6/6/21

 Water to Wine

            On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom  and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

John 2:1-11

           

             The Creator of the Universe took on flesh to defeat Sin and Death in order to provide a way home for the Children of God.  One would think that He was too busy to deal with a simple  logistical issue at the wedding of two random people.  True, running out of wine would have meant significant embarrassment for the family for years…but on the cosmic, eternal scale that Jesus was working on, this crisis should have been less than insignificant.  But it wasn’t.

            Perhaps Jesus was simply honoring His mother.  Perhaps He was taking advantage of a teachable moment for His disciples.  Perhaps He was just being kind.  Whatever the reason, the Son of God turned water into wine so that a celebration could continue and shame could be replaced by honor.  The miracle did not advance His agenda.  It did not fulfill prophecy.  It did not increase the number of His followers.  It merely brought joy.

            Sometimes joy is enough.  Sometimes the invitation for us is to set aside the strategy and the worrying and the planning and the therapies and engage in fun and celebration and joy with our children.  Sometimes we put off the dishes or the bills or the schedule and we get down on the floor with our kids to play or read or color or wrestle.  We will find time to get back to our duties and responsibilities later.  But there are times to simply have fun and dive into joy together.  The weight of the world can wait.

            When my son was a toddler, joy was swinging.  He loved to swing so much.  At first I thought that 45 minutes straight of swinging might be a little above normal, but he was my first child so I had no comparison.  Having raised a couple of others and having been on lots and lots of playgrounds, what I have observed is that most kids like to swing for about three to five minutes and then run off to play other things.  45 Minutes.  Straight.  My son would laugh and cheer and grin as he went back and forth and back and forth.  I would feel the impatience rising inside of me.  I had important things to do and my arms were getting tired of pushing and there were other kids who wanted to swing and…and it was easy to lose the joy of the experience.  The choice was before me to either be resentful as I pushed for 45 minutes or to share my son’s joy and live in the moment.  It sounds a little silly to say that I could choose to be angry or happy and it was a hard choice, but that was the reality.  I hated the idea of wasting my time.  We could have been doing activities with long-term therapeutic benefits or educational goals.  I could have been working to bring in more money to get my son more of what he needed.  But all he wanted to do was swing.

            And then I look at Jesus.  Jesus who could have been changing the world but instead chose to change some water into wine and secretly bring joy to a household.  Jesus who had nothing to prove and no one to impress who decided that the best use of His time in Cana was to share joy with God’s children. 

            And so we would swing and swing and swing.  And my son would laugh and laugh and laugh.  And I would smile and push and know that this was the best place that I could be and the best thing that I could be doing at that moment.

A moment to reflect:

Take some time to have fun with your child today.