The Best Wedding Reception Ever......

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 

   I have four sisters. I witnessed some anguished discussions as my parents help them establish the final guest list for their weddings. At weddings there are mandatory invitations for close family on both sides, then there are categories that can either be invited or eliminated. For example, if you want to invite someone because you were invited to their wedding wedding, do you then have to invite all people who invited you to their weddings, or even more difficult, if you invite someone from work, who else from work does that require you to invite?

   As I read this verse today, I thought of applying that problem to Jesus. When you invited Him to your wedding, He came with twelve co-guests. 

   I have attended weddings where Jesus was invited and welcomed, to others where He was invited to the ceremony but not the reception, and still others where rather than invite Him and receive Him with all that comes with Him, He was not invited, but was merely mentioned in the ceremony.

   Most wedding receptions are fun events. They are a time where we break bread together, enjoy the company of some  old friends we rarely see, and occasionally with others enjoy that we rarely have to see them. All of the social interactions we experience at a modern wedding reception would have been experienced that day in Cana at the wedding described in this passage. It appears that things were going well, then Mary approached the Lord with a problem -- 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." At first Jesus' response to Mary seems like a, No! Have you ever told your mother. No!, while you are actually doing what she instructed? Yeah. Me too. Mary wasn't at all affected by His answer -- 5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."

   Next,  John reports the first miracle done by Jesus recorded in the bible -- 6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim.  8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it.  9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 

   The servants mentioned were servants of the household. We claim to be servants in the house of Jesus. What a different house we would be if our obedience were like theirs -- immediate and unquestioning, without fear of consequences. When the Lord instructed them to fill the jugs with water, they had no clue as to His purpose, but they obeyed. When He had them deliver a cup dipped from those jugs to the master of the feast, again they simply obeyed. I wonder at the miracles that may not have occur for no greater reason than the disobedience of the instructed purpose, and I wonder how often I may have been that servant. 

   In Exodus 7:17, Moses (the biblical representative of the Law) turned water into blood, illustrating that the Law results in death, but Jesus turned water into wine (the biblical symbol of joy) revealing the joy of salvation by grace. Dave Guzik puts it like this:

 

          1- The wine was after the water, the New Convenant is after the Old Covenant.

          2- The wine was from the water, the New Covenant is from the Old Covenant.

        3- The wine was better than the water, the New Covenant is better than the Old           Covenant.

    This miracle didn't make bad good, but made good better. Christ redeemed and re-established the institution of marriage as a symbol and type for His saving Grace. He actually encouraged the festivity and joy of the celebration of marriage and didn't attempt in any way to institute asceticism that religion often tries to substitute as a path to joy.

    This verse began -- On the third day..... Jesus chose to manifest His glory that day in Cana in the form of a miracle On the third day..., just as later the glory of the miracle of His resurrection, and through Him ours, would be made manifest On the third day. The miracle of His resurrection has become the miracle of my resurrection. In the hurried passing of my ordinary days, I sometimes lose my focus and forget that through Him the joy of peace with God is mine and that the Lord who arrived in Cana with twelve co-guests has invited me and all who have placed their faith in Him to the final wedding of all time, the wedding feast of the Lamb of God. That day, rather than wine as a mere symbol of joy, we'll all find real eternal joy. The wine of that wedding will never run out.

   The reception hall is ready. The Groom is waiting. You've been invited. Will you be  attending?



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