“But the angel said to them, ‘I bring you good news that will cause great JOY’”
What if I told you that the primary role of Jesus’ ministry was to dismantle religion and replace it with joy?
Let’s take a stroll through a few passages:
We will start in John 2. Jesus’ first miracle. Water to wine.
First, there is a small side note from verse 2. John goes out of his way to make sure we know that Jesus was invited to this wedding. There is a truth in that for us. God usually doesn’t show up and start shifting things around until He has been invited. Yes, there are moments where God shows up in the huge lightning bolt, unannounced. But far more often He will wait until He is invited. To sit around and think “well if God wants this to happen in my life, He will make it happen” while doing nothing is incredibly lazy and dangerous. Every single time God calls His people in scripture they are required to take action. Be willing to invite Him into your life, even the parts that are scary to let go of.
We love to chase after the things that are comfortable, but when it comes to discomfort it is so easy to sit back and wait for God hit us over the head. Guys, when you’re in love with a girl, you don’t sit around and wait for God to make her make a move. You seek the Lord and take action. You ask God if this is a woman that He has for you, and you pursue her. What would it look like if we took that same mentality when it came to our jobs, callings, weekly trips to the grocery store, etc? Invite Him!
Now to the miracle itself. Jesus is at somebody else’s wedding. He is at a place where the problem couldn’t possibly be less His responsibility. Regardless, Mary still approaches Jesus and asks Him to fix it. Jesus tells His mom that it isn’t yet His time to begin His miraculous ministry. Mary, being a true mom, totally ignores that answer and proceeds like Jesus is going to fix the problem. See, people who are close to Jesus have to ability to expect Him to move. Mary defines faith for us here. Faith isn’t asking, crossing our fingers, and seeing what happens. Faith is being brave enough to take action, not knowing the outcome. Faith is not only knowing that God can, but believing that He is good enough to move and taking action on it. Mary expected Him to move outside of a predetermined time and place. How often do we expect God to show up at a Christian conference, but why don’t we walk into Target with that kind of expectation?
Jesus then tells the servants to fill the pots with water. But there is a key detail here. These pots weren’t pots for drinking water. These were the pots for ceremonial washing. You had to wash yourself with this water before you could enter the wedding. This was Jewish law. These water pots represented the religious tradition that Jews esteemed above all else. Jesus took these pots and made it impossible for people to continue keeping the law at this wedding. Every single person who walked out of the main room and back in would now be acting illegally.
Jesus made a WILD proclamation in this moment. With His actions Jesus was saying, “It isn’t about ceremonial washing anymore. It is about celebrating Me!” Jesus took water and turned it to wine. Jesus took what stood for cleaning yourself up and surviving (water) and replaced it with what stood for celebration (Joy).
Which one of those most marks your relationship with Jesus? Are you trying your best to do things for God and just hanging on? Or are you living a life that celebrates His presence? A life that joins Him where He is currently at?
It is so easy to live a life that tends to focus on our collected water. It is so easy to just try and “hang on” until Jesus comes back. But Jesus didn’t die for us to just hang on. He died so that we could know Him, walk with Him, join Him, and celebrate Him!
Even further, these servants thought they understood what was about to happen. They thought they were going to have to wash before Jesus did whatever He was going to do. They tried to be extra righteous and filled the pots to the brim. They were going to wash themselves so thoroughly that it would impress Jesus. But guess what? It doesn’t matter how many water pots you have… you can never fill them full enough to wash yourself so thoroughly that you don’t need the miraculous, transformative touch of Christ. They could have had all the water they wanted, but only Jesus could change it from a process of self-cleaning to a process of celebration.
I would also argue that this is the greatest advice for fighting sin. It isn’t about behavior modification. Celebrate His current presence. Run after Him with all of your heart, and you will watch sin lose its grip.
Look at Psalm 51. David cries out for the Lord to restore to him the JOY of his salvation. Want to know the context of this passage? David wrote this immediately after his biggest failure. Immediately after committing adultery and having a man killed, David cried out to the Lord for him to restore the JOY of his salvation. David understood that if he could enjoy the Father, sin would stand no chance.
Jesus had a habit of shutting down religious activity… the stuff people tried to do for Him… and replacing it with an invitation to join Him in celebration.
Jesus demonstrated a similar message in Matthew 21. This is Palm Sunday. The Sunday where Jesus was rightly identified and worshipped, only to be crucified a few days later. Immediately after riding into town, Jesus went to the synagogue. He drove out the people who were selling animals. Those people were selling animals to be sacrificed. This culture was built on buying a sacrifice to make themselves right with God. Again, Jesus made it impossible to keep the law. His actions proclaimed that the all sufficient sacrifice had walked into town… Jesus invited them to stop with their mindless religion and see Him for who He was.
Jesus went out of His way to shut down people who were mindlessly seeking the approval of God because in a moment the approval of God became flesh.
Want to know the Gospel in one sentence? You trade your broken, dirty life for His spotless, beautiful life. It is a trade.
These people were trading sacrifices for money. In a moment Jesus shuts down the only method people had for man to reach God. He embodied the fact that God was reaching down to them!
HEAR THAT! Jesus shut down the only effort man had to reach to God. Instead, He embodied the fact that God was reaching down to them! He replaced a system of paying a price for approval to saying I am the approval. Stop trying to do stuff for God to earn His approval and enjoy Me! I am the approval!
Jesus went to incredible lengths to interrupt mindless religious activity and invite people into glorious intimacy… to enjoy the embodiment of the approval of God.
BUT we have to be willing to be interrupted. We have to be willing to let our direction, plans, and dreams to be altered.
How many people do you think missed it at that wedding? How many people clung to their religious activity and were upset that they could no longer wash? They missed Jesus, and we call those people pharisees.
Want to know what Jesus’ interruption in the synagogue led to? They crucified Him for it. People were so upset by their mindless religious system being torn down, that they missed the approval of God standing right in front of them.
We all have habits that we value highly. We think, well if He can’t accept this dream… or even this worship… then He must not love me. But I am telling you, if you want to see Jesus for who He is… the fullness of joy and approval of the Father… you have to allow yourself to be shaken, overcome, redirected, and interrupted.
I promise, you can stay on a religious path… a path of mindless religion and mindset of survival. But are you willing to let that be interrupted? Are you willing to enjoy the approval of God rather than trying to earn it?
Let your life be marked by JOY! Jesus dismantled religion for it!
Remember that this Christmas. Jesus’ arrival was God reaching down to you. In a moment it killed the need for you to earn God’s approval, or try to reach to Him, because His approval became flesh. Your invitation is now to enjoy Jesus. To enjoy the embodiment of God’s approval. To throw yourself whole-heartedly at Him. Your water pots will never be enough without Him.
