remains water, and what is drawn in verse eight is also drawn from the well. That is what Jesus turns to wine, while what's in the pots remains water. The reason the second option is preferable is because the word drawn is normally used to refer to drawing from a well, so it's the second batch that is drawn directly from the well where this sign occurs. What then would be the point of filling the pots with water? The answer is that this signifies that the Old Testament ritual system, the old purification laws are no longer in force. Remember, these stone pots were for ritual purposes. Now that the new wine of Jesus' ministry has arrived, those rituals which pointed to him are no longer in force. He has fulfilled them. Put another way, now that the reality has arrived, the shadow has run its course. Jesus now inaugurates the new Messianic Order, and the old ritual system is no longer obligatory. Now the head waiter speaks to the groom in verse 10 and said to him, Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. Having tasted the wine in verse 9, the head waiter approaches the groom, who, as we've already seen, is the one responsible for providing the wine at the wedding. The head waiter marvels at the reverse of custom. Normally the best wine is served first, then when the guests were less particular about what they drank, the inferior wine was served. Now I'm not going to get into all sorts of secondary rabbit trail questions regarding this text that get us off on the wrong track. So many times we worry about whether or not this wine was alcoholic or not, and we argue back and forth, and we worry about whether or not if it was alcoholic, is Jesus encouraging drunkenness and so on and so forth. All of that misses the point completely. The lesson that we learn here is that Jesus is the Christ, which is the point of all of his signs. The new wine of the Messianic Age is better than the water of the Old Testament ritual system. The point of the story is that the kingdom of joy, peace, and bounty has been inaugurated. The kingdom has arrived, and Jesus is the Messiah. Now notice these prophecies regarding the kingdom from the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 31, 12, they will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, and they will be radiant over the bounty of the Lord, over the grain and the new wine and the oil, and over the young of the flock of the herd, and their life will be like a watered garden, and they will never languish again. Notice again the idea of new wine flowing. And Jesus has just shown then that the kingdom, as predicted by Jeremiah chapter 31, is now, has now been inaugurated. Look at Amos 9, 13 and 14. Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows seed, when the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved. Also I will restore the captivity of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine and make gardens and eat their fruit. Also note Jesus' words at the Last Supper in Matthew chapter 26, verses 28 and 29. He passed the cup of wine to his disciples, and when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Friends, that is a promise that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to enjoy the kingdom with his disciples. And notice again, in this statement by the Lord Jesus Christ, that wine figures in with the joy that is going to take place when the kingdom comes in its fullness. So in providing this wine at the wedding in Cana, Jesus is pointing out that in him the kingdom promises are being fulfilled and will be fulfilled in their fullness when he establishes his kingdom at the end of the age. Now there is a secondary, less important point that we can make here. Last week we pointed out that the blessings that we have on this earth and the glory of God that we see now is nothing to be compared with what we will see in the kingdom. We could make that same point here since Jesus is clearly inaugurating the kingdom. However, I want to go back and reverse course a bit and show how this wedding at Cana proves that Jesus does take care of us today in our needs. Since in this passage Jesus meets a temporal need, we can expect him to meet our temporal needs as well. And as we see in this turning of water to wine, he can meet our needs in better and unexpected ways than we could ever imagine. Jesus was inaugurating the kingdom and was looking forward to its fulfillment in the future, but he still meets our needs now. And this sort of takes us back to something said earlier. When we seek control, we fail to remember that when we leave Jesus in control, he gives us better gifts and better resolutions to our problems than we can imagine. When Sue and I were preparing to move to Chicago for Me to Start Bible College back in the summer of 1982, we were looking for an apartment in the Chicago area. We thought we had an apartment settled, but the property manager wouldn't settle anything until she talked with her superior. She told us that he would get with us very soon. Well, some time went by and he never contacted us, so I gave them another call. I was told that he had stepped out for a moment and he would call us when he gets back. He didn't call, so a couple of days later I called again. Well, we're told he went to lunch or some such thing, so he will call tomorrow. This happened several times and he was always sick or busy or out of town. There was always an excuse as to why he didn't return our calls, and we became convinced that he was dodging us because he didn't want to rent to us. Well, it was getting close to when classes were to begin and we were running out of time, so Sue and I stopped and prayed about it, and it wasn't but a couple of days that circumstances eventually worked out, and to make a long story short, we were given an opportunity to manage an apartment building rent-free with a stipend. We never did get the place we had originally planned on, but we ended up getting something better through the providence of God. We had been running