|
Wine
Or Slime?
When
[the religious leaders] come from the marketplace they do not eat unless
they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing
of cups, pitchers and kettles. (Mark 7:4, NIV)
[A] wedding took place at
Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus ... his ... mother
said to him, "They have no more wine."... Nearby stood six stone water
jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing ... Jesus said to
the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the
banquet." They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that
had been turned into wine. ... Then he called the bridegroom aside and
said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first ... you have saved the
best till now." (John 2:1-10, NIV)
The religious leaders
of Jesus' day were fastidious in their observance of the requirements of
their religious law in displaying external cleanliness. Yet, as Christ
pointed out bluntly time after time, the inside--their souls, motives,
thoughts--were anything but clean. They were slime inside! It was appearance
without substance. The call of Christ is
to be clean on the inside. This cleansing is accomplished by the application
of the principles of His Word, the Bible, through the empowering of the
Holy Spirit. At the wedding in Cana,
in filling the stone jars with water, Jesus made a dramatic visual statement.
Used for ceremonial cleansing the water in these stone jars would eventually
become dirtied, used up, and thrown out. The water coming out of the inside
of the jars was only good for washing the outside of the person. It was
not sanitary enough for drinking. However, this same water in the same
jars at Christ's hands was transformed into wine--the goodness of God.
Fit for internal consumption. So too as we allow ourselves
to be filled with His power, with the water of the Spirit, and cleansed
through the washing of the Word, our lives will bring forth the wine of
blessing and wholeness and goodness. At His hand, we will be wine inside--choice
wine! |
