Temple to Table

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We are reminded that God graciously provides for us and invites us to His wedding feast. We are encouraged to look for glimpses of Jesus' glory around us.

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Upsetting the Equilibrium

I want to backtrack a little bit from where our text started this morning. Jesus starts gathering His disciples and John records that, like I shared with the kids earlier, and He tells them what they were doing before He got there. It’s admittedly a little impressive, but especially for us who know more about what Jesus will do, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. Which is exactly how Jesus reacts to their reaction - I’m paraphrasing a little bit, but He essentially says “you think that was cool, give it a minute.” Specifically He says, “you will see greater things than these.” Then the disciples go to this wedding and Jesus has this conversation with Mary that sounds really weird to us. She wants Him to provide wine for the wedding and He seems to resist a little bit - but then He has the servants fill large jars with water and turns it into wine. He makes enough wine for the whole party and turns out the wine was really good too.
But I have to wonder, for those disciples who had just started following Him around, did they see this as the “greater things” He had promised them or did they see this as just the beginning of something that would change the world forever?
When we hear about this thing Jesus did, do we recognize this glimpse of His glory or do we see this miracle as almost a party trick before His “real ministry” gets going?

Analyzing the Discrepancy

And, I think that’s a little bit natural for us to do. I mean, I imagine most of us have used Koolaid at some point in our lives, so the idea of turning water into something else isn’t that far removed from just a regular day. Especially when you compare it to some of the other things Jesus did - making the blind see and raising the dead might come to mind - making wine from water just doesn’t seem as incredible. But here’s the thing, even if the face value of this miracle doesn’t impress in the same way that telling a thunderstorm to knock it off - and the thunderstorm listening - does, Jesus is kicking off His public ministry with something profound. Those jars were used for ceremonial purification, and it’s almost like Jesus is signalling that people won’t need that kind of purification anymore now that He’s around. His first miracle takes place at a wedding, and it points to the kind of celebration that Jesus’ accomplishments invite us into. Even with this relatively simple, down to earth miracle, Jesus takes steps into ministry like a chess grand master.
But something that becomes apparent in His ministry is this, it’s not what people were expecting. People were expecting grand signs in Jerusalem and the halls of power, people were expecting a prominent voice speaking in the temple. Instead, Jesus made sure there was enough wine to go around at a wedding in Cana. And that invites a question for us this morning as well, are we so focused on looking for the glory of God in grand displays or only in places like this that we miss when His glory is revealed in our lives, when He provides for us in the mundane and simple parts of our lives? Do we need to shift our focus from the temple to the table?

Disclosing the Clue to the Resolution

Because if you were to try and picture the glory of God manifesting, we might start to think of something like is described in Revelation. A golden city that is beautiful from every angle. A towering temple where every angle is perfect and all eyes in the city are constantly drawn to it. Jesus dressed in all white robes, radiating glory and light. And where did His glory actually manifest? At a party celebrating a wedding. A simple venue in a rustic part of the world. It wasn’t in the temple, although He did do great ministry there as well, it was around the table with family and friends.
What about you? Where is God’s glory in your life? I think sometimes we pray for a miraculous sign or a voice to speak to us from the clouds, we look for God to work in an undeniably supernatural way. And He does work that way, when that is His will. But so much more often He works through advice from a friend or mentor, He works through a teacher at your school, He works through the circumstances at your work, He works through a subtle conversation or a seemingly accidental coincidence. And I think sometimes we miss out on His revelations of glory because we’re only looking for the big ones at the temple, instead of paying attention to the subtle ones around the table.

Experiencing the Gospel

The cool thing about God though is this, He blesses us and guides us even when we fail to recognize these glimpses of His glory. Just like those people at the wedding, just like the master of the feast who didn’t know where the wine came from, we are still blessed by a God who loved us enough to send His Son to save us. He knew that we would never be able to go to Him, so He came to us - to walk in our dirtiness and our brokenness and give us hope.
Those jars that Jesus used were filled to the brim, and that can remind us that the cup of blessing we receive is not half full, it isn’t running on empty. Jesus filled it to the brim, and on Calvary’s cross that jar was broken. God’s most precious blessing spilled over on all of us. We are washed in the blood of the Lamb and made right with God. This gift is for you and we receive it both at the temple and around the table.

Anticipating the Consequences

So we look for things to remind us of that blessing in our daily lives. To be reminded every, single, day that we are forgiven, redeemed, and loved by God Almighty. And He is not content to stop there - He blesses us with friends and family and mentors who help guide us in the way we should go. He blesses us with situations in our lives that lead us closer to His will for us. He blesses us with opportunities to be His hands and feet to the people around us. In the people around us, in the settings we find ourselves in, in the relationships we have, in the community where we live - God is manifesting His glory, we just have to look around to see it.
And this week I would like to challenge you to be really intentional about that. At some point over the next few days, have a conversation around the dinner table or with your friends or with your small group and just answer one, simple question together. Where is God giving you a glimpse of His glory? Who and what is He using to point you to Jesus? It’s in His name, amen.
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