Jesus shared parables likening the kingdom of God to a wedding. He also gave analogies of Himself being the bridegroom. For the first miracle (turning water into wine) to happen at a wedding could have had deeper meanings. He could have been showing His heart for His bride, His desire to celebrate her (the church), and His special transforming touch on His bride.
Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” John 2: 6-10
Interestingly, the master of the feast made the observation that the latter wine was better than the former wine. He was surprised because generally the hosts brought the best wine first and afterwords, the lower quality wine was offered to the guests.
The thinking of the master of the feast was natural and cultural. Spiritually speaking, God many times has bypassed the norm rather than following man’s pre-packaged plan. For example, God chose David and Joesph who were the younger sons in their families. Jesus in his teachings declared that the last shall be first.
Jesus spent 3 1/2 years with His disciples training and equipping them. However, Paul was the most influential apostle in the history of Christianity, and he came to the Kingdom after Jesus was resurrected. He did not spend any earthly time with Jesus, but His revelations and instructions gave us many of the New Testament books.
This is encouraging news to us all. Many of us may think we have come to the kingdom too old. Some of us think we are too young to be of any use to God. Others think that they are not fit for ministry because no one in their family has served God before, but those factors are not an issue to God.
God has a purpose for each of us, and He can do miraculous work in any life. If the Lord chooses, the 21st century church can do more miraculous work and have more powerful apostles and prophets than we have ever had in the history of the church.
We need to take God out of the box and let Him do what He desires. Our plumb line of success and growth is not the church next door or the previous church era. God can creatively use this generation with their technological advances to reach people all over the world including those nations that are hostile to the Word of God. Let’s be open and expecting of what God wants to do in our generation!
