First aired July 18, 2020
Jesus promised that if he were lifted up, he would draw people to himself. Join us as we explore the person of Jesus through the gospels. In exploring who Jesus is, we hope to encounter Him intimately and experience Him daily in our everyday.
Icebreaker
Tell a story of when you have run out of something at a really bad time? For example – maybe you ran out of an ingredient while cooking – or your pen ran out of ink just as you needed to sign something important, or you were printing off an essential document and the printer ran out of ink. Or perhaps worst of all – you ran out of toilet paper during the toilet paper shortage earlier this year!
What does it feel like to run out of something important?
Sermon
Digging Deeper
Reflect on the sermon today – did any ideas strike you that you’d like to comment on?
What were you challenged by in today’s message?
Why do you think this was Jesus’ first recorded miracle?
Revisit the story in John 2: 1-12 and consider the following questions: (one suggestion is for several people in your group to look it up in different versions so you get some different perspectives)
- How could the host of the party have let them run out of wine?
- Why does Mary tell the servants to do what Jesus says, even after Jesus asks her why this should be His problem? (v4-5)
- If Jesus had never done a miracle before, how did Mary know it would work out?
- If you’d been a servant (v8) and told to take what you think is “water” to the host of the party – how would you feel?
- What does the idea of Jesus giving us the best (v10) tell us about who Jesus is?
So many of Jesus’ miracles are life changing – like healing people who were dead or would soon be dead, or healing incurable diseases from people who had been sick since birth. But this miracle doesn’t seem to be very life changing, so why does Jesus do it? Is this Jesus wasting his powers on something that doesn’t matter?
Do you think Jesus is encouraging drunkenness in this story?
Challenge
Is there something in your life that you had been hesitant to take to Jesus because you didn’t think it was important, but you think now you could take to Him, since Jesus cared about something as insignificant as wine at a wedding?