Encounters with Jesus

Have you ever taken the time to go thru the Gospels and see how lives were changed when people encountered Jesus? RADICAL changes. Not just yawning, ho-hum January resolutions for change. Not just shallow words said to appease someone. We are talking about REVOLUTIONARY changes. Jesus does that to hearts that are open to Him.

I guess my favorite encounter of Jesus is recorded in Luke 19. It tells the story that Mark Moore says ought to be titled "Too Short to See Jesus". Most of you have sung the story since you were in pre-school....the story of Zacchaeus, the "wee little man". Someone of Irish decent must have written that jingle, huh? Zach must have been someone the Jews despised. It was common knowledge that a tax collector defrauded people and lined their own pockets. He must have been viewed as a dishonest cheat. He would have been perceived along the same lines as the way Ken Lay was perceived by the employees at Enron. A no-good, sorry individual. But that day was his lucky day. Wasn't it? Or maybe it wasn't luck at all. I can't imagine anything having to do with Jesus explained as "Luck". Far from it. It was very intentional. Of all the people Jesus chose to go home with, he chose the idiot cheat up in the tree. The short stuff that has the little man's chip on his shoulder, so he takes it out on the folks by stealing from them. HE gets chosen by Jesus! Reckon there were some jealous people in that crowd that day? Reckon there were some people who thought Jesus MUST have his priorities wrong to pick that scoundrel to go home with? We know it says they "muttered" he was a "sinner". There are SO many aspects of this wonderful encounter we could focus on and make application, but the one I want to center on is HOW Zacchaeus's life changed....RADICALLY after his encounter with Jesus.

Do you know what the law in Leviticus said about repaying someone whom you had cheated? Leviticus 6: 5 says "He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day he presents his gift offerings". So, if I cheated you out of 20 dollars, I gotta pay you back 24 dollars if my math is working right. Why is that important? Because of the effect Jesus has on the life of Zacchaeus. We don't know what all was talked about in that house that day, but we do know this.....Zacchaeus was a changed man. My guess is Zach knew the law. Most people dealing with taxes know the law. After being with Jesus for one afternoon, Zacchaeus declares: "Look Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay them back four times the amount." Four times......hmmm. Do you realize that was TWENTY times what the law required! Remember the 20 I stole from you? I am going to now give you back 80 dollars instead of the $24 the law requires. Don't you know this drove the Pharisees crazy....knowing that they were all about minimal requirements. "Show me the bottom line, and I will make sure I get that done" was their approach to God. What would make Zacchaeus have such a RADICAL response? You know the answer, and you see it EVERY time Jesus captures someone's heart.

So let me ask in a whisper, when is the last time you went 20 times over what God expects? Oh I know, we can't always measure our actions, our love, our caring, and our mission. It's not about the measuring is it? But do people see your radical love...your radical care...your radical mission? Do they wonder what in the world could have gotten to your heart for you to respond to them in such a way? If not, you like me may need to encounter Him again. Are you too short to see Him? Short in patience, short in kindness, short in love, short in understanding, short in grace.....and the list goes on and on. Do what it takes, just like Zacchaeus did.
Encounter Him again.

Holy Spit

So I'm walking just outside my village the other day, just minding my own business, and I see a small group of people gathered around a couple guys. Just the fact that there were even a few people outside the village was a bit odd, but they were all looking intently at the two guys in the middle.

I recognized the one guy first. He's the blind guy. Every now and again I'd give him a coin. I figure he needs it. He's blind. I do my very best to respect people who have some challenges. I figured that this other guy was going to do something nice for the blind guy.

I moved closer in to see what was happening, and, I am not making this up, the other guy spit right in the blind guy's face. Then he starts mashing the spit around with his fingers. I was pretty ticked off. I got in closer because I wanted to give this jerk a piece of my mind. I got close enough to hear what he said. I couldn't believe it. First he spits int he blind guy's face, then he smashed the spit into his face, then he has the nerve to ask him if he sees anything. I'm not sure if you can get any more insulting than that.

What happened next knocked me out of my sandals.

The blind guy answered spitman, "I see people, but they look like trees walking aound."

Thr crowd laughed because, well that's a very funny thing to say. I did not laugh. This guy who was 100% blind was seeing something.

Then this spit guy smashes the spit even further into the blind guy's eyes.

"How about now? What do you see now?"

"I can see everything. My eyes are clear!"

