See His Smile? Hear His Joy?

Next month The Ordinary Way: A Unique Way to Live will be released.  For your reading pleasure I share a bit with you here. 

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To start off His most well-known sermon, Jesus chose an impactful and surprising first word: mακάριoι. Most Bible translations record that Greek word with the English blessed. While appropriate, that word often hinders our hearing. The word blessed rarely brings to mind more than some sort of religious terminology. A better understanding of Jesus’ choice of word is grasped when one learns that the word mακάριoι means happy. He repeats the word eight times during His introduction and then He declares...

Matthew 5:12 (NIV)--Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Rejoice and be glad!

In a somewhat less well-known teaching occasion, one in His own hometown, Jesus opened the Hebrew Scriptures and read.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:16–21 (NIV)

Good news. Freedom. Recovery. Release. Lord’s favor.

See His smile? Hear His joy?

Jesus taught and shared His personal joy. He invited others to join Him in it. One such day occurs when a man and a woman stand before God and witnesses to wed. While they often prove stressful to plan, during the ceremony as the groom half hears the preacher due to the beauty of his bride and the bride prepares for that delightful kiss, weddings inspire joy. It is in such setting that we find Jesus.

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him,
“They have no more wine.”
“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed
in him.
John 2:1–11 (NIV)

I understand with no difficulty why Jesus would restore sight to the blind and cause once-useless legs to run. I, however, scratch my head here a bit. What eternal difference does replenished wine make? Shouldn’t He have been preaching somewhere or at least feeding the hungry who had no food rather than restocking the reception line? Yet then I reread the wisdom of Mary.

John 2:5 (NIV)--His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

When we looked at this passage from the perspective of #5 in Jesus’ Top Ten, it was to recognize that Jesus honored Mary. Jesus knows what He’s doing. He did nothing without purpose. In His wisdom, He addressed the moment of crisis at the celebration.

Why the wine?

In one word—joy. He turned water into wine to extend the joy of that grand occasion. Jesus inspired the authors of Scripture, including Paul’s command Do not get drunk on wine, so we know He was not, in His first miracle, blessing public intoxication. He was, however, blessing the newlyweds with a refreshment that added to the joyous celebration.
The religiously pious falsely accused the Lord of gluttony and drunkenness. They did so in part, I believe, because they had lost their joy.

I greatly enjoy hearing David’s plea in Psalm 51.

Psalm 51:12a (NIV)--Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

How’s your joy? Does piety restrict your joy? Does guilt hinder your praise? As you ponder those questions, let me remind you of the verse upon which we have focused during the “Days” series, with which I conclude with this chapter.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Romans 12:1 (MSG)

Follow this link to pre-order your copy of The Ordinary Way: A Unique Way To Live.

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