John 2

So Grand

Posted on by Betsy

Even though I am surrounded daily by all of the natural beauty of the Outer Banks, my favorite experience of observing nature’s majesty was a trip I made to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Have you ever seen it? It is absolutely breathtaking. The Canyon is bigger than the state of Rhode Island at 1,904 square miles. It contains over 1,000 caves, mostly unexplored. Native American tribes consider the Grand Canyon to be the gateway to the afterlife. Over 5 million visitors go every year to see this incredible phenomenon. Just to give you a sense of its size, the drive from the Visitor Center on the North Rim to the one on the South Rim is over 200 miles. One day I hope to see it by helicopter.

You may be wondering what the Grand Canyon has to do with today’s Scripture. I think our response to something as spectacular as this majestic place is much like the response of the people who believed in Jesus’ name only because they saw miraculous signs. We have a great admiration for the grand show of it all, but that superficial reaction is not sustainable.

John 2 (Common English Bible)

23 While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, many believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs that he did. 24 But Jesus didn’t trust himself to them because he knew all people. 25 He didn’t need anyone to tell him about human nature, for he knew what human nature was.

Jesus couldn’t entrust himself to this googly-eyed crowd. There was no depth of faith, no measure of understanding, and no sincere profession of faith here. In his way of having a divine knowledge of the situation, he knew that a crowd of followers looking for signs would soon burn out. He knew what human nature was, and it was fickle. Once the next conjurer or magician came along, their attention would be distracted away from him and his mission.

And yet, he still loves us. He completely understands the fallibility of human nature, and he still loves us! Jesus can read us like an open book, see us in our fallen state, and yet is able to perceive the image of God in which we were made. If that’s not amazing grace, I don’t know what is.

Light faith may be better than no faith, but not by much. God deserves a true, honest, deep faith from us, and that takes work and dedication. One quick look of admiration and awe won’t cut it, much like attending church only on Easter and Christmas can’t feed the soul.

Jesus is looking for sustainable followers who grow through prayer, Scripture study, weekly worship, and service. Which kind are you?

And Yet We’re So Small by Ann Wood

Pushy Mamas

Posted on by Betsy

I have had the pleasure (and sometimes the discomfort) of observing motherhood in my congregations, family, and neighborhood. I am convinced that we mother the way we were mothered. This Christmas, my oldest asked for books for her children. I saw a direct line from that request to how I raised her and to how I was raised. Reading has always been a top priority in our families, and afternoons spent lounging under blankets for family “read-a-thons” are some of my favorite memories of raising her, and of my own childhood. What patterns or practices can you see in your family that have been passed down?

Another thing that I have noticed in my family is a tendency for mothers to be somewhat pushy. Not in a mean, demeaning, or aggressive way, but in a way of showing deep confidence in our children and not letting up on encouraging them when they are about to give up on themselves. “You can do it! Try again! Don’t give up!” are things we say to our children because they were said to us.

Call us pushy, we don’t care. Pushy mothering is holy.

Today’s lectionary passage is about Jesus’ first miracle. That should be the star of the show: For the first time ever, Jesus revealed his divine nature in public and transformed water into wine. But this time around, let us focus on his pushy mother. I think even John would be okay with this: Notice even before he mentions Jesus’ presence at the wedding, he tells us “Jesus’ mother was there” as if to say, “pay attention to Mary.”

John 2 (The Message)

2 1-3 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, “They’re just about out of wine.”

4 Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.”

Has your kid ever said, “Don’t push me” to you? Did you ignore it? I did. So did Mary. I love John’s comment that “she went ahead anyway.” You go, Mary!

5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”

6-7 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.

8 “Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did.

9-10 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”

I will boldly assert that as divine as Jesus was, we have Mary to credit with this first miracle. Even God Incarnate needed a push from someone who believed in him even more than he believed in himself at that moment.

So push on, Mamas. Encourage, equip, cajole, support, and don’t take “no” for an answer. Your belief in your child may be all they need to succeed. And mother-love is a miracle in and of itself.

So go be Mary.

11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

Morning Miracle by Michelle Robertson

She Went Ahead Anyway

Posted on by Betsy

This has been a challenging year for my daughters and oldest niece. Raising kids in a pandemic, challenges at work, pregnancy (twins, no less!), illnesses, graduate school … you name it, they overcame it. I bought them matching candles for Christmas this year that said, ”She thought she could, so SHE DID.” I admire the persistence, tenacity, and downright stubbornness of these young women.

