Arizona sun., 1947-01-10

It is interesting to note that for
this. the first of his miracles. ne
chose festive occasion in the home.
He had been invited to be guest
at a wedding ". q. Those who ask
him to be present at their marriage
may confidently expect him to be
present and to add greatly to the
real Joy of the occasion.
The authority of our Lord shows
here in three different ways:
1. He Commands WV. 1-O.
He was neither host nor was he
the one charged with responsible
ity for the serving, but when the
time came for him to do his mighty
act the servants were ready to
obey that admonition Of his mother
and do what he said.
Mary may have had some respon-
sibility for serving the guests. Why
then had she not looked to the sup
ply of wine? Apparently she who
knew of what had taken place at
the baptism Of Jesus and immedl-
ately after, and having in her heart
the memory of what occurred at his
birth Guke 2:14). thought it time for
him to do some great miracle.
He was indeed ready to do so, but
in his own way. what is that to
thee?" in verse 4 really carries the
meaning: "This is a matter which
I must care for in my own way"
and he did.
We do well to seek grace to be
like the servants who did what
the Lord commanded, even though
it did not seem to be sensible solu-
ton to fill the jars with water. Obe-
dience without hesitation and with
out question is the price Of blessing!
III. He Creates (vv. 9-1D.
The act of creation was already
done, but now the fact came to light.
He had changed the water into wine,
the juice Of the grape. This was not
case of adding something or dilut-
ing the remaining wine. Here the
water, as he decreed it even with
out the use of spoken word, was
no longer there, but the best OF wine.
Jesus was and is the Creator. He
was present at the beginning OF all
things (note the 'slet us" in Gen.
1920, and it is declared that "by
him were all things created (Col.
1:16, ID. In fact, without him
was not anything made" John 1:0,
What he created was good, so
good in fact, that the one in charge
Of the feast remarked about it. The
Lord never does anything by halves,
nor in a careless or defective way.
He made great quantity Of wine
(probably more than 100 gallons) and
it was of the greatest excellency.
Some would read verse 10 as
though our Lord were here helping
along a drunken wedding party. but
Of course that is not true. The stew
ard was simply recognizing the ordi-
nary rule Of serving whereby one
uses the best one has until there is
no more like it, then takes the in
ferior provision. To use this verse
to excuse drunkenness is only pos
sible for those 'eager to mar. If
by means they could. the image of
perfect holiness which offends and
rebukes them" (Trench, quoted by
LenskD.
III. He Controls (vv. 12-16).
After a few days with his family
and his disciples, he went down to
Jerusalem for the great feast Of the
Passover. There he found his Fa-
ther's house being misused and de-
filed. His holy indignation kindled,
he spoke and acted with authority
as he drove these "racketeers" out
of the temple.
People like to hear about God
of love, one who knows their weak
ness, and is kind toward their in
frmities. But we must not forget
that God shows his love by a great
and holy hatred of sin, and a desire
to deliver us from that sin. This
means that he must and will deal in
drastic fashion with those who per-
sist in their sin.
This is a majestic picture. The
Son of God and Son of Man steps
into the center of this unholy traffic
and with mighty, holy indignation
(not anger) drives it out.
Why did these men who were so
deeply intrenched and SO eager to
make money flee before the wrath of
a lone man? 1t was only because
they recognized divine authority. He
has a right to control men. for he
is God
It is not mere matter of re-
form, for here he was cleansing the
temple. the very heart of the life
Of the Jewish people. He dealt with
a present situation to establish an
eternal principle.
We cannot help but admire this
magnificent Jesus, but the question
comes to us today, Has he been
given his proper authority over and
in our lives?