08.10 | The Wine & The Whip
John 2:1-22
‘This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.’
John 2:11
A few years ago, a family moved onto our street. And they loved a party.
Around twice a week they had party night. Loud music, raucous laughter, with wide open windows. And, on a relatively quiet street, the neighbours were not happy. Especially for those with adjoining walls, the noise was a problem.
I decided to pop around to have a chat, expecting to have a quiet and potentially awkward conversation on the doorstep about neighbourliness on our street.
I didn’t anticipate what happened next.
The door was thrown open, and the man — the dad of the family, welcomed me in like an old friend. He put a drink in my hand, and offered me some cake (it was his birthday). The family and friends inside were full of smiles and laughter and fun. Within minutes, I’d gone from coming to ask them to turn the music down, to well and truly being caught up in the party. It took a while to remember why I’d gone around in the first place.
We begin at a wedding. Jesus is there, with His disciples, and His mother. The wine runs out — a hospitality catastrophe. And so Mary looks to Jesus. The outcome is six large jars full of the best wine they’ve tasted — that’s about 280 bottles of fine wine. Celebration wine.
Wine is a biblical emblem of joy — celebration and dancing and laughter and friends. And it is this that John records as the first of His signs — the inaugural miracle of Jesus, that manifested His glory. This miracle of joy and celebration was the sign that first revealed the worth of His character to His disciples.
It’s beautiful. It’s a welcome to the Kingdom where joy is the norm. It is an opening of the heavenly to us, where life and beauty and fullness runs deep into nights of warm Mediterranean air and noisy laughter until your sides ache. It takes cold religion to the doorway of the Kingdom of joy, puts a drink in our hands, and overwhelms our tidy norms with the disarming happiness of the Kingdom.
What kind of a religious leader announces their arrival with extending a party? What kind of a God introduces Himself with six jars brimful of celebration wine?
However joyful we think the Kingdom is, my friends, it is always more so.
And yet, in the very next verses, Jesus enters the courts of a temple with a whip of cords — emptying crashing coins to the floor and using the whip to drive out animals and people alike.
This part of the temple was known as the Court of the Gentiles. It was the only part of the temple where anyone could come to worship the God of the Jews. Gentiles. Women. Children. This was the courtyard for the irreligious but seeking, for those branded outsiders and yet who came hungry to come close to God. And instead of finding a place of prayer and welcome, they found a place of religious institutionalism and financial corruption.
Sometimes such juxtapositions are what we need to find a clearer view on Jesus. For while He is the Lord of all joy, He is also zealous for the purity and justice of His house. He has laughter on His lips and fire in His eyes. His wine-making, party-fuelling, joy-unleashing work is partnered with His flaming passion to demolish every power base that obstructs a broken world from the heart of the Father. It is joy and it is passion, laughter and love, fun and fury.
Let Him stretch our imaginations, my friends. For when we go knocking at His door, He invites us into a world that is ever greater than our tidy sensibilities could imagine.
Reflect:
The wine or the whip?
Which aspect of Jesus expands your understanding of Him more today?
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
You are
More
Than I have known.
So open this heart
That I may see.
Liberate me
From my stuffy religion
And hard rules,
That I may find the stunning freedom
Of the Kingdom of joy.
Liberate me,
From the banal apathy
Of cold religiosity,
That I may know the consuming zeal
For the Kingdom of justice.
That my heart,
Lord,
Become free
In the finding of yours,
And my heart,
Lord,
Become like yours.
Lord Jesus,
In Your Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
2 Chronicles 21-23 | Proverbs 25:1-10