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Joy Where You Least Expect It · Red Couch Theology

0:00
Well, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red
0:02
Couch Theology Podcast. This week we went short for you
0:07
because it just felt appropriate to stop on the subject of joy
0:10
that Alex was talking about, because Jesus seems to
0:14
prioritize joy even in the midst of a situation that's so
0:18
embarrassing in the text that he he preached about.
0:23
But it seems like Jesus also wants to prioritize joy for his
0:27
people when things are crazy in our world.
0:31
And that's where we ended the episode.
0:32
Today we talked about some Bible nerd stuff and why John does
0:37
such a masterful job of highlighting joy, ironically by
0:41
not paying attention to it too closely.
0:44
Let's dive right in and see how Joy might offer us hope in the
0:48
crazy. It's 11.
0:53
Hello everyone, we're out of focus.
0:57
You. Know I was so worried about my
0:59
810 mini, you know you know out there in podcast land when your
1:04
810 mini fails you yes how that feels so sad that's how I feel
1:11
right now I'm sorry my A10 mini's failed me.
1:15
I, I, I love that there's like half a percent of people that
1:18
know what you're talking. About what are?
1:20
What are? What are the chances?
1:22
What are the chances that any of our podcast letter listeners
1:26
know what an A10 mini is? We.
1:29
Should do a competition. Yeah, so if you know what an A10
1:33
Mini is out there without. Googling it.
1:37
Let us know in the comments section of YouTube or in the red
1:42
couch theology podcasts question asking form.
1:46
So if you go red that couch theology pod or red couch
1:49
theology.com fill out the form are.
1:52
They allowed to look it up. No, I said.
1:55
You can't. Like you have to.
1:56
This is the honor system. This is honor system.
1:58
Honor system. When I said A10 mini, you knew
2:02
exactly what was going on. I love it.
2:05
We want to know who you are so that you can produce our show.
2:12
Well, as you go off to to do technical wizardry, I have got
2:19
to witness technical wizardry. Ever since I walked through the
2:23
room, you have been saving the podcast, putting it on your big
2:27
shoulders once again and carrying us through.
2:31
Well, I told Alex, now I can't use my Stream deck to run the
2:35
show. Do you know what a stream deck
2:37
is? If you know what a stream deck
2:39
is, fill out the no. And now I'm like like like I'm
2:43
in the Stone Age. I have to push buttons on my
2:46
laptop. Not even just the end button
2:50
that you always have to find, but.
2:52
What is this, the Stone Age? I don't even know.
2:56
All right, so youth now you're like, did I sign on to a
2:59
theology podcast or a tech podcast?
3:01
I'm so confused. I have a a very maybe risky
3:14
question to ask. You're not risky.
3:15
That's not the right word. You'll see what I mean.
3:18
You know, I, like a magician is never supposed to show their the
3:22
trick. I'm going to ask you to show
3:25
your tricks. My tricks.
3:27
Your tricks so and you could just say no, I want to keep it a
3:32
secret because I want to pull the wool over the congregation's
3:35
eyes for a little bit longer. That's fine, that's your
3:38
prerogative. But here's the question.
3:42
On Sunday, you told the story and you read, sort of told and
3:46
helped the congregation sort of feel the significance of the
3:53
Cana wedding. APS Story.
3:59
And it's like such a familiar story.
4:00
So for those who've been in church their whole lives, I'm
4:04
one of them. You're one of them.
4:06
I talked too about this in the week prior.
4:10
Yeah, I talked about it with the Daily team.
4:14
I have heard this passage a trillion times, and somehow you
4:18
made me feel the significance of the story.
4:22
How'd you do it? Tell us your tricks.
4:24
I don't know, it must just be. That's not a theology question,
4:31
but it's it's like maybe here's the the more pastoral question
4:37
you can answer. How do you take a text that
4:38
you've lived with your whole life and re introduce it to your
4:42
own soul? How'd you do it this week?
