Have you turned water into wine lately?
I’ve been desperately desiring the Truth lately, but I haven’t been feeling like a sponge. More like a wall in which everything I learn bounces off. All these hours in a car for work has spurred me to continue digging in and I’ve been listening to sermons again. The past two days, I’ve listened to Rob Bell and his sermon, Wine and Heaven.
Rob has been my wild card in the midst of all the podcasts I listen to — primarily Matt Chandler from Highland Village’s The Village Church and Mark Driscoll from Seattle’s Mars Hill Church (not to be confused with Bell’s Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan). There’s quite a few criticisms about him and how he tends to emphasize experience over Scriptures, but when I listen to him and read his books, his love for the Jewish culture and the Hebrew language makes it hard for me to believe all he says is junk. His teachings encourage me to learn more about culture during the times Scripture was written, to fully understand why the writers wrote the words they did.
Anyway, Wine and Heaven was a fairly long sermon for Bell and it was fairly scattered (although I was scattered making sure I didn’t get lost in Dallas during work). Towards the end, Bell hit a home run when it pointed out something in the Gospel of John…
So, you’d have to live in a cave to not have heard of the story about how Jesus turned water into wine, right? It was Jesus’s first recorded miracle, keeping a party going by turning 120 gallons of water into wine (yeah, I know, what party and am I invited?) He told His mom, it wasn’t His time, but she said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
That’s it.
And has anybody noticed it was at a wedding… on the third day?
First, yes, isn’t it crazy that a wedding party has continued for three days? But, second, what else happened “on the third day?” And hasn’t the wedding been an analogy for something far much greater than a man and woman uniting? Since God came down to Mt. Sinai, has God not called us His bride?
As Bell said, this is what happens when Heaven and earth kiss.
Re-read John 2. I don’t know how I’ve missed this… Jesus did not turn water into wine.
Okay, so He did, but He didn’t.
Jesus said to the servants, Fill the jars with water.†And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.â€
John did not specify whether or not Jesus touched the jars full of water. He just says “Jesus said,” the servants obeyed, and 120 gallons of water turned into the best wine ever.
What does that mean for us?
Jesus wants to involve us. God can do everything on His own - cure AIDS, end poverty, dry up the tears, and bring Heaven to Earth NOW. But He hasn’t. And while this blows my mind, it also gives me the opportunity to thank Him… As Matt Chandler put it, “God invites us to come play.” Through the obedient servants, Jesus performed His first miracle.
Just think of what could happen if we were fully obedient to the Lord.
Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy Will be done,
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Tags: john, radical, rob bell, the village church, wine
By mandaloo, June 6, 2007 @ 10:54 pm
good thoughts, nina… how awesome it is to have a god who wants us to be anxiously engaged. he loves us and wants us to grow and develop in all areas - and we can’t do that if we sit around and have everything done for us. what a great reminder that i need to be a more useful instrument in my master’s hand. this faith stuff isn’t a quiet concept - it’s be be explored, probed, set into motion, etc. thanks again for the inspiring post.