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Week 3 (Joy) of The Heart Has a Home in the Living Room at East Petersburg Mennonite Church
- 1. WELCOM
- 2. If you were to plan a Christmas Away from home Where would you go?
- 5. Home. Exile. Return. This is the way of the human the biblical narrative.
- 6. The Heart Comes HomeTo Joy.
- 7. In this Advent Season we look at the gift of Joy. Joy is a bubbling and sustained sense of God’s nearness, affection, and provision. In this season, with the gift of Jesus comes a deep sense of joy.
- 8. Lets read John 2:1-12.
- 9. In this passage, where did you find yourself remarking, resonating, wrestling, raising an eyebrow, raising anxiety or with a “umpf” or “hmm” moment?
- 10. Apparently, God loves a good party. From the divinely-commanded feasts of the ancient Hebrews, to Jesus’ first miracle happening at a wedding reception. It seems that the God of the interstellar fireworks has a knack for celebration.
- 11. Where else do you find Jesus or God ordaining a Party?
- 12. 1. Feast of Passover 2. Feast of Unleavened Bread 3. Feast of First Fruits 4. Celebration of Pentecost 5. Feast ofTrumpets (Rosh Hoshanna) 6. Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)* 7. Feast ofTabernacles *with Celebration of Jubilee
- 13. Weddings are “parties with a purpose.”
- 14. Only the Gospel of John records that Jesus’ very first miracle was at a wedding.
- 15. As far as we know, from the time of the nativity story until this moment in Cana, Jesus has not done anything publicly that would signal that He has power beyond that of the average person.
- 16. “…and for some reason, Mary thinks that the simple situation of a banquet running dry of wine is the perfect opportunity to invite Jesus to do something “special.”
- 17. Jesus takes something average, water, and turns it into something extraordinary – the most flavorful wine.
- 18. The God of the heavens and the earth seems to find joy in converting the everyday waters of sustenance into the joy-evoking nectar of the vine!
- 19. What feels plain and insignificant in our lives can be given flavor and quality by the touch of Jesus.
- 20. John’s Christmas Story shows a similar theme to the other Gospels; something seemingly simple and unremarkable are made to be striking and extraordinary.
- 21. What in your life is seemingly simple and unremarkable, but may be anointed by God to be striking and extraordinary?
- 22. Bubbling joy is the result of a never- ending stream of God’s kindness directed our way, and a thankful heart that receives it.
- 23. John invites us to find our Christmas Gift.
- 24. What stops us from seeing the simple as part of God’s plan?
- 25. What images of God to you struggle with that prevent you from finding joy?
- 26. How might you model Jesus in your neighborhood by celebrating a good party with your neighbors?
- 27. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. Romans 15:2
- 28. This week, I invite you to look at this passage again and this weeks devotional. Ask God to remove any lingering “killjoy” images of who He is from your heart.
- 29. Ask Him to fill you with “Joy in his presence.” (Psalm 16:11) and “…do not get drunk on wine” but “be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18)
Editor's Notes
- If you were to plan a Christmas – away from home – where would you go?
- We have been in a series called The Heart Has a Home. It is our gift to you, to each to have a book. If you have not yet received a book, please let me know. Last week, I also handed out a free CD as a early-Christmas gift. If you have not yet received a CD, please also let me know.
- Our series, The Heart Has a Home, is a series looking at Christmas through the Gospel of John. John tells a completely different Christmas Narrative than the other Gospels. In fact, he retells Genesis more than he shares a similar narrative to the other Gospel Christmas stories. Last week, we also found he mentions Mary in a different light, and fewer times. Though, John as a Gospel shows the same reoccurring theme that the other Gospel stories tell. Perhaps no theme is more resonant and present in Christmas literature – and throughout the literature of humankind – than the theme of coming “home.” In the Christmas story, Jesus comes to the home of humankind, and people find their home with their Creator God again.
- And this theme of “home” runs deeply throughout the Scriptures, map out out the path of the human heart as we start at home, wander in exile, then finally commence our return home. Home. Exile. Return. This is the way of the human heart in the biblical narrative. It is also a story many of us live in our lives, and even in marginal aspects of them.
- This morning we look at the idea that through the Christmas Story, we learn that The Heart Comes Home to Joy.
- In Matthew 2, the Magi have come to Visit the Messiah. Mary and Joseph take baby Jesus and dip out to Egypt, and then return to Nazareth. In Luke 2, the Advent Story is just unraveling. A census has been given, Mary and Joseph travel to Joseph's home to be counted. Baby Jesus is born, and the world looks on. In Mark 2, Jesus has just came into his ministry and is beginning to teach. In John 2:1-12, we find a different story. In fact, we find a story that is found at no other point in the other Gospels.
- Apparently, God loves a good party. From the divinely-commanded feasts of the ancient Hebrews, to Jesus’ first miracle happening at a wedding reception. It seems that the God of the interstellar fireworks has a knack for celebration.
- In the Old Testament..
- However, in this passage we are talking about a Wedding. Weddings are “parties with a purpose.” After the ceremony and formal rituals of marital union are performed, well-dressed partiers of all ages typically join in a meal, a dance, and a time of festivity that rivals few others. In our time, constricting ties are loosened, and high heels are kicked off for a few hours of remembering that life is fleeting, and some parties should be embraced when they come along.
- As far as we know, from the time of the nativity story until this moment in Cana, Jesus has not done anything publicly that would signal that He has power beyond that of the average person. And if you are going to do your first miracle in a public place, wouldn’t raising a dead person be closer to your first choice? But Mary knows, as only a mother can, that something very special is unfolding in her son’s life.
- “…and for some reason, Mary thinks that the simple situation of a banquet running dry of wine is the perfect opportunity to invite Jesus to do something “special.” And, as any young man knows, when your mother ‘hints’ for you to do something, you should probably consider doing it.
- In this story, Jesus takes something average, water, and turns it into something extraordinary – the most flavorful wine. Jesus, the-word-made-flesh, tells the servants to fill up six water jars to the brim. Upon serving some to the master of the banquet, only those in-the-know discover what a miracle has occurred.
- The God of the heavens and the earth seems to find joy in converting the everyday waters of sustenance into the joy-evoking nectar of the vine! Who knew? And here it is that John, using metaphors of water and wine, reveals just how transformative a touch from the Christ can be. What feels plain and insignificant in our lives can be given flavor and quality by the touch of Jesus. That is the kind of cool that happens in the Father’s house.
- Let me say that again, What feels plain and insignificant in our lives can be given flavor and quality by the touch of Jesus.
- John’s Christmas Story shows a similar theme to the other Gospels; something seemingly simple and unremarkable are made to be striking and extraordinary. In the Christmas story, people that no one else in the world would notice, bland as water, become as flavorful as a fine wine when the Lord touches them. The bitter become forgiving. The angry become compassionate. The hateful become loving. The ghetto becomes a throne. An unwed mother becomes the mother of God. A barn becomes the birth of a Kingdom. What in your life is seemingly simple and unremarkable, but anointed by God to be striking and extraordinary if you let him do it?
- What in your life is seemingly simple and unremarkable, but may be anointed by God to be striking and extraordinary? This is what happens when the word-made-flesh is invited to the party. Here, in this simple story, we see that our God is not sitting in an isolated corner of the universe, juddging sinners as we might. Here, in this moment, we see that the Water-to-wine maker is in the house – and it’s his house that he is fully revealing through the ordinary.
- Bubbling joy is the result of a never-ending stream of God’s kindness directed our way, and a thankful heart that receives it.