Water to Wine
But What About Me?
When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him,
“They have no more wine.” Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with
water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out
and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the
banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. John 2:1-11 (NIV)
A priest and a rabbi from local parishes
were standing by the side of the road holding up signs. The rabbi’s sign read,
“The End is Near!” The priest, on the other side of the road, held up a sign
which read, “Turn before it’s too late!” They planned to hold up their signs to
each passing car. “Get a job.” The first driver yelled. The second, immediately
behind the first, yelled, “Leave us alone, you religious freaks"! Shortly,
from around the curve, they heard screeching tires and a splash followed by
more screeching tires and another splash. The rabbi looked over at his
companion and said, “Do you think we should try a different sign“? The other
man responded, “Perhaps ‘Bridge Out’ might be better"?
John calls this a “beginning of signs”
(John 2:11). Usually, signs are intended to get our attention and to point us
to something else. Jesus’ intention was not to point people to the wine or even
the miracle, but to point people to Him. Not to show His power but to make
people realize who He was. To give a new understanding of who Messiah is.
Jesus and His disciples were invited to a
big Jewish wedding in Cana of Galilee where, nearly halfway through the
celebration, the unthinkable happened: the wine ran out. On the surface this
may seem like nothing more than an annoyance, but this was a social and
cultural no-no that not only would have involved public embarrassment, but also
could have resulted in the family being ostracized and, in some cases, even
fined.
Jesus performed His first miracle during
this wedding celebration: He turned water into wine. This certainly was an
interesting choice for Jesus to perform His first miracle. The act of turning
water to wine is full of both spiritual significance and prophetic imagery.
Every miracle He ever did had an inherent
need. There was a blind man who needed to see. There was a paralytic who
couldn't walk. There were some hungry
people who needed to be fed. You see, He never wasted His power, He always did
a miracle and it was always a beautiful simple miracle to give somebody
something they needed.
His first miracle wasn’t done to raise the
dead or feed a multitude. It was done to save a family from hurt and
humiliation. This shows us that God cares about every problem we face—BIG and
small. We can come boldly before His throne no matter what size our burden,
knowing that God sympathizes with our weaknesses and in His mercy will give us
the grace to help us in our time of need.
As we enter the Great Lent let us ask
ourselves and be sure of this – If Jesus could transform common water into
wedding wine, spit and dirt into new sight, troubled sea into pathway, well
water into living water…will He not transform the waters of my life, shallow,
murky, polluted, stagnant, sour, into a shower of blessing? Let these 50 days
be a journey of transformation.
Have a Blessed Lenten Season. God Bless Us
All.
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