Some people yelled out shouts of joy. Some people fell to the ground. Others hugged. The blind guy just looked and looked at things. That little crowd was so happy.

Then the spit man tells them all not to tell anyone. Well, that was the last thing I thought he was going to say. I figured this guy could make a fortune with this kind of spit. Not only was he not interested in money, he was not interested in being famous. All I know is that if I had holy spit, I would be milking it for all I was worth.

I wanted to talk to this guy, but he left so quickly. I have a couple of questions for him. I'm going to keep looking for him. I'm sure I'll find him, if I just keep looking.

What Made It Official For The Official

After spending an unplanned two-day stop in Samaria, Jesus left for Galilee. He was headed home, yet He didn't seem to be enjoying the anticipation of it. He pointed out to his tag-along followers that a prophet has no honor in his own country. Yet, when He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen everything He'd done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast. More than likely, they were anxious to see more.

Again, He visited Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine at a wedding party. A royal official, doubtless on leave from Herod's court, heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea and went to Him, begging Him to come and heal his son, who was close to death in Capernaum.

Maybe the way he phrased his plea didn't set well with Jesus. Maybe others around, anxious to see a miracle, were spoiling the opportunity. When He spoke, He seemed to be addressing more than just the royal official, though he spoke directly to him. “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

Was He accusative? Or telling him the simple truth? Was He testy? Or just testing? Or both? Was Jesus dismissive to this desperate man; a man perhaps standing there with tears dripping down his cheeks?

The royal official was nothing if not persistent; he said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

On an occasion that Matthew and Luke record, a Roman centurion living in Capernaum approached Jesus and begged the same request, but about his servant. He was held in high regard by the locals, because he had financed their synagogue. And he was humble. He told Jesus that he wasn't worthy that He should come under his roof. He understood authority, saying that he commanded a number of soldiers who would live and die at his orders - implying that all Jesus had to do was give the word. Jesus healed his servant and bragged on his faith, calling it greater than any he had found in Israel.

But this seems to be a different occasion. This royal official was begging Him to interrupt His journey to come several hours' walk to his house and heal his son. The term "royal official" is more likely to refer to a highly-placed Jew in Herod's kingdom than a Roman commander. And this royal official seems to think that he should give the word.

Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."

I wonder how long they spent, sizing each other up; wondering what the other would do next.

The man took Jesus at his word and started for home. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he asked them the time when his son got better, they told him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he believed and so did everyone in his household.

John says, "This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee."

I'm not sure why he only started counting the ones in Galilee. Maybe because in Samaria, people believed because of His words (John 4:41); in Galilee, people believed because of His miracles. Just like He had commented to his followers about a prophet and his own country.

But even if the royal official wasn't as noble as his centurion counterpart, you could say one thing for him - and John does: He took Jesus at His word.

Then he acted on it.

He didn't ask for fish and expect a scorpion. He didn't ask for bread and anticipate a stone.

He asked for mercy, and considered it given.

- from the account in John 4:43-54

What Made The Outcast Draw A Crowd

It was not a routine stop, because it was not a prescribed route. This jog in Jesus' first missionary journey from Galilee to Jerusalem (for Passover) and back was necessitated by the fact that His ministry was baptizing more in Judea than John's was in the trans-Jordan area. (Okay, His followers were; He didn't baptize.) The Pharisees - who were certainly not happy that Jesus had single-handedly toppled the temple marketplace in a day - had caught wind of His success. It was time to move on.

To make good time (and a good escape), they had to go through Samaria. Not your first choice for a route home; most folks took the bypass. Not Jesus.

They stopped for lunch at Sychar, near Jacob's Well, and Jesus rested there while the rest went to buy it. He was tired and must have been thirsty.

A woman came to draw her day's water. The heat of the day was not a great time to do this, but one could avoid other kinds of heat in the noonday solitude. Except that there was a man there, today. A Jewish man, no less. Did she smile to herself? Wonder if he was lost? Socially inept? On the lam?

"Could you give me a drink?" He asked politely.

"You're asking me?" she responded, a bit taken aback. "A Jewish guy asking a Samaritan woman for a drink?"

He knew that Samaritans and Jews - let alone men and women - generally didn't socialize in public. Not if they wanted to keep their reputations intact. He also knew that she had nothing to lose, there. And He had much to gain.

"If you knew the gift of God and who's asking you for a drink, you'd have asked him and He'd have given you living water."

She must have been smiling now. He was no danger to her. He was a kook. "Well, sir, I can't help but notice you don't have a bucket ... and the well's pretty deep. Where do you plan to get this living water? Are you a better well-digger than our father Jacob, who gave us this one - for himself, his descendents and their herds?"

Jesus was listening to her carefully. She said "our" father Jacob. She recognized a common heritage, even between Jew and Samaritan. There was no racial bigotry in her heart coming out of her mouth. "Anyone who drinks from this well gets thirsty again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never get thirsty again. In fact, this living water will give life that never ends."

It must have been the heat affecting him, she may have thought, grinning. "Then, sir, please give me some of your water. So I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here for more."

Did He detect in her words a genuine desire not to come to this well? To face the gossip and shunning and insult that might greet her there? To be reminded every day of her loose morals and outcast status? "Go call your husband and come back."

"I ... I don't have a husband," she replied.

"I see that you respect the truth," He answered. "You're right; you don't have a husband. You've had five husbands, and the fellow you're with now isn't married to you. You're quite right."

Well, this was awkward. Word gets around in a small town pretty fast, but she couldn't have imagined it getting around to a Jewish stranger in an instant. "Sir, it's obvious that you're a prophet. Maybe you can clear this up for me. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. Your people claim that you can only worship in Jerusalem."

Was she trying to call his bluff? Or was she genuinely intrigued that Jesus might know the answer to something she'd wondered about all of her life? Or both?

When Jesus responded, He was emphatic: "You can believe this: A time is coming when you will worship the Father - not on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You'll worship what my people know and what will save them. Because the time is coming - and now is - when all people who really want to worship the Father will do so in spirit and in truth, for they are the people He seeks. God is spirit, and His people must worship in spirit and in truth."

Her jaw probably went a little slack. He took her seriously. Her took her yearning to worship seriously. It didn't matter what her life was like or the choices she had made, poor as they were. Could this wandering Jew be The One that Isaiah spoke about? She had to know: "I know that when The Chosen One comes, He will explain everything to us."

He was emphatic again: "You're talking to Him."

Right about then, His followers showed up with lunch. They, too, were a little taken aback that He was talking to her - but they weren't going to say anything about it.

Outnumbered, a little dazed, the woman left her water jar and ran back into town past them to anyone she could find, telling them: "You've got to come with me. I've just met a stranger who told me everything I've ever done. Could He be The Chosen One?"

There she was: possibly the most disreputable witness in town - if either Jewish or Samaritan culture had deigned to accept the witness of ANY woman - telling anyone and everyone what she had just discovered. Sharing her suspicion. Exaggerating the circumstances. (Could He really have told her everything she'd ever done in that short conversation?) Checking it out to see if someone had snitched on her to Him. Defending her conclusion.

And it was working. No one had snitched on her. They knew who she was. How did the Stranger know? They poured out into the street and followed her back to Him.

That probably didn't look good to His followers. It probably looked like a mob. Of Samaritans. It was time to eat and run.

Again.

So they urged Him: "Uh, Rabbi, eat something."

Perhaps He saw the townspeople coming. Perhaps He was smiling. Jesus answered: "I have food you know nothing about."

The followers looked around at each other. "Did you bring Him something?" "No, I didn't bring Him anything." "What about you?" "I was with you, doofus! Are you saying I stole a snack and ...."

"My food," Jesus interrupted, "... is to do what God wants and finish His work. You know when the harvest is four months out, but you can't see the fields God wants harvested! They're ripe, right now! And right now the reaper is being paid; right now the crop of unending life is harvested, so the sower and reaper are glad together. The old saying is true: one plants and another reaps. I'm sending you out to reap what others have worked hard to plant; and you benefit from it!"

It was a metaphor that may well have gone over their heads at the moment, even if He had been pointing to the oncoming harvest of townspeople.

Who in the world would Jesus have sent to Samaria to plant anything? they must have wondered.

Yet, the seed had been planted. The woman knew what God had promised to Isaiah. She had recognized it - even if doubtfully - with her own two eyes.

Then the crowd pressed in and wanted to know more and He taught them. And a lot of them believed, right there on the spot, because of what the woman had said; that "He told me everything I ever did."

The re-routed missionary journey had another change of plans, because they wanted Him to stay, and He did, for two more days. Over those next hours, many more came to believe He was The One.

Something important happened, too. Not important to me or you or Jesus' followers, perhaps. But it was important to the people of Sychar. They had a daughter among them. Someone who cared enough about them to be transparent; to put her faults on the line; to share with them the possibility of good news. They told her - fondly, I hope - "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we've heard it for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

Two big words: "just because." For even though their faith was affirmed when they heard Him, they had originally believed because of her:

The woman who drew water at noon.

Multiple divorcee, now living in sin, prone to exaggerate.

The first gospel preacher.

- from the account in John 4:1-42

What Heaven Gives By Taking Away

It has to be a disappointment to watch your ministry die. When you've given up a "normal" lifestyle; when you've been the one to whom people came in droves; when you've been privileged to immerse them as a testimony of their penitence and desire to be washed from sin. But it comes at an inopportune time. You've just moved the ministry from Bethany-on-the-Jordan to a better location at Aenon near Salim, where there's plenty of water, and things are looking pretty good.

One day you come to work in your camel's hair suit after a quick breakfast of Locust Toasties (Now With Honey!) and find your staff arguing at a distance with some fellow who says you're not baptizing people the right way. You wait a moment, wondering if you're really up to this today, when your staff comes over to you and says: "Rabbi John! That man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River - the one you testified about? You know? - Well, he is baptizing out in the Judean countryside ... and everyone is going to him!"

It's not like you haven't seen it coming. The numbers have been falling off for some time, and you might have chalked it up to the move. But you saw it coming when you saw Him by the river - and perhaps saw Him for Who He is for the first time.

Your younger Cousin, the one your mom told you about from the time you could understand speech. The one you looked forward to playing with when Aunt Mary and Uncle Joseph would come to town for Passover. You recognized Him in the crowd who came to be immersed in the river, and were glad to recognize Him in front of everyone: "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

He was everything you have worked toward; the culmination of everything you have tried to prepare them for. And now His time has come. He's doing what you do. He's baptizing. You would have to wonder: Has He already begun to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, as well as in water? Or will that come later? Is that why this visitor is charging that I'm baptizing the wrong way?

Your staff looks at you for an answer. It's time to show His grace. "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven," you say. "The bride belongs to the groom; not the best man. The best man is elated to see the groom coming down the path to the wedding tent. That's how I feel about it: joyous! It's His time now, not mine."

Perhaps you pause to let it sink in, then add: "Look, the one who comes from above is naturally above all; the one who is from the earth naturally belongs to it, and speaks in earthly terms. The one from heaven speaks of what He has seen and heard in heavenly terms, and it's no wonder that it's hard to accept and that few do. But the ones who do are confirming that God is truthful. God sent Him; He speaks God's words - for God gives the Spirit in an unlimited way. God is His Father, who loves Him, and has given Him everything. Anyone who believes in the Son will live forever; anyone who rejects Him receives God's wrath and death."

There is a part of you that has a sense of deja vu; that the words you have just said are words He has said recently. There's no explicable way that you could know that the person He said them to was Nicodemus, the councilman, visiting Him at night.

You look at your staff. You wait to see if they will stay with you. They look uncertain.

It doesn't matter. You started out without a staff. You still have the serenity with which you began; the one thing heaven gives by taking away everything else. You'll do what God has given you to do; whatever the numbers, the vestments, the food, the income. No matter what God gives you to say; no matter what king you have to stand up to; no matter what end might await.

It's your job. And there is no other job like it in the world.

- from the account in John 3:22-36

What The Teacher Was Taught In The Dark About Light

It was a temptation to title this "Nick at Nite," with all due credit to Real Live Preacher.

Because it is about Nicodemus, and he did come to Jesus by night.

Why at night, we don't know. Maybe, as a high-ranking teacher-rabbi himself (on the ruling council in spite of being a Pharisee), he didn't want his peers seeing him come to young Jesus or confess what he felt:

"Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

He was referring, of course, to the turning of water into wine at Cana and all of the other things Jesus had been doing to encourage people to believe that His words were, indeed, from God. His words, as Synoptic writers Mark, Matthew and Luke make plain, were about the kingdom of God. So it must the kingdom, Jesus surmised - or read in his heart - that Nicodemus had come to talk about:

"You can believe this: No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

The look on the face of the councilman must have been incredulous. "How can a man be born when he is old?" he asked. "Surely he can't leave the same womb twice!"

Jesus held his philosophical ground. "You can believe this. No one can enter God's kingdom unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You shouldn't be surprised at what I've said. The spirit-wind blows wherever it wishes. You hear it come and go, but you can't tell where from or where to. That's the way it is with those born of the Spirit."

Nicodemus must have had a thousand questions. (I know I would have. I do now.) He settled for spluttering: "How?"

The young Rabbi reproved him mildly: "You're Israel's teacher; you should understand these things. You can believe this: We talk about what we know and can testify to what we've seen, but your people don't accept our testimony. I've spoken in earthly terms and you don't believe; how can you believe if I speak in heavenly terms? No one has ever gone into heaven, except the one who came from there - the Son of Man. The same way Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so everyone who believes on him will live forever."

It was a story well known to Nicodemus. It was known to every school child. Jude would refer to it, years later, in his short epistle. So would Paul, in I Corinthians 10. Poor Nicodemus must have felt like a school child in the presence of this incredible teaching.

Born again. Of water and the spirit. Isn't that how people are born the first time? Was He talking about that baptism ritual that his cousin John and the Essenes were so fond of; that all the people were lining up to experience by the Jordan? How did the Spirit fit into that? Who was the Son of Man that was referred to? Daniel? That's the way the angels of in Daniel's visions referred to him - and some other prophets, too. No doubt Jesus was a prophet, but ... was He talking about Himself? Lifted up so people would believe and not die. Ever. Lifted up how? Believe Him ... how? How could they believe Him when you can't even understand Him?

What did Jesus mean, "believe and live forever"?

Then He said what every Sunday school child of our day knows by memory. It hadn't happened in its fulness yet, but Jesus spoke of it as if it were a fait accompli:

"God loved the world so much that He gave the only Son He had so that anyone who believes in Him wouldn't die, but live forever. God didn't send His Son to the world destroy it, but to save it through that Son. Whoever believes in that Son escapes destruction; whoever doesn't is as good as destroyed already because of unwillingness to use good judgment and believe on the Son. So judgment comes to those people, and here's the verdict: Light came into the world, but they liked darkness better than light, because what they did is wrong and they were afraid everyone could see them do wrong if they did it in the light. But people who love truth and live by it come into the light, so that everyone can see that what they've done has been done through God."

That's all of the conversation we have. Whether it went deeper and deeper into the night and illuminated Nicodemus' misunderstanding and doubts more brightly, we can't say.

Something about the words he heard stayed with Nicodemus and affected him deeply, to his very heart. In time to come, he would defend this young Rabbi in the council and even serve as a funeral director for Him after the term "lifted up" had taken on a whole new meaning to him.

That night, Nicodemus must have lost sleep. He surely must have wondered what it meant for his God to have a Son, and to send that Son into a world of such brutality and evil. He undoubtedly marveled at why God would want to be recognized in the things that people do. He must have pondered whether it is more important to understand fully, or to believe fully.

But he certainly learned a lot in one night about a Light shining in the darkness.

And a love that surpasses human understanding.

- from the account in John 3:1-21

What Drove The Market Collapse Of A.D. 27

The date is speculative, of course. Because it wasn't about a time, but a place.

Location, location, location.

It was just as vital a concept in the first century as it is today, and the folks who exchanged currencies and provided church supplies back then knew it well.

They set up shop right there in the courts of Herod's temple, perfectly willing - for a fee - to take bad, foreign, Gentile currency and give back time-honored Israeli currency so that the temple treasury wouldn't be polluted and unclean. (Maybe, technically, the exchange fee was a little "iffy" on the legal details.) Still, other merchants offered clean, fresh, unblemished animals right on the spot to the weary traveler who had come all the way to Jerusalem to sacrifice at Passover.

These were the sorts of business God himself would approve of; and they were conveniently located right there in the temple courts where the high priest and middle priests and low priests and worshipers did not object in the slightest.

Until the weird young Rabbi came to town from a brief stop in Capernaum. Before anyone knew what was happening, He had whipped up a scourge made of cords and was driving the bigger animals away, upending the exchange tables, and lecturing the merchants with doves: "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

A few of his close friends suddenly remembered the ninth verse of a psalm of David (#69 in our books) that would prove to be even more prophetic in the days and years to come: "...for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me."

The reaction of the commercial leaders of Jerusalem was understandably demanding, since there had been strong, tacit approval for their location, location, location. It may have even taken on a bit of sarcasm about a reputation that preceded Jesus from his renown in Cana: "What miracle can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"

Well, who can blame them? He'd caused a great deal of embarrassment and loss. They weren't insured for it.

It was an act of God.

