“They have no wine.”—A thought from Marriage at Cana in Bible (John 2: 1-11)

“They have no wine.”—A thought from

 Marriage at Cana in Bible

(John 2: 1-11)

“They have no wine.”

What is so important in this sentence? It speaks a lot. Wine is so important for Jewish weddings that there are hardly any weddings without wine. In fact, the chief chef says “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” It shows how important is wine for the Jewish weddings.

As we all take part in the communion and have wine, we never do it to please our taste buds, but it refreshes our thoughts to the cross on which our Savior shed the blood. In a way, Jesus giving the new wine after all had enjoyed the old wine reminds us of the new covenant and promise of GOD to humanity. 

This story has a strong connection to the lamb and the wedding. We are all, as part of God’s church, waiting and longing for our bridegroom to come and get married to Him. For that marriage, the wine that is the blood of Jesus Christ is so important that without the transformed wine there is no real celebration of marriage. Only the Blood of Christ can fulfill the purpose of celebration in Heaven.

The world always tries to make us feel good with the best in the beginning and end with poorer things. But God offers us the good wine at the end. That really denotes the transformational quality of the blood of Jesus Christ that the world could not give. In fact, when Jesus heard that there is no wine, He didn’t go searching for any vineyard or barracks. Instead, He transforms the unqualified substance—the water—in to the sweetest of all wines. He did the same thing on the cross—the unqualified and cursed wood used for killing the sinners. He transformed the Cross and the blood shed on it for the Salvation of many—the sweetest thing that mankind can have. Likewise, when we are on the earth and are considered unqualified/unworthy by the world because we carry the cross and follow Him, we definitely will have the most bitter experiences in life. But, we need to have the strong faith in Him so that we will hope and trust on the transformational quality of His Blood that can turn all these sufferings to be the sweetest things at the end.

Do you introduce Jesus?

Mary is indeed a classic example of a true believer. Think of the situation when she was being invited by her friend/relative for the marriage. The host would never have thought in his life that a single step of inviting Jesus and disciples along with Mary would make his/his relative’s marriage so memorable. I am just assuming the scene where the host comes to Nazareth and invites Mary to come for the marriage feast. While they were talking, Jesus shows up. Suddenly, Mary turns back and introduces Jesus, as her son. Now, the host might have said to Jesus, “Good to meet you… Please do come for my marriage with your friends.”

Sometimes, when people comes and invites us for marriage how much care do we take to ask them whether they have called Jesus also in their marriage. Or are we letting them don’t know that Jesus is there and He is willing to come in to their life? One of the things that my father usually does is that he gifts a Bible to the couple for every marriage he goes without fail. He don’t care whether they are receiving it happily or just trash it. Indeed, that kind of nature should come into us also and do ask or give opportunity for the host to meet or get introduced to Jesus.

Are we aware that “There is no wine”?

Mary who brought up Jesus had many unbelievable experiences that made her believe in Him more than any other person. That definitely acted as a precursor for her actions at Cana. There are mainly three things that we can learn from Mary:

Firstly, she was aware of the problem of the hour. She would not have known that there is no wine left unless, she had really gone and spoke with the chef there or counted the number of people attending the marriage. Even the bridegroom was not aware that there is no wine. Are we inquisitive in our life to know needs of the people? Or are we just like any other person in the world who thinks only about self-satisfaction and personal gratification? I have once attended one wedding where the food was not enough for the guests. There was lot of commotion and people were fighting and scolding each other. Above all, there were people who were on the sidelines criticizing the host saying that he was stingy and ordered less food. It is an insult to the host. Are we the people who are more interested in talking and not acting to the need of the hour? Are we really aware that there are people who haven’t tasted the Wine—the Blood of Jesus Christ? Do we inquire about it? Or are we least interested to know?

Secondly, she had strong faith before she presented the need before Jesus. She did not really go and ask Jesus to bring some wine. She just said, “They have no wine.” How do we pray daily? Just imagine me telling God, “There are large number of people in a country who have not tasted the goodness of the Blood of Jesus Christ.” Suppose, like Jesus replies to Mary, I am getting a cold-hearted or “least-bothered” kind of reply from God. Do I quit with that or should I? Here Mary even after getting such a reply from Jesus, goes from there and asks the servants to be ready to OBEY. How much faith do we apply to the things that we pray about? Do we only present the need and leave it there? Or are we willing to take the next step in faith? I believe the miracle at Cana happened only because Jesus saw the faith in Mary. Do we take that extra step in faith?

