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THE SECOND
SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY JANUARY 18, 2004 Are You
Running Out of Wine? Deacon Jack Steele “And when they ran out of
wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
(John 2: 1-11) The
wedding feast at Cana is the setting for the first of the seven signs
performed by Jesus in the Gospel of John. These signs are: 1.
Changing water into wine; (John 2:1-11) 2.
Curing the nobleman's son (John 4:46-54); 3.
Healing the paralytic (John 5:1-15); 4.
Feeding the 5,000; (John 6:1-14) 5.
Walking on water (John 6:15-21); 6.
Giving sight to the blind man (John 9:1-41); 7.
Raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 38-44). The
changing water into wine at the wedding feast is very significant. In the Old
Testament, marriage feasts were the symbol of the union of God with His
bride, Israel. Isaiah 62: 5, "For as your man marries a virgin, so
shall your sons marry you, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God
rejoice over you." Jesus begins
His ministry at a wedding in Galilee, which was largely Gentile territory.
This sign becomes a symbol of the joy of the
Kingdom being spread beyond Judea to all the world. It is the third day after
the call of the first disciples. The mother of Jesus was there, perhaps as a
relative of the bride or groom. By His presence at this wedding, Jesus
declares marriage to be holy and honorable, therefore this passage is read at
a lot wedding. When I
read this Gospel I have often wondered how it should apply to us today. I
read in a book by William Bausch The
rest of the article is about his going to the beach, a day of silence, of recollection, of memory, of being ministered to and healed by the signs and the
sounds of the ocean and sky. The
doctor's prescription, the priests advice, and his spiritual directors
direction was a very good place to start. o
The doctors prescription
was "to listen carefully.’’ o
The priest told him to
"try reaching back." o
His director told him
"to write down all his worries and his faults on a piece of paper and
dig a deep hole in the sand and place the paper in the hole and cover it
up." The
part of the story that struck me was that he did what he was advised to do.
He went off by himself for a few hours and reflect on his life with his wife.
Not looking at what his wife has done or not done, but what his reaction to
her was. He found that his reaction was all wrong. Writing them all down on a
piece of paper and reading them put them in perspective. He was able to turn them allover to God by
placing them in a hole. I
think that all that is good advice. Maybe when I feel that my Life is
"running out of wine," I will be able to do what the man in the
story did. His mother said to the
servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it. " Points for reflection: 1. How do we “run out of wine”? 2. What does wine symbolize in
the Bible and in our lives? 3. Is there any significance in the fact that Jesus provided
the “best” wine at the end of the feast? |
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