down a dead-end street, but God had something much better for us. So we found it to be true, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 4, verse 19, God will supply all of our needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. In this story of Jesus providing wine at the wedding at Cana, and also in my own life, I can attest that God gives us what we need, even though things may appear to be hopeless at times. So let him have his way, turn things over to him and see how he will do more than you could ever think. Now let's look at verse eleven of John chapter two. This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. Yes, Jesus saved the day, and the groom was shielded from embarrassment. Jesus met the immediate temporal need. But more importantly, this first sign Jesus performs reveals his glory. Now, as we've already mentioned, his glory will be consummated with his death and resurrection. But this miraculous sign of turning water to wine is a glimpse of his glory, which caused his disciples to believe in him. Now certainly they already had some level of belief, or they wouldn't have followed him and introduced their friends to him as the Messiah. But certainly their trust in Jesus is solidified with this confirming sign. Now there are several words used in the New Testament to denote to denote miraculous events. The Greek word that is used here is Simea, which is translated signs and means something seen and sometimes something heard that confirms or authenticates a person and his claims. And that's what we see here. Jesus is the Christ, and he authenticates that through this sign of turning water to wine. And that, of course, is the reason for all of his signs, to confirm that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised King, who will fulfill all the kingdom promises outlined in the scriptures, some of which we've already noted today. Having seen this sign, his disciples believe in even more steadfastly that his claims are true. And that is the main point we should take away here. The main point of this entire text. Yes, Jesus does help us with our temporal needs. He saved the day at the wedding in Cana. He provided a place for Sue and I to live and work while I attended Bible college. He provides for us physical healing and financial rescue and employment opportunities and in numerous other areas of life, often helping us in stunning, even miraculous ways. But when he does this, it is to prompt us to believe in him. Jesus is not just a genie in a bottle, a Mr. Fixit who rescues us to keep us from temporal troubles. He rescues us so that we might trust him. Fixing our problems is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. If we are Christians, each time Jesus shows himself strong on our behalf, rescuing us from a trial, we grow more confident that he will deliver us in future needs and we trust him more. As we read in Romans chapter 5, starting in verse 1, trials enter our lives to strengthen us, to improve our Christian character, and to increase our hope in heaven. And if we are not Christians, he wants us to see his glory and believe on him that we might be forgiven of sin and receive eternal life. To get ahead of ourselves, we read in John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. All the miracles that Jesus performed were to help us understand that he is the Christ so that we can believe on him, be forgiven of our sins, and enter the kingdom of God. You know, when a baby gets hungry, he begins to cry. Babies don't appreciate where the food comes from. They don't care about being thankful, they just want fed. They don't appreciate the mother, they don't appreciate the grocer or the farmer or the delivery man, they just want fed. Well, we can be like that with the Lord Jesus Christ, figuratively speaking. We don't care where the food comes from, we just want fed. We simply want our problem solved. We want our dilemmas straightened out, and failing to see the hand of God in all of it, we therefore fail to acknowledge his goodness and faithfulness. Particularly in John chapter 6, we're going to see this developed even more clearly. But for now, look at Jesus, see his miracles, acknowledge his goodness, and trust him for his providential care. If you're a Christian, don't forget to give him thanks, to praise him for his goodness, and remember that his goodness is intended to get you to trust him more and to get you to recognize his glory. And if you are not a Christian, if you have never turned to Jesus Christ from your sin and acknowledged his lordship, look at Jesus. See what he has done in John chapter 2. See what he has done throughout all of the gospels, see what he has done in your life for which you never gave him praise. Don't be satisfied by merely having your immediate needs filled. Instead, rejoice in his power, rejoice in his majesty, rejoice in his awe-inspiring works, rejoice in his grace, and trust him for forgiveness and eternal life and eternal joy. If you have any questions about any of this, please send me an email at Crosstown MHT, Crosstown My Hometown, CrosstownMHT at gmail.com. I would love to send you a reply on how you can receive forgiveness of sins, deliverance from sin's power, how you can receive abundant life that Jesus offers and eternal life in the kingdom of God in heaven. Jesus is not a myth, nor is he merely a glorified purveyor of parlor tricks. He is very God, very God, who performed signs to manifest his glory, who manifested his glory most profoundly when he died on the cross and rose again from the dead, that others might receive eternal life and be saved from sin and the wrath to come. Well, all good things must come to an end. And this edition of Crosstown is no different. Time for me to go. But I hope you will trust Jesus Christ more and more, that you will grow in him, and that if you don't know him, you will find salvation as only he can give. Until next time, I am David Spa. May the Lord bless you with his grace and peace. So long.