WATER INTO WINE
John 2:1-11
There seems to be to be two times in a young woman's life when people go out of their way to share their personal horror stories. One is during the pregnancy of her first child, and the other is when she is planning her wedding. There seems to be no end of well wishers who are eager to share the details of a wedding ceremony or reception that went wrong.
If I understand the high value put upon hospitality during biblical times, the wedding at Cana was about to turn into a social and cultural disaster. During the festivities, they ran out of wine. At that time, this was not going to be seen as a comment on the drinking habits of the guests; it was a statement on the generosity (or lack there of) of the groom.
I guess it would be like the wealthiest man in town serving fish sticks, tater tots and watered down Kool-aid at his daughter's wedding reception -- cheap, stingy and inhospitable. No one wants to go through the rest of their life known as the cheapest person in town, even if it was only a miscalculation.
We can look at this scripture as an example of "mother knows best," if we focus on Mary's intervention on behalf of the groom. Or we can see the first miracle of Jesus as an gesture of compassion that saves the party and the reputation of the groom. In the act of turning water into wine, however, we are give a foretaste, an aperitif, if you will, of the transformative and redemptive power of Christ, as he turns the ordinary into the extraordinary, disaster into celebration
If Jesus can turn water into wine at a wedding celebration, is there any situation, any human condition that He is not capable of redeeming?
In his commentary on the Gospel of John, R. Kent Hughes shares this story:
"A miner once interrupted John Hutton, a famous Welsh preacher, by leaping to his feet in the middle of a sermon and leading the whole congregation in the 'Doxology.' Hutton was taken aback and decided he would make the acquaintance of the man. Later, the man explained that he had been a Christian only a few months and that it was all so gloriously different that he could not sit still while the Word was being preached! Then he said, 'I was a bad lot. I drank. I pawned the furniture. I knocked my wife about. And now life is real life, and splendidly worthwhile.' When asked how he fared among his fellows down in the pit, he laughed and replied, 'Today, they asked me, 'You don't seriously credit that old yarn about Jesus turning the water into wine?' to which he had answered, "I know nothing about water and wine, but I know this: that in my house Christ has turned beer into furniture; and that is a good enough miracle for me!'" (John, p. 135)
This is one of my favorite stories because it is more than a story about a man's salvation and a promise of eternal life. It shows that when Christ comes into our lives, He does not allow us to stay as we are but transforms us and redeems our human condition so we can experience "real life ... splendidly worthwhile." God's concern for us is not just about the condition of our souls but extends into every aspect of our lives so that we are freed to be the people God created us to be in this life and the life to come.
Wine into water; beer into furniture; guilt into pardon; blindness into revelation; desperation into hope; mourning into comfort; grief into joy. (see Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1-4) Those are good enough miracles for me.
What about you?
There seems to be to be two times in a young woman's life when people go out of their way to share their personal horror stories. One is during the pregnancy of her first child, and the other is when she is planning her wedding. There seems to be no end of well wishers who are eager to share the details of a wedding ceremony or reception that went wrong.
If I understand the high value put upon hospitality during biblical times, the wedding at Cana was about to turn into a social and cultural disaster. During the festivities, they ran out of wine. At that time, this was not going to be seen as a comment on the drinking habits of the guests; it was a statement on the generosity (or lack there of) of the groom.
I guess it would be like the wealthiest man in town serving fish sticks, tater tots and watered down Kool-aid at his daughter's wedding reception -- cheap, stingy and inhospitable. No one wants to go through the rest of their life known as the cheapest person in town, even if it was only a miscalculation.
We can look at this scripture as an example of "mother knows best," if we focus on Mary's intervention on behalf of the groom. Or we can see the first miracle of Jesus as an gesture of compassion that saves the party and the reputation of the groom. In the act of turning water into wine, however, we are give a foretaste, an aperitif, if you will, of the transformative and redemptive power of Christ, as he turns the ordinary into the extraordinary, disaster into celebration
If Jesus can turn water into wine at a wedding celebration, is there any situation, any human condition that He is not capable of redeeming?
In his commentary on the Gospel of John, R. Kent Hughes shares this story:
"A miner once interrupted John Hutton, a famous Welsh preacher, by leaping to his feet in the middle of a sermon and leading the whole congregation in the 'Doxology.' Hutton was taken aback and decided he would make the acquaintance of the man. Later, the man explained that he had been a Christian only a few months and that it was all so gloriously different that he could not sit still while the Word was being preached! Then he said, 'I was a bad lot. I drank. I pawned the furniture. I knocked my wife about. And now life is real life, and splendidly worthwhile.' When asked how he fared among his fellows down in the pit, he laughed and replied, 'Today, they asked me, 'You don't seriously credit that old yarn about Jesus turning the water into wine?' to which he had answered, "I know nothing about water and wine, but I know this: that in my house Christ has turned beer into furniture; and that is a good enough miracle for me!'" (John, p. 135)
This is one of my favorite stories because it is more than a story about a man's salvation and a promise of eternal life. It shows that when Christ comes into our lives, He does not allow us to stay as we are but transforms us and redeems our human condition so we can experience "real life ... splendidly worthwhile." God's concern for us is not just about the condition of our souls but extends into every aspect of our lives so that we are freed to be the people God created us to be in this life and the life to come.
Wine into water; beer into furniture; guilt into pardon; blindness into revelation; desperation into hope; mourning into comfort; grief into joy. (see Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1-4) Those are good enough miracles for me.
What about you?
Comments
Post a Comment