I find it interesting in this first miracle recorded in John that very few people knew about it. He turns the water into wine and only Jesus' mother, some servants and the disciples are aware of it. The bride and groom don't know where the new wine comes from. The wedding coordinator doesn't know; he or she is astounded by the good wine being served last. Contrast this with, for instance, the feeding of the 5,000 or the healings that take place in crowded synagogues, where many people see them and broadcast them throughout the town.
The purpose in John seems to be that this is a bit of a private miracle intended for the benefit of Jesus' newly called disciples, that they might believe. Jesus starts by developing trust in that inner core of his ministry team.
When you work your miracles (obviously I use the term loosely to mean the use of your gifts), are you comfortable doing it quietly, behind the scenes, or do you prefer that people are aware of it and give you plenty of applause? For most of us, we certainly use our gifts for the glory of God, not to please others, but it sure helps to have some applause from time to time. I guess that's just human. Funny that Jesus, even when many people observed his miracles, often told them not to tell others. He didn't seem to want the acclaim. I guess that was Jesus being Jesus.
In response to a challenge to think of where Jesus told a joke or had a sense of humor, I cited this marriage feast. First, is the host thinking it was a good gag to save the good wine for last. Also, the experience that most have at a wedding, that the event itself encourages joking, whether it's because of abundant wine or convivial comrades.
ReplyDeleteThe human tendency to wonder about Jesus' childhood reminds me of what diverts us from Jesus' message, evident in that marriage question or widespread publicity of miracles, too. While novelists can spin thoughts around Jesus' childhood, miracles, and his presence at the Cana marriage, we who are interested learning about God, might see novelists' noodlings as entertaining, but not likely a help to discern God's nature. Miracles can support a message of healing and wholeness. They also can have the circus side show aspect of magic tricks. While stories of childhood and jokes might emphasize the fully human part of our understanding of Jesus, Jesus had a much more spectacular message to have us discern.
At a wedding in the time of Jesus, weddings were truly celebrations of life where there is not only an abundance of music and dancing but also seemingly endless amounts of food and wine. Not exactly an everyday affair, to say the least. When Jesus stepped in to replenish the wine, he didn't just change one container of water to wine so that the planner can go out to get some more wine, but John's story has Jesus changing 20 or 30 gallons of water. So what is John saying? Some might say that the mysterious holy in life is bottomless and ever present. And if it is not there, it is because we have lost sight of the mysterious holy in our life, like the wedding planner's inability to pay attention to details . We are too involved in making the check offs on our to-do lists or 'bucket lists'. The enchantment of life is still there, we are just not present to it.
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