John 2
From Water to Wine
1-3 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, “They’re just about out of wine.” 4Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.”
5She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”
Jesus, how is it You tell Your mother it is not Your time, but You go ahead and do the miracle anyway? What did she know? Why did You change Your mind? Could it be that the Son of God acted out of respect for his worldly mother? What does that mean for me? Or is it a lesson about Your response to faith, for obviously Mary was acting in faith?
6-7Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.
8“Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did.
9-10When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”
11This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
12After this he went down to Capernaum along with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and stayed several days.
Jesus, You did a miracle to help the everyday lives of those You love. Mary believed in You, and You acted. Help me believe that You will act in my everyday life. Help me to turn to You with my ordinary needs. Then help me to simply act in fath. Give me faith Lord.
Tear Down This Temple . . .
13-14When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength. 15-17Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture, “Zeal for your house consumes me.”
Holy Spirit, You have made my body Your new temple, but I do not treat it like a holy place. I sin again and again. I over-eat. I work to long, workout to little, and don’t sleep enough. And I sin again and again. Give me a new zeal for your house. Help me to see my body as Your temple. Help me to keep it holy and pure for You.
18-19But the Jews were upset. They asked, “What credentials can you present to justify this?” Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple and in three days I’ll put it back together.”
20-22They were indignant: “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.
23-25During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.
Jesus, I know You see through me. I need to change, but I don’t, or won’t, or can’t…I do not know. When will this struggle end? Lord, open my eyes so that I see the true root of my problems. Open my eyes so I see the struggles of others, and how I can help. Help me to truly and totally trust my life to You. Change me so You can trust Your life to me.
*John2*
