In the season of Epiphany, we celebrate the earthly
revelation of Jesus. In both the case of
Egypt and Assyria, the Israelites were indeed slaves but were not sold into
slavery. In Egypt, they simply became
slaves which is amazing since the wealth of Egypt was in part due to the work
of a Hebrew, Joseph. In Assyria, they
were simply relocated from Israel in an attempt to assimilate them as had been
done with the northern kingdom.
Fortunately, there were some in Israel who refused to allow that to
happen. They synagogue movement has its
roots in this exilic period. Jeremiah was
clear that this exile was not permanent and ultimately they would return to the
Land. If you believe that to be true you
don’t lose your identity quite so easily.
The Lord announces here that as no price was paid for them as slaves, so
no monetary price would be paid for redemption.
We know that redemption refers to more than physical slavery, the
greater slavery is the slavery to sin and death.
John tells us very clearly what happened that day in Cana, “This,
the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.
And his disciples believed in him.” The
water jars for ritual washing represent the Law. Jewish people of this time had to be very
careful about the issue of washing hands.
Coming into contact with things which were deemed to be unclean meant
defilement by the world. These jars
would have been huge, holding twenty gallons or so. Jesus simply tells the steward to fill them
to the brim and then gives the command to dip some off and take it to the
master of the feast. What was the
steward thinking as he obeyed this command?
Mary obviously had some authority here to direct the steward to listen
to her son but the steward had to think the man had lost his mind and was
setting him up for something when, amazingly, the master praised the wine he
had just drunk. The servant knew the
truth, the disciples knew the truth, but no one else knew what had just
happened. It seems an insignificant thing
in the grand scheme of things, but that day at a wedding in Cana the kingdom
broke in for the first time. Nothing has
ever been the same.
The church at Ephesus comes in for much commendation. They are enduring patiently in a tough place,
they have stood for truth, they have not countenanced the sin of the
Nicolatians, and they have worked and toiled.
All those are good things yet, in the end, they are threatened with
having their lampstand, the Holy Spirit, removed, if they don’t return to their
first love. We can get so caught up in
doing for the church and the Lord that we forget that this isn’t about works
and doing things, it is about a love affair.
We are called and commanded to one thing, love, and everything is
intended to flow from that love. Paul
was clear about that in 1 Corinthians 13 wasn’t he? Jesus came for the sake of God’s love and we
are sent on mission from that same starting point.
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