daily java

Daily Java:

The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:1-5)

Today is Mother’s Day. If you forgot, then we’ll pause while you shoot yourself.

Even Jesus had a mother. that sounds silly at first, but people tend to think of Jesus as living in a vacuum, kind of slipping into the world and floating around.

But here Jesus is at a party and his mother is there too. The family of the couple getting married is on a tight budget and didn’t have enough refreshments. In that culture, these weddings could go on for a long time, so it wouldn’t be hard to run out of food and drink.

These people ran out of wine and people were going to look at them as being cheap. Evidently they were some relation or something to Mary, so she goes to Jesus and tells him about it. He says that it is none of his business. She turns to the servants and tells them to do whatever he says, then she turns back around and looks at Jesus.

Jesus blinked first. He scuffs his sandal in the dirt and says, Aw, Ma. Then he performs his first miracle. He makes 150 gallons of wine for a young couple on their wedding day because his mother told him to do so.

I do not know what Jesus’ timetable was, how long before he intended to do a miracle. I don’t even know if he knew. He was human and I do not think he walked around all the time thinking about how divine he was. That sounds weird.

But his mother was his primary source of instruction and care and had always been. She knew that one day he was going to do something. And in her mind, the mind of a woman keenly aware of embarrassment at a party, this was something important.

Who was the couple? No idea. Was their family important? Probably not or they would have had enough money to get wedding stuff for everybody. Was making wine for a young couple on their wedding day what God had sent Jesus to this earth to do? No, not really.

Yet, this was his first miracle and he did it because his mother told him to.

We eat because our mothers encouraged us. We walk because they wanted us to. We learn to dress ourselves, eat with a fork, bathe, toilet train – everything because our mothers teach us. And they continue to do so all our lives.

Our mothers are the only people who can talk to us like that. And that is because they are our mothers.

Mary was Jesus’ mother and she said Get over there and do something to help these kids. And he said, Yes, mother.

And when mine says something, usually so do I.

Happy Mother’s Day.

daily java

Daily Java:

Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.” But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, “That’s blasphemy! Does he think he’s God?” Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up and went home! Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for sending a man with such great authority. (Matthew 9:1-7)

It didn’t take a miraculous gift for Jesus to know what they were saying. What it took was that innate knowledge pastors have when they see how what they say has been received.

Jesus said something that he knew full well would antagonize much of his audience. He knew it would when he did it. Those who were in leadership of the Jewish people were standing around waiting for him to make some kind of mistake and they would pounce on it.

Jesus made a fatal error, they thought. He gave himself the ability to forgive sins. That was God’s alone. They were ready to work themselves up into a spiritual frenzy when Jesus complicated the whole thing.

Okay, he said, only God can forgive sins. And anybody can say so. Whether or not it is true depends. But what is easier? Saying people are forgiven or saying people are well from their illnesses?

Obviously, any fool can say someone is forgiven. All you have to do is say it and it I shard to prove otherwise. But healing someone. That takes concrete evidence. You do not say someone is healed and then expect everybody to accept it unless something happens.

And something happened. Jesus spoke and the man jumped up and went home. It is a little hard to argue with that. That they could see.

Everybody around was afraid. The power of God had been seen in their midst and it scared them. But the crowd had sense enough to realize that here was the power of God at work. It didn’t matter that the important people didn’t like it, it happened anyway.

Their praise? For sending a man with such great authority. They had seen enough of the other stuff: self important men puffed up by their own sense of entitlement and authority. Here was real authority, straight from God.

Of course, it made those who followed Jesus around to try to trap him mad. I even see them engaging in some praise for those miracle even though they were mad. And I would bet their praise was louder than anyone else. But I would also bet their praise never mentioned Jesus or thanked God for Jesus. It was probably just general praise full of Psalms and stuff.

After all, no one could outdo these guys when it came to praise. The only thing was, their praise never made it to their hearts. Real stuff like miracles were a little beyond them.