4:46
And maybe you can fill us in on what was going on and for those
4:48
who missed. Yeah, so, so the, the, the, the,
4:52
the Jesus cane a text is interesting, Like it's very
4:57
familiar, not just because you've been in church all your
5:00
life, but if you've paid attention at a wedding in a
5:03
church, chances are you heard this text referenced at least
5:08
like the the Common Book of of Prayer or Yeah, I think it's the
5:13
comic book of prayer. Basically a lot of liturgy from
5:19
lots of denominations begins the wedding liturgy with this idea
5:26
that Jesus himself honored a Jesus himself attended a wedding
5:33
at Cana in Galilee and honored it with a sign or a miracle.
5:38
Turning water into wine. So, so it's, it's like
5:41
referenced as this significant thing, even even just the
5:44
language, like the idiom like turning water into wine, like
5:48
we, we get that. Like it's got that.
5:51
Like a song. Maybe wine?
5:53
Yeah, exactly. It's inside joke, sorry.
5:56
It's it's got that, it's got that familiarity to it.
6:02
So, so that that's maybe part of the problem, like Dallas Willard
6:08
said, familiarity breeds unfamiliarity.
6:12
The, the more you know, actually, the less it can mean.
6:15
Like if I ask you to say the word umbrella the first time,
6:18
you say you have a picture of an umbrella in your, in your mind.
6:23
But if I say, say, do you say it 20 times or 50 times, slowly,
6:28
somewhere in that process the image detaches from the word and
6:31
you actually start to think that actually umbrellas are a really
6:34
weird word, like umbrella, umbrella, umbrella what?
6:41
What is Umbrella like? Just sounds these weird sounds.
6:46
Yeah. And, and so by the time you get
6:47
to 20 or 50, like you're no longer thinking about an
6:51
umbrella. You're actually detached a whole
6:53
bunch of things somewhere internally.
6:55
So, so that that's like a known problem.
6:58
People used to say familiarity breeds contempt.
7:02
Actually, no. It just breeds unfamiliarity.
7:07
And then you get a text like this that actually works on a
7:11
whole bunch of layers. So, so I think then actually the
7:16
only thing you can do is kind of present the different layers,
7:21
knowing that in all probability, just because of how we work as
7:26
humans, we've probably just become comfortable in our
7:30
familiarity saying, yeah, this is probably what the text is
7:33
about and we've just left it there.
7:35
Maybe we've associated with someone in the text, but we've
7:39
just kind of taken it as it's been talked about.
7:43
And so so the beautiful thing about this text is you can
7:45
actually ask like, what does it mean?
7:49
And, and, and I always think that what does it mean?
7:51
Question is a really good one, especially in John's Gospel.
7:54
Like it's not enough to know just what Jesus did, but lots of
7:57
the time, like in the text we'll get to this week, Jesus
8:00
categorically is doing stuff. And even John's like we didn't
8:04
get this until after his death and resurrection.
8:06
There's nothing in the it's actually the flaw in the like
8:10
the the historical critical approach.
8:14
What do you mean when you just go and look and say what?
8:17
What did it mean to the earliest audience?
8:19
Yeah, well, well, actually, a lot of the time we stuff Jesus
8:22
did it meant nothing to them or it meant something completely
8:25
different to what it came to mean to them after his death and
8:27
resurrection. You actually need additional
8:31
information to get what it means.
8:35
So, so if that's all you do is all, if all you do is say what
8:38
did his first disciples think? Well, well, they were completely
8:42
confused. They were as confused as you.
8:44
I have. There's not enough detail in the
8:47
text to get us there. You actually need to be able to
8:51
look at things like resurrection or even death and crucifixion to
8:57
be able to say, oh, that's what it means.
8:59
You need someone like Paul to write about it and say, oh,
9:01
that's what it means because we just don't get it because
9:07
there's not, yeah, not enough detail in the text.
9:09
So. So you got all these different
9:11
layers going on with what Jesus does, and then you've got this
9:15
like question that comes up over and over again that that
9:17
actually is asked. The reason I love this is
9:19
actually the the question everybody asks at the Day of
9:23
Pentecost. They have like 3 questions and
9:28
the last one is what do all these things mean?
