The story of Jesus turning water into wine is found in John 2:1-12, however it is not in any of the other gospels. This should stand out to the reader and should be considered to fully understand the story. Why would John include this story when the other writers did not? It’s important to remember that John’s gospel is much different than the others. He did not write his gospel to tell of what happened in Jesus’ life, but so that readers would “believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31). Therefore, the reader should understand as they read this story that John included it not to explain what happened, but to explain who Jesus is.

John begins the story with the wedding, mentioning that Jesus’ mother was there, along with Jesus and His disciples. Jesus’ mother becomes worried after noticing the wine was gone and asks Jesus for help. This tells the reader a couple things. Although John does not specifically say who was getting married, it seems the couple are either friends, or possibly related to Mary, and that she is helping with the arrangements, especially the serving of the food and wine. In Jewish wedding traditions of the time, if wine was to run out it would be extremely embarrassing to everyone involved, so Mary’s concern is real and her desperate desire for help is evident in her request to Jesus for help. There is no evidence of Jesus performing miracles before this, but Mary knows who Jesus is. She knows the miracles around His birth, and knows Jesus could help.

In verse 4, John records Jesus’ response to his mother, which is a very important part of this story. In today’s culture, responding with the word woman would be considered quite rude, however in Jesus’ time this was not so. Jesus uses the same term to Mary as He speaks to her from the cross in John 19:26 and other times with other women throughout the gospel of John (4:21, 20:15). What the term does, however, is make clear the relationship between Jesus and Mary. It is clear that Jesus lived an obedient life to his parents (Mark 2:51), but now things were beginning to change. By using this term Jesus redefines his relationship to Mary; He no longer follows her orders, but only those of His father in Heaven.

Following the dialogue with Jesus, Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus asks of them, which shows that even though Jesus responded sharply to Mary, she still felt something might happen…and happen it did. Jesus tells the servants to fill the stone water jars that guests used for ceremonial washing with water, which they did (2:6-7). Six stone jars full would be a very large amount of water, and again, the water was not for drinking, but for ceremonial washing.

When Jesus then tells them to take some water to the master of the banquet, the servants had to be confused, perhaps scared. Was Jesus really going to give the master of the banquet ceremonial washing water to drink? It was not like they were asking some random guy to take a drink, but the head master of the banquet, the big kahuna. Fortunately, somewhere between the servants drawing the water and taking it to the master of the banquet, the water turns into wine, the best wine, which is contrary to normal practice, but appreciative to those in attendance (2:9-10).

The story that John writes, again, is not to tell what happened, but who Jesus is. By turning water into wine, Jesus shows two important qualities of Himself. One, Jesus turns what is dirty into something wonderful. The ceremonial washing water, which sat in dirty washing pots would not have been tasteful to anybody at the wedding, however Jesus takes that and makes it into something wonderful: the best wine around.

Jesus also shows that when He gives, He gives plenty. The six stone water jars used for washing would have been quite large. Together, the water must have equaled over 100 gallons, all of which Jesus turned into wine. Where at first there was no wine, now there is more than enough to go around. That is how Jesus gives. If Jesus gives a large amount of wine to those at a wedding, imagine how much love and how many blessings He will give to those who trust and follow Him.

Most of the stuff is based off of research, I don’t come up with all of it. I wish I could, but I’m just not that smart…

So, here’s my first analysis. It’s on David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17). I’ll share others as the days go by…

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David vs. Goliath

The story of David and Goliath, found in 1 Samuel 17, is one of the most popular stories in the Bible. It is a story told to young children in Sunday school and is referred to many times in popular culture. It is a story of bravery, of small versus big, weak versus strong, but only a portion of the story describes the actual battle between David and Goliath. If a reader focuses only on these verses they will neglect the greatest portion of the passage and its emphasis which reveals more than just a battle in which a small boy defeats a large man.

