A Little Bit of Dread - August 4, 2010

Good Wednesday morning! Mid-week for those of you in the five-day work week. Today is also August 4th, which means that the beginning of school around these parts is only about 15 days away. Now is the time that many a school age child will be waking up with a vague kind of dread as the last days of summer vacation slip away. I feel a shudder from time to time during these days of August, and I don't have to go to school! What does that kind of dread relate to in the adult world? Think about it just a bit and you can usually find something to dread. Whether it is the kind of uncomfortable dread that results from making a mistake at work and wondering when you will be found out, or the full-blown panic of having committed a crime unintentionally due to some law you didn't know about, you have felt some degree of dread in your adult life. Of course, the violation of some minor section of our massive Code of Federal Regulations does not usually result in a visit from the FBI or even in jail time, but our imaginations can supply plenty of things to dread. What about a less serious circumstance, relatively speaking, a social humiliation on an important date? The verse today tells us about someone getting 'called over' sometimes a phrase that carries a little bit of that social dread with it. A boss might call you over during a company party; "What did I do now?", or a parent might call you over during a ball game; "Oh no, Dad's gonna let me have it front of everyone!" Whatever the case, we often dread what we imagine is going to be a humiliating moment.

When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. (John 2:9)

We don't know yet from this verse what the master of ceremonies wants with the bridegroom. This is an important day, we might expect a congratulations or a bit of advice on the bridegroom's new life. In this situation we don't often associate a calling over with that social dread. However, we know that the celebration was about to run out of wine, a serious social mistake on the part of someone; could it be the bridegroom's responsibility to provide the wine and food? Is he now in trouble because of the cups of water Jesus sent out?

Well, the verse does give away the fact that the water is now wine. A miracle has happened and we don't know how Jesus did this from a technical or chemical view. After all making wine usually involves raising grape vines to maturity, pruning vines during the growing seasons, awaiting the ripening of the grapes, and then harvesting the year's grapes. After all of that, the grapes are pressed to extract the juice, the juice is fermented, and the wine is aged some amount of time. Jesus only had minutes, not years, so something out of the ordinary took place from the time the servants filled up the stone water jars until the cup of wine was served to the master of ceremonies. Whatever that something was and in whatever way Jesus made the water into wine in mere moments, the master of ceremonies felt compelled to call over the bridegroom. Did the MC want to chew the bridegroom out over serving inferior wine? Was the wine made by Jesus not aged enough? Certainly a possibility given that the stuff was just water a few moments earlier. We don't yet know. Once more we will have to wait until tomorrow's verse to find out what the MC wants with the bridegroom. Good news or bad?

We may have to wait for another verse now, but we do have some experience with the social dread we have been reading about. The boss doesn't usually wait for the company party to give you bad news about something; he uses the office where he can sit behind his desk to emphasize his authority over you while dressing you down over something he didn't like. Dad might be calling you over to give you a pat on the back for a good play or to pass on some family news that couldn't wait. We don't always get the bad news we dread. The bridegroom might be receiving good news, we'll just have to wait and see.

Have an excellent day in Christ!

Bucky