WHEN THE WINE HAD GONE... On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there a few days. John 2:1-12 DEVOTION I love weddings! The bride is always beautiful, the groom a bit nervous, the congregation awaiting ‘the kiss’ and hoping the pastor doesn’t go on too long. And I love that Jesus’ first ‘sign’ took place at a wedding - a context of relational joy. ‘Joy’, C.S. Lewis reminded us, ‘is the serious business of heaven’. Taking our text at the surface level, we see that there was a problem - ‘the wine had gone’, and there was a solution provided by Jesus’ mother - ‘do whatever he tells you’. At this level, not much has changed in two thousand years. If you’re facing a problem, do what he says - even if it sounds as wild as it must have sounded to the servants at that wedding. John’s usage of the word ‘sign’, however, invites us to go deeper into the sign-ificance - what’s the sign pointing to? The wedding is a pervasive Biblical image for our relationship with God, and wine symbolizes joy. As we give Jesus the daily rituals of our faith - the ceremonial water - he transforms them into means of relational joy; the ordinary becomes extraordinary - Chateau Lafitte! And then we, like his first disciples, deepen our faith in him as we glimpse his glory. FOR REFLECTION What role does joy play in your relationship with God? Is there an area, where the ‘wine has gone’? How can you give this area to Jesus today? An old hymn proclaims, ‘trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.’ Is there a part of your life, where you need to follow a mother’s advice: ‘Do whatever he tells you’? PRAYER Jesus, we invite you today into our relational situations. Reveal your glory among us.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 08:32:51 +0000
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