After closing their eyes and listening to the story being read aloud, individuals in the group mentioned some of the things that stood out for them during the reading. One person heard the word “invitation”, connecting it to Jesus being invited to someone’s wedding even though he may have been viewed as ‘different’. He knows what it’s like to be treated like one who is not considered one of the crowd. There were varying opinions concerning Mary’s role as one who was concerned that the supply of wine was depleted. Why was she concerned about it? Was she a perceptive wedding guest, or a kind relative helping the family, or helping a friend in need? Does it matter? Do we see anything that guides us in our willingness to help others?
Another heard “Do whatever He tells you” coming from Mary, Jesus’ mother. Isn’t this what we try to do if we follow Him as disciples or servants? We have to be anticipating His orders so we are ready to get the job done.
Someone brought up the question, ‘had Jesus called any disciples yet?’ We had to look in chapter one to find that ‘yes’, he had called Andrew, one of John the Baptist’s disciples, who then ran and brought his brother Simon. Philip and Nathaniel were next. We remembered that yesterday’s gospel reading from Mark 1 was the story of Jesus calling Simon and Andrew, except they were casting their net in to the sea because they fished for a living. Two different settings in which the same two brothers are reported to have been called, and in different ways. None of the commentaries we searched gave convincing answers for the variations, so who are we to know more than the ‘experts?’ How does this support the concept of biblical inerrancy? No one suggested there’s an ‘error’ here, but maybe the point is not really about “who” Jesus called but the various ways by which Jesus calls His disciples even today. Maybe stories like this are put in place to loosen up some of the hardline literalists? Who knows?
We talked about Jesus’ response to His mother. First, why drag Him into this problem, and then, that His hour had not come. Most mothers know the sound of ‘what’s this got to do with me’ coming from their grown sons, especially during football games on television. And yet, not two minutes later, they are up and doing what mom has asked them to do. Mary seemed to have full confidence that Jesus would do the right thing, even though she didn’t know how or when He would do it. She wasn’t concerned. Just like when we approach Jesus in prayer, pointing to someone in need, we shouldn’t be fretting and constantly in Jesus’ face trying to manipulate Him to do as we wish. It’s just not His time yet. We wait for His timing, fully trusting He will do the right thing.
Another question came up: why is Jesus providing more wine when the guests have already consumed what was available first? Aren’t Mary and Jesus both enabling or complicit in the promotion of excessive drinking? We can dream up some wild pictures of the potential for abuse but this doesn’t mean we understand the culture and intentions of people in that place in the first century based on our own experiences. We might reason that Jesus didn’t mind people having a good time at a joyful occasion, the union of two people in lifelong commitment to each other.
The question came up about the significance of this being the first miracle in the Gospel of John. Why? I like to think Jesus is introducing Himself as the new wine that has come so we can celebrate the goodness of God. With this miracle, Jesus does show He has power over the natural world in being able to change water into wine. And what about the ‘good’ wine saved until last? What was interesting was the split between the group of people who took this as a good thing to happen for the groom/chief steward, whereas others interpreted the reaction of the steward as negative – why didn’t you serve the good stuff when people could appreciate it, or ‘this isn’t the way it’s always been done.’
This short story brought up many topics for discussion that could have consumed more time if we had pursued them deeply. I’ll touch on Luther’s additions to the discussion in my next blog.
Blessings! PWM
Someone brought up the question, ‘had Jesus called any disciples yet?’ We had to look in chapter one to find that ‘yes’, he had called Andrew, one of John the Baptist’s disciples, who then ran and brought his brother Simon. Philip and Nathaniel were next. We remembered that yesterday’s gospel reading from Mark 1 was the story of Jesus calling Simon and Andrew, except they were casting their net in to the sea because they fished for a living. Two different settings in which the same two brothers are reported to have been called, and in different ways. None of the commentaries we searched gave convincing answers for the variations, so who are we to know more than the ‘experts?’ How does this support the concept of biblical inerrancy? No one suggested there’s an ‘error’ here, but maybe the point is not really about “who” Jesus called but the various ways by which Jesus calls His disciples even today. Maybe stories like this are put in place to loosen up some of the hardline literalists? Who knows?
We talked about Jesus’ response to His mother. First, why drag Him into this problem, and then, that His hour had not come. Most mothers know the sound of ‘what’s this got to do with me’ coming from their grown sons, especially during football games on television. And yet, not two minutes later, they are up and doing what mom has asked them to do. Mary seemed to have full confidence that Jesus would do the right thing, even though she didn’t know how or when He would do it. She wasn’t concerned. Just like when we approach Jesus in prayer, pointing to someone in need, we shouldn’t be fretting and constantly in Jesus’ face trying to manipulate Him to do as we wish. It’s just not His time yet. We wait for His timing, fully trusting He will do the right thing.
Another question came up: why is Jesus providing more wine when the guests have already consumed what was available first? Aren’t Mary and Jesus both enabling or complicit in the promotion of excessive drinking? We can dream up some wild pictures of the potential for abuse but this doesn’t mean we understand the culture and intentions of people in that place in the first century based on our own experiences. We might reason that Jesus didn’t mind people having a good time at a joyful occasion, the union of two people in lifelong commitment to each other.
The question came up about the significance of this being the first miracle in the Gospel of John. Why? I like to think Jesus is introducing Himself as the new wine that has come so we can celebrate the goodness of God. With this miracle, Jesus does show He has power over the natural world in being able to change water into wine. And what about the ‘good’ wine saved until last? What was interesting was the split between the group of people who took this as a good thing to happen for the groom/chief steward, whereas others interpreted the reaction of the steward as negative – why didn’t you serve the good stuff when people could appreciate it, or ‘this isn’t the way it’s always been done.’
This short story brought up many topics for discussion that could have consumed more time if we had pursued them deeply. I’ll touch on Luther’s additions to the discussion in my next blog.
Blessings! PWM
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