"Knowing When It's Time"

Pastor Laura Guy

March 8, 2009

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We read John 2:1-12 to see where Jesus' ministry began. Although the story of Jesus changing water into wine is often called his first miracle, John refers to these supernatural events as signs because they point to who Jesus is.
We wondered why this small catering problem was the first time Jesus revealed his supernatural powers. The stone jars he used were ceremonial purification jars, used so that people could do the ritualized washing to make themselves "clean." But the underlying message of the jars is that we are never clean enough, we can never be clean before a holy God. Jesus used these jars for a new purpose - the new wine of grace. It flowed abundantly, more than enough for everyone. It was the very best wine, symbolizing the heavenly banquet to which we are all invited.
We pondered the strange interaction between Jesus and his mother. It seems like something is missing in this conversation. Many scholars think Jesus is teaching us about perseverance in our requests. But Pastor Laura suggested the possibility that something else was going on - Mary understood what Jesus did not. Mary saw that Jesus was grown, he had been baptized by John, and he had gathered his disciples. Jesus declared, "My time has not yet come," but Mary knew that it had. In the moment of silence in the story, Jesus may have looked at his mother and seen in her eyes what he was not yet ready to acknowledge for himself - it was time to begin. When Mary recognized that Jesus now understood, she turned to the servants and said, "Do whatever he tells you."
We thought about all the reasons we give for not being ready to do what God has prepared us to do. "We're too busy; we need more training; we're not smart enough; we're not holy enough." Sometimes God uses other people to say to us, "There is nothing else you need. It's time to begin."
We prayed in silence, asking God to speak to us, telling us what it is time to begin. After saying "yes" to God, we wrote these new commitments on paper and brought them forward to place in a basket up front.
We celebrated communion around the table of the heavenly banquet, where there is more than enough for everyone.