9:30
And I think it's just such a good central question to bring
9:34
to a text. Yeah.
9:35
And so when you look at the the wedding in Cana on the surface,
9:44
is it just like social embarrassment?
9:48
Is Jesus just so concerned with the the the the the shame, the
9:54
embarrassment that this young couple will feel that that he
9:58
acts like is that it because that that's the base level
10:02
miracle that provides wine for a couple that will never know
10:06
where it came from. Actually, it's just surprised
10:08
them and come out of nowhere and will maybe never attach it to
10:12
Jesus. Is it about Jesus and Mary?
10:16
Is it about prayer? Is it about asking for what you
10:21
need and then trusting the you know, the the God will act and
10:27
what Mary knows about soteriology and and the the
10:33
person of Christ at this point is, you know, is questionable.
10:36
But but is it just about that, that dialogue between a faithful
10:40
follower and and and and and Jesus, in which case it's an
10:47
encouraging story for us to take away.
10:50
I like, I actually do think her advice to do whatever he tells
10:55
you to do is maybe one of the most practical pieces of wisdom
10:59
in the new. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:00
So it's like, so like like a passing statement in the in the
11:06
text. And it's like, just imagine if
11:07
all Christians just did that. Yeah, and actually and actually
11:12
will be where we get nudged in John chapter 5, which I think
11:15
actually you're teaching them maybe where where Jesus says I
11:20
only do what I see my father doing, which raises all sorts of
11:26
questions for this moment as to like, how is Jesus dialoguing
11:32
with his father at this point? Are they between them willing to
11:35
move a ministry that had a intended starting point, which
11:39
actually it's probably really easy to believe was supposed to
11:42
be the temple moment in the next section.
11:46
Like this is supposed to be a nothing private moment before
11:50
this thing. And then now suddenly this thing
11:52
becomes the thing that kicks everything off.
11:57
But but but so you know, you've got like it's about the couple.
11:59
Now you've got it's about Mary. And and then John just throws it
12:05
all like throws us for a loop at the end when he says no, This is
12:09
actually a sign. It's not about primarily, at
12:13
least for John, about the miracle, all the conversation
12:17
with Mary, but it's primarily that it means something about.
12:21
Jesus and about his glory, Yeah. And then and then he like, of
12:25
course, like, where's Waldo? He hides all these like little
12:30
subtle Nuggets into into the story that that make you start
12:34
to say, well, what is it a sign of?
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And you're like, oh man, like, oh, there's a tie to this Old
12:39
Testament regulated like purity law thing and like, and then
12:43
wine has is loaded and it's just like the gift that keeps on
12:47
giving. It's a multi faceted.
12:50
Text, yeah. And so then, then you just have
12:51
to figure out what can you get into 35 minutes?
12:55
And that, that that's, you know, that's the, the fun challenge of
12:58
preaching, I think, because I, I think preaching is like early
13:02
on, you know, and, and obviously, admittedly, most
13:08
people that would listen to a podcast like this aren't
13:10
preachers, I expect. But early on, I think I really
13:14
thought preaching was about finding enough to say in like 35
13:22
minutes. So you'd write sermons, but I
13:24
don't think there's enough stuff here.
13:25
So you just add in another biblical story or you'd add in A
13:30
and then you, you realize as you get older, it's it's kind of
13:34
like my professor said to me when I was writing APHD thesis,
13:38
which was 100,000 words. He kind of gently took me aside
13:42
and said, Alex, if you can't write 200,000, you're not ready
13:46
to write. Like your writing process is
13:50
taking 200,000 words you could write and narrowing it down to
13:54
100,000 words that are actually needed and actually matter.
13:59
And, and now I think of sermons like that.
14:01
I think any of us that preach regularly could easily have
14:05
written 3 sermons. I mean, I mean, even you just
14:08
think of those 3 theories about what this passage.
14:10
Could be about yeah. And then next this coming
14:12
Sunday's text is the like same way.
