Last week, I read John 2 again, about Jesus's first miracle. Jesus was at a wedding with his mom, and the couple ran out of wine. Mary came to Jesus to help fix the problem, but Jesus said it was not his time yet. Not to be deterred, his mom told the servants to do what he said. So he told them to fill jars with water. There are the same jars that the Jews used to ritually cleanse themselves before a meal. He turned that water into wine, the best wine yet. It wasn't the cheap stuff they give when people are already drunk, but really good wine.
This was Jesus's first miracle, and it was a shot at Jewish rules about cleanliness. Yes, God had given rules in Leviticus and Deuteronomy about mildews, unclean food, and not touching dead bodies to show that Israel as God's covenant people had to be separate from the world around them. However, the Jews in Jesus's day had made extra rules around the rules so that they would not accidentally break them, and they made elaborate washing rituals to safeguard themselves against uncleanness.
These rules caused them to miss the Messiah when he came, and they caused the general public to lose joy in God. Jesus did not come to end the law. He came to fulfill it. And he came to end empty rules and rituals with a true relationship with himself. And while he wants his followers to obey God's commandments and lives as aliens among the secular culture, he still wants us to find him better than anything the world says is the best thing.
And just when life seems empty and all the joy runs out, Jesus comes and brings the best wine and the best thrills again.
In my life, I thought I needed to either be having children or teaching children to find my fulfillment. While I still want all that, I time came when I could do neither after some serious errors, and I didn't know if life was worth living anymore. Then, God showed me himself and other aspects of church life, and he showed me how to love my husband even when our unions are not producing children, and he showed me that he is better than anything I think fulfills me in this life.
In 21st century America, the secular world is disenchanted with the world because it has rejected God, and it must reenchant the world with something. The most popular thing these days is unbridled sexuality. The movies, TV, and music say that to be truly free and happy, you must have no restraints on your sexuality, whether it's rules, church, or pregnancy. Get together with whoever you want and look at whoever you want with no responsibilities. But then, they get to that moment, and they realize that sex is actually boring and looks nothing like the media portrays. It is why a man can have a gorgeous wife and still feel unsatisfied. If he doesn't have God, he only has a poor substitute that will disappoint.
In the end, sex, relationships, and even finding true love were meant to disappoint. They were meant to run out. We were made for Jesus only, and when all that runs out, he is the one that brings true joy and happiness that far exceeds any pleasures in this world. If only we would come to him before we ruin our lives with the world's idols. We'll find that even when we follow the rules and wait till marriage to the opposite gender to have sex, that nothing can satisfy quite so much as when we worship God. And when God comes first, all the things we love will be so much better because we love them in relation to him. Will you give up the things of this world to follow our Christ today?
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