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Life is? - Part 5
*** Today, don't limit God to barely meeting your needs. ***
Date: 2/1/2017 7:50:45 PM ( 7 y ) ... viewed 789 times ** Do not Limit God in your life!
John 2:6, "And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece."
JOHN 2:1-11 {Here is the depth study and answer to John 2:1-11}
Here in Cana this aloofness is followed by an enigmatic statement concerning his time, literally, "hour" (hora). This hour is a reference to his death and the events that follow (Jn 13:1; 17:1).
It will be mentioned a number of times in the story, but no one is able to comprehend what he is talking about.
Not surprisingly, then, this first mention of Jesus' "hour" is quite unintelligible to his mother.
It is an entirely cryptic saying and, as with the other cryptic sayings in John, it reveals everything and nothing. Those who know the whole story realize Jesus is saying all of his ministry, even his signs in Galilee, are to be understood as done under the shadow of the cross, resurrection and ascension.
But his mother grasps none of this. She responds by turning to the servants and saying,
Do whatever he tells you
(2:5; cf. Gen 41:55).
That is, in the face of Jesus' thoroughly enigmatic statement she leaves the initiative entirely with him. His saying has gone over her head.
It sounds like it is slightly, or even completely, negative, but since she does not know what this "hour" is she cannot really be sure of what he means.
So she continues her request for him to do something about the problem, but she does so in a way that leaves him entirely free to respond as he will.
So a key element in Jesus' mother's character, as in that of the first disciples, is her leaving of the initiative with Jesus. In this openness to Jesus' will, we see her humility.
This picture of the mother of Jesus is very similar to that which shines through in the Synoptic accounts, especially in the Lukan infancy narratives (Lk 1--2).
Mary's response to the annunciation, "May it be to me as you have said" (Lk 1:38),
and the spirituality of the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55) express this same docility before God. She is entirely God-ward.
She is poor in spirit and thus has entered the door of the kingdom of God described in the beatitudes (Mt 5:3).
It is as true now spiritually as it was true for her physically that a person with such a disposition is the one to whom God comes and implants his seed and begets divine life (cf. 1 Jn 3:9).
All generations are to call her blessed (Lk 1:48) because of the ineffable honor God has bestowed upon her: she was chosen from among all women to carry in her womb the Word that became flesh.
She bore in her body for nine months the one who bears the universe in his hands. It is not without reason that Mary has held such an important place in Christian thought and life, both as the one who bore God the Son and as a model of someone who lived a truly Christian life. It is a great tragedy that she has become a figure of controversy within Christendom.
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God has been represented as a God who is on a tight budget and who disapproves of us asking for anything more than just the necessities. However, this first miracle of Jesus disproves all that.
Scholars suggest that a firkin was equal to about nine U.S. gallons. This would mean that six of these water pots would hold 162 gallons of wine. That's a lot of wine!
In a similar instance when Jesus was asked to provide food for the multitude, He once again supplied more than the need (Mt. 14:15-21; Mk. 6:33-44; Lk. 9:11-17).
These examples show the Lord's willingness to meet our needs with plenty to spare.
God is not cheap!
Today, don't limit God to barely meeting your needs.
If you have enough, then believe for extra so that you can bless someone else.
"Let God be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servants" (Ps. 35:27).
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