Daily Devotion for July 13, 2015
Prayers
Scripture
Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
To Have One Will with Christ
Grant me, most merciful Jesus, your grace, that it may be with me and labor with me and dwell within me, this day and all the days of my short life.
Give me grace always to desire and seek what is most acceptable to you; whatever is most pleasing in your sight, let me do that. Let my will always follow yours; let your will be mine. Reform me into a spiritual perfection impossible for the world, which might be gained only by your grace; and help me to live in accord with it.
Let there be between you and me only one will, so that I may love what you love and hate what you hate; make me unfit to want anything that is unworthy in your sight, or to disdain whatever you might approve. Save me, Christ, I pray, out of love; for unworthy I might be, yet I love you dearly.
For a Divine Guest
My spirit longs for thee
Within my troubled breast,
Though I unworthy be
Of so divine a guest.
Of so divine a guest
Unworthy though I be,
Yet has my heart no rest
Unless it come from thee.
Repentance
Almighty God, since you delay with so much forbearance the punishments which I have deserved and daily draw on myself, grant that I may not indulge Myself, but carefully consider how often and in how many different ways I have provoked your anger against me. May I learn to present myself to for pardon, in true humility, and may with a genuine remorse ask for your mercy. With all my heart I desire to submit myself to you, whether you find fit in your infinite wisdom to punish me, or according to your infinite goodness, to forgive me. Let my condition be always blessed, not by flattering myself in apathy, but by finding you to be my kind and bountiful Father, reconciled to me by the gift of your only-begotten Son.
Meditation
[The wrath of God for my sins.]
Dedication
Oh Heavenly Father, in whom I live and move and have my being, I humbly pray you so to guide and govern me by your Holy Spirit, that in all the joys, occupations, and cares of this day I may never forget you, but remember that I am ever walking in your sight. In Christ's name, I pray,
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
No Time Like . . .
Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment “as to the Lord.” It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received.
C. S. Lewis, from “The Weight of Glory”
The Wedding at Cana
Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it.
When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now."
This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
Notes on the Scripture
The incident occurs immediately after Jesus has told Nathanael at John 1:50 that he would "see greater things". Jesus is not performing a random miracle here. It is the first of the seven miraculous signs by which John attests Jesus' divine status; he structures his Gospel around them.
Greek has several words that are translated into "miracle" in the Bible. The one used here means something like "sign" or "work", while the word generally used in the synoptics is more like the English meaning of "miracle", something more like an "act of power".
The speech about saving the good wine for last is typical of John, because it has a double meaning. This one is not hard to see; Christ is the "good wine" and is being served last. Moreover, like the wine, Christ was begotten by a miracle, an act of God. Water is generally associated with spirituality (as in baptism), and the transmutation of water into the best wine parallels the pregnancy of Mary, not by a man, but from the spirit.
Also, notice how this ties to the preceding verses. Jesus has said his time is not yet come and so he performs this work in private. Also, just the day before he promised that Nathanael would see greater things, and he hasn't wasted time. The passage ends with a notation that his disciples believed in him; neither the wonder of the miracle nor its significance is lost on his first disciples.
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