Biblical narratives such as the story of David and Goliath are told on three separate levels. The first level is the narrative itself; the second level is “the story of God’s redemption of mankind with the old and the new covenant” (Grand Canyon University, 2005, ¶7), and the third level “has to do with the whole universal plan of God worked out through His creation” (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 91). When looked at from this third level, the story of David and Goliath reveals a story of remarkable faith in God.

In 1 Samuel 17, the narrator paints a picture of the Israelite army, including Saul who had earlier lost favor in the eyes of the Lord (1 Samuel 15), in fear of moving forward against the Philistines, specifically Goliath. Verse 11 shows the Israelites were “dismayed and terrified” of Goliath as he threatened Israel and its God. It is the same fear that struck their forefathers as they prepared to move into the land of milk and honey in Numbers 13:26-33. Verse 32 paints an eerily similar picture to that of the Israelites facing Goliath. After visiting the land, the men spoke in fear saying, “…all the people we saw there are of great size” (Numbers 13:32).

An understanding of God’s covenant with the Israelites would cause one to wonder why the Israelites were struck with fear. From the very beginning, God made it clear He would protect His people. Before Abram left his country for a new land, God said to him, “I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse…” (Genesis 12:3) Again, before entering the land of Canaan, the Israelites were reminded that God was with them. “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way and shall flee before you seven ways” (Deuteronomy 28:7). If God is a covenant keeping God, then Goliath would have been cursed before the fight begun. Yet still, as the Israelites looked on at Goliath, they were scared to move forward.

As a boy filled with the Spirit of the Lord (1 Samuel 16:13), David must have understood the Lord’s covenant with the Israelites, which gave him faith that God would protect them from the Philistines. As he arrived at the battle lines to greet his brothers (1 Samuel 17:22), he must have been surprised, shocked even, when the Israelite Army ran in fear from Goliath (17:24). In David’s mind, he expected any true Israelite soldier, faithful of the Lord’s promise, to jump at the chance to take on Goliath; especially after hearing the deal that Saul had made (17:25), which he had to ask several people to confirm.

Soon after, David found himself in front of Saul offering to take on Goliath for his country. When Saul questioned David’s age and size, David reminded him of God’s promise, even describing situations in which God had saved him from certain death (17: 34-36) and stating his confidence that the Lord would “deliver (him) from the hand of this Philistine” (17:37).

The rest, they say, is history; and is the most famous part of the passage. Saul grants David permission and watches as David, after choosing to go without armor, uses a sling to put a stone in the forehead of Goliath, knocking him to the ground. When David approached Goliath and used his sword to cut off his head, he proved not that he was the stronger of the two, or the braver or wiser, but that God, as promised, would always be with His people, even against men twice or three times their size. All they needed was a little faith.

References
Fee, G., & Stuart, D. (2003). How to read the bible for all it’s worth. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Grand Canyon University. (2005). BIB 313 lecture five. Retrieved June 2, 2008, from http://angellms.gcu.edu

I received an invitation on my Facebook page the other day that said, “Come help the Republicans win the battle against the Democrats!” This made me chuckle a little bit. Is it really a battle? Is there a war going on between the Republicans and Democrats? I’ve never been into politics much, but this year, this time around, I am. And what I’ve found it is that I, as a Christian, am automatically made to feel as if I should support the Republican Party. Well, I don’t agree. I mean, why? Was Jesus a Republican?

Does this mean I am voting Democrat? No. I don’t know. Maybe. I want to vote for whomever I think will lead this country best, whether they’re Democrat or Republican shouldn’t matter. I understand the whole liberal/conservative thing, and for the most part I would consider myself a conservative, but is it more important to have a president who is against abortion or has a good foreign policy? A president who is against same-sex marriage or who has a good economic plan? I feel many Christians vote Republican because they feel it is God’s party or something. I feel they look at one or two issues, like abortion and/or same-sex marriage, and decide based on those issues. Are those issues going to make our country a better place? Are they that important?

Really?

Take abortion for example. First, let me make this clear: I am completely and wholeheartedly against abortion. I think it’s a terrible thing. But to me, when it comes to electing a President, it’s a non issue. One, I don’t feel it will ever change. Even if a President is against abortion…it’s not going to change…not in America. And two, even if it did change, would that make America a better place? It’s still going to happen. It will happen underground in more dangerous situations and more people will die or get hurt. Is that really what we want? Just because it’s illegal doesn’t mean it goes away. Drugs are illegal too and last I heard they’re still around. I am comfortable knowing that I personally am against abortion; I always will be. Whether or not it is illegal in my country won’t change that, it won’t change my personal relationship with Christ, which, to me, is more important.

Speaking of change…I also feel many Christians or Christian organizations have a “we need to change the world” attitude, and to that extent I totally agree…we do. But are we doing it the right way? Jesus changed the world more than anybody who has ever lived and He never once picked up a picket sign. He never even got angry. What if we put down our picket signs, and put away our ‘us against them’ attitude and started do what Jesus did best: love? If we learned to love everybody and accept everybody I don’t know…maybe there would be change. Maybe. Just a thought…

But anyways…I’m off the point. I wanted to discuss politics. I’m not sure who I’ll vote for. I might even end up voting Republican, but not because I am told to. I want to look at the issues, all of them, and make an informed decision based on what’s best for this country, and even more specifically, what’s best for me and my family. I think everyone should do the same. We should at least know why we’re voting a certain way. And heck, if issues like abortion and same-sex marriage are the most important issues for you…then that’s what you should vote for. Even I can’t argue with that. I just have a different set of priorities and I don’t feel that voting Democrat is such a bad thing. I don’t think God feels that way either…but what do I know?

The reason I mention it is because the other day I was studying the passage where Jesus feeds five thousand people with just a few loaves of bread:

Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “gather up the fragments that remain so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. (John 6:10-13 NKJV)

I don’t know how many times I’ve read that and thought, “Wow…what a miracle! He fed five thousand men with just five loaves of bread!” But after thinking about it, I noticed something completely different. Instead I thought about what Jesus says a couple verses later:

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35 NKJV)

So, I felt that what Jesus did by feeding five thousand men was not just perform a miracle, but show the world what he can do for everyone: me, you, your friends, everybody. What am I talking about? I’m not entirely sure, but think about this: Jesus fed five thousand men with bread and had a bunch left over, twelve baskets full. Also, Jesus himself is the bread of life. And so I feel that what we should take from the miracle is that there is enough of Jesus to go around, plenty in fact. However many people come to him, his arms will always be open, there will always be some bread available. No one has to go hungry.

Another interesting tidbit is that Jesus gave the bread to the disciples to hand out, which is exactly what He did during His time on Earth. Jesus spent three years teaching and mentoring His disciples so they could spread the message to the world; so they could hand out the bread of life to whomever would listen.

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe all Jesus wanted to do was feed a bunch of people and show them that He can perform miracles, but for some reason I doubt it. I truly believe it was much more than that.

The Bible is amazing.

I like it when people like me. Is that such a problem? I’m a people pleaser…or at least I try to be. I like to be the good guy, the fun guy, the fun-ny guy. I want every body to say, “Hey, you know that Lee guy? He’s a hoot. What a guy!” Of course this desire to please people does not bode well when it comes to talking to people about religion, about God, Christianity.

I’ve never been one to walk up to people and shout, “You’re going to hell!” I’m not a fan of that approach, and I certainly don’t think it works. In fact, and this could be a bad thing, I usually don’t even bring up the subject of religion to someone who is…well, going to hell. That almost sounds rude, uncalled for, but that is my belief right? If you believe in a Heaven you have to believe in a Hell. My point is, I just don’t like pointing it out to people that they, if there is a God, which I believe there to be, are going to hell. Instead I just smile, be friendly, and let them know why I am smiling: God is good. God is great. I love blueberry pancakes.

