The Leftovers

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."

"Dear woman,why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time 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."

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
John 2:1-11

I can still remember the day after I turned sixteen.

I woke up at noon somewhere on the floor in my bedroom. The clothes which I thought looked so cool were disheveled and odorous. My companions -so full of wit and clever jokes at every turn- were laying around like snoring furniture. The pillows -when there were pillows- were shoes, pizza boxes. The pizza, so excellent the night before- sat stiffly in the boxes as cold as corpses. The video game controllers were knotted together.

This is the way of esthetics. What looks good in the beginning looks terrible in the end. Sometimes it never has to change at all ... people simply tire of seeing it.

The world often deceives the young with grand delusions about their future -sprinkling half-serious notions of "changing the world" and "the world-historical significance of changing the world". And then the young grow up and find themselves selling life insurance or administering a business.

And then they look at their own lives and say, "What happened to the significance of my life? All the lovely sounding words and promises ... what happened to those? Perhaps I am not one of those important people ... not a celebrity or politician. Maybe I'm just an ordinary person living in their shadow."

But God loves the ordinary people. He loves the ones the world cares little about. He finds the things about them that others call "dull" to be His favorite. He is ready to find the people who have been forgotten and despised by the world. He is ready to find them and call them His own.

People tend to think of growing older as a process in becoming less interesting to the world, and this is true enough. As the people who have made the attention of the world their hope begin to lose hope day by day (while outwardly delighting in the excitement of thinking it may all be over soon), God has saved His best for last. The people who belong to God rejoice in the promises He has given them. Even though the vessels of their bodies begin to crack and fall apart, their spirits drink from the fountain of life, and they praise their God.

The day the world anxieties over will soon be here. Everything will be accounted and the desires of the world will be exposed. It will be completely clear to all that no one really longed for the things of the world. They were for appearances only.

Father, teach us to be your little children. Fill us with the life that does not waste away. Renew us with your understanding. Our greatness is so pathetic, and our patheticness, Father, how you love it! Send us into the fullness of your ways, so that your name will be blessed on the earth.