Revealed as Joy-Bringer
For Meditation (Rick Hutton)
What is joy? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, joy is “a feeling of great happiness or pleasure; delight,” and it’s something that we’re all seeking after in one way or another. We want to experience this delight, this pleasure and so we pursue things that make us happy.
There’s nothing wrong in pursuing things that bring us happiness and joy, but the things we pursue aren’t capable of brining true joy, and so we miss joy because we look for it in things that can’t ultimately provide it. The good news is, Jesus has revealed himself as the Joy-bringer and he is the source of ultimate joy.
As we continue in Epiphany this week, we’ll see Jesus reveal more of himself to his followers through the sign he performs at the wedding in Cana in John 2:1-11. Throughout the gospels we see that Jesus enjoyed a party and this wedding was no exception, and while there was the joy you’d expect at a wedding, Jesus brought even greater joy through revealing more of who he is.
Thinking about Jesus as the true joy-bringer some questions you may want to consider are, where do you typically look for joy, and how might the fact Jesus’ revelation of himself as Joy-Bringer change the way you see joy and look for it?
John 2:1-11
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.