TD Jakes - The Mysterious Wedding At Cana
John has raised the bar so high that he has taken us to the pinnacle of the mountaintops of a greater understanding of that which we are beholding is of God and not just men. That's why the wedding is so strange, because in the 1st chapter John establishes Jesus as being God wrapped up in flesh, and then it makes it so strange that in the 2nd chapter we go from the divinity of Christ himself, the incarnate God, wrapped up in flesh, we go from that, and all of a sudden in chapter 2, we are slammed into, hey, ho, hey, ho, we're at a party.
How did we get from divinity to a line dance? The Jesus that we just saw sitting on the circle of the earth with all power in his hand is now hanging out at a party. Look at the oxymoron. Look at the yin and the yang. Look at the divine and the natural. The next time we see him, he's not just God wrapped up in flesh, he's hanging out at a party, and it is a bit mysterious. The mysterious wedding at Cana does not seem to fit with the auspicious power of the 1st chapter. It would not chronologically be the discussion that I brought up in the 2nd chapter, and yet it stands from the lofty peaks of chapter 1 to the lower valleys of chapter 2. In the abyss of chapter 2, the problem is we partied and we ran out of wine.
So, my brothers and sisters, I came to talk to you today about the mysterious wedding at Cana that the Bible says that Jesus and his disciples are not out healing the sick nor raising the dead, no, they're at a party. Say hey, say ho, say hey, say ho, say hey, hey, ho, hey. Isn't this then just to be considered that Jesus is just at a party to be at a party, or is he in fact trying to teach us something at the party? You see, there is something, something strange going on, because Jesus is hanging out at the party, and all of a sudden, his mother comes to him. I'm gonna give you three little points and I'll be out of your way. His mother comes to him and says, "Jesus, they have no wine".
Now, that's a strange problem. It's not like Mary and Martha who came to Jesus and said, "My brother is dying". It's not as painful or as severe as the widow of Nain who is carrying her dead son to a grave, or the woman with the issue of blood who touches the hem of his garment trying to stop the hemorrhaging that has gone on so long that she is about to die. After all, running out of wine is not a life-threatening situation. It is not a disaster. It is not nearly as painful or as severe as leprosy. It does not stand on the level of blind Bartimaeus. The big problem here is in spite of the festivity, Mary reveals that beneath the gyrations of the flesh, and the partying, and the moving, and the celebration which went on for days in the Bible days, that they were partying, but they had no wine. You might have a nicer house than mine. I admit that, you might have a better car than mine. You might have more degrees than I do, but what does it mean if you have no wine?
I think that God is trying to tell us that we live in a world that perpetuates an ideology that they have it going on. They want to seduce you into thinking that somehow you are missing something that they have, that somehow you should emulate them because they are so much more progressive than us. And we are kind of slow, and backwards, and antiquated, but the Bible says they may still be shaking, but they have no wine. They may still be jumping, but they have no wine. Y'all don't hear what I'm saying to you. I know you got relatives, and kin people, and neighbors who think this Jesus stuff is crazy, but don't let them fool you with their fanciness. The Bible says they have no wine. Then Mary causes us to know that eventually they have to come to us. They always said we would need them, but the Bible is teaching us that before it's over, they're gonna have to come to you because they have no wine. Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying. They have no wine. They have no wine. They have backed themselves up into a corner and they have no wine.
So, I'm gonna talk to you a little bit today. I'm gonna talk to you about time, and I'm gonna talk to you about talent, and I'm gonna talk to you about tools, because between the time, and the talent, and the tools, we're going to come to understand how to deal with a wineless world. This is a wineless world. This is a perpetrating world. This is a deceiving world. So, I want to talk to you a little bit today about time, because Mary has come in here and she has come out of time. This is a syncopated story. This is an offbeat story. This is an off-scheduled story. Mary comes to Jesus with this minor, insignificant problem at a moment in which he says, "Woman, my hour has not come".
So, the syncopation of the miracle suggests that this is off schedule and out of beat, but let us notice the majesty of a God who has a schedule. In order for him to say, "My hour has not yet come," it means that he's not just flying by the seat of his pants, that his life has a timing to it, it has a rhythm to it, it has an order to it, it has a structure to it. That he's not just walking down the road just doing stuff to be doing stuff, healing people to just be healing people, and I thought we might could learn a lesson from Jesus if we learn to respect time. Yeah, if we put our lives on schedule. He said, "Woman, my hour has not yet come".
Some of us have no hour because we have no schedule. If you have no schedule, you're not really like Jesus. Jesus operated on schedule. Solomon says that there's a time, and a purpose, and a season for every purpose up under heaven, that God has a schedule. He has a time. I don't care how much you want it, he has a time when he's gonna bless you. He has a time when he's going to raise you. He has a time that he's set aside. That's what I love about God. When it's my time, you can't do nothing with me. When it's my time, you can't stop me from getting ahead. When it's my time, you might as well clap for me, because when it's my time, I'm bad when it's my time. I'm good when it's my time. I'm unstoppable when it's my time. My hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come.
But this suggests to us that every now and then, God does something off schedule. Every now and then, God will break his own rule to bless you. That God will come in and do something that wasn't on your date book, wasn't on your schedule, wasn't on it's plan, wasn't about to happen, didn't look like it was going to come to pass. But God, in his infinite wisdom, and his mighty glory, every now and then will bend the rules and just do it because you asked him to. Do it, do it, because I know it don't make no sense, and it might not be a big deal to you, but Lord, it's a big deal to me. Can you bless me anyway?
