These weekly Musings from the Word are becoming more like "Every Other Week Musings from the Word."  Last week Marlys and I were down in Iowa to spend some time with Barry, Carol, and our grandkids.  Got to see a terrific football game on Friday night.  Enjoyed time at an apple orchard on Saturday afternoon.  And then enjoyed watching Josiah play football on Sunday afternoon.  His team scored their first victory of the season...so all was joy and gladness.  Our grandkids are growing up so quickly.  But we try to keep up as best as we can.  But it is obvious that the energy level is not as it once was.  Next weekend, we have the privilege of traveling back to Illinois where I will be speaking at the first church we served in the ministry.  It is their annual Homecoming Weekend.  We missed their 150th celebration in May, so were invited to come this fall.  We hope to take a leisurely drive back along the Mississippi and see the fall colors the following Monday.  So, if you happen to be in the Freeport, IL area next Sunday, I will be speaking at the Winneshiek Evangelical Free Church at 9:30 (speaking on the Middle East issues) and at 2:00 p.m.  Thank you for your prayers for us as we travel and ministry with these dear friends.

I trust you are keeping your eyes focused upon what is happening in Israel.  Unrest continues along the Israeli-Syrian borders.  Just yesterday, Syrian helicopters approached Israeli airspace over the Golan Heights and Israeli jets were scrambled.  Talks of war linger from both sides, although any hostilities will not begin until President Bush's Middle-East summit, scheduled for early November, is completed.  But tensions remain high.  This past week, as you know, Iranian President Ahmadinejad was in New York where he addressed the United Nations General Assembly and also spoke at a forum on the campus of Columbia University.  He emphatically declared that the coming of the Twelfth Imam, known as the Mahdi, is imminent, and the days of the control of the United States and Israel are nearing their end.  This man strongly believes that if we creates enough chaos in the world, then the Mahdi will return.  From New York, he journeyed to Bolivia and Venezuela where he promised huge financial aid to those left-wing nations.  He laughs with defiance at the weak threats of the United States and the Western World.  He certainly is not a man to be taken lightly.  In many ways I believe he is a reincarnation (if that is possible, which it isn't) of Hitler.  And we all remember what happened when the world did not take that madman seriously.  Anyway, as I related to my class last evening (I have been teaching a four-week class on the backgrounds to the Middle East conflict...it has been a lot of fun putting the class together and teaching it) these are exciting days for us.  I believe God is strongly preparing the world's stage for the entrance of His Son, our Savior, and the King of Israel.  I will try to keep you informed as best I can.  If you want to get more information, click on David Dolan's website: www.ddolan.com and sign up for his monthly updates. 

Now for some time in the Word of God.  I would like to have us turn our attention to the second chapter of John.  I know we have not exhausted all of chapter one.  Basically, the writer related, in the last half of the first chapter, the calling of the first disciples: Peter, Andrew, Philip, Nathanael and, according to some scholars, John himself.  Each of these would be worthy of a study.  But, let's leave that study for another time and turn our attention to the very first recorded miracle of Jesus.  The Gospel of John is the only place this is recorded.  But, before looking at this miracle, I would have you turn to John 20:30-31 where John writes: Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  With this statement, the Apostle John shares the reasons why he included some material into his account and why he excluded some.  His purpose was to help his readers to know that Jesus was God so that they might believe in Him.  Now, we will discover that John records only eight miracles within his book, and six of those miracles are only recorded within this particular gospel.  Therefore, we must ask ourselves the question: what does that particular miracle teach us about the deity of Christ? 

Let's look at the scene of this first miracle.  Its location is the little village of Cana.  I have had the privilege of being there on several occasions.  It probably has not changed much since the days of Jesus.  It is not far from the village of Nazareth.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, along with Jesus and His disciples had been invited to share in this wedding celebration.  And, from the text, it would appear that Mary had been asked to serve as the hostess, at least she was aware of what was happening.  To better understand what happened, we need to spend just a few moments relating the order of a Jewish wedding.  We all know that the relationship between a man and a woman began with the betrothal which was an act of engagement that could only be broken by a certificate of divorce.  The marriage usually occurred on a Wednesday, if the bride was a virgin, or a Thursday, if the bride was a widow.  The groom led the wedding processional to the home of the bride, usually done during the evening hours.  The processional then returned to the home of the groom where ceremonial coverings and blessings were provided and a wedding feast was enjoyed.  And, this wedding feast could last for as long as a week, with the groom's family being responsible for feeding all the invited guests.  It could be a financial burden for many. 

All was proceeding as planned.  But then news came to Mary that there was no more wine to serve to the invited guests.  This was a sign of poor hospitality.  Failure to supply the necessary refreshments could be the cause for legal action being taken against the groom and his family resulting in servitude to pay a huge debt.  So, one can almost hear the panic in Mary's voice as she approached Jesus and exclaimed, "They have no more wine!"  Although the text does not state it, you can hear her desperate plea, "Do something!"  What caused Mary to approach Jesus?  Did she know that He was capable of solving the problem?  Was she looking for something miraculous?  Had anything happened during the childhood days of Jesus to cause her to reflect that Jesus could do something?  All of these are interesting questions that we can only speculate upon. 

Jesus' reply to His mother have been twisted to indicate that Jesus was rebuking His mother.  But, as was shown with His use of the same term for His mother while hanging from the cross, the term "woman" was one of loving endearment.  And His statement, "My time has not yet come," is a reference to His death (John 7:6, 8, 30; John 8:20).  As Jesus begins His public ministry, He is already anticipating its ending. 

Well, you know how Jesus changed water into wine.  And the head steward proclaimed that it was the best wine he had ever tasted.  And well it should have been, for it was created by the one who had created the grape in the first place.  The English poet Alexander Pope expressed it this way, "The conscious water saw its Master and blushed."  Jesus took a common element, water, and changed it into another common element, wine.  There was no prayer over the water, no words spoken commanding the water to become wine.  It just became wine! 

Friends, what is the significance of this first miracle?  Why did John see significance and not the other gospel writers?  I believe that this first miracle was a demonstration of Jesus as the Creator.  Remember the opening words of John's Gospel.  Remember how I tried to show that those words drew people back to the opening words of the Bible itself...a reminder that God created...the Word created.  And, the very first miracle draws attention to the fact that Jesus, as the Word, as being God in the flesh, still has the power to create.  And, secondly, I believe this miracle is a strong demonstration of how God can change a life.  Without Jesus, life is dull, stale, and flat; with Jesus, life is vivid, sparkling, and exciting.  Jesus can change the water of our existence into the wine of His joy and celebration. 

Oh what a special celebration it must have been that day there in Cana.  Truly, this was a wedding celebration never to be forgotten. 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent.  (Billy Sunday)