THE SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
By the Rev Dr Liz Hoare
One of the many things I enjoy about David Attenborough’s Africa programme is the sheer abundance of so many species that are featured. Whether it is baby turtles or pink flamingoes, the numbers are overwhelming. Nature is extravagant. Some of that of course is because one species is vulnerable to many predators and we are under no illusions that in some species very few will survive. Nevertheless, the abundance we see in nature is a characteristic that we also see in the Creator in other ways. It is a characteristic that John wants us to see through Jesus and in the first miracle he records, the changing of water into wine, quantity features prominently. It is important to notice that this miracle happened on the third day, surely a reference to the resurrection when life in all its fullness burst out of the tomb. Here was life unstoppable, life that would transform the cosmos, life that continues to be freely and extravagantly available to all who are willing to receive it. Abundant life. What does it look like? Well, in chapter 2 John shows us in the wedding at Cana, the first of his signs recorded in the Gospel.
A wedding is usually an occasion for generosity. Hospitality on such occasions is an opportunity to overdo the catering and make sure that everyone has a thoroughly good time. Jewish weddings were no exception and went on for days. But this time the unthinkable happened and the wine, a key component of the celebrations, ran out. What to do? Jesus seems reluctant at first to demonstrate his power, but his mother tells the servants to do whatever he tells them. We are told about the jars and how much they hold so we are prepared for large quantities, but this story is not only about quantity but also quality. This was wine of the very best kind, and there was enough and more for everyone to be satisfied.
Later in John’s Gospel Jesus said that he came in order that people might have life in all its fullness (10:10). The wedding at Cana points to many aspects of what this means. The wedding itself points to a fore- taste of the great heavenly banquet that is in store for God’s people while the changing of water into wine is a sign of the transforming effect that Jesus can have on our lives. Shortly Jesus would be talking to a woman about the living water that he offered and the difference it makes. The sheer quantity of wine suggests the fullness of life that he was referring to in ch 10. Have we grasped the abundance that is freely ours because of Jesus? We can so easily have a pinched spirituality because we fail to take advantage of all that Jesus gives, settling for a meagre mouthful when we could be drinking deeply and often. Perhaps the first thing to do is to pray for a desire for more of the living water and then to practise drinking frequently, tasting to see how good the Lord is. This is abundance with no waste involved.