Jesus Turns Water into Wine
Monday musical meditations on God's good news
An opening prayer:
Jesus, come, as you have promised,
Guest and Master, Friend and Lord.
Now, as once at Cana’s wedding,
Speak and let us hear your word:
Lead us through our need and doubting,
Hope be born and joy restored.
Jesus, come! Transform our pleasures,
Guide us into paths unknown.
Bring your gifts, command your servants,
Let us trust in you alone:
Though your hand may work in secret
All shall see what you have done.
Jesus, come, in new creation,
Heav’n brought near in pow’r divine,
As you once revealed your glory,
Changing water into wine:
Rouse the faith of your disciples—
Come, forgive, restore, refine.
Jesus, come! Surprise our dullness,
Make us ready to receive
More than we can yet imagine,
All the best you have to give:
Let us at the heav’nly banquet
Taste your love, rejoice and live! Amen.
John 2:1–11
- On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
- 4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
- 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
- 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
- 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
- They did so, 9 and 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 10 and 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.”
- 11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Good new questions
- If Jesus was unwilling to do a miraculous sign until his Father okayed it, what does that mean fro you? Wait about when you have been waiting a long time?
For others pray
- That God spreads the good news of the kingdom of the Son he loves in the Argentina
J.S. Bach's beautiful music for today
- BWV 155 (YouTube, "O God, how long, how long?")
- John Setterlund comments:
- “My God, how long, oh how long? ... No end do I see to pain and sorrow.”
- When the wine runs short at the wedding in Cana, Jesus’ mother asks for his help: “The wine of joy is lacking. My confidence has all but gone.”
- He answers that the time is inappropriate: “Jesus knows the right hour to gladden you with his help.”
- Mary's confusion and frustration, voiced in the opening lines, are elaborated in the cantata. It is the same impatient reaction many have in critical times or everyday life. Now, as then, people may confidently turn to Jesus for aid in due time: “He will bring wine of joy and comfort. ... Be more certain of his word.”
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