Sunday 17 January 2010

Background

Here is a quite interesting fact about John's Gospel: there areonly three references to 'the kingdom of God' in John, compared towell over a hundred in the other three Gospels. But while John maynot make much use of the word itself, the idea of God's new kingdomruns right through the Gospel, starting with the announcement, inchapter 1, of the arrival of the Messiah, God's chosen and anointedrepresentative (John 1:14).

Many 1st century Jews believed that the Messiah would restoreIsrael as a great nation, defeating Israel's enemies and bringingin the golden 'messianic' age. The main role model for the Messiahwas King David, and the Psalms provided many of the messianic 'wordpictures' (such as Psalm96). The book of Isaiah was another rich source of imagery,including the idea of the messianic banquet, where God's peoplewould enjoy "a feast of well-matured wines" (Isaiah 25:6).

And that takes us to a second quite interesting fact about John'sGospel. The story of the Last Supper, with the familiar words aboutbread and wine, isn't found in John. Instead, we have a Gospelthat, from start to finish, provides us with both 'word' and'sacrament'. John writes "In the beginning was the Word" in chapter1, and in chapter 2 we have the wine, and not just any old wine,but the finest wine, in extravagant quantities, provided bymiraculous means. It's hard to imagine any party where 150 gallonsof wine might be consumed - that's about 1,000 bottles! Enough toswim in! One of the messianic promises in Psalms and Isaiah was forabundant pure water - so this was one better. It was, as John said,a "sign".

The age of the Messiah had come, and in Johnchapter 6, the miraculous feeding of the crowd was yet anothersign. In the new kingdom of God, there would be a never-endingbanquet.

A third quite interesting fact is that in John's Gospel it is oftenwomen who take the lead. In today's passage, Mary persuades Jesusto perform the messianic sign, just as at the end of the Gospel,another Mary is the first witness to the Resurrection (John20:1). Maybe that tells us something else about the kingdom ofGod.

To Ponder

Jesus told his mother that "My hour has not yetcome". What do you think he meant by that? Do you think there mightbe a clue in verse 1 - "On the third day..."?

The marriage feast is another image of themessianic age (have a look at Isaiah62). Is a potentially drunken wedding reception a good imagefor Christians to use for God's kingdom? Can you suggest any betterones?

The idea that Jesus had brought in the messianicage was very important to all the Gospel writers. What place do youthink this should have in Christianity today?