Jesus’ Ministry
January 20, 2019
Scripture Reading: John 2:1-11
Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When 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 and 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.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. –John 2:6-11
Our signs are more sophisticated today with numbers and charts, but we still rely on them to help us see the future or potential or the wisest investment to make. The prophets of the Hebrew Bible analyzed signs first to prevent chaos, later to recover from the failure of the people they had warned to heed their wise words. The first century citizens of Galilee were looking for signs just as the children of Israel did and just as we do.
There is dis-ease all about us that I and others cannot precisely describe. Life goes on in a routine manner. We eat, sleep, work, clean, but something is not quite right we cannot put our finger on it and we cannot seem to do anything about it. What is missing? Why do we put our faith in cracked vessels wanting more and more to satisfy our unquenchable hungers and thirst for what? Why do we continue to seek a savior to come and bring us life and bring it abundantly* when we already have one?
While we await the coming of one to solve all our problems and meet all our needs, we may need to look deep into our own beings to see where we have separated from God, where our wishes and desires are missing the mark of satisfying our souls.
I believe that good leaders rise to the top when the people are ready to be led. Unity arrived regarding the establishment of the United States of America when our founders finally realized they must work together as Ben Franklin rather succinctly put it, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
As people of faith we are called by God to be one that is no easy outcome. There are as many ways to do something as there are people planning to get that something done. Finding common ground for the Common Good is hard but it is also imperative, if we are to live in a world of peace and fulfillment where we can truly love God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Prayer: Lord lead, us to the Rock that is Higher than us** so that we can discover those things toward which we can all work to build a better nation and a better world. Amen.
*John 10:10
**Derived from Psalm 61