Today’s scripture: John 2:1-10 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (David Squire):
It’s interesting, isn’t it, how many tangents our minds can spin off on when we read a short passage of scripture like this.
I wonder about the fact that Jesus kicked off his public ministry by making barrels of wine. Party on, dude! (Sorry. That just shows you where some of my tangents can go.)
I’ve read what some of the commentaries have to say about this, but I still feel like I don’t know enough about the culture Jesus lived in to know if I should be surprised. Was Jesus really helping a drunken party to become even drunker? Or is it just my conservative past that won’t allow the thought of Jesus attending a celebration where the scriptures clearly say that “the guests have become drunk.” I recall some teachers in my past who twisted their logic and translation skills into pretzels to “prove” that Jesus only made grape juice.
There’s probably more to this story that I just don’t understand. But I’m pretty sure this isn’t even the point — it’s just another tangent.
What strikes me as most meaningful is not so much what Jesus did, but why he did it. He wasn’t feeding starving people, or even giving a drink to someone who was genuinely thirsty. (Clearly they had plenty of water, if thirst was the problem.) He wasn’t healing people who were tormented by disease, or raising the dead to glorify God.
No, he was simply helping out a friend, and the only real good that came from it was that the friend wasn’t embarrassed in front of the other wedding guests.
I see two lessons from this. First, Jesus cares about the little stuff. There’s nothing so small that I can’t take it to Jesus and ask, “What do you think about this? Can you help me out?”
The second lesson I see is that I should use the same care with my own friends. Do my friends know they can come to me when they need help (even if it’s a small thing) or am I too busy to be bothered?
Thought for the day: It sounds corny, but ask yourself: Can my friends say, “Having you for a friend is like having Jesus around.”
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.