On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no wine. Jesus said to her, Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Whatever He says to you, do it. Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, Fill the waterpots with water.  And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

John 2: 1-11

As we continue meditating on the inaugural miracle which Christ performed, let us take a few minutes to contemplate the people who witnessed it. There was the couple, the servants, the disciples, and the guests, including the master of the feast.  What can we conclude about this group? By all accounts this must have been a collection of ordinary people.  Had this been a wealthy household, there would probably not have been such a deficiency of wine. Also, at this point, Christ was at the beginning of His ministry. He was still a construction worker, for all intents and purposes. Therefore, the invitation was from common people to a common person. It was within this collection of common people that Christ performed His first miracle. This sets the tone for the rest of His ministry. Mark declares to us that, they heard Him gladly. Paul points out to the Corinthians that, ‘not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.’ This gives hope to those of us who consider ourselves to be just regular people.  Christ is the Savior of the common person. We may rejoice greatly today, that He came as a common man, and that He both began and continued His ministry among the common people. Here is a Christ Who ‘condescends to those of low estate.’ He has not passed us by. For that, we praise and magnify Him.  If you have not yet embraced Him as He is freely offered to you in the Gospel, here is the Christ for you.  No matter what your station in life, ‘believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”

Our Loving Lord and God,
we rejoice in You today,
and in Your Wondrous, Saving Work.
We praise You, that You do not despise us in our low estate,
but raise us up and make us heirs of God,
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no wine. Jesus said to her, Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Whatever He says to you, do it. Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, Fill the waterpots with water.  And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

John 2:1-11

All of the miracles of Christ serve a purpose. His miracles are not mere, raw demonstrations of power. In this inaugural miracle, Christ has a particular purpose in mind, which He gloriously accomplishes.  John alludes to it in verse 11, ‘and His disciples believed in Him.’  This falls completely in line with John’s stated purpose for the writing of his gospel in John 20:31, ‘but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.’ Notice who it was who believed in him, as the result of this miracle. It was his disciples. When we consider the future expansion of the Gospel, and the establishment of the New Testament version of the Christian Church, it is critically important. These disciples would become the Apostles, the sent ones.  It would be these men who would declare, ‘We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’ They would go forth with the words of the Great Commission ringing in their ears. They had to be utterly convinced of the truth of Christ’s Person and Work.  Therefore, to that purpose, Christ did this miracle. We find it yet to be so in our own lives. Christ still works in our situations of life with the intention that we might believe in Him.  Every day He works in miraculous ways to evidence that He is indeed working, all things together for good, for us. In this, Christ will ultimately succeed. He will continue to work to strengthen our faith and trust in Him until that day when the faith becomes sight.

Our Faithful and Wise God,
we rejoice that You teach us all the things
that we need to know,
regarding Your Own Great Self.
We praise You that by your Almighty Power,
You have enabled us to believe.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no wine. Jesus said to her, Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Whatever He says to you, do it. Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, Fill the waterpots with water.  And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

John 2: 1-11

As we continue meditating on the inaugural miracle which Christ performed, let us take a few minutes to contemplate the people who witnessed it. There was the couple, the servants, the disciples, and the guests, including the master of the feast.  What can we conclude about this group? By all accounts this must have been a collection of ordinary people.  Had this been a wealthy household, there would probably not have been such a deficiency of wine. Also, at this point, Christ was at the beginning of His ministry. He was still a construction worker, for all intents and purposes. Therefore, the invitation was from common people to a common person. It was within this collection of common people that Christ performed His first miracle. This sets the tone for the rest of His ministry. Mark declares to us that, they heard Him gladly. Paul points out to the Corinthians that, ‘not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.’ This gives hope to those of us who consider ourselves to be just regular people.  Christ is the Savior of the common person. We may rejoice greatly today, that He came as a common man, and that He both began and continued His ministry among the common people. Here is a Christ Who ‘condescends to those of low estate.’ He has not passed us by. For that, we praise and magnify Him.  If you have not yet embraced Him as He is freely offered to you in the Gospel, here is the Christ for you.  No matter what your station in life, ‘believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”

Our Loving Lord and God,
we rejoice in You today,
and in Your Wondrous, Saving Work.
We praise You, that You do not despise us in our low estate,
but raise us up and make us heirs of God,
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no wine. Jesus said to her, Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Whatever He says to you, do it. Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, Fill the waterpots with water.  And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

John 2:1-11

All of the miracles of Christ serve a purpose. His miracles are not mere, raw demonstrations of power. In this inaugural miracle, Christ has a particular purpose in mind, which He gloriously accomplishes.  John alludes to it in verse 11, ‘and His disciples believed in Him.’  This falls completely in line with John’s stated purpose for the writing of his gospel in John 20:31, ‘but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.’ Notice who it was who believed in him, as the result of this miracle. It was his disciples. When we consider the future expansion of the Gospel, and the establishment of the New Testament version of the Christian Church, it is critically important. These disciples would become the Apostles, the sent ones.  It would be these men who would declare, ‘We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’ They would go forth with the words of the Great Commission ringing in their ears. They had to be utterly convinced of the truth of Christ’s Person and Work.  Therefore, to that purpose, Christ did this miracle. We find it yet to be so in our own lives. Christ still works in our situations of life with the intention that we might believe in Him.  Every day He works in miraculous ways to evidence that He is indeed working, all things together for good, for us. In this, Christ will ultimately succeed. He will continue to work to strengthen our faith and trust in Him until that day when the faith becomes sight.

Our Faithful and Wise God,
we rejoice that You teach us all the things
that we need to know,
regarding Your Own Great Self.
We praise You that by your Almighty Power,
You have enabled us to believe.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

 

Setting The Precedent

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

John 2:11

We want to take an overview of where we have been in order to set the course for the future in our considerations. What we have beheld in the last few days is the pattern for all of Christ’s interactions, which follow throughout the book of John. This serves the purpose which John declares, ‘but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.’ To that end, John will write to point out the same pattern over and over. We can look ahead to see that pattern repeated consistently. The case of Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the man at the pool of Bethesda, the feeding of the 5,000, and the walking on the water all follow the same pattern. In each case, Christ entered into the situation with the intention of doing those people good. He entered into the situations knowing what He would do for them. He always demonstrated that He was in complete control. He worked miraculously again and again. In every case the people with whom He interacted came to believe that He is, ‘the Christ, the Son of God.’ All these things lead us to the conclusion that He will do the same sort of things for us, to the purpose that we also might ‘believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing (we) might have life in His Name.’ It is good for us to know Christ in this way. It increases our faith and trust in this ever-consistent Christ.

Our Great and Unchanging God,
we rejoice in Your utter consistency.
We praise You that we can depend upon You
to ever do us good, in every way, for all our life, and for all of our eternity.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning