His first miracle was turning water into wine.
...That seems like nothing to do with healing.
John the Baptist felt that healing was the 'sign' that Jesus could be the Messiah and Jesus seemed to confirm such signs affirmed his Messiahship (Luke 7), so it is interesting out of the myriad of options he had for his first miracle, that healing doesn't appear to be part of it. Yet, the 'first' event of anyone's ministry or new vocation is significant and sets the tone and focus for what follows and usually exemplifies your mission.
So what is going on here?
There have been a myriad of interpretations which I have come across over the years in books and sermons, as to the significance of this first miracle:
Some have postulated that it reflects Jesus' concern for everyday events,
others that marriage is foundational to life and society and approved by God,
others that he was not against total abstinence from alcohol,
others say that Jesus loves parties,
others that he just loved people and wanted them to enjoy the celebration,
others have said it shows that unlike the Roman Catholic teaching Mary is not the means to get Jesus to act but that he will only do his Father's will on his Father's timetable and anyhow she would point people to just do whatever Jesus says to do,
...others that he chose to provide wine in his first miracle because it represented his coming provision of shed blood for sin.
But my recent study raised a further perspective. One author noted that Jesus' first miracle rescued the family from 'embarrassment'….in other words shame…it was a healing, and was greater than a physical healing, in that it was a social healing from shame to honour.
Dr Joshua Bogunjoko, the SIM International Director in a recent devotional sent to SIMers during this COVID-19 period referenced this same 'shame' element as present in this miracle. He also noted that this miracle teaches us that Jesus cares about our needs and situations even when we don't realise their significance (since it seems the bridegroom possibly didn't even notice he was about to be shamed). He also noted that God can turn what was heading toward shame, into a situation of honour and praise.
Maybe we can learn some more by looking at the honour-shame factors in this miracle and what they tell us about Jesus' ministry….but which, as Westerners, we can so easily miss.
1. Firstly I want to say I am 100% on board with the significance of shame and honour in this event…in fact honour is the purpose of Jesus' miracles/signs, so says the Apostle John in chapter 2:11 of his gospel. Their purpose was to manifest/reveal Jesus' 'doxa' - his honour and glory.
2. My recent study has been looking at the place of disability in African culture and what biblical honour might have to say in such situations.
There is too much to write about here, but suffice to say that current global disability theory hovers between what is known as a 'medical model' (focusing on physical needs) and the 'social model' (focusing on acceptance and inclusion needs). Many say the 'social' side is more important.
However, when I look closely at the 'social' model, what is really being sought is 'honour' - dignity of respect, inclusion, acceptance, value, worth etc. Writers such as Randy Alcorn in his book 'Heaven' feel that when people seek healing, they are, more than anything, seeking social healing.
Yet, the healing Jesus brings is both. Physical healing on earth brought social inclusion in Jesus' Jewish and Mediterranean culture - it brought honour and acceptance where there was shame and isolation. It demonstrated the purpose of Jesus' mission that was shown first in the turning of water into wine at the Cana wedding - to bring honour where there is shame.
3. But the wedding in Cana, also showed that the honour Jesus brings is not the earthly kind - its part of a countercultural upside-down Kingdom.
On earth the best wine was put out first and the bad wine left till last. But Jesus brought out the best last. Does this ring any bells about other passages in Scripture where the last will be first? (Matthew 20:16).
Not only that, but the wine Jesus made was of a far superior kind - it made the 'first best wine' of this wedding look like the cheap stuff in comparison. The best honour that man can produce falls so far short of God's honour that ours looks worthless. Does this ring any bells about our righteousness looking like filthy rags? God's definition of what is good, far surpasses ours!
4. Not only is what Jesus brings beyond the 'normal' earthly ideals, he gives honour that is totally unreliant on the 'quality' of what he is given.
It's not all on us to produce our best in order to receive God's best.
In fact at this wedding, they had nothing left except water.
We might think our lives are so little worth or so inadequate that we don't even qualify as any kind of value, just like water has no value in comparison to even poor wine.
But Jesus took what didn't meet expectation, was valueless and wouldn't even have been considered worthy to serve at the wedding—water, and turned it into something that far surpassed expectation and became of highest worth.
It would have taken a great deal of 'faith' to fill all those wine jars with water. Serving water may have been even more shameful than running out of wine! It was certainly something the Master of the occasion hadn't even considered as a possible option. Sometimes we have to be willing to lower ourselves and risk our 'pride' even further when Jesus comes along.
But if we are to partake of what is greater than we could imagine, we might have to humble ourselves to lower than we thought we could go. But when we lose our life for Jesus' sake, it's then we will find it! (Matthew 16:25).
5. So although this miracle doesn't look like a 'healing' miracle, it is a picture of the most profound 'healing miracle' there is.
It is providing what is at the heart of all desires for healing - restored honour.
Jesus came as the supreme healer. He came to bring honour like no-one had conceived it could be had. He came to bring it in such a way that it would embrace social healing not just with our fellowman, but more importantly with God our Creator from whom we were eternally separated and before whom we were eternally shamed (Daniel 12:2).
One day, when we share the resurrection with Jesus, we will know full physical healing and full social healing where sin no more destroys physical function or relational harmony.
But Jesus' coming taught us that the physical and social healing we long for on earth is but a shadow of the spiritual healing we need.
We need an honour far above our earthly ideals, and we need to restore honour 'with' Someone far above those on earth. Jesus came to be the one who would be 'The Way' to that restored honour with God, who would bring us a level of honour that provides our greatest need even before we know it! All we have to do is accept it from his hand, and partake of it.
6. Yes, all the metaphors and images I had read about as suggested for this Cana wedding miracle have value and significant importance…
...but ultimately they are part of a whole which is…
... Jesus' coming, dying, rising, ascending, and sending the Spirit to sort out our biggest problem - the need for restored honour to deal with the condemnation of the path of shame we are on.
This is a level of shame that we don't fully comprehend but eternally separates us from God and God knows needs to be dealt with. And he has done so by inviting us to experience and partake of a level of honour, which the earth does not, and cannot, produce.
7. So lets think about this a little more
….John tells us that the purpose of Jesus' miracles was to reveal his glory/honour 'doxa'….and to do that poignantly Jesus did something that removed and covered shame. And he did it in such a way as to remove the shame even before those who had it, realised.
Not only that but he enabled a way for those ones to receive unexpected honour above and beyond what they ever even considered in such a way that not only blessed them, but flowed over in blessing to those around them too.
Therefore, if Jesus' miracles exemplify his ministry and point to his identity as Messiah….maybe we need to stop to think that the purpose of his coming, the 'definition' of being the Messiah/Christ, is to demonstrate his honour as the one who brings the honour in place of our shame…an honour that exceeds any level of honour that we have on earth, and an honour that has already been prepared for us even before we come to understand we lost it!
So, since in God's plan, we celebrate Communion/Eucharist/Lord's Supper using wine (or representation of it)….let us use that time as just one reminder of Jesus' first miracle of providing wine and how it represents the purpose of his coming in bringing the opportunity for restored honour for all we shamed ones who come to him - an honour that far surpasses anything we have ever known or the world can offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment