John 2: Now that was filling!

How sufficient is your own good? I mean, can you do enough good things, be nice enough, follow the Ten Commandments enough, etc?

Read John 2:6
Six is the number for incompleteness or insufficiency in Jewish thought. They use a lot of symbolism in their writing and understanding. And these pots were for what…cleansing. Therefore, we can understand that Judaism or Legalism (simply following rules of right and wrong) is incomplete or inadequate.

Read John 2:7-10
Are wine and water the same thing? What are the differences?

The truth is, wine and water are not the same things. There are numerous things that make wine a completely different, and in this case, new substance. So if the old way of cleansing was turned into something new, what do you think that says about cleansing for our spiritual life?

If we are insufficient or inadequate, something must fill up that emptiness.

What fills up the lacking part of our life?

This new substance filled the water pots. In the same way, Jesus fills up what is lacking in our life. What we cannot accomplish on our own, He has came and accomplished for us.

Just like the water was made new, is there anything new in our life?

We have a new birth, a new life, and a new righteousness through Jesus.

Read John 2:13-17
Did Jesus seem pretty angry here? Do you think that His anger is the point of this passage? Do you think there is any connection between the cleansing of the temple and Jesus turning the water into wine? Do you think that the main thing Jesus was upset about was them selling things in the temple?

The temple was the very establishment of the Jewish legal system. It isn’t that Jesus was angry because they were selling animals for sacrifice in the temple, but that this had become the focal point of Jewish religion. It is a way of Jesus cleaning out the “legalism” in His Father’s house. He is making a way for something new.

Read John 2:18-19
What did the Jews ask Jesus? What was His response? Is He simply referring to the building?

Jesus responds by saying that He will die and three days later He will rise again. The resurrection points to the new life, to eternal life. Once again, this points to the new life found in Jesus and the grace and truth that He brought with Him (remember that from the very beginning of John?).

I have an Old Navy painter's jacket. I love it. It keeps me warm with the little fuzzy things on the inside. It's great...fits me the way I like...been with me for a couple of years...it was a good find. And you know, that's what it was...a find. I went to it in the store, found it there on the hanger, and purchased it. I bought through my own labor and toil, my blood, sweat and tears, if you will. And it, well, my jacket was destined to rot, to be destroyed by the moth if I didn't step in and save it. Now you would think that my jacket would love me, that it would be so grateful to me and would obey everything that I commanded it to do. However, no matter how I ask it, it won't raise its arm to me or wash itself. But, when I get inside of it, when I fill it up, boy does it come to life. When I fill it up, it does what I ask it to.

It's the same way in our Christian life. What was missing, Jesus fills up. We can life the Christian life when we get out of the way and let the One that has filled us up do it. I think of the words to the old hymn, "Jesus, be Jesus in me. No longer me, but Thee. Resurrection power, fill me this hour. Jesus, be Jesus in me."