wine

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, it is no accident that the first way you chose to reveal your glory was by changing water into wine.  What does that tell us about you?  What does it say about who you are and what you are up to?  What does it tell us about what you most deeply want for our lives?  Lord Jesus, give our lives the fullness and the richness and the depth and the quality you desire them to have.  Then, when people taste your life within us, they will want it themselves.  Amen.

Scripture: John 2:1-11

Journal: Why water to wine?  And why did only the servants know what had really happened?  What does Jesus want to say to you through this passage?  What does he want you to see?  What does he want you to believe?  What does he want your life to be like?

Reflection: I once heard it said that God’s love is like fine wine; it is complex and robust and smooth and intoxicating.  And because it is like a fine wine, it goes unappreciated by most palates.  I think that is so true.  And maybe it partly explains why the first place Jesus chose to reveal his glory was by turning water into wine at the wedding of some friends.  Oh sure, it could have been simply because his mother asked him to, but I think it was more than that.  I think there is something about wine that is meant to give us a taste of God’s kingdom, his life, and his love. 

After all, wine occupies a pretty significant place in the scriptures.  It is present from the first miracle, to the Last Supper, to the final wedding feast of the Lamb.  It is used both to symbolize Christ’s redeeming blood and to help us visualize the life and movement of God’s Spirit within us and among us.  In fact, we are warned that if we try to contain its life and its fullness in old wineskins, they will simply explode.  I love that!  It fills me with such excitement and joy and hope.  Hope that I will one day be able to contain all of the fullness and life and love that God desires for me.  And that his life and his love would overflow from me in such a way that it would invite others into that fullness and life and love as well.  After all, isn’t that what the fullness is for in the first place?

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Thank you, O Lord, that your love is more delightful than wine. (Song of Songs 1:2) Help me to taste and see, today and every day.  Amen.