14:16
It's like unbelievable. This is why John is like for
14:19
Bible nerds is like so fun because he is so multi
14:24
dimensional, similar to the Book of Revelation.
14:29
Go figure. John has a brand, yeah.
14:34
John, does the does have a brand?
14:38
Were they written similar time? No.
14:41
Revelation probably would have been a little bit later, right?
14:43
That I mean they're within a few years of each other, yeah.
14:46
So they're not they're. Not so like this is a guy who's
14:48
just like meditated deeply on his life of walking with this
14:58
amazing person and God, Jesus, and just painstakingly assembled
15:06
these like rich multi dimensional texts that just can
15:13
never be plumbed. They're just so, so profound.
15:15
So, so I do think he uniquely is more willing to, I think the
15:19
synoptic writers as all the first 3, Matthew, Mark and Luke
15:24
as a whole are wired to say this is what happened in Jesus
15:28
ministry. We got to the end, we were kind
15:30
of completely wrong about what he was doing.
15:33
And now we believe in what he's doing and we're doing it like,
15:37
like there's, there's, it's, it's fairly simple.
15:39
It's it's, it's either records of his teaching or it's records
15:44
of dialogue. And it's honest.
15:47
But it's honest to the point of saying, yeah, we got this wrong
15:50
or this person got this wrong. But John is so much more willing
15:55
to go back and say this happened.
15:59
This is what we thought this individual part of what Jesus
16:02
did meant and this is what we realized later or I realized
16:06
later. So we're so much willing to take
16:08
individual stories and and re examine the individual story as
16:12
opposed to the whole like macro of Jesus ministry.
16:17
So so he and this is one of those stories like, you know,
16:21
where he's he's looking back retrospectively and he's like,
16:24
Oh no, this was a sign about something.
16:26
And who knows, maybe like like like.
16:29
I always think it's really interesting that John only
16:31
mentions wine twice and chooses not to mention it at the at the
16:36
table at the communion. Yeah, but does.
16:40
You know, he just says dip it into the the dish instead of the
16:44
wine. And then he does mention it at
16:46
the cross. Yeah.
16:49
He doesn't mention Jesus talking about new wine and old wineskins
16:54
in Yeah, like that's in the synoptics.
16:58
But he does have this story which seems to nudge in that
17:00
direction. Like the new wine here is, you
17:04
know, in, in, in I think in that parable he may or that that
17:08
pericope in in the synoptics, he says something like, but the old
17:12
is better, people say. And of course in this story, the
17:17
new wine that is created is the best 1.
17:21
So. So it's like, yeah.
17:22
Yeah, it's so like I think it's it's fun.
17:27
The book of John is fun because it's just exceptional literature
17:34
that's multi dimensional and grounded in this exceptional
17:38
person of Christ. It's so it reminds me of one of
17:42
your old friends and one of my fast becoming friends, Frederick
17:47
Beekner in in the writing. Like, I was listening to one of
17:52
his books this morning while I was playing disc golf and, you
17:59
know, there's the stuff he's saying.
18:02
And then like, I'm also zooming back in my mind thinking like,
18:06
how did he pull that off? Literarily where he'll say
18:11
something in a way. So like the one that jumped out
18:15
at me today is he told a story to establish a, the idea that
18:25
sometimes the only thing you can sort of do, he's talking, tells
18:30
a story about his brother and how his brother was dying and
18:35
and they were started talking about heaven.
18:38
And his brother just said, uh huh.
18:40
Yeah. And he tells that story to sort
18:46
of without saying it explicitly, that sometimes the only thing
18:49
you can do is like moan almost in agreement because it's too
18:55
big to wrap your mind around. And then he springboards like 3
18:59
or 4 chapters later into a story about him talking about heaven
19:04
with his four year old and how his four year old says when I
19:08
get to heaven, I want to follow you everywhere you go.
