Water Into Wine: This Beginning of Miracles.... - Part 1

[Guest guest]

Water Into Wine: " This Beginning of Miracles.... " - Part 1

 

(p.213) " Jesus performed his first public miracle not to sanction intoxication

by the social use of wine, but to demonstrate to his disciples that behind every

diversity of matter is the one Absolute Substance. "

 

(p.214) And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the

mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the

marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, " They

have no wine. "

 

Jesus saith unto her, " Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet

come. "

 

His mother saith unto the servants, " Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. " And

there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying

of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. [1]

 

Jesus saith unto them, " Fill the waterpots with water. " And they filled them up

to the brim. And he saith unto them, " Draw out now, and bear unto the governor

of the feast. " And they bare it.

 

When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew

not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of

the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, " Every man at the beginning

doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is

worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. " This beginning of miracles

did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples

believed on him. - John 2:1-11

 

(p.215) Jesus addressed his mother impersonally as " woman " because he saw

himself only as Spirit--not as a mortal son born of the flesh of earthly parents

of one transient incarnation, but as a son of the Divine who was his everlasting

Mother and Father. Similarly, Swami Shankara sang of the enlightenment of bodily

transcendence: " No birth, no death, no caste have I. Father, mother, have I

none. I am He, I am He; blessed Spirit, I am He. "

 

All souls are " children of the most High " (Psalms 82:6). To forget this divine

pedigree is to accept the limitations of a soul-humiliating identity with a

" dust-thou-art " human body. One who knows God remembers at all times that the

Heavenly Father-Mother-Creator is the true Parent of the souls and the bodies of

all. It is the Divine Potter who has made the mortal clay and fashioned out of

it temporary bodily dwelling-places for father and mother and offspring alike.

 

Jesus' divine attitude of nonattachment implied no disregard of the God-given

command to " honor thy father and thy mother. " His love was evident; at the time

of his crucifixion, for example, when he asked his disciple John to take care of

his mother. [2] (p.216) The spirit of motherhood should be reverenced as an

expression of the unconditional love of God, as also honor belongs to the

father-figure as imaging the wisdom guardianship of the Heavenly Father.

Devotion to parents is thus a part of devotion to God, which first and foremost

is filial love for the Parent behind the familial caregivers, the Divine

Father-Mother who has delegated parents to nurture the child. When the heart is

divinely attuned, close human relationships are opportunities to imbibe God's

infinite love from the vessels of many hearts. Without this perceptive

understanding, these God-given relationships easily degenerate through the

influence of cosmic delusion into limiting, unfulfilling attachments, with their

sad partings and their separations at death.

 

When the mother of Jesus made a request of him during the marriage feast at

Cana, Jesus responded from his paramount loyalty to God: " Woman, I cannot accede

to your request just because you entreat me as a loving mother. It is God only

who can appoint the time and the means through which He will manifest His glory

through me. " Jesus meant no disrespect for his mother, and Mary understood. She

told the servants, in an expression of faith in the Divine Will, to be attentive

to whatever her son asked of them.

 

Having felt intuitionally an inner divine guidance and permission, Jesus

forthwith asked the servants to fill six large pots with water, which he

instantaneously changed into fine wine. All this he did before the eyes of his

disciples in order that they might know that the water became wine through

divine power and not through some sleight-of-hand or other trickery.

 

The Gospel account distinctly implies that this first miracle of Jesus was not

to accommodate his mother, or to display his supernatural abilities for the

amazement of the wedding throng, none of whom were privy to what had occurred.

The miracle was in obedience to God's direction, solely for the benefit of

Jesus' earnest disciples, who had just begun to follow him--to enhance their

faith in God's power and in His manifest presence in the one sent to them as

savior.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 11, pg. 215-216

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Notes:

 

[1] Jewish tradition called for water to be available for ritualistic washing of

hands and feet before eating, without which one was considered unclean. See, for

example, Mark 7:2, in which the Pharisees criticized Jesus' disciples for eating

bread before observing this ceremony. The capacity of each of these vessels,

described in English as " two or three firkins " (Greek 'metreta', " measure " ) is

uncertain.

 

[2] John 19:26-27. See also Matthew 15:4 (Discourse 44) in which Jesus chides

the Pharisees for not upholding the divine command to honor one's parents.