But the Rabbi was up to the challenge with one of His cryptic retorts: "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

Why was He so concerned about it? It was just a building. Didn't He know that in forty-three years it would be nothing but burned-out rubble?

Now the merchants were out-and-out insolent: "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" And it was a beauty, twice as big as the original tabernacle and appointed with gold and gifts from the king; no wonder they were proud of it. It was just an outstanding location.

Of course, His friends were already in contemplative mode because of that old song they had thought of. Later - much later - they would recall the moment, and realize that He was talking about the temple of His body.

Fortunately, everything turned out fine. No one called the royal guard or the Romans. The merchants agreed to relocate their businesses for a while ... since there was no specific legislation forbidding their presence in the temple courts. It wasn't like they were selling extraneous things, like seamless T-shirts or scrolls from the Essenes extolling the virtues of baptism or even motzah and horseradish for the paschal meal.

So the young Rabbi moved among the people gathering in town for the feast, doing a lot more things like what he had done at Cana. People began to believe that He might live up to His name, which translates to "salvation." It would be a tall order: that incredible temple and all those animals hadn't been enough to provide salvation from occupying Romans or children-possessing demons or the crushing weight of year-after-year-rolled-forward guilt.

However - other than His indecipherable quotes, which certainly made interesting conversation - He wasn't forthcoming about His next moves.

There may have been a few extra loose cattle and lost sheep roaming about the house of Israel for a while.

But not for very long.

from the account in John 2:12-25

What A Mother Wants Her Son To Drink

At a party - a wedding party, no less - the traditional first century beverage was the blood of the grape, distilled and refined and served with generosity.

Jesus, his mother Mary and friends were in attendance at one in Cana of Galilee (way up on the wrong side of Samaria and a good walk from home in Nazareth) when the wine ran out.

Respectfully - as was the custom of the time, no doubt - she actually made no request. She simply went to Him and shared with Him the bad news: "They have no more wine."

Did He divine her thoughts? Did He have to, or did He just know what she wanted as a son knows a mother's heart? He answered her fondly: "Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come."

She had planted the seed. Whether He stood there or moved on, we aren't told. But she turned to the servants and told them: "Do whatever he tells you."

Was Mary just concerned about friends hosting a wedding party who were suddenly in an embarrassing situation? Did she just have confidence in His ability to stealthily pass the hat? Were the guests already soused and rowdy, and apt to riot if the news became known? Had she seen Him do something supernatural and super-quickly to stem an emergency before? Was she pressing Him to make himself known? To reveal His glory so His friends would believe in Him? That seemed to be His interpretation.

It certainly was the one which proved true. As obedient to His mother as He was to His Father, He looked around for an opportunity and spotted six big 20- or 30-gallon stone jars nearby, usually filled with clean water for dipping out to wash one's hands during the long wedding party. This late in the party - the guests doubtless overstaying their welcome when the wine ran out - the jars were no longer filled. He told the servants, "Fill the jars with water."

So they filled each one to the brim. Then He told them to draw some out and take it to the caterer.

Does it matter to you or anyone else whether the miracle was in the pouring or the dipping or the tasting? Did it matter to the servants, or to Jesus, or to Mary? What was the caterer's opinion?

The caterer tasted what was brought to him, and was probably pretty well put out. He didn't know where it came from, and he didn't deign to ask the servants. So he pulled the bridegroom aside and told him that most people bring out the good stuff first and then the cheap stuff later, after everyone has already had too much to drink. "But you've saved the best stuff till now!" he exclaimed.

The best stuff.

Kegs of it. Maybe 120 - 180 gallons. Enough to keep the party going a long, long time.

Don't get me wrong. This is no diatribe in defense of overdoing it with alcohol. It's not a demand to serve wine rather than grape juice in the cup you drink from during Communion. It's just an interesting situation to me.

The Son of God chose to perform His first miracle at a wedding party in Cana of Galilee, and He chose to exchange water for wine. Not cheap wine. But the good stuff. The best stuff.

His mother wouldn't have had it any other way.

It wouldn't be the last miracle He performed while in that body. In fact, for His last one He chose to exchange death for life. Not cheap, watered-down, sour, vinegar-y 'take-away-a-little-pain- while-You're-dying-on-a-cross- as-Your-mother-watches-You-bleed' life. But the good stuff; the eternal stuff; the stuff that lasts and is worth having forever. The best life.

His Father wouldn't have approved of anything less.

- from the account in John 2:1-11