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<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=2 face=BookAntiqua><FONT size=2 face=BookAntiqua><FONT
size=4 face="Times New Roman">“Marriage is something which happens in and to the
whole church,” </FONT><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">the contemporary
Orthodox theologian Vigen Guroian writes, “for it </FONT><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">is an institution with a purpose that transcends the
personal goals or </FONT><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">purposes of those
who enter into it.”</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman"><A
href="http://www.baylor.edu/christianethics/MarriageStudyGuide3.pdf">http://www.baylor.edu/christianethics/MarriageStudyGuide3.pdf</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Robert B.
Kruschwitz</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">In John, these sort of
actions - changing water into wine, for example - are not "miracles" - they are
<STRONG>SIGNS.</STRONG> John does <STRONG>NOT</STRONG> want us to look at them;
he wants us to look at what they point to. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman"><A
href="http://www.holytextures.com/2009/12/john-2-1-11-year-c-epiphany-2-january-14-january-20-sermon.html">http://www.holytextures.com/2009/12/john-2-1-11-year-c-epiphany-2-january-14-january-20-sermon.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">David Ewart,
2010</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">...too much ritual
and purity can poop the party we are intended to be celebrating.
<P>The key to Jesus’ brilliance in this first miracle, is that he doesn’t
conjure up fresh flagons of wine, he uses the existing and perhaps abandoned
ritual vessels for a new and radical purpose.</P></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"><A
href="http://thelisteninghermit.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/101/">http://thelisteninghermit.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/101/</A></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">Peter Woods,
2010</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">- - - -
-</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"> The God that
Jesus revealed is a God of lavish liberality, generosity and extravagance. He
calls us from emptiness to excess, from the least to the best. Celebrating God's
extravagant excess is a prominent theme in the Scriptures.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"> In Deuteronomy
14:22–26 the Hebrews are commanded to tithe of their agricultural produce by
eating it in the presence of the Lord at a precise time and place. But what if
someone was too far away for this to be practical, and still wanted to remain
faithful to the command? "Then you shall exchange your produce for money, and
bind the money in your hand, and spend the money for <EM>whatever your heart
desires</EM>; and there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and
rejoice, you and your household" (Deuteronomy 14:24–26). In other words, to
fulfill God's command to tithe, throw a party.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"><A
href="http://journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20100111JJ.shtml">http://journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20100111JJ.shtml</A></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">Dan Clendenin,
2010</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">- - - -
-</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN
style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"></SPAN> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">John 2:1-11 is the
first of Jesus’ signs in the first eleven chapters of the gospel of John. The
signs are similar to the miracles of the first three gospels but the signs play
a distinctive role. First, they reveal (confirm) that Jesus is indeed sent by
God. Second, they reveal the character of the heavenly world. The signs
demonstrate what the heavenly world is like. Third, the signs reveal that it is
possible for people whose biological existence takes place in the world to
experience the sphere of heaven now.</DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText align=justify><></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText align=justify>I think (contrary to some scholars) that
the wine in the text recollects that the First Testament occasionally uses the
symbolism of vineyards for Israel and wine for God’s providential abundance
(e.g. Is 5:1-7; 25:6; 27:2-6; Jer 31:12; Am 9.13; Hos 2.22; Joel 2.24). The fact
that the wine ran out, then, is a theological comment on the emptiness of the
Jewish leaders at the time of the fourth gospel. This viewpoint is reinforced by
the facts that water is an unremarkable drink associated with the world, and
that John’s note that the jars were for the Jewish rites of purification.
Furthermore, immediately following this event, Jesus cleanses the temple, thus
showing the inadequacy of the current practice of Jewish religious leaders (Jn
2:12-23).<BR></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28">http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28</A></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">Ronald J. Allen<BR>-
- - - -</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">This is also
obviously a miracle of transformation and new possibilities. In Cana, Jesus made
it possible for the wine of celebration to continue flowing. This reminds us of
a central symbol of our faith: Jesus providing for us the wine of a whole new
creation that continues to sustain us. Recounting the story of Jesus changing
water into wine was John's way of showing that he had come to do nothing less
than transform the common into the holy. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"><A
href="http://www.dfms.org/sermons_that_work_118184_ENG_HTM.htm">http://www.dfms.org/sermons_that_work_118184_ENG_HTM.htm</A></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">Ken
Kesselus</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line">- - - -
-</SPAN></DIV>
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style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line"> </DIV></SPAN></FONT></BODY></HTML>