2nd Monday of Advent (December 9). WATER to WINE

​Prepare to Listen.  Do whatever he tells you.
 
Prayerfully Read John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’  4And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?  My hour has not yet come.’  5His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’  6Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  7Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’  And they filled them up to the brim.  8He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’  So they took it.  9When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk.  But you have kept the good wine until now.’  11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
In Isaiah 55 God promised free wine.  Jesus began his ministry with the gift of free wine.  Today, how will you respond to this generosity for all peoples?
 
I always loved this story, but I always missed the point because I focused only on its literal meaning.  I failed to look deeper into its spiritual meaning and relation to the Old Testament.  I’ve been learning recently how John’s Jesus relies heavily on the OT prophets.  While I don’t think there is a direct correlation between the free wine at a wedding in Cana and God’s invitation in Isaiah 55, there does seem to be an indirect one.  Jesus’ generosity in Cana is consistent with God’s generosity in Isaiah.  Salvation, God’s style, is a lavish and generous gift, as evidenced in the enormous quantity of wine, given near the end of the wedding in Cana, when most of the guests had already had enough.
 
If all the water in those stone jars was turned to wine, it would come to about 700 bottles!  That’s overkill!  This wine was uncorked and needed to be consumed that day.  The abundance suggests there was enough wine for any and all who were thirsty.  It’s as if God again calls out: “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come.”  In John 7, Jesus repeats the invitation: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me” (v. 37).  The same invitation concludes our Bible: “let everyone who is thirsty come” (Rev. 22:10).  Salvation in Jesus isn’t, as Richard Rohr notes, “a private evacuation plan that gets a select few humans into the next world.”[1]  The invitation is freely offered to all, whoever they are, whatever they’ve done.  The water to wine had no limits on who could or couldn’t drink and neither does salvation in Jesus.  You just need to be thirsty.
 
What connected with you in this story?  How willing are you to welcome anyone and everyone?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, your salvation is generous and inclusive.  Help me live in such a way that includes anyone and everyone who is thirsty.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Do whatever he tells you.
[1] Rohr, R.  The Universal Christ.  New York, NY: Convergent.  2021, p. 48.
If you would like to learn more about this story, you can read my sermon at:
https://www.storymakerlife.com/you-just-need-to-be-thirsty.html