19:10
And he goes, uh huh, yes. And so you like, he deposits
19:16
this like idea here that then like blossoms into this gorgeous
19:21
moment later in a story. And you're like, did he plan
19:24
that? Was it Like, I'm writing this
19:27
story so this would happen? Or is it just like so raw, good
19:31
at writing that it just happens naturally?
19:33
And like, this is how John feels where you're like, oh man, so
19:38
rich. How does he pull this off?
19:39
Yeah, and, and, and, and sometimes that early story
19:44
simply is to set up the second story.
19:47
And, and there's something for people, I think as they listen
19:51
or read to get something a second time to have it like
19:56
thrown back to them. And like, suddenly you, you
20:00
experience it in new ways because you've you've saddened
20:03
it for a moment and then you're invited back into it with all of
20:06
the information you gathered the first time.
20:10
And that's what gives you some of those aha moments.
20:13
I think yeah. And so then like, so I'm in this
20:16
class on, you know, discipleship formation stuff right now in the
20:20
in seminary. And they reference like a
20:23
framework of, of transformation that NT Wright put put out where
20:29
he says the the virtuous circle, which is different spheres of
20:35
transformative elements, scripture stories, community
20:41
practices and examples of this are the spheres that NT Wright
20:46
defines in one particular book about these are the things that
20:49
transform people, right. And so then last night for my
20:54
homework assignment, we had to say, what's, what's one of these
20:58
fears that you've seen really powerfully in your life?
21:01
What's 1 That's weak and the one that caught me off guard that I
21:06
ended up saying is more powerful and it this you've even seen me
21:11
in this space in the last two years is stories, because I'd
21:15
never given my soul to fiction before.
21:20
Really good fiction, mind you, but that's part of what an NTS
21:24
writes getting at is that there's or like with the stories
21:31
element is that sometime you can say things with a story without
21:36
saying them that you could never state with explicit
21:41
communication. And then interestingly,
21:45
scripture's on this list. But scripture actually does that
21:49
a lot more than we think. We we would like to think that
21:51
Scripture's this a little bit more excite encyclopedia book.
21:56
But but in reality, it's one of those books that you have to
22:01
read and reread and reread and reread and reread for a
22:04
lifetime. Basically be let the text become
22:06
an old friend. And then on the 400th time
22:10
encountering a passage or a story, it it wakes up to you in
22:15
a new way and you notice a thing that you never noticed because
22:19
your soul wasn't ready for it. Yes, it's it's so good and and
22:23
it's the reason that things stories like the Lord of the
22:28
Rings and like the Chronicles of.
22:30
Narnia. Work so well because they take
22:32
some of the over familiarity of scripture that doesn't have
22:38
space or even is too respectful to talk in detail about some of
22:42
the things the practicalities of of stories like death and
22:46
resurrection or specifically death, crucifixion.
22:51
And it expands on them. It opens them up and and so
22:55
suddenly you've had this like very familiar story juxtapose
22:59
juxtaposed in story format. So it is a story, but it's not
23:03
in story format. It's in historical format.
23:07
And then suddenly there's this story element that opens up with
23:10
different characters that get said alongside it.
23:14
And suddenly like, oh man, that that suddenly I feel that So
23:19
interestingly, you can read like one of the gospel writers
23:25
accounts of Jesus death and resurrection.
23:28
And because of familiarity, you're like, yeah, that really
23:33
means something that's really important.
23:36
And then you can read CS Lewis's Death and resurrection of Aslan
23:42
and and you feel something dramatic.
23:44
And what you're not feeling is Aslan.
23:48
Yeah, you know, that's, that's just a character.
23:50
You're actually feeling that because of the the Jesus.
23:54
Because of Jesus, because it's a yeah.
23:57
So something I talked about when we were in the Revelation series
23:59
is this idea of mimesis or mimetic stories, which are
24:05
stories that have the power to shape cultures and societies
24:10
through time. And this is what NT Wright's
24:13
talking about. This is what we're talking
24:15
about. It's that sometimes, or what
24:18
John does so well is he's really good at writing mimetic stories.
24:24
And we're saying mimetic is like a meme.
