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<DIV><FONT size=4>...it is the only wedding in the New Testament; and then the
action doesn’t really take place at the wedding, but at the wedding reception.
There are no wedding ceremonies in the Bible.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>So treasure the gifts that God gives you. It might not be
immediately apparent, as it was at Cana, but when God gives you something, it is
the very highest quality—and I assure you that He didn’t get it off the bargain
rack, it comes custom-made, special order, with all the options, and at a high
cost. You should be more grateful, perhaps.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.kencollins.com/jesus-09.htm">http://www.kencollins.com/jesus-09.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Kenneth W. Collins </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Catholics and Protestants strongly disagree on this matter.
Catholic scholars, consistent with their exaggerated view of Mary’s importance,
are convinced that she uses her influence on Jesus to get Him to do what He
would not otherwise have done.<SUP><A
href="http://bible.org/seriespage/first-sign-jesus-turns-water-wine-john-21-11#P778_223407">96</A></SUP>
The text seems to tell us just the opposite. Jesus reminds her that she is just
a woman, and that He, as God, cannot comply with her wishes if and when they are
not in “His time.”</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>We would have to agree that these stone waterpots would be
heavy when empty, and even heavier yet when full (the weight of the water alone
in a full pot would be about 200 pounds).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://bible.org/seriespage/first-sign-jesus-turns-water-wine-john-21-11">http://bible.org/seriespage/first-sign-jesus-turns-water-wine-john-21-11</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Robert Deffinbaugh </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>The story then relates the changing of water into wine, and we
recall the wine that is used at the Lord's Table. Another clue is 6 jars (not 7,
the perfect number, which will be the number of "signs" in this gospel). Only 6
jars, the number for imperfection, held the water that would be used "for the
Jewish rites of purification." </FONT>
<P><FONT size=4>This change from water to wine, then, is really about Jesus'
identity as the One who initiated the transition from Judaism to
Christianity.</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.env-steward.com/lectionary/lectc/c-ep2-g.htm">http://www.env-steward.com/lectionary/lectc/c-ep2-g.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>John Gibbs, 1998</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>
<P>Here in the realm where death still appears at every wedding and sits
silently through our feasts, we continue sharing the wine that Cana's guest
brings to our table. Sometimes that wine is sweet and wondrous beyond all
imagination. At other times the wine proves sour. We sip it from a sponge like
those that the hospice people bring for times when the lips dry up and
crack.</P>
<P>Both drinks, however, come from the same cup, the one we share with the
Bridegroom who takes us as his own for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in
sickness and in health, and in whose arms we shall rest when death comes to
close off all our other stories. Accordingly, we dress even now in wedding
attire. We drink his wine and give our hearts away in the breathtaking risk of
believing--a form of falling in love, really.</P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_36_117/ai_68866509/">http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_36_117/ai_68866509/</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Frederick Niedner, 2000</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Many scholars have put an emphasis upon the number of jars,
"six," which represented an unfulfilled state in the time of Jesus. The number
"six" conveyed a message. Judaism lacked its Messiah and the Kingdom he
represented. Jesus used the jars (representing the tradition of Judaism) to
reveal a taste of God's kingdom. In this sense, Jesus completed and transformed
the traditions of Judaism. His action completed what was missing.</FONT>
<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4>The water turned wine has many
meanings. God's kingdom was to be a feast with endless wine and merriment. Water
has a baptism motif, while wine is Eucharistic. Both foreshadow the water and
blood (wine) that flow from Jesus' side at his death. </FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/c/2-c/A-2-c.html">http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/c/2-c/A-2-c.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Larry Broding</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>For example, when Jesus' mother reminds him that the wine has
run out at the wedding, Jesus says, seemingly irrelevantly, "my hour has not yet
come" (2:4). <STRONG>But once we combine this with other statements, such as in
7:6 ("My time has not yet come, but your time is always here..."), and 7:8 ("Go
to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not
yet come") or the narrator's comments in 8:20 ("He spoke these words while he
was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his
hour had not yet come"), we see that the proper time is the hinge on which the
ministry of Jesus turns.</STRONG> Thus, when Jesus says, "The hour has come..."
(12:23) or when the narrator says, "Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart
from this world..." (13:1), we know that the wheels of time have fallen into
place. The Fourth Gospel's focus on time not yet ripe and time fulfilled helps
set the stage for our reflections today on how to be alert to our proper
"times."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.drbilllong.com/Lectionary/John2II.html">http://www.drbilllong.com/Lectionary/John2II.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>William R. Long, 2007</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>This is a sign of the abundance of God’s love for us.
<P>It is also a sign that reveals the engagement of God in the intimate and
joyful fabric of human life. The God of Jesus is <EM>not</EM> utilitarian,
<EM>not</EM> prudish, and certainly <EM>not</EM> mean-spirited or
disapproving.</P>
<P>After all, a utilitarian, grudging God would have told them to make do with
water. </P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://gospelforgays.com/?p=673&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GospelForGays+(Gospel+For+Gays">http://gospelforgays.com/?p=673&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GospelForGays+(Gospel+For+Gays</A>)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Jeremiah Bartram, 2010</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - -</FONT></DIV>
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