But sometimes I do think it’s necessary to say something, especially to those who believe they are not going to Hell: fellow Christians. I’m just not sure how. Every time I try, I come off as a judgmental fool and that’s honestly not my attempt. It’s funny, because the reason I don’t talk much to non-Christians is because I’m afraid they’ll beat me up, but I’m afraid talking to fellow Christians might have the same, undesired, effect. The thing is: Christians don’t like you to point out what they’re doing wrong. Trust me, I know. I am one. Tell me what I’m doing wrong and I most likely will disagree. It has to do with pride. We all have it. But sometimes God puts it on my heart to speak up, to say something, and I want to. But how do I do it? I mean, and be the cool guy?

I see things like fellow Christians swearing, or getting drunk and partying, or talking about women in such unhealthy ways and I want to say something like, “Hey man…as Christians, we shouldn’t be doing that.” But isn’t that judgmental? Yes. Does it still need to be said? Yes. Will they still like me if I say it? No. Uh-oh.

I imagine the usual response would be, “Well, you’re not perfect!” And that’s true. I’m not…far from it to be exact. And the fact that I would be judgmentally pointing that stuff out goes to show how less than perfect I am, but I try. I constantly pray that God can steer me in the right direction, away from sin, so that one day I can be…well, a little less-less than perfect.

I want to “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

I fear that “a few” is far less than we think. And the only reason I want to say anything is because I want others to understand.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

They need to understand. Heck, some of them are my friends, my family, people I care about. I just don’t know how to get that point across.

Perhaps I should just keep my mouth shut, let God do all the work. I heard He’s pretty good at that kind of stuff. Plus, I’m scared that if I ever decided to run my mouth I wouldn’t have any friends. Nobody would like me. We can’t have that now, can we?

This weekend at church the drama team put on a small skit that I guess has been done multiple times around the country, but it was a performance I had never seen before and one I will probably never forget. The skit put true love on display, the truest of all loves: God’s love.

I didn’t cry when I proposed to Stephanie, I didn’t cry when she said yes, I didn’t even cry when she gave me that wonderful video…but last night while watching this performance I couldn’t help but shed a tear. The love I share with Stephanie is true, it’s awesome, but it doesn’t make me cry, it makes me smile real big because it’s so dang cool. The love God has for me, and all of us, is different. It’s never faltering, even when we treat the love with arrogance and disrespect, as perhaps I do too much, it is still there. That love makes me cry, because that love is by far the truest of all loves.

Here is a video of the performance, not by my church, but by one of the many church groups that have done the same thing.

It’s definitely worth watching.

Lifehouse - Everything Skit

As Christians, how can we expect to spread the word and love of God to everyone if we can’t even get along with each other? Doesn’t that sort of defeat the purpose? To me, this guy’s response to the letter on global warming, saying it wasn’t the Christian thing to do, was, in itself, very un-Christian. When I say un-Christian, I mean acting opposite to how Christ taught us to act. To me, we don’t have to agree but can’t we accept? Can’t we believe that Christ moves in different ways among different people? It’s the same thing when people bash Joel Osteen about not being “Christian enough.” That doesn’t make any sense.

A couple posts ago, I wrote about doubt and mentioned how Donald Miller wrote in his book Blue Like Jazz, that there are people who believe and know that God exists and people who don’t believe and know that God doesn’t exist. He said that the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now it’s about who is smarter. Well, the same thing is happening amongst Christians. Many Christians spend a lot of time worrying about what other Christians are doing and pointing out what is wrong and maybe the argument stopped being about what is right and wrong a while ago, and now it’s about who is right. Are not all arguments about that?

Anyways, it bothered me to hear that today and I just wanted to write about it. I wish we, as Christians, could all just get along. I think that would do wonders if we stopped pointing the finger at each other and actually lived as Christ wanted us to live. And yes, I realize the ironic thing about this post, that by me pointing out my frustration with a Christian going on the radio and bashing a fellow Christian, I am also doing the same thing. I guess it’s an endless cycle. Hopefully it will stop sometime.

