Well I blogged last night about my first thoughts and ideas regarding the text of John 2:1-11, so today is to look a little deeper.
I thank JDB for his comment on the abundance of wine to my earlier entry, I will be looking at the importance of wine, or the lack thereof, a little bit I think, thanks for some insight.
I also have looked at some internet sites of related commentary. One that caught my attention was Sermons from Seattle:
http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_the_marriage_at_cana_GA.htm
On this site there was two interesting paragraphs regarding miracles being called signs:
In the gospel of John, the miracles are always called “signs.” The miracles are never called miracles but signs. For example, if you drive out of the parking lot of our church, you will see all kinds of signs at the nearest intersection. You will see one particular sign painted red, with white paint. The sign simply says, “Stop.” It is a stop sign. You never think that this is a piece of metal with red and white paint on it. You don’t examine the ingredients of the metal or the paint. You simply read the message. “Stop.” You ask the question, “What is the message of this sign?” So it is with the signs in the Gospel of John. You ask, “What is the message in this sign?” The signs in John’s Gospel have messages and you focus on the message more than the sign itself.
What is the message of this sign of water into wine? The message of the sign is that Jesus took 180 gallons of Jewish laws, the rituals of purification, and transformed them into 180 gallons of grace. Jesus took 180 gallons of guilt, 180 gallons of laws, laws and more laws, 180 gallons of “don’t do this and don’t do that,” 180 gallons of laws that numbered more than 600 regulations. Jesus then transformed these religious regulations into a new religion, a new wine that would burst old wine skins. Jesus transformed the old religion into the new religion. The miracle was a sign. The miracle had a message and you have to get the message. You stop at the intersection outside of church and see red and white paint painted on metal. You better get the message. “Stop.” It is the message that is important.
I like the miracles being called signs angle a lot. I think for many people the meaning of miracle of Christ is lost when it is just looked at for what has happened, not for what it means. To look at these as signs, with a purpose to show us the power of Jesus and his ability to do things beyond comprehension is an interesting take.
I also like how it discusses the transformation, from water to wine is like the transformation of laws and regulations into grace. How this first miracle is the beginning of Jesus’ transformation of the old religion into a new religion.
-"Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." In this particular gospel story, Jesus brings the good wine. The new wine of Jesus’ grace, truth and love replace the inferior wine of the Old Testament rules, regulations and rituals. The old wine is the Law; the new and good wine is the Gospel.
The good wine in this story is similar to the “living water” in the story about the woman at the well, which we will study shortly.
In the first three gospels (Mark 2:9 and parallels, page 43 in our textbook), we find Jesus using “the symbolism of new wine in old wineskins in order to compare his new teaching with the customs of the Pharisees. Note that this incident occurs at the beginning of the Synoptic account of the ministry just as Cana is at the beginning of the Johannine account.” (Brown, JOHN, V. 1, p. 105)
So I can see some further connection with the symbolism of wine is something to continue to look at as well.
I am also interested in looking at Mary’s insight and role in this story. First why she was so concerned about the running low of wine, there has to be a reason why this is of some concern to her. I am guessing this must be a family wedding, and she is concerned about her family’s reputation, because running out of wine would be a major problem. I also want to look at why she says something to Jesus, it is not like he is known to be a wine distributor or something, Jesus is a guest not a vineyard owner! So what did Mary expect from Jesus…. A miracle?!?!? Just something to still look at I think…
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I find a lot of good things in that resource you posted and I like where your thoughts were going before and continue to go now on why it was Mary expected Jesus to do something... like he is the local vineyard owner... very interesting. The one difficulty I found in reading the material you posted is in the comparison of 'old religion' to 'new religion'. We live in a multifaceted and interfaith world, and this line of thought can easily be used to set up the Judaism/Christianity dichotomy that is not really there. Judaism at the time needed changing and Christianity emerged as a Jewish sect that evolved into the understanding of the early church that became what it is today (after its own many changes too!). Judaism itself is still a vibrant and meaningful religion and that can be an important line to highlight with a text like this. Kudos, Pete!
ReplyDeleteEchoing Jonathan a bit, I would be careful to avoid a message that the Old Testament is all law and bad news, and the New Testament is all grace and good news. "Law" and "Gospel", for Luther, were both found in both Testaments.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I also really like the idea of miracles as signs. It makes me think about the class I took last year on Exodus - what we call the "plagues" are also called "signs" in Hebrew. We talked about how those "signs" pointed to God's power and dedication to God's people. Maybe this "sign" is pointing to something important about God's nature, too.
I loved the "vinyard owner" thought! I almost lol back here! Very funny angle.
ReplyDeleteI too liked the commentary from Seattle (especially cuz I'm going to be there on Friday! Woohoo!). Well, I liked it until I smelled the odor of supersecessionism. It's a modern day version but it's still there just the same. Tread carefully.
Other than that it sounds like a great start. I can't wait to hear it. You have some great questions with great insight.
Thanks for your helpful posts, Peter. Since we're preaching on the same text, I'd be glad to post back and forth if you'd like to talk more about it directly. I've posted some of my thoughts on my blog as well, so feel free to peruse.
ReplyDeleteWhat has particularly struck me in all of the commentaries I'm reading is the emphasis on this first miracle as a sign to come (as you pointed out above). How interesting! I personally don't like the word "miracle" because it doesn't mean much to me. I can't really connect it to anything tangible in my life that may help me understand what Jesus was doing back in the day, but I CAN understand that signs point to things to come. Here, Jesus is pointing to fulfillment of the prophecy to come and that's pretty sweet.
I also really like the emphasis of abundance in this text. Grace starts here. And it does so abundantly.