24:30
It's this thing that like is memorable.
24:33
It hooks in your mind. It's a story.
24:35
Whatever. It doesn't mean it's false.
24:37
It's just told in such a way that it has so many tentacles
24:41
that it just like sits with you and it almost like eats at you
24:46
from the inside out until it transforms you.
24:49
And that's what the Book of John tends to do.
24:51
So all right, nerd moment over. I hope.
24:56
No, maybe not. I maybe, I don't hope so.
25:01
You actually then just laid out for us in this particular text
25:05
multiple potential interpretations you and hinted
25:09
at a few more. The three you, you identified 3
25:12
primary ones. Which ones did you go with or
25:16
which one did you choose for Sunday?
25:19
Well, actually did all three of them.
25:21
You did all three, Yeah. And that and.
25:22
That was a very leading question.
25:24
Leading witness, yeah. And I felt like it could work
25:28
and and part of the tension is like when you're then writing
25:32
something that's going to interact with a community,
25:34
especially when you pastor, because you tend to know it
25:37
more. You're kind of asking what's
25:40
going to resonate in this season.
25:43
So, so I think that to me, even though the, the bride and groom
25:49
element to the story and the experience of shame instead of
25:56
joy, like like I, I think I had a, a slide up that said
26:00
something like, you know, the potential for a day of joy to
26:04
turn into a life of shame. I think that actually for many
26:09
people resonates in the story like for whatever reason, they
26:14
are experiencing perhaps a month, a year period of life
26:22
where it feels like joy has been stolen.
26:26
And potentially or even like where, where that story for this
26:30
couple would go where, where they're like in, in the time
26:38
frame that you could potentially see happening where no, no one's
26:45
feeling sorry for them anymore, but the shame is still very
26:48
real. So you, I mean, you extrapolate
26:50
the story out for the couple. Like suddenly there's no wine.
26:54
The party ends on day whatever 4.
26:56
Instead of seven. 7 And and then like there's the the few people
27:02
that come around them are like, oh, I'm just so sorry.
27:05
This just must be so hard. Like, yeah, you know, we love
27:09
you, OK, But But there's also this awareness that in the next
27:13
wedding, everyone's talking about and remembering what?
27:16
Happened, yeah, at their. Wedding, OH.
27:18
I hope this wedding is better than the last.
27:20
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.
27:23
This couple's really blessed, unlike the couple from last
27:26
week. When you think of it in Jewish
27:27
terms, the sympathy dies away pretty quick.
27:32
Yeah, the memory lives on a lot longer.
27:35
And I think we see that happen in lives of people that we care
27:38
about, like the the the those people that have found
27:44
themselves in the midst of an illness and everyone really
27:49
cared for a certain period. But now you're kind of left
27:52
holding it with a load of questions yourself.
27:55
You lose a loved one. And at the funeral, everyone
27:58
gathers and supports. It's, it's why I often think
28:02
that the worst day when someone passes away isn't the funeral,
28:06
it's the day after the funeral for those that are really close
28:09
to the person, because the funeral is full of sympathies
28:13
and promises of like care. And, but, but the day after the
28:18
funeral, everyone goes home and they go back about their own
28:21
lives and, and they forget like we're, we're just, yeah, we're
28:26
just busy people that go back to busy things.
28:29
And so when you extrapolate that across a community that always
28:36
has in the midst of it, a community the size of South
28:39
people that are experiencing heartache, sorrow, a surprising
28:46
lack of joy in their lives, the idea that Jesus distinctly cares
28:50
about joy versus shame and he's on the side of joy restoring it
28:57
actually seems to matter. And then you continue on and,
29:02
and start to think about the, the prayer idea.
29:05
And, and then you start to think about all the people that you
29:07
know in the community that have been desperately praying for
29:10
something. You know, we have multiple
29:14
people right now praying for some wonderful sick people in
29:17
our community longing to see healing.
29:21
We have people praying for, you know, a young Iranian guy,
29:25
Medad, who is in prison right now.