For those who don’t know, Chuck Palahniuk wrote Fight Club and specializes in writing off the wall stuff that most would consider “twisted,” but he’s also very good. His style of writing is very clever and different. He’s one of my favorite authors and I’ve read most of his stuff, but the last time I read one of his books was two or more years ago. I’ve changed quite a bit in the last couple years, I now read more of the Bible than I do of Palahniuk, and that’s the reason for this post. This weekend I had sort of a moral dilemma.

I was walking around Barnes and Noble when I realized Chuck Palahniuk has a new book out called Rant. When I saw it I picked it up and immediately thought, “Ooh…I have to get this!” But then I paused for a second and thought, “Should I?”

If you’ve read one of his books you know that the others are going to be just as good, but also just as twisted, which led me to ask myself whether or not I should get it. If I bought this book and read it…would that be sort of an act against God? Keep in mind one of this guy’s best books is about a sex addict who purposely chokes himself in restaurants so other people will save him and then help him through life. Needless to say I wondered out loud and discussed it with Stephanie for quite a while.

Most people will say if I wondered about it, then it’s obviously a sign from God that says loudly and in neon lights: “Don’t read it!” You’re probably right, and I thought that as well. But then I thought, it isn’t like I enjoy what he writes about, I just really like his style of writing…literally every book is crazy awesome. But then I thought, why does that matter? And then I thought, reading this book will not make me stumble in my walk with Christ. And so I bought it. I thought about a hundred different things as well, and I’m pretty sure I just told myself what I needed to tell myself to convince myself that it would be a-ok to buy the book.

What do you think? Should I have bought the book? Am I terrible for wanting to read it?

I haven’t read it yet, I’m sure I will when I’m done with the book I’m reading now, but I just thought I’d share one example of me trying to control my life instead of letting God do all the work. I’m terrible.

P.S. Happy Halloween

A lot of times when you hear people speak who are faced with terrible circumstances the message is the same. I don’t know if it’s meant be the same, but most of the time you leave feeling a bit guilty, a “man, I’ve never going to complain again” guilty. Nick is different. His main message last night was how happy he was to be in the situation he is in. Not because he likes not having any arms or legs, but because he has been able to do so much to spread the word of God. He knows it is all for a purpose.

He said a lot of things last night that were pretty powerful, but my favorite was this: “There is no joy in the circumstance, but there is joy in the purpose of that circumstance.”

Here’s a video:

There are other videos of him speaking, etc on You Tube.

This got me thinking a lot about my faith, and the faith of many Christians. Would I, we, still believe in Jesus and all He did on this earth if it was not socially acceptable to do so? Much of what we do in today’s society is based on what is or is not socially acceptable. If believing in Christianity would get you arrested and tortured, would you still believe?? Not only believe, but outwardly say so? For example, could you go to Iraq or Iran today and stand in the middle of the largest city and stop people to talk to them about Jesus? That’s a good question. I would love to be able to say yes, but if I was honest with myself I know I would balk at the opportunity. I wonder what God thinks about that. Matthew 10:33 says, “But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my father in Heaven.” Does that mean even if you’d get killed for disowning God? I’m gonna go ahead and say yes.

William Tyndale wasn’t the first martyr. In fact, he just fell in a long line of Christian martyrs who willingly died for what they believe in. The majority of believers in the first century A.D. died a martyrs death. The first, Stephen, was stoned to death for preaching in Jerusalem (Acts 6-7). Many of the people who wrote the Bible died a martyrs death. Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, was beheaded in Rome. In fact, he wrote most of his letters that are in the Bible while awaiting his death in a prison cell…and his letters are all uplifting! How did he, they, do that? How did they have such a strong faith that they could willingly walk towards death? Perhaps it was because many of them were there, the early Christians anyways. They saw for themselves what we, as Christians, believe in. William Tyndale wasn’t though, and he still believed strongly enough to become a martyr.

All of this makes me think of two things.

1. I hope and I pray that my faith would be strong enough to speak the name of Jesus, even if doing so would likely end up in death.

2. I thank the Lord I was born in America, where being a Christian is a freedom I am blessed with.