ORDINARY THINGS

 

January 27, 2025

John 2:11

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him

A wedding and the wine was running out! This was a social disaster. For family reputation and honour it was vital that the host was seen to be a good and generous host. Weddings in the First Century were week long events to which the whole community was invited. Our gospel story tells us its day 3 and the wine was gone. Into this situation Jesus steps in and John says this first "Sign" (miracle) “revealed his glory”.

But here is a question: saving people from social embarrassment is kind and compassionate, but how does it show God’s glory? One would expect that the first "sign" of God's glory would be something magnificent that met a basic human need, like raising the dead (John 11) or feeding the hungry (John 6) or Healing a blind man (John 9).  "Signs" are a beacon in the Gospel of John indicating that we should look for more than just a surface meaning. 

Over the next few days I want to suggest three reasons why this miracle of changing water into wine reveals God’s glory and I also believe in this Bible passage we will see three aspects of Jesus ministry that demonstrate the way God usually works with us. 

First, lets look at the  GLORY IN THE ORDINARY.

Seeds of this idea are seen in the first chapter of John where we are told “In beginning was Word..” but then (in vs 14) we are told “The word became flesh” (Gk sarx) This is a very course, unflattering, earthy, ordinary word. This phrase the “word became flesh”, in a sense, sums up the Christmas story, this is John's Birth Narrative so to speak. Quite different from Matthew and Luke way of describing things. "The word became flesh”. 

When we think of the Jesus story, we notice that he was not born in a palace, the offspring of humans with royal blood, he does not have a proverbial “silver spoon” in his mouth. Instead he is born in a stable, his human parents are humble working people, and story of pregnancy by the Holy Spirit makes you wonder how many believed that explanation. I feel that Mary's pregnancy had a lot of suspicion, rumor and maybe shame in what many thought was an illegitimate birth! There is not much glory here! 

This first sign shows us the way God so often works, through the ordinary and unspectacular. After all, the place, Cana, is an obscure (ordinary) village a short walk out of Nazareth. The circumstance of the miracle is something haphazard and ordinary. Was the shortage a wine a case of bad planning? 

Yet in that ordinary place and in that ordinary circumstance Jesus makes a difference. Isn’t that fantastic?! That means that Jesus comes in the ordinary every-day aspects of our lives today. He comes in the ordinary joys. Jesus came to the fun and festivity of this wedding in Cana and makes it the "EVENT". Jesus, it seems, tells us to be of good cheer!

This also means that Jesus comes to us in our ordinary troubles too. If Jesus helped in the context of a social gathering where the wine ran out, we can expect him to be our help in our social and family life needs.

What I have discovered, I imagine you have as well, is that there is nothing too small for Jesus to care about, whether it is health issues, work problems or concerns about bringing up kids. God is the God of surprises, and his "GLORY" is revealed so often when we meet him in the very ordinary things of life.