The message today centred on the wedding at Cana in John 2:1-11 and as everyone knows, weddings are about 'the two shall become one.' When the wine ran out during the festivities, Jesus was asked by his mum to step in and save the day. His first miracle took place in turning an obscene amount of water into the best ever gold-award-winning wine.
But what's the deeper point of this account? Well, I think the first lot of wine signifies the basic elements of life (grapes) + our human effort, resulting in wine (enjoying the fruits of our works). But that is achieved by constant hard work and runs out very quickly. Without that effort the grapes rot; the basic elements stay as they have always been. So more effort is required. All of life works on this principle: take the raw elements of life, add human effort and you get a new product every time (just like turning rocks of iron ore into steel products for the building trade). But it is temporal at best. Nothing we make lasts; otherwise we would still be driving around in our grandparents' model T Ford. Old stuff rusts away and we have to apply more human effort to come up with something new. Sounds familiar - it should be, humanity has been at this merry-go-round since life began.
Now Jesus comes along at the Cana wedding and introduces a new thing: my life (water in the jars) + Jesus' effort resulting in the miraculous and eternal (see 1 Cor. 12:7&11). Even in the Old Testament, this futuristic thought is found: 'not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.' The Christian life is all about allowing God to use the basic, normal, ordinary parts of my life and join them in union with Christ's acomplished works to result in the redemption of every part of ourselves, our plans, our decisions, hopes and dreams. John the Baptist knew what he was saying when he proclaimed: 'I must decrease so that Christ can increase.' So, put more of God into your everyday life and see the miracles take shape. Miracles don't happen by 'more effort', but simply by more of Christ impacting our life. Think about it.
Rev.'D