29:27
And so many of us have been praying for God to release him,
29:31
as, you know, someone who has fallen in love with Jesus and
29:35
wants to continue to serve him. And so when you've been praying
29:40
for a long time, like actually the encouragement of a story
29:43
like Mary's in this moment is, yeah, continue to pray and
29:48
continue to do whatever Jesus tells you to do.
29:52
So and then you get to the sign story And and that's harder to
29:58
find out why it matters. Does that make sense?
30:01
Like it's like, like, what do you do with that?
30:05
Like, well, this story's there that so you so you can believe.
30:11
Like in some ways it's it's harder to to give people
30:16
something to do on the other end of the the sermon or give them
30:21
something that matters with that story.
30:24
So while it's the one that chances the sexual thing, I
30:29
actually spent the whole week saying I'm not sure what to do
30:32
with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
30:34
I'm not sure where that goes for people.
30:38
And so if that, like we've talked before about my friend
30:41
who works for Joel Osteen, who told me that like Joel has this
30:46
central question that he brings, like to a passage, which is how
30:52
does it bring hope to the people I'm pastoring?
30:56
Yeah, I think the sign story has hope.
31:00
And we got there in the end. And it's tied to that communion
31:03
table. Yep.
31:05
And hopefully encompasses those other elements around prayer and
31:09
around, you know, the lack of joy and pulls them all together.
31:15
But it feels like it really needs the other two stories that
31:19
come first to work. And maybe that's just why John's
31:21
a genius, because he, he, he, he seems to invite all of those
31:27
stories. Yeah.
31:29
Yep, and it sometimes it takes well, which is why we like
31:35
everything we just talked about, like the mimesis, the the the
31:39
scripture, becoming an old friend that like you live with
31:42
for long enough and then start to notice new things because you
31:45
live with it long, all these things.
31:47
That's that's kind of how it works.
31:49
Like we might pass one by. You see this story, you might
31:51
pass the same story and you see this other nuance.
31:54
And then before you know it, he and then you're reading an Old
31:57
Testament passage and you run across a purity law.
32:01
And then you suddenly your mind jumps forward like, oh, like the
32:03
purification. Jars.
32:06
From Cana and you jump over there and you're like, oh, John,
32:10
look at you. I not nugget in there for me.
32:14
But interestingly, the story doesn't work emotionally if
32:19
there's no need. Like if Jesus just turns water
32:23
into wine at a wedding because he can do it, say, there's
32:26
plenty of wine still. They've got like, wine for the
32:30
whole thing. And Jesus, yeah, I'm just going
32:31
to do it just as a sign. It doesn't work anymore, not on
32:36
the same level. You know, it's a, it becomes
32:40
like a, a parlor trick or it loses all the sense of human
32:45
like personal engagement. The story works for us because
32:51
there's a young couple who are in the midst of something really
32:55
embarrassing. And Jesus not only meets them at
32:59
the point of their need, but also gives a sign to something
33:04
much bigger than that as well. So it's it's just very
33:07
interesting to me how that that that the human element makes it
33:12
like Mary's interaction makes it those, those, those bring the
33:15
story alive because it allows us to put ourselves in the couple's
33:20
situation or Mary's situation. And the sign is, is like the
33:24
cherry on the top of the smooth the, the sundae, I guess.
33:27
Yeah, just. So, so good.
33:30
Sorry. Here we are midweek it ish
33:35
little bit later in the week. What if there was one thing?
33:39
So you you did all three, man. That's yeah, that's the point,
33:42
but. If there was one thing that you
33:45
just more like pastorally for our community that you're just
33:51
really hoping lingers with someone, what would that be?
33:58
I, I mean, I, I, I felt concretely and pastorally, the
34:03
joy element is just, is just a beautiful gift.
34:08
Like to know that Jesus brings joy is joy.
34:18
That joy doesn't always come in the way you hope it does.