When I look at the young moms in my congregation negotiating the same troubled waters, I am in awe of all of them. Motherhood in a pandemic ain’t for sissies. I see you, young sisters, and you ROCK.

I was delighted to find that today’s lectionary passage is a homage to mothers who cajole, instruct, love ferociously, don’t take no for an answer, and are righteously ”pushy” when it comes to their children. Jesus had such a mom:

John 2 (The Message)

 1-3 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, “They’re just about out of wine.”

4 Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.”

Of all the translations we could use today, The Message is definitely the most fun. Imagine the son giving his assertive mother the side eye-and saying, ”Don’t push me.” How many times do mothers hear that? When we are signing our kids up for sports, running along behind the bike without the training wheels, neck deep in the pool with our arms outstretched yelling, ”Jump! I’ll catch you!” we are often met with resistance. Don’t push me. But we go ahead anyway. Why? Because most of the time, mother knows best.

5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”

Mary succeeds in blowing past all of Jesus’ resistance, hesitation, and objections. “Pfffft,” she says. “This is happening. You may not believe in yourself, but I DO.”

Have you every been there with your child? It is our job to get them through those ‘first day of school’ jitters, the fear of getting their shots, the scariness of the soccer field, driving a car for the first time, the separation anxiety that we feel even more than they do … parents have a high calling to be ”pushy” for the sake of their kids.

6-7 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.

8 “Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did.

And so because his mother believed in him, Jesus performed the first miracle.

9-10 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”

11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

We can’t underscore the importance of this moment. This first sign of his glory enabled his disciples to believe in him. This first miracle paved the way for many more to come … miracles of feeding, miracles of healing, and eventually, miracles of resurrection. All because Mary believed first.

So moms and dads, keep believing in your kids. Keep pushing. Keep persisting. Don’t stop when they object, hide behind your leg, or say no. You know what is best, and because you believe, they will come to believe also. When you think they can, they will.

So go ahead anyway.

The First Glimpse of His Glory by Michelle Robertson

Sacred

Posted on by Betsy

What is sacred to you? Are there actions, behaviors, or things that you categorize as sacred and untouchable?

Things that people find sacred include marriage vows, children, sabbath practices, the language we use when we speak of God…we can attach holiness to any number of things. When we hold something as “sacred” we indicate its value and the prominence it takes in our lives.

The temple in Jerusalem was sacred to Jesus. It was his father’s house. It was a house of worship. It was a place where God resided. It was not to be violated or used for any other purpose than the worship of God.

John 2 (Contemporary English Version)

13 Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. 15 So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins.

16 Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, “Get those doves out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace.”

I remember a story that a former colleague once told of watching someone violate the sanctity of his church. It was at the end of a wedding, when people were still milling around the sanctuary waiting for pictures to be taken. (As a side note, I must confess that pastors often struggle with weddings and how they can become mere commercial venues for folks who have no notion of the sacredness of the space.) Such was the case that day, and my friend watched in horror as the father of the bride strode up the steps to the altar and lit a cigarette from the Christ candle. I haven’t seen this friend for over a decade, but I bet he still tells that story with the same sense of revulsion he felt when he observed it the first time.

Jesus felt the same revulsion at the loan sharks and money changers who charged exorbitant rates to lend money to people so they could buy overpriced animals for slaughter in the house that he loved. His actions that day remind us that we don’t have to put up with such violations in our sacred spots, whether they are physical locations or places in our hearts and minds. If someone is violating your spirit with their inappropriate words or behavior, throw them out of your life.

17 The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, “My love for your house burns in me like a fire.”

18 The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, “What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?”

19 “Destroy this temple,” Jesus answered, “and in three days I will build it again!”

20 The leaders replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?”

21 But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. 22 And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus.

This last part reminds us that even in his zeal to rid the temple of the merchants, Jesus ultimately acknowledges that he is the true temple. He is our church. He is our sacristy. He is our altar. Even after a temporary tear-down, he was rebuilt and raised from the dead. His words and his sacredness can never be defiled!

No matter what we build with our hands, the House of Jesus lasts forever.

Sacred Space by Kitty Hawk United Methodist Church