"Jesus said to them, 'Fill the jars with water.' And they filled them to the brim."
I love that the first miracle recorded in John's gospel is Jesus turning water into wine so a wedding party can go on into the small hours. It makes the popular view of God as a bit of a kill joy look rather daft. He fills the jugs of water to the brim, the wine is abundant.
Day 5: John 2:13-25. Jesus causes some havoc in the Temple!
"In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a cord out of whips, he drove all of them out of the temple...He told those who were selling doves, 'Take these things out of here. Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!'
Opinion is divided on what Jesus was doing here (I know, I just wrote a lengthy essay on it!) but for me it made me think of the things we grab for in the place of God. Where the temple should have been holy it was a way of people making money and gaining status. I wonder what things in my life I grab onto to give me status.
Day 6: John 3: 1-21 Jesus chats to a learned Jew Nicodemus
" Do not be astonished that I say to you 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it but you do not know where it come from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit'."
I feel a bit sorry for Nicodemus here, Jesus is seriously cryptic! But not too sorry as he gets to hear some of the most remarkable words recorded in the gospels. I love that spontaneity and freedom of the wind imagery, it blows wherever it will, and how Jesus applied this to the lives of those who follow him. What an adventure, pop up your sail and see where you end up!
Back in a few days for Part 3!
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