The wedding feat of Cana is the first miracle performed by Jesus and denotes the beginning of his ministry. Its significance is extremely profound and it is seemingly missed by many theologians. I want to take a look at this story and examine its manifold meanings.
Until now the world has been living under the law-John the baptizer was the last old testament prophet who lived concurrent with Jesus. Jesus praises him highly, The spirit of Elijah come again, the very herald of the living God. It is Elijah who represents the prophets at the transfiguration, Elijah the greatest prophet; it is high praise for John the baptizer to be singled out in this way.How did John come onto the scene, he baptized with water, the water of repentance. Jesus is the catalyst of the promise, it is he who changed the water of repentance into the wine of grace, the gospel of peace.
Who is Jesus commissioned by? His mother Mary. Jesus is called into his public ministry by a woman-inconceivable for that time period in human history. Yet he is given dominion by a woman. It is Mary who commands the servants, "Do what ever he tells you to do." Jesus tells his mother that he is not ready, but he obeys the command to honor his father and mother. Christ is both subject to the law, but at the same time supersedes the law.
Many theologians have mused on the spiritual allegory that Jesus is the superior wine being better than the first wine that was purchased by the bridegroom. The new covenant is far better than the old, but they miss the importance of change that has already taken place. Jesus appears and the world is better for it; in fact, the world needed the change. The world could not be justified by the keeping of the law as St. Paul ascertains, it needed a savior.
As in all things, the God-man from Galilee changes everything, and the world is better for it.
We will speak again, God willing,
Big D
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment