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To serve or not to serve?

"99 bottles of wine on the wall..." by Let Ideas Complete
To serve alcohol or not to serve alcohol, that is the question... Sunday morning's sermon at the church I attend and intern with focused on John 2:1-11 where Jesus turns water to wine at the wedding in Cana.  Having recently graduated college and currently planning a wedding, it's not hard to imagine where my mind went.  Do I have a wet or dry reception?  If we choose to go wet, how much and what types of alcoholic beverages should there be?  The pastor interrupted my thought by highlighting how wedding festivals in Jesus' time typically lasted days and sometimes a full week.  There my mind went again, That's a lot of alcohol and Jesus added to it!  Some of my friends' voices chime in, Case closed!  Buy the kegs, Dan!

Some of you can probably relate to the internal battle I'm having (before even thinking about cost or insurance for serving alcohol), but let me be clear that's not what the passage is actually about and I did eventually come back to reality to hear the majority of the sermon.  The pastor's title for his sermon on this passage was "Something Old, Something New" (yes, adopting from the wedding-related phrase that ends, "Something borrowed, something blue")  Our pastor drew us to the stone jars mentioned in v. 6, each holding 20-30 gallons, which were there so that cleansing could take place.  It's not just our present age where alcohol leads to dancing and dancing to some close relations and you know the rest; bad and sinful decisions have long existed amidst celebration.  With that in mind, it is the water in those jars for cleansing that Jesus miraculously changes to wine!  No longer can ceremonial cleansing take place; this miracle revealing Christ's glory ushers in "something new".  Jesus in his whole life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension brought in a new covenant where the sacrificial system and ceremonial cleansing of the "old" Law are no longer binding.

 Amen!  we say, Praise God we don't have to do all that stuff that the Old Testament Jews did, we'd never get anything done!  I think that's often how we take a passage like this; our lives reflect disregard for structure and laws, we just want to work, care for our families, and make our own decisions (we'll try to get to church on Sunday).  Jesus came as our redemption: to atone, to heal, and to reconcile humanity.  I'm not arguing that everyone has to pray the "divine offices" like some monks do, praying every third hour, or that we have to go to church every other day or when/how devotions should be done, but shouldn't we consider the purpose of Christ's life and the greatness of our triune God something to be honored daily and in all situations?  The honor due to our King, our Lord, our Redeemer coincides with where our faith is.  Are we willing to follow and give of ourselves fully to the new kingdom?  To celebrate or not to celebrate, that is the true question.

Comments

  1. Unknown29/10/12 3:38 PM

    I appreciate the thoughtful reflection. I like your shift from thinking about 'alcohol or not' to 'celebration or not'

    ReplyDelete

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