Reading: John 2:1-25
Recently I attended my mother-in law’s funeral. Many people turned up to the service
recalling her outstanding example and inspiration to them and the quiet,
hard-working loyal servant of Christ she had been. I am ashamed to say that that I feel I
completely missed this point of her life while she was with us.
In this passage the point is missed time and again. 1. The
master of the banquet (verse 9, in charge of the running of the feast), tasting
the wine (his neck being on the line), not bothering to find out where it had
come from and commenting on its quality when God himself, the creator of every
good thing, was gracing this marriage banquet.
2. The Jews demand a sign from Jesus to prove his authority – Jesus, the
eternal Son of God, to whom and for whom the temple was dedicated and
built! 3. The disciples and Jews miss
the point of Jesus’ answer (verse 19), as he gives them a glimpse of his
destiny to become the saviour of the world, abolishing the need for the
physical temple he was standing in. 4.
People who are so dazzled by Jesus’ miracles tragically miss the point of ‘God
with us’ (verses 24-25).
So we need not be discouraged when people around us miss the
point of our daily witness to them, but remember that we can do nothing without
God’s power flowing through our lives and completely relying on his strength
and not our own – the outcome of our lives is completely up to God.
But we are challenged: how many times do we miss the point
when we don’t see that our prayers are being answered around us? When we read
the Bible out of habit rather than out of a thirst for God? When God presents
‘gift wrapped’ opportunities to us?
Response
Father, allow me to
see what is really going on around me in my life today and help those that I am
in contact with be guided into truth as the disciples were.
Guy
Tom Wright (John for Everyone) brings home in a fresh way how shocking the table-turning event must have been …
ReplyDeleteImagine the scene in a school. The pupils are all taking their end-of-year exams. The teachers are preparing for a big Open Day when parents and friends will come to visit. Everyone is excited. It’s the biggest moment in the school year.
Suddenly the door of the head teacher’s office bursts open. In walks a pupil, with a few friends behind him. He goes straight to the desk where the secretary is organizing a pile of examination scripts, and turns the desk upside down, scattering the scripts all over the room. He proceeds into the head teacher’s private room, where with a single sweep of his arm he knocks to the floor all the letters and papers, the invitations and arrangements, so carefully made for the big day that’s coming up.
He turns on the astonished onlookers. ‘This whole place is a disgrace!’ he shouts. ‘It’s corrupt from top to bottom! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!’
Before he can get away, the head teacher himself arrives. ‘What right have you got to behave like this?’ he asks.
‘You can fail me if you like,’ replies the pupil. ‘You can throw me out. But I shall go to the university. I’m going to train as a lawyer. And one day I’ll put an end to corruption like this. Your system is finished!’ Then, before they can stop him, he leaves.
Now all such stories are only partly parallel to the astonishing scene in the Temple. No illustration can do justice to what Jesus did …