Friends in Christ Weekly Message
January 19, 2013

     Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, “They're just about out of wine.”
     Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother - yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me.”
     She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”
John 2:1-5 (Message*)

Mary's advice didn't just apply to the servants at Cana. It is a message to all of us in all places and all generations. Just do what Christ tells us.

We get many messages from the world around us. There are “experts” in all fields who will tell us what is best to do in their area of expertise. The culture will tell use to "look after number 1" (ourselves), to not take risks, to accumulate money, to seek the approval of others, etc., etc. This worldly “wisdom” is seductive, drawing us in. It tends to lead us away from paying attention to “the audience of one” which Mary reminds us is what we should do.

It is true that some ghastly things have been done by misguided people who thought they were doing what God told them to do. But the answer is not to give up trying to heed the one true voice, but to be more careful in how we do it. When we pray, do we take time to really listen with open hearts and minds to the voice of Christ? Do we really open ourselves to the encounter to which scripture invites us, rather than trying to twist the words to serve our preconceived notions? Are we willing to share what we think Christ is telling us with those who evidence a walk with Christ in their lives, and be genuinely open to their sense of how Christ is speaking?

I pray that each of us may become more attuned to the one true voice of the Living Christ, and more faithfully follow it.

Bill Samuel

* The Message version ©2002 by Eugene H. Peterson.

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