John 2:1-11

1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."

Oh, I know this story. My mom always likes to tell about it and say that Jesus did whatever his mother told him, like a good son would.

4"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."

Whoa! I don't remember ever hearing that before. I wonder if my mom has. I think they must pass over that verse at our church.

5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Well, that is more like it, if He is the son of God. I wonder if Mary knew about the "in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." She had to know something was pretty unique about Him ... seeing as how she never had sex and then was pregnant. I wonder if she knew that He was ... God.

6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.

I wonder what the servants were thinking. They had to be thinking something strange was going on here.

8Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."

I can feel their nerves, can't you?

They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

I never thought of this before and I have heard this story told a lot, but it doesn't sound like Jesus did this so a lot of people would see it. It seems like He did it for the benefit of the servants, some disciples, and his mom. No one else seems to have known about it. I don't get the idea that He blew a horn or anything.

11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

It seemed like a lot of people put their faith in Him because of miracles He did, even very small ones.

More Optical Illusions

Intermission. Isn't it wierd how our eyes can play tricks on us? What is worse is when a person deliberately makes up something for the sole purpose of messing with your head.

John 1:35-51

35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

John says that again about the lamb of God. That must have really been an impressive thought on his mind about Jesus.

37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

I like that. Jesus says "Whadda ya want?" He seems like a pretty plain spoken person so far.

39"Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
40Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).

Well, that is really interesting. He didn't even wait to hear if Peter was interested in Him; he just says there you are - you will be called Cephas ... or Peter (I never heard the word Cephas before. I have a brother named Peter - I wonder what he would think if I called him Cephas. hahaha.) It was like He knew that Peter was coming and that Peter would be an apostle - like it was a "given" - before He even had a chance to interview him.

43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

Again, it sounds like this is all orchestrated ahead of time and these men are just being gathered. Am I missing something? Is there some dialogue that is not recorded?

46"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. 47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.

Yea! That is what I am wondering, too!

Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."
49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

OK, so Jesus tells Nathaniel that He knew about something that He couldn't possibly have known about under any normal circumstances (very insignificant, too - where he was standing) and Nathaniel declares, (just based on that) that Jesus is the Son of God? Amazing - I think these guys were really looking for the Messiah - waiting for Him - or else why would they be so ready to jump at this?

50Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that."

Aha! So Jesus sounds like He is also a little surprised that such a small thing would impress Nathaniel so much.

51He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Wow - now that is defiantely something big. I can't even picture that. I wonder what that means. I would bet that those guys were amazed at the saying too.

I am now done with chapter 1. That was neat. I learned things that I never before heard of. It started with these really incredible statements about Jesus creating the world, about Him being God Almightly - then it went into John the Baptist and his discovering who Jesus was. Then it went into Him walking in Israel and meeting some poeple (that he seemed to already know) and it ended with another big statement about heaven opening and angels going up and down on Jesus. What a very interesting thing to read! Thanks, DF! Next I will move on to chapter 2. I wonder what I will find there.