Sharing Blessings
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
John 2:1-12
John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus *said to Him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus *said to her, “a woman, 1bwhat does that have to do with us? cMy hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” 6 Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing 1twenty or thirty gallons each. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He *said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the 1headwaiter.” So they took it to him. 9 When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10 and *said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have 1drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This beginning of His 1asigns Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
John 2:12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.
The wedding event at Cana can be viewed in many different ways. This is the beauty of the stories that are found throughout the Bible. The way the narrative is expressed and what is emphasized brings out its spiritual awareness. The wedding would have come to an end with the bride’s parents being embarrassed. Jesus did a wonderful thing for them by changing water to wine.
The sign of water to wine is emphasized in the center of the narrative; therefore, the sign is most important. There has to be more to the sign because changing water to wine is considered a parlor trick used by magicians even to this day. Our Lord Jesus would not do something this simple unless there was a spiritual symbolism to the event. The changing of water to wine is symbolic of our life.
Starting with conception, we start our lives in the womb water. The womb water protects us as we grow from a single cell organism to a complex human being. Eventually, we must leave the comfort and safety of the womb and enter the world. As we grow and learn the world’s ways, these ways can contaminate the water that symbolically surrounds us (the water from the womb).
Two things will happen. Either one becomes a part of the world, ignoring the LORD, and will eventually end life in the grips of Satan. Alternatively, one will protect oneself by coming under the wings of God. Changing from water to wine is symbolic of our lives of the transformation from not knowing God to learning about God and living in His ways.
The transformation from water to wine is done by our performing the blessings defined in the Gospel and throughout the Bible. This narrative of the water to wine conversation tells us one cannot transform the world’s ways to the ways of the LORD without help. Who is that help? The man who transformed water into wine at Cana.
Changing one’s life to righteousness can be done when the Messiah is involved. Simply following the ways and words of Jesus will make a difference in your life. Even doing simple things for other people is a blessing that you can share. For example, I am sure that when you are driving your car, you come to a point where a person is waiting to get on the road. When you drive around a mall, you can see this quite often. A simple blessing is to allow the waiting person to enter the road. It is an act of kindness that you are showing to a stranger.
Jesus sends blessings to us from Heaven. Our task is to use some of the blessings for ourselves and to share the blessings with other people. The more you share Jesus’ blessings, the more He will send. It is actually that simple. Imagine a world where everyone gave, let’s say, 20% of their blessings to other people. I think that alone would radically change the world. Hey, that leaves 80% of blessings for yourself. If you did this one day, you might have so many blessings from Jesus that you will not know what to do with all of them. Remember the key to the puzzle is to share your blessings.
Also, blessings are a lot more than just money. Unfortunately, in the 1950s, the church created professional missionaries and organizations. Let me give you a quick history lesson. During the Depression of the 1930s, churches across the United States opened food kitchens and fed many people who could not find work. When the country came out of the Depression, churches started to grow. When the 1950s rolled around, church members had money to give to ministries, with many deciding that they did not want to actually do the work. Christian organizations started to appear. The day of the professional missionary/ministry worker was born.
A church that I pastored set up a clothing outlet for low-income families in the past. Getting the money to start the project was easy. Money was never a problem. However, we needed people to staff the store to keep it open. There was a problem. I could not get enough people to work the store. The hours became minimal, and eventually, the store was closed. Not because of the costs in dollars but because of the cost of human time.
Let me give you another example. A mission project was started about fifteen years ago in central Pennsylvania. When it first started, I worked in the computer ministry part of the project. I fixed personal computers that were then shipped to Africa. All of the ministry components of this project combined had one full-time employee and one one-half employee. Fifteen years later, the project has six full-time people. A lot of the money going to that ministry has to be used for the high cost of the staff. Medical insurance is not cheap. Fifteen years ago, volunteers did the work that paid employees now do.
If you are giving money to a professional ministry organization that is making an impact, please continue to do that. Everything in the world costs money. However, consider volunteering some time so that the professional ministries can spend less on staff and more on their mission.
