14 March 2011

Psalm 41, 52; Deut. 8:11-20; Heb. 2:11-18; John 2:1-12

Moses is deeply concerned about the future of the people once they begin to enjoy the prosperity God is promising them. The pre-exilic prophets primarily spoke into this situation of a people so wealthy they no longer saw their need of the Lord. They might offer sacrifices and worship but it was their desire for more of the good life that motivated them rather than a love of the Lord. They also hedged their bets by following after other prosperity gods who might have a hand in the blessings. We see that in our day with things like astrology, superstition and some charitable giving in order to appease God by doing good works. The Lord will not accept sacrifices and worship from an adulterated heart, all we do is to be for His glory. He is God alone, not sharing His glory with another.

Jesus begins to reveal Himself at the wedding in Cana. He moves to do this work not at the command of His mother but at the impulse of the Father. Mary clearly believes, however, that the Father will indeed move Jesus to act to solve the problem of a lack of wine at the wedding feast. It seems an incredibly inconsequential problem for it to be His first sign, but it gives me comfort to know that God cares about something as inconsequential as this, something that has otherwise no significance beyond the social embarrassment of this family. Only the servants and the disciples have any idea this occurred and yet John recalls it vividly as the first evidence he had that Jesus was perhaps more than met the eye. Water turned into fine wine and in incredible abundance. Do you think the disciples were primarily concerned with questions of why or how? The water was for ritual cleansing and it no longer could serve that purpose. In Jesus we are washed in His blood, not water, for cleaning.

Jesus has passed through all the temptations and all the difficulties we are likely to face in our lives and then some. He knew ministry prosperity, five thousand coming to hear Him teach, all speaking well of Him, the reception in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He knew the temptation to do what was necessary to continue that “high” of having a crowd, but He also knew that His work was not to attract am adoring crowd, but to seek the Father’s glory. He knew how fickle men are and He knew that to speak truth would, in the end, mean the cross. He experienced the sting of rejection by those He came to serve, He experienced human betrayal by an intimate friend, His friends deserting Him in His hour of need, and all the physical pain we could ever imagine. In all these things He triumphed and in the end, He was sanctified and we share in His reward through faith. Does anything matter more than this?

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.