There's a whole talent piece. There is the talent involved here, because in my world, where you're always looking for great leadership, leadership solves problems. Leadership seeks solutions. Leadership doesn't just sit back and let the whole thing shut down and not say nothing. Look at Mary who just took it in her own hands to walk over to Jesus and see him as an answer. She wouldn't have asked him if she didn't know he couldn't. The very fact, see, don't nobody know a child like his mama, and the very fact that his mama walked over to him and said, "They have no wine," is a sign that she knew that he had the power. He may not have ever done it before, but he had the power. They say it was his first time, but he had the... oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying. Somebody's getting ready to do something that you never did before, but you got the? His mama knew he had the power, and so she goes up to him, and she says to him, she says, "Baby, they have run out of wine". He says to her, "Woman," he doesn't even call her Mama. I would have said Mama, he said, "Woman, my hour has not yet come".
Now, to me that's a no. Sounds like a no to me. "My hour has not yet come" kind of sounds like I'm not gonna do it, but she act like she didn't hear, 'cause sometimes you can't take no for an answer. He said, "Woman, my hour has not yet come". She don't say nothing else to him, she turns to the servants. See, if you're going to be a leader, you can't take no. Leadership is a talent. Not everybody is a leader. Just because you're sitting behind a desk doesn't make you a leader. Just because they gave you a title doesn't make you a leader. Just because you got a degree doesn't make you a leader. Leaders don't take no for an answer, they find a solution. He told her no, my hour has not yet come, and she act like she didn't even hear him. She turns to the servants and says, "Whatever he tells you to do, do it".
You are coming into a season that if you don't have the talent of obedience, you're gonna miss the miracle. Whatever, I don't know who this is for, whatever he tells you to do. It might be something stupid like march around a wall, and then on the seventh time, start shouting. It might be something as dumb as touch the hem of his garment, but whatever he tells you to do. It might be something crazy like giving two fish and five loaves of bread, but whatever he tells you to do. It might be something weird like let me spit in your eye, but whatever he tells you to do. Somebody's about to get a supernatural breakthrough from the Lord, but it won't happen if you're not in the right place at the right time. Whatever he tells you to do, slap three people and say, "Do it". Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. You don't have to understand it, just do it. You don't have to feel it, just do it. You don't have to understand it, just do it. You don't have to feel it, just do it. You don't have to agree with it, just do it.
Somebody, shout "do it". You are coming into a season of doing, but none of that is really the mystery. None of that is why I called this "The Mysterious Wedding at Cana". It's really in this whole thing about the tools, because if we had the need, and if we had the talent, and we didn't have the tools, the miracle wouldn't happen. For the last three months, when I close my eyes I keep seeing a toolbox. Nothing said, just a toolbox. Every time I close 'em, I see hammers, and screwdrivers, and pliers, and wrenches, and the toolbox is open, and all the tools are hanging out. Tools, tools, tools. God's gonna give you tools, tools, tools. He's gonna give you everything you need to accomplish everything you're trying to do. Somebody, say, "Tools, tools, tools".
Jesus says go get some water and put it in those stone jars. And the writer, John, says that it held, I think it says two or three for firkins, which is really 20 to 30 gallons of water each. That's pretty big, 30 gallons of water is pretty big, 30 gallons of water. There are six stone vessels each holding roughly 30 gallons of water. That's a lot of water. If you didn't have the vessels, you see, sometimes God will send something into your life that you don't understand why it's in your life, and you don't have no use for it right now, but save it. The stone jars didn't make no sense at first, but now, now, now, if you don't have the tools, this miracle will not happen outside of tools. You can have great talent, you can have great time, but if you don't have great tools, I've seen people who had talent and had time but didn't have the tools to be effective. There are people in prison with talent. There are people sleeping up under a bridge with talent. There are people sleeping up under the bridge who got time, but do you have the tools?
Here lies the mystery. God collects the tools before the time, so God will give you tools before your time of operation. You can tell when, watch this, watch this, this is real important. You can tell when he's about to do something in your life, because he starts bringing tools. Can I teach this a minute? I'm almost finished, but I have to justify my subject. I called it "The Mysterious Wedding at Cana". We know it was water when they poured it in the vessels. We know it was water when they poured it in the serving decanters. When... see, the Lord told me when I was getting ready to preach that here, he said there is going to be a substantive change. Something that started out one substance is about to turn into a completely different substance.
And this is, watch this, watch this, this is the crazy thing about God stuff. You don't even know when it happened. I want to talk to somebody who got healed and you don't even know. I want to talk to somebody who grew up and you don't even know when it happened. I want to talk to somebody who stopped grieving and you don't even know when it left you, it just. Somewhere, watch this, somewhere in the pouring out, somewhere in the keeping on keeping on, somewhere in the go ahead anyway, somewhere in the do it, if you just go ahead and do it. I got up here this morning and the devil said you can't preach, you don't have enough voice to preach. I said, "Watch me". While I was preaching, as I poured myself out, the more I began to preach, the stronger my voice got. Sometimes you gotta take what you got and go ahead anyway. And while you are pouring it out, God will.