Who's there?

I'm not really sure if anyone is even reading these posts, but I love writing them. What a beautiful collection of testimonies of God, all parts of Him, and how He has interacted throughout history. Do we have anything that is more profound? Do we have anything that connects us to a bigger story? I don't even think that's a fair question to ask as He who is everything has used our languages to tell us about Him.

That's pretty much how John starts too in chapter 1 (by the way, did you know that these were books meant to be read aloud in their entirety and had no chapter references until the 1500s? Try reading these books without chapter references and know that they would be read aloud...it totally changes how you experience the words on the page). Anyway, John just jumps into the first chapter with a bold, powerful entrance to Jesus being God, but now being known by the world. There is no slow build up...and it really seems to reflect the passionate love that John seems to have. It is a huge theme of his gospel account...the passionate love of Christ for us, a very personal and powerful introduction to the person of Jesus.

Chapter 2 then tells the story of the wedding in Cana where Jesus turns water to wine. It seems from the dialogue that John includes that Jesus didn't think that this was where his ministry should begin, but he loved his mom and valued what she valued. So, he did this miracle that is amazingly unimportant when put up against his other miracles of giving blind people sight and even raising people from the dead! He turned water into wine! Big deal! Yet, it also gives us a context to understand Jesus later on too when he talks about if anyone is to follow him he must forsake/leave his father and mother...it's the same idea that is spoken of in marriage. We start a new relationship, you never stop honoring and loving them, but you begin a relationship that is all your own and you now go where God commands. I'm not sure if that is why John includes this story when no one else talks about it, but it does bring home a certain point that Jesus loved his mother and even turns over the tables in the temple in front of his family, who we learn at different times did not really like what he was doing or what he was saying.

What an interesting context. I'd love to hear if you all have any thoughts...family is so important, and there are few other people that we are called by God to "honor" apart from our parents, but our ultimate allegiance needs to be to Christ. Does this make sense? Does it seem anti-family?