John 2:1-12 (Common English Bible)
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They don’t have any wine.” 4 Jesus replied, “Woman, what does that have to do with me? My time hasn’t come yet.”
5 His mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby were six stone water jars used for the Jewish cleansing ritual, each able to hold about twenty or thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some from them and take it to the headwaiter,” and they did. 9 The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
The headwaiter called the groom 10 and said, “Everyone serves the good wine first. They bring out the second-rate wine only when the guests are drinking freely. You kept the good wine until now.” 11 This was the first miraculous sign that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this, Jesus and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there for a few days.
Reflections
I've been traveling (to Philadelphia and to Washington, D.C.) this weekend and on my trip I've been reading Arthur Sutherland's book I was a Stranger: A Christian Theology of Hospitality.
I'm not an easy traveler; while I'm often flexible, when I get tired I get cranky and then I'm pretty awful to travel with. So last night I was in line to get on the Megabus from DC to Philly after standing in the cold all day. I just wanted to get on the bus and finish reading this book about hospitality (which has been mostly about how we interact with all kinds of strangers and what we offer them.) I was working on some delicious hot tea and the man behind me starts talking to me about how cold it is.
Great. I thought. I'm going to wait for the bus making small talk with this guy I don't know. I was not excited. I got less excited the more I talked to this man because he was strange. I offered him little in terms of conversation, basically normal pleasantries about the blustery wind and how my toes felt like they were going to freeze completely off, all the while longing to be reading my book.
And then the irony hit me over the hit. Sometimes my love of reading theology gets in the way of my living theology. So instead of offering second-rate conversation, I started offering real conversation to this stranger. In the next half hour, I listened as he told me about how he struggled as a case worker for a shelter for men living with HIV/AIDS and how he had come to DC to see his daughter. They hadn't parted ways well. We talked about families and spirituality and how it's often difficult to talk about either.
And then the bus came. This stranger looked at me and said, "Thanks for letting me process this with you."
In my head, I was thinking Thanks for letting me process what it means to offer hospitality.
I finished the book on the bus ride home.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some from them and take it to the headwaiter,” and they did. 9 The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
The headwaiter called the groom 10 and said, “Everyone serves the good wine first. They bring out the second-rate wine only when the guests are drinking freely. You kept the good wine until now.” 11 This was the first miraculous sign that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this, Jesus and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there for a few days.
Reflections
I've been traveling (to Philadelphia and to Washington, D.C.) this weekend and on my trip I've been reading Arthur Sutherland's book I was a Stranger: A Christian Theology of Hospitality.
I'm not an easy traveler; while I'm often flexible, when I get tired I get cranky and then I'm pretty awful to travel with. So last night I was in line to get on the Megabus from DC to Philly after standing in the cold all day. I just wanted to get on the bus and finish reading this book about hospitality (which has been mostly about how we interact with all kinds of strangers and what we offer them.) I was working on some delicious hot tea and the man behind me starts talking to me about how cold it is.
Great. I thought. I'm going to wait for the bus making small talk with this guy I don't know. I was not excited. I got less excited the more I talked to this man because he was strange. I offered him little in terms of conversation, basically normal pleasantries about the blustery wind and how my toes felt like they were going to freeze completely off, all the while longing to be reading my book.
And then the irony hit me over the hit. Sometimes my love of reading theology gets in the way of my living theology. So instead of offering second-rate conversation, I started offering real conversation to this stranger. In the next half hour, I listened as he told me about how he struggled as a case worker for a shelter for men living with HIV/AIDS and how he had come to DC to see his daughter. They hadn't parted ways well. We talked about families and spirituality and how it's often difficult to talk about either.
And then the bus came. This stranger looked at me and said, "Thanks for letting me process this with you."
In my head, I was thinking Thanks for letting me process what it means to offer hospitality.
I finished the book on the bus ride home.
God can sure be a trickster sometimes! Now... if only that nice cup of tea had turned into hot mulled cider with a little bit of something special in it........
ReplyDeleteSafe travels friend!
Craig