Greetings Emmaus Community!
Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding in Cana. As a guest at a wedding, his mother
asked him to help the host when they ran short of wine. Jesus asked the servants to fill six large vases
with water, then proceeded to turn this water into wine. The master of the banquet tasted the wine and
said it was the best (see John 2:1-11).
Jesus then traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Upon entering the temple, He noticed
men selling animals for sacrifices. This offended Jesus because they had turned his Father’s house into
a market. Jesus then made a whip out of cords and drove them all from the temple. The original writing
says this whip was made from reeds. I don’t believe our Jesus was malicious and mean with the
whip. I can see him tapping the cattle on their rears and gently moving them out of the temple. He
overturned the tables of the money changers and told them not to over-charge for the animals meant
for sacrifice, thereby disrupting their business (see John 2:12-25).
The same Jesus whom we invite into our lives and homes to nurture and guide us is the Jesus
who turned water into wine, then disrupted the temple. Jesus sets our tables with the choice things in
our lives, and we adore and love him. That is, until this same Jesus comes into our lives and turns our
tables upside down to change us. When we invite him into our lives, we give him the authority to turn
our lives upside down. We must be willing to allow Jesus to change us as we grow in him.
The One who fills our tables with wine, to fill us with joy, can also turn all the tables with a divine
turnaround, to cleanse us from all that turns us away from Him and then fills us with more of Himself.
De Colores!
Pastor Keith Berger – Assistant Spiritual Director