2nd Sunday after the Epiphany: John 2:1-11
The Gospel of John follows the miracles of Jesus that act as signs of his role as the Messiah. The other gospels record Jesus as saying he won’t give the people a sign. John is detailing the things Jesus did right under their noses that were signs.
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You’ve been walking for two weeks. The horizon in front of you looks just as desolate as the one behind. Your family is road weary. Your small daughter is crying because she’s hungry. “When can we go home?” asks your son. You haven’t fully explained to your children that they’re never going back home. The thought of having to watch your children die is just a little more than you can bear. It seemed like God himself was asking you to leave the only home you and your family have known. What’s worse is you didn’t even hear God’s voice for yourself, you took a man’s word for it—a self-proclaimed prophet. He said lives were at stake and we needed to follow all of his instructions carefully. Now in the face of starvation, the doubts and anger come rushing to the surface.
“If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:3, NIV
Why didn’t those silly Hebrews see God’s provision ahead of time? Of course God wouldn’t suddenly abandon them. Of course Moses was God’s chosen man—it’s Moses for goodness sakes. In our shortsightedness we might not stop to think that any of us would be in a state of panic in that circumstance. Continue reading