Jesus =
- partygoer
- likeable (he received an invitation)
- not a stick in the mud (I don’t see the Pharisees mentioned in this account of the wedding). I imagine they would have been looking around in disgust at the revelry going on at the wedding party.
- friend of sinners
- Obedient to his mom – she asked him to do something and he did it.- His 1st miracle wasn’t some huge spectacular healing, but rather done in response to the relationship he had with Mary.
- Extravagant/Lavish – he made an exorbitant amount of wine. We did the calculations and it came out to be between 120-180 gallons of wine or in other words, over 700 typical store bottles of wine.
- Blessing offered without condition. I thought much about Jesus’ “gift” of wine at the wedding and wondered why he would make so much wine when drunkenness is clearly a sin. I always approach the Bible as having no contradictions, so I believe Jesus would not be condoning drunkenness. Our family had a good discussion around this topic and I came to realize that we are constantly blessed extravagantly. God lavishes blessing after blessing on us each daily and grace upon grace. He blesses us freely with good things all the time and those blessings are not conditional on our obedience. For example, he provides us with food daily though gluttony is a sin. It is not the food that is bad, it is our decision to over eat that is sinful. Similarly, wine is not evil, though drunkenness is a sin. Brings to mind the scripture in 1 Timothy 4:4.: “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,” Sadly, because of our selfishness and lack of self-control, we all too often over-indulge in his good gifts, and choose to sin rather than enjoy the blessings as they are intended.
- Quality – he made the best wine. He didn’t make ok wine or cheap wine. He made the best wine!