Daily Devotion for January 24, 2011
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.
Prayer of Thanks for God's Creation
O Lord God of Israel and God of the nations, you are the only God in heaven above or the earth below. I walk before you with all my heart. I bless your name in the morning when I rise and in the evening when I sleep, and all the day when your creation fills my eye. Bless me to remember you this day; when I see and hear the thousand miracles of your creation, let me see them anew, recalling that you have made them, and no other; that I may live in your presence among the common miracles I take for granted. Through Christ I pray,
Prayer for Peace
May the forgiving spirit of Him to whom we dedicate this season prevail again on earth.May hunger disappear and terrorists cease their senseless acts.
May people live in freedom, worshiping as they see fit, loving others.
May the sanctity of the home be ever preserved.
May peace, everlasting peace, reign supreme.
Prayer for Renewal
Lord, I am one of your people, the sheep of your flock. I pray for you to heal the sheep who are wounded; touch the sheep who are in pain; clean the sheep who are soiled; warm the lambs who are cold; help me to know the Father's love through Jesus the shepherd, and through the Spirit.
Help me to lift up that love, and show it all over this land. Help me to build love on justice and justice on love. Help me to believe mightily, hope joyfully, and love divinely. Renew me that I may help renew the face of the earth.
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.
Psalm
Count your joys instead of woes; count your friends instead of foes.
Count your smiles instead of tears; count your courage, not your fears.
Count full years instead lean; Count kind deeds instead of mean.
Count your health instead of wealth; Love your neighbor as yourself.
John 2:6-12
The Wedding at Cana (2)
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.
