It was not his power, however, but his glory, that Jesus showed forth
in the miracle. His power could not be hidden, but it was a poor thing
beside his glory.
Yea, power in itself is a poor thing. If it could stand alone, which it
cannot, it would be a horror. No amount of lonely power could create.
It is the love that is at the root of power, the power of power, which
alone can create. What then was this his glory? What was it that made
him glorious? It was that, like his Father, he ministered to the wants
of men. Had they not needed the wine, not for the sake of whatever show
of his power would he have made it. The concurrence of man's need and
his love made it possible for that glory to shine forth. It is for this
glory most that we worship him. But power is no object of adoration, and
they who try to worship it are slaves. Their worship is no real worship.
Those who trembled at the thunder from the mountain went and worshipped
a golden calf; but Moses went into the thick darkness to find his God.
How far the expectation of the mother Mary that her son would, by
majesty of might, appeal to the wedding guests, and arouse their
enthusiasm for himself, was from our Lord's thoughts, may be well seen
in the fact that the miracle was not beheld even by the ruler of the
feast; while the report of it would probably receive little credit from
at least many of those who partook of the good wine. So quietly was it
done, so entirely without pre-intimation of his intent, so stolenly, as
it were, in the two simple ordered acts, the filling of the water-pots
with water, and the drawing of it out again, as to make it manifest that
it was done for the ministration. He did not do it even for the show
of his goodness, but _to be good_. This alone could show his Father's
goodness. It was done because here was an opportunity in which all
circumstances combined with the bodily presence of the powerful and the
prayer of his mother, to render it fit that the love of his heart should
go forth in giving his merry-making brothers and sisters more and better
wine to drink.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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