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Reimagine the story of Jesus turning water to wine with us in John 2. What if the empty jars for purification that Jesus filled with wine are a sign of the impotence of religion?
The LARK BLOGCAST is a written exploration of God’s scandalous grace read aloud for those who don't have time or don't like to read. Listen in and be encouraged as you go. Read at larksite.com/blog. Join the conversation by emailing howdy@larksite.com.
Read the blog that this episode read aloud at www.larksite.com/blog/only-the-lowly-know below:
ONLY THE LOWLY KNOW
Jameson Allen
“Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons” (John 2:6, NRSV).
A CASE STUDY IN MISSING PUNCH LINES
Not a word is to be lost when reading and interpreting the Scriptures. Before Jesus saves the wineless wedding day in John 2, we see what he sees: the emptiness and impotence of religion.
While these 6 huge jars stand empty, unable to purify anything, a wedding runs out of wine. The futility of religion is on full display. John is simultaneously revealing the glory of Jesus and the emptiness of human self-corrective measures.
Running out of wine at a wedding celebration is like running out of purification water at a religious ceremony. The wind has left the sails, and something must be done. John's story is written to stun us with the plot twist that Jesus solves both problems!
The party is about to become a lot less fun, but Jesus is compelled by his mother to do something about it. What we may view as only a miraculous confirmation of Messiahship, Jesus enacts as an announcement of otherworldly liberty.
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
In other words, there's much more going on in what Jesus does than simply solving a wedding planning glitch. He's not working a miracle to merely preserve the reputation of the bridegroom or impress the crowd.
He proclaims that God is not collapsing his beloved creation in a cosmic do-over. He's not calling us to try harder or construct better systems. Instead, he will take what we've made, fill it to overflowing with himself, and utterly reconcile and transform all of it and all of us.
In Baxter Kruger's words, when Jesus sees the empty purification jars, it's as if he says, "This doesn't work, it doesn't cleanse, it's empty. I'm going to fill it and transform it." This is what God in fallen flesh does.
Somehow, the physics of turning water to wine is upstaged by the obliteration of Jewish messianic expectations.
TAKE A CLOSER LOOK
Jesus didn't have to make wine, use purification jars, or employ the help of the servants. He could have spoken with the bridegroom and the chief steward or do the miracle for the entire wedding crowd.
Let the little things in this story move the big things in you. Consider what's happening in the story and in the Gospel of John. The "light of all people" (John 1:4) is being unmistakably revealed as already present.
The man Christians claim to worship and imitate handed an already drunk wedding party a truckload of the best wine they'd tasted. Something other than religion is going on here. Something well above and beyond merit or moralism is at hand.
SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY
Our unbelieving hearts and unrelenting minds can't help but question the Gospel's sheer absurdity and radical novelty. John is weaving together the announcement that eternal life has come to earth in Jesus. The nature of the living God is to share their life with those they've created.
This is the most practical and beautiful message we'll find in our Bible. It is what the Gospels are at pains to show us.
But, only the lowly know. Only the dead will rise. Only the broken can be healed. Apparently, only the servants and disciples knew Jesus made the wine. God did not reconcile the world via our preferred or presumed pathways of power.
UNDERSTATED ASTONISHMENT
Jesus insisted on understating every impressive thing he did except when he crossed the lines of Jewish law. He happily became notorious for "sinning" boldly but refused to be elevated or patronized for his wonders and miracles.
Think about it. Most things Jesus did provoked the religious leaders' suspicions and awakened the religious lepers' hopes. For those who were desperate, Jesus was clearly from God. For those who are dignified, Jesus is clearly a threat.
Kruger also laments how embarrassing God's judgment is for us. He said it's like strutting to the first-class seats only to realize you're on the wrong airplane. We've mistaken God for a business person or an exacting earthly deity. We've assumed God is like us.
But, the Good News is Jesus came to show us what the Father is really like, and he is nothing like we thought. He makes wine, does not corroborate religion, doesn't celebrate the successful, and doesn't crush the culpable.
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
Today, this means for you and me that we are free.
I was stunned in conversation recently when visiting my cousin. She is a distinguished sommelier and I had been asking her questions about wine expecting stereotypical snobbery (maybe I’m the stereotype!). Instead, her smile became contagious, her posture energetic, and her words inviting.
She said, “I don’t care to fight with or convince anyone about wine, I’m only out to help people enjoy it because it is so wonderful.” Is this not what Jesus is like? Is she not like Jesus helping us enjoy the Good instead of demanding we be good?
We have to see that we're religiously conditioned to assume we've got to keep together what Christ put together. But, if that were true, not only would Jesus never have come, but he would not have redeemed all we've wrecked. He would have more likely ratcheted up the standards of religious rites. He would have skipped over all the little, lost, least, and last ones to pass on his message through the powerful, obedient, and accomplished ones.
You are free indeed. Free to enjoy the abundant wine of the new covenant.
You are free from the pressures, anxieties, and compulsions of religion. Every condemnation spoken over you, and every accusation that you cannot keep up or comply, is drowned out in new wine.
The blood of the new covenant has been uncorked and is flowing freely and eternally. Come, taste and see. Come, drink and never forget that your life is secure in Life himself. The “light of all people” can never be revoked, robbed, or ripped away.
You have only to believe because you cannot acquire someone already alive in you.
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