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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Sunday, July 2, 2017
Today's Passage : Today's Passage: Subject:The Wedding at Cana (3) - Revelation and Replacement Bible Verse:John 2:1-11 (KJV) "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. 6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. 7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. 11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. " Message:
The difficulty in discussing the Wedding at Cana is not a lack of detail, but rather, an embarrassment of riches. John packs a multitude of his theological concepts into this one story. The most important of these, however, is not hidden in symbolism, but stated outright in the final verse. It was the beginning of the signs of Jesus' divinity, given to us immediately at the beginning of Chapter 2; whereas, in the Synoptics, public knowledge of the divinity of Christ is a game of hide and seek that continues until the final chapters. The purpose of the miracle is to make his glory manifest, which is to say, it shows that He is divine; and the disciples believe in Him because they have seen him do it.
O
ne way of seeing the degree of John's focus is to look at what is missing from John. There are no full-fledged parables, which so dominate the other gospels, and little specific teaching: no Sermon on the Mount, no Lord's Prayer. It is not that John thinks these unimportant; rather, they had already been written down. John, after working for decades establishing churches, apparently saw a widespread lack of appreciation and understanding about the importance of Christ as God, and the importance of His divinity (and that of the Holy Spirit) in our ability to know God.
So, we can now ask, how does this incident reveal His glory? One important aspect of Jesus' existence is that He will replace the institutions of Judaism. Our relationship with God will change from legal ritual to a direct and immediate relationship with a living being, a flesh-and-blood man and later, a living Spirit. The stone jars are special vessels used in Jewish purification rites; and they hold water, with which the purification is effected. But there will now be no need for literal water; Christ's blood will cleanse humanity of its sins once and for all. As he will tell the woman at the well,
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him . . . “Where do you get that living water? Our father Jacob . . . gave us the well and drank from it himself, . . .Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.” (John 4:10-14)
We are mixing our metaphors a bit, but the common point in both incidents is that literal water, as known to the Jews, has been replaced. Notice that the well in the quote is the well of Jacob, which is to say Israel.
So the first symbolic motif of the Wedding miracle is the motif of replacement, which will continue throughout the fourth gospel. The water of purification from sin is replaced by the symbolic blood of Christ; the drinking water of Jacob's well, which slakes thirst only for a little while, is replaced by the spiritual water of Christ's spirit, which will satisfy forever. All the religious institutions, feasts, and customs of Judaism have lost their meaning; they are not needed to communicate with God, because God Himself has come. He is standing right there, “in the flesh”, before the wedding guests.
Meditation : Prayer : Now, oh heavenly Father, I ask to be called as a witness to your love by the love I extend to others; a precursor of your justice by my unfailing commitment to what is right and good; a lamp set on a hill, reflecting the light of Christ in my forgiveness, mercy and compassion; and a harvester of souls through my humble and dedicated servanthood. In Jesus' name, I pray,. Amen |
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