When Jesus undertook his ministry, it wasn’t from a lofty peak, apart from the reality of everyday human experience. He didn’t reside in a temple. When Jesus came down to earth, he really came down to earth.
While human beings had long sought God in the holy places, through Jesus, God sought people right where they were — even if they didn’t notice he was there.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus began his ministry at a wedding (John1: 1-11). The magnitude of a messianic appearance at a wedding would, as you might imagine, have been something quite beyond belief. But, at the wedding at Cana, which Jesus attended with his mother and disciples, Jesus was more or less an anonymous figure. Most of the attendees probably didn’t know him, and also didn’t know about the crisis occurring behind the scenes.
The wine had run out. Jesus saved the party, and the groom significant embarrassment, by turning water into wine — a miraculous action which went unnoticed by the majority of the guests. However, the sudden improvement in the quality of wine was definitely noticed, and it was the bridegroom who got credit for saving the better wine for later in the party.
According to the Gospel of John, at that ancient wedding, Jesus had given the first great sign of the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God into the world. Yet, only a select few would have known this. Jesus didn’t draw attention to himself or complain about the lack of credit, but rather, remained an anonymous guest.
Jesus tends to remain an anonymous guest in our lives even as he is the source of all true joy. We rightly give God thanks for delivering us through difficulty, for being there in times of trouble.
As this new year unfolds, it also does us well to stop in the midst of those joyful occasions of our lives to contemplate the presence of, and give thanks to, the anonymous guest who turned water into wine — the same one who went to the cross, died, and rose again, so that we, so that you, can enjoy the wedding feast that has no end.