34:21
I mean, that's the, the, the struggle that you, you have to
34:25
acknowledge. Like Paul will talk about how
34:31
about how joy actually surprisingly comes through
34:33
suffering. So, so I think that's like when
34:37
you get to again, like learning from what comes later and
34:40
applying it to this text. I think then that's where you
34:44
need that big overarching story of like, you may not experience
34:49
this miracle in the midst of it, but somewhere what Jesus does
34:54
here points to this big story of death and resurrection and a new
34:59
thing that God is doing where all of those old like cares and
35:04
worries will one day be wiped away and, and, and in a broken
35:09
world. I mean, you think about like
35:10
what we've experienced as a country this week or even just
35:14
in Denver, like the, the, the, the shooting the murderer, like
35:20
Charlie Kerr yesterday, the, the shooting in Boulder at the
35:25
school. Like there's all these stories,
35:30
a young Ukrainian girl on a train going back to the shooting
35:35
of some demo, a couple of Democratic politicians a couple
35:40
of months before. We're in a tight spot.
35:43
I think as a country, like I don't think this is an easy
35:45
season for anybody. And there's all sorts of
35:48
questions around where does this all go?
35:50
And when you live in moments like that, I think it's really
35:54
hard to hold on to, to joy and, and to know it's important.
36:02
And, and, and it is important when when Paul talks about the
36:06
gifts of the spirit, it's love. And then when does he go?
36:09
It's joy, it's peace. And so when you live in these
36:12
moments that feel like all of that is in question, actually to
36:19
know that that in this story, Jesus cares for a young couple
36:23
in the midst of a of a home personal story just like that.
36:29
And then this miracle happens. But it's all pointing towards
36:33
what He's going to do for all of humanity one day.
36:40
I think it allows us to orientate ourselves in His good
36:46
Kingdom still to come, and to hold on.
36:49
To hold on to Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness and all the
36:58
rest. Because it's easy to in the
37:02
midst of everything going on at the moment, start the question,
37:05
where does, where does all this go without, without, without
37:08
Jesus? I'm not sure that we, we have
37:11
much of A future like it. Like I, I think without that,
37:16
that story, the, the, the story that makes sense is like one day
37:24
some species from another planet coming and finding all the
37:27
remnants of a human community that wiped itself out or
37:30
something like that. Like it's, you know, I don't see
37:33
where the story goes outside of the good story that Jesus
37:39
presents in in this, this moment of this moment of hope.
37:52
Yeah. It's hard.
37:53
Wow. Well, I don't know why, I just
37:59
feel like that's it for today. It's a little shorter than
38:03
usual. Some of you might be like praise
38:05
the Lord, but we didn't get any specific questions today to.
38:11
Address but I also think it's just like, I mean, I, I felt
38:15
like a heaviness this week. So I think a a moment of prayer
38:19
is definitely a good, yeah, a good thing to orientate
38:23
ourselves and our community around what Jesus has done and
38:28
he's doing. Yeah, let's do it.
38:33
Jesus, you know each circumstance of every person who
38:36
listens, every person at South and beyond in the midst of
38:43
personal stories that maybe the joy is gone and and we're not
38:48
sure where it comes back. Maybe there's a heaviness
38:53
personally. Maybe you feel you resonate with
39:00
this couple in this story who are facing a life of shame and
39:06
embarrassment in a small community, not knowing what
39:10
comes next. Yeah, for each person that needs
39:15
joy, pray that you would meet them at the point of their need.
39:20
For those of us that are praying deeply, like passionately.
39:24
For individuals that need new stories, for a nation that's
39:29
wrestling with so many things at the moment that feels on the
39:32
brink of something, that feels like this is spiritual thing
39:36
going on, give us courage to keep praying.
39:43
Remind us of your good story that even in the midst of hard
39:48
things is continuing to emerge, continuing to take shape, that
39:56
you have done this beautiful thing.
39:59
Your death and resurrection has changed everything.
40:03
And God, we long for your coming.
40:04
You're appearing. You're making all things new.
40:11
Amen. Amen.
40:14
Thank you all for tuning in and we will see you next week.
40:17
See you next week find. The button.