Today's Daily Bread Reading John 2 w/ Lena's Journalin'

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

John 2:1-25
The Wedding at Cana
1The next day F12 Jesus' mother was a guest at a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. 2Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus' mother spoke to him about the problem. "They have no more wine," she told him.
4"How does that concern you and me?" Jesus asked. "My time has not yet come."
5But his mother told the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6Six stone waterpots were standing there; they were used for Jewish ceremonial purposes and held twenty to thirty gallons F13 each. 7Jesus told the servants, "Fill the jars with water." When the jars had been filled to the brim, 8he said, "Dip some out and take it to the master of ceremonies." So they followed his instructions.
9When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. 10"Usually a host serves the best wine first," he said. "Then, when everyone is full and doesn't care, he brings out the less expensive wines. But you have kept the best until now!"
11This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was Jesus' first display of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
12After the wedding he went to Capernaum for a few days with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples.
Jesus Clears the Temple
13It was time for the annual Passover celebration, and Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; and he saw money changers behind their counters. 15Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and oxen, scattered the money changers' coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 16Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, "Get these things out of here. Don't turn my Father's house into a marketplace!"
17Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: "Passion for God's house burns within me." F14
18"What right do you have to do these things?" the Jewish leaders demanded. "If you have this authority from God, show us a miraculous sign to prove it."
19"All right," Jesus replied. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
20"What!" they exclaimed. "It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can do it in three days?" 21But by "this temple," Jesus meant his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered that he had said this. And they believed both Jesus and the Scriptures.
23Because of the miraculous signs he did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many people were convinced that he was indeed the Messiah. 24But Jesus didn't trust them, because he knew what people were really like. 25No one needed to tell him about human nature.
FOOTNOTES:F12: Greek On the third day; see 1:35, 43. F13: Greek 2 or 3 measures [75 to 113 liters]. F14: Or "Concern for God's house will be my undoing." Ps 69:9.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~
Wine is of the processed fruit of the vine. The vine is connected to a branch which supplies all of the nourishment that the vine needs in order to fulfill its designed purpose, which is to bring forth fruit.
Wine is made from the picked fruit, and when combined with other picked, chosen fruits it is then combined together towards one purpose. That chosen fruit is taken through a changing process, where juice is extracted from the center or the core of the fruit, where the seeds are.
Seeds are separated from the fruit for further plantings and the fruit is crushed to bring forth a product that is palatable to the world. This product even brings a measure of joy to the world who have none.
In the crushing further elements are separated out that the juice may be clarified, though not independent, but completely dependant on the mixture of one with another fruit. The clarity is evidenced when all are brought together in one purpose, for one purpose, to become the same new substance together, with no resemblances of what was at all. No skin, no seeds, no flesh, just the blood of the inner core of the fruit!
After the “blood” is clarified, it is set apart to age, or mature, until it is ready to be served.
One miraculous working of the water to wine, was the process happened in an instant in Christ. It became palatable in a moment. That does not indicate that each one who comes to Christ and engages in Kingdom purpose, can skip through the process in an instant, but the power of God is evidenced in a moment of time, because it is a spiritual, not a natural work, thus the “blood” is the extract, rather than the skin or flesh.
A sign of a true miraculous work, the spirit man, the inner core, the “blood” is cleansed, clarified through the shed blood of Christ Jesus.
Isn’t it cool how Jesus heeded the words of his mother about timing? That amazes me.
Was it bad to sell animals? Was it wrong to make sacrifices available to the people who needed forgiveness of sin? So why was Jesus enraged? Those who sold were found inside of the house of God, providing sacrificial offerings for the people to purchase. By the