Fat Tuesday

John 2:1-10 - On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.  When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you."  Now there were six stone jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons.  Jesus told them, "Fill the jars with water."  So they filled them to the brim.  Then told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter."  So they took it.  And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first,  and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now."

Thoughts:  This seems an appropriate passage for "Fat Tuesday". I think as we head into Lent we should stop for a moment to reflect on God's abundant goodness. Mary did not exactly ask Jesus to make wine for the wedding.  She just told him, we have a problem.  He was correct in saying basically, why should this concern me?  It is always that way, though.  God does not have to concern himself with our problems. Yet, he does. All we need to do is follow the example of Mary and present our petitions to the Lord and then let him love us. 

Sometimes we are so quick to want to go to Jesus with a solution request. We should not handcuff God my limiting his grace and mercy. Mary, could have said, "Jesus make them a couple bottles of wine."  This would have completely sold short God's awesomeness.  Jesus wants to bless us abundantly.  He made about 150 gallons of wine. He wants to give to us abundantly.  At the wedding feast, Jesus asked some people to step out in faith.  The waiters were asked to fill jars with water, a lot of water.  Then draw some out for the headwaiter.  They simply followed the instructions of Jesus and he blessed them abundantly in both quantity and quality.

In my life, I have attempted to give generously, submitting to God's will for my family. But God, will not be outdone in His kindness and he always gives us more than we could ever have hoped for.  My wife is contemplating leaving her job for a while to stay home with the kids.  This will cut our income by about 30%.  It is a little scary but I know that God will not leave us forsaken in this. We keep thinking we are going to make this big sacrifice for God and he turns around and give us so much more in return.

So, as we head into Lent let us be mindful of the overflowing gifts God bestows on us and enter Lent with a grateful heart.  Maybe this Lent will be one where we still give up our sweets but where we also imitate Jesus in his generosity.