"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."
There is a powerful and poignant message in this...The depiction of Jesus changing water into wine at a wedding is not as simple as "alcohol is better for you than water." As a matter of fact, "wine" and "water" are spoken of MANY times throughout the scripture. Water is metaphor for "spirit" and all attributes of spiritual cleansing, quenching...faith, hope, communion with the Higher power. Wine...I hate to disappoint ya...is simply metaphor of "fermentation." Jesus changing water to wine is really the same scenario as Jesus being "God in human form" --just as WE ALL ARE. He was our EXAMPLE. It isn't about "miracles or a magic trick"...it is about a natural means of transformation that WE as spiritual beings living a human life should strive to do in keeping with our purpose here. The scene of this depiction is also important to note a wedding...marriage...the coming together of two to form one and how wine was celebratory.
Let's take the definition of fermentation: Any of a group of chemical reactions induced by living or nonliving ferments that split COMPLEX (consisting of interconnected or interwoven parts) organic (natural) compounds (a thing composed of "two or more" 'separate elements) into relatively simple substances (essential nature or essence). I can go ALL OVER THE PLACE with just this one definition...and if you READ it and read into it...and you know your Bible...so can you.
Now let's go into where we see "fermentation" spoken of WITHOUT use of the word and what it is telling us about ourselves. "Wherever there are two or more gathered in my name ..I am there in the midst of them." Two separate elements (yet also interconnected and interwoven) could also depict our two very different "natures"....human and spiritual---coming together to produce the wine. The water is our purest nature...the ferments are our life experiences--they produce changes in us at a molecular level, and if they are given time to sit for a while...BEFORE we act...(in other words, if we do indeed extract a lesson from them in moving forward) these very complex compounds will "come together" to make a "simple substance--and/or essence." Since Jesus was the FIRST person to ever be called "God in the flesh"... he would then...be in the "midst" right? He would BE the embodiment of "the perfect mixture." He is two separate entities GOD/MAN (yet interconnected and interwoven).
I'm gonna make this definition a bit simpler yet for ya...A reaction (a person's ability to respond physically or mentally to external stimuli) brought about by experiences that come between (splits) our natural state to create a simpler substance (being without addition or modification). <---and where have we heard THIS before???? NO man shall add or take away from the words of this book or prophecy--hmmm.
THIS IS ABOUT your CHARACTER. This is about your WILL. This is about your GROWTH. It is allowing your experiences to mindfully ferment to bring about positive change and the more you do it, the easier it gets. It becomes SIMPLE. It is about building your foundation to be fitting of your structure. You become known by your fruit. You develop an overall "essence."
Now let's take the second part of that scripture and break that down...look at what he says to his MOTHER!! He pretty much is telling her...Ummm...see WOMAN, I don't take instruction from YOU--I'm trying to reconcile what has happened and what is about to happen--what I KNOW and how I FEEL...and my mind and heart have not yet met at that melding point. "My hour has not yet come." This isn't talking about his death...this is talking about his very OWN fermentation process. I'm going to give you some additional mind-candy in keeping with this idea...when you "sign the cross" (hand to head, then to heart, then to shoulders) and utter the words "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" THINK about what this tells you, then refer to what the Bible tells you about the "proper way." The Father (the head, the mind--the MASTER--inner court), the Son (the chest, the heart, the soul--also the inner court), and the Holy Spirit (the shoulders, the outer court). Now, the Bible tells us that NO ONE goes to the Father EXCEPT through the SON. The message contained within this "simple act" is so profound, yet clothed in such nuance..it is overlooked by those who haven't yet mastered ..the fermentation process. Our heart and our mind are composites of our spirit. They are the inner workings--they work together..yet they also have a purpose each to their own. If we make a decision solely based upon priciple--that is to say that it goes against a belief or conviction we have in relationship to the incident or circumstance...so if we END it there...there WILL be a "haunting" so to speak that sounds something like this: "What if? It contains within it all of the woulda, shoulda, coulda's--and principle alone is "of the mind." It is what we already know. Though many times, our heart is not really feeling it. We make a decision based on what we think rather than how we feel. We live and die with...REGRET--wondering had we gone the "other" way, how things may have been different. Now, if no one goes to (or reaches) the Father except through the Son...then, this tells me that we should take the heart into consideration ALWAYS before handing it over to the "master" to decipher. This is where the process of fermentation takes place--and it takes TIME ("my hour has not yet come."). The heart and the mind need to be in total alignment and AGREEMENT (and more often than not...the heart has to "catch up" to the mind--as the mind IS the Master--it already KNOWS. You may have to try, try, and try again and suffer more, more, and more again...before the heart aligns...but that is the proper way--YOUR "hour"..but once that happens...there is BALANCE...which is depicted by the hands going perpendicular to the head and heart to each shoulder---the Holy Spirit--and the outer court...this is where we materialize outside what has been fermenting inside---the final decision...we carry upon our shoulders the burden of our decision, which then takes the form of ACTION...the outward manifestation of an inward process. The pressure builds up, the cork is blown off, the essence and bouquet enter the atmosphere...and vuala!!! We have WINE---and more importantly--a simple SUBSTANCE.
(I have to comment on this picture I found above...it makes me laugh...and helps to drive my point) Not really such a stellar concept...though the onlookers are in such awe and Jesus is just like--yeah, just like that...pretty simple really.
So believe it or not...we turn water into wine ALL the time---it is the use of our own power!! Though we are warned NOT to get drunk on it...which means..our power must be self-contained and used for our own "growth"...it is an integral part of our lordship over ourselves...not ANYONE else. To be drunk with power and wield it over others...is well, a SIN---and it brings with it...complication!! Remember, we are to be of "simple substance."
So there ya have it folks..the first edition of "The Book of Life for Dummies" series. <---taking for granted that you all have a sense of humor.
Hope there is something here you can use and apply...
The next post will be a pairing of these ideas within a deeper principle...as this has been a VERY auspicious time for me---and it all began with "I AM"
Much love always,
Raina :)
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