Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

When John stated his journey of following Jesus he was always on a high. He records in chapter 2 the incidence of Jesus turning water into wine. Although he was still probably teenager, drinking wine was not seen as a problem. Indeed it was healthier to drink wine that water during those times due to hygiene and sanitation issues. Jesus was not sanctioning getting drunk or drinking to excess, since this was only the third day of the wedding. What he was doing was demonstrating his power over nature and John reports this early in his account to show that Jesus was truly greater than their Jewish concept of Messiah.  Two things to note here: 1. Jewish weddings lasted for about a week and was finalised by the bridegroom coming at midnight to get his bride (see reference to this in the parable of the virgins in Matthew 25). 2. The Jews thought their Messiah would come, sit on the throne of David and restore Israel as one of the greatest nations in the vicinity.

 Similarly today many people are still seeking a benign manby pamby Jesus who wipes their noses and dries up their tears. Jesus is the Lord of the universe as John demonstrates and we need to discipline ourselves so that we can serve him faithfully and fruitfully in our generation. He wants us to prosper, but prosperity in not just in the things you have but in how we relate to those around us. We ought to live our lives with an element of excitement but earthed in the fact that Jesus is Lord of Lords and king of kings and nothing is impossible for him.

Today the issue for us and John was not that Jesus turned water into wine but that Jesus is lord and king over the natural, spiritual and ethereal things.

Read John 2:1-12.