Thirdly, like I said in the beginning, Mary’s experiences and desire to lean on to God resulted in her actions at Cana. We also has immense experiences to testify; when Jesus protected us, forgave us, loved us, etc. How are these experiences really used in our Christian walk today? Does it make us move more in faith? Does it really help us to be inquisitive to know the problems of the people, pray for them, and influence them for Jesus Christ to act in their lives? Does the great light shone upon us leave the shadow of HIS goodness behind us so that others can see that and worship the true and living God?

In short, “There is lot to carry forward, lot to believe in, lot to see, lot to know, lot to desire for, lot to pray for, and lot to live for; our life never ends!”

Recipe for an Abounding Life

On a cloudy day,

When there were no flowers in the garden,

On a day of no meaning,

I stood in the garden searching for a recipe for life.

I saw an ant crawling on the ground,

Not knowing where its destination is.

Ants never wait for a clue to come and guide them,

But pushes itself forward,

Not bothering what obstacles may come.

Soon followed a brigade of ants,

One after the other sniffing the latter’s odor,

Called by the nature to follow the forerunners.

They also don’t know where they are heading to,

But they know that someone had gone before them.

Like a wise man said in the past,

“Learn from the ants!”,

Let us learn from them,

Not wasting our time fearing the unknown,

Threatened by the obstacles in the journey of faith.

 Know that people had gone before on the same path

And reached their destination of abounding life.

Suddenly the clouds moved apart,

The sun shone brightly, and the flowers blossomed;

And I got the recipe for life.

The Thoughts-A Bit Thorny

Thoughts come to my mind,
The thoughts I battle with,
To win or lose;
Victory is endless.

Cleverness lacks discernment,
And discernment lacks wisdom.
The thoughts toys me like a ship,
Battling on the rage of the seas.

Confusion: Light or Darkness?
Nothing is obvious.
But there is a light that shines
In my darkest moments.
I wait and will keep waiting,
Till that light shines bright. 

Action against "HOARDING"

The Maestro's Canvas

Each moment in life is a brush stroke on the canvas,
Drawn by the Maestro--the Creator.
The colors vary from dark to mellow,
Giving the shades of joy and sorrow.
The Artist brushes the strokes, 

The strokes that speak about life,
On the canvas, the canvas of life,
With colors that kisses his heart.
How unkind the colors are,
The Artist never lacks aesthetics
That gives life to the colors,
And colors to life.

A Thanksgiving note!

Thank you God for you are faithful,
And your promises will never fail us...
Thank you God for your loving-kindness,
That extends forever...
Thank you God for your abounding love, mercy, and compassion,
That made You come to us and die for our sins on the cross!
Thank you God for your Grace,
That delivered us from the wages of our sin!
Thank You for the hope you gave us in Jesus Christ,
That makes us wait in joy for Your wonderful and awesome return!
I trust in You alone, and my life is full in You;
I surrender myself with all that I have.
Thank You for accepting me and loving me;
And I'll love You forever and ever!

"2012"---is it going to be an end or beginning?

"2012" is a number that has put millions of people in the delusion that "the world is going to end". It is buzzing in the internet and social channels these days. But, only thing that I'm interested to know is why people are so disturbed or going talkative on World's end? Is it because of the fear that they will lose all their possessions/life? or is it because they feel there is some peace out of this world? It is quite interesting to learn about it more.

As for me, I've put my faith in God, who created the universe and all that is within by His strength and power. He has proved His love to His creation by sending His only begotten son to take away the decree of sin that each man had to suffer. Through that he promised us the eternal life. This explains why all the happenings are not necessarily an end to everything. Therefore, having been reconciled with God and made holy, it is sure that there is life for each one of us beyond the flesh and its death. This understanding shall lead us to faith in Jesus Christ and overcome all fears through faith.