Well, wedding season is heating up and with
that I have had to take a closer look at passages on marriage and life. I want to share some insights from John 2
about a wedding that Jesus attended and some great truths I discovered here
On
the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his
disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more
wine.”
Jesus’ response was unpredictable at best…
“Dear woman, why do you involve me?. My
time has not yet come.
Here’s the point.
1.
There is something larger than
life itself going on here.
This
is not a simple task of running to the LCBO.
The truth is that this very wine is a picture of Jesus’ sacrificial love
for the world.
It is the very foundation that we all need
to rest our lives and relationships on.
The only way that real love has an opportunity to grow is when it is
based on the love of Jesus.
She was living in the moment and Jesus was
looking ahead to the cross. There is something larger happening here, more than
just a social faux pas at a wedding.
We are looking ahead to a covenant with
Christ at the center.
Let’s keep looking at the events that
unfold at this wedding…
5 His
mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby stood six
stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each
holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the
jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now
draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”They did so, 9 and the
master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did
not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water
knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the
choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much
to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
2. Jesus Is The Ultimate Purifier
So, here we see Jesus taking water
jars that were appointed for
purification and turned them into most amazing wine. Jesus again was pointing to His death on the
cross as the place where we would be purified from our sins. He would pay the ultimate price.
Do the math… 6 ceremonial jars x 25 gallons
each.
That is a lot of wine! Here’s the realization. The love God has for us that Jesus would pour
out His life for us is an extravagant and overflowing love.
See
what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God! 1 John 3:1
1 John 1:7
The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.
He paid the price for your forgiveness.
Knowing that you are forgiven and
experiencing real forgiveness from Jesus is the ultimate glass of wine that we
continue to drink everyday.
I wonder if John had the wedding
celebration in mind when he continued to write about the extravagant love of
God. I’m sure it inspired him to write
about purity as well as he continued to write…
Dear
friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made
known. But we know that when Christ appears,we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he
is pure. 1 John 3:2,3
3.
Jesus is The Ultimate
Bridegroom
We as Jesus’ followers are His bride the
Bible teaches us. So, back to the
wedding. ..
Recognize that Jesus performed a miracle
here and did what the groom at the wedding couldn’t do.
The groom at the wedding wasn’t going to be
able to “COMPLETE” his bride like we see in the movies. We can’t even meet all the needs of our
spouse, but here’s the AHA moment. We
need to point each other to the ultimate source, the one who will meet all our
needs. Colossians 2 says that we are
made complete in HIM, Jesus.
My prayer is that you will discover that
kind of love.
Manor Church NEWS
Jenny joins the team!
We are excited that Jenny Johnson is
joining our core team at Church at the Manor.
She recently preached on the theme ,
We are living in a love story"
Jenny shared snippets of her former life
"I laughed when I wanted too cry, lived when I wanted too die" ...all
the while she knew deep down God was calling her to live the love story
designed for her.
Tina – Garden Caretaker
It has been awesome to see Tina B. step up
to the plate and take leadership of our Manor Garden at the back of the
property. She has already had it rototilled,
found a $200- grant and seeds!! We also have a water container to keep things
growing as well!!
Biblical Literacy – we just tackled Ruth!
A great review of Ruth
Sharon focused on Jesus as our ultimate
“Kinsmen Redeemer”. He is our next of
kin who has come to redeem us, to rescue us from a place of alienation and
separation to a place of family and being part of God’s Kingdom community!
The Tragedy of Judges
Judges is really written as a tragedy. The Judges were the regional, political,
warrior leaders during that time. We see the nation of Israel called to drive
out nations that were morally corrupt and was certainly evident through child
sacrifice in the worship of their gods like molech. So, what happens? Israel settles into the land and becomes
complacent, they forget the challenge of Moses to obey the laws and commands
they are given. Unfortunately, the move in and end up adopting the same
practices of the very nations that resided in the land. It really is a classic
spiral, a desperate nation that turns to God, but one that falls into an ugly
cycle.
It looks like this.
Ultimately, Israel needed to be delivered
from themselves and the truth of it was a reminder of the human condition. Ultimately, they cried out for a king and a
king would come. What they really needed
was what Moses spoke of in Deuteronomy 30:6, a heart circumcision that would
come in the person of Holy Spirit.
