Happy New Year!

This Morning as I was reading Scripture the Lectionary Passage was John 2:1-11. The story of the Miracle of the Wedding at Cana. The first and seemingly ridiculous miracle that Jesus performed.

While it may seem inappropriate to call a miracle of Jesus ridiculous, I only say it to show how it appears to our eyes. After all, isn't God about eradicating drunkenness and even (some might believe) eliminating fun? Yet here is Jesus turning water into wine. More so he seems to do so reluctantly, at his mother's request, when the wine for the wedding party has run out. Yet his mother doesn't badger or nag him into it but simply turns to the stewards and says. "do whatever he tells you."



What can we learn from this? I encourage you if this story is unfamiliar open your Bibles and re-read it. First I think we learn something about what it means to have faith in Jesus. For the participants in this feast things were not going well. Now, mind you this is not on par with a Cancer diagnosis or a financial collapse. But it certainly was a big deal in a culture that valued extravagant hospitality torun out of wine for your INVITED guests. These weren't passers by who would still merit a good meal and sheltering, these were invited wedding guests. You don't stop halfway through the party and say "sorry folks, we're out of wine, would you like some tea?" Mary seeing the trouble for a friend? a family member?, she goes to Jesus. When he tries to avoid the attention that a miracle would bring, (she wasn't asking him to make a wine run to the state store.) She simply says to the stewards, "do whatever he tells you." Do you need an answer to a problem? This is the place to begin. Trusting that Jesus has the ability to fix things, DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU TO. Don't assume you have to figure it all out on you own. Go back to the basics. Do what God makes clear that you are to do Pray (Philippians 4:6), Worship (Hebrews 14:15), Work as you are able (2 Thessalonians 3:6-15). Don't do anything he would not want you to do. Don't knowingly sin because you don't seem to have a better option. This takes faith, but we learn from what follows that Jesus acts.

Next, we learn that Jesus transforms our mediocre repetitive attempts to take care of ourselves into completion and celebration. The striking thing here is that the transformed wine is drawn out of water jars used for ritual cleansing. What was used for a repetitive religious ceremony, done again and again and never able to make them truly clean or happy, was now used for celebration. The wine also prefigures the wine of the New Covenant.Where before continued washing with water only served as a reminder of sin and their need to be made clean to approach God. Jesus invites His disciples to dine with Him at His Table offering them "the cup of the New Covenant"in His blood; that blood which gave true forgiveness of Sins.

As you worship and live think about these things. Jesus came to transform our mediocre striving and religious ritual into real forgiveness and celebration. Happy New Year!

In Christ and on the Shepherd's Path,

Mark