Friday, March 30, 2012

Thursday, March 29 ~ Miriam

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Joshua 22-24.
Today's scripture focus is John 2:1-11.

1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
   4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[a]
 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
   They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
 11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.


I'm very sorry I'm a day late.  My sister and I took the kids to Fargo for a few days and we got home on Wednesday evening.  I spent the evening unpacking and then yesterday was a really busy day, so I didn't realize that I hadn't done my post until it was too late because I normally do it on Wednesdays!  Anyway, here it is, better late than never.

Instead of focusing on the miracle itself, even though it was Jesus' first miracle, I want to focus on Mary today.

Mary was Jesus' mother, and most mothers think their own children are extraordinary, but Mary had more legitimate reasons for her beliefs than do the rest of us!  However, Jesus had not yet performed any miraculous signs, so on what was her belief based?  In fact, other than the angels' visits before Jesus' birth and when he was a small child, the only story we have in the Bible of anything out of the ordinary about Jesus' life prior to the wedding in Cana was the time that his family had travelled to Jerusalem for Passover and Jesus stayed behind at the temple talking to the rabbis instead of leaving for home with his family.  Other than that, we have no indications of what his life was like for 30 years.  Were there things about him that his mother noticed that set him apart from everyone else?  Or did she base her faith in him on those long-ago events when he was born?  I mean, the events surrounding Jesus' birth would surely stick in her mind, having experienced them firsthand.

Either way, I thought it remarkable that she would, without hesitation, instruct the servants to do whatever Jesus told them because he would be able to solve the problem.  Jesus' mother may not have known exactly what he would do or how he would do it, but she believed in him.

While my personal feeling is that it is not beneficial to tell our children they can do or be anything they want or that all their dreams will come true, I do think it is important for them to know what some of their great qualities are individually.  I think it can do wonderful things for a child to know that their parents think they did something good.  Not necessarily something like a sport or playing an instrument or whatever the case may be, but something about their character, such as kindness, or showing compassion for others, or being truthful, or noticing that someone needs help with something and going to help them without being told.  Any thoughts?


Tomorrow's scripture focus:  John 2:12-25.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  Judges 1-2.

1 comment:

Tammy said...

I skimmed John Piper's sermon on this passage and one thing I found very interesting was his explanation for Jesus' somewhat "curt" response to his mother. He explained that this was so that everyone would know that his physical family did not have some inside track to miracles or salvation. Everything he did was dictated by His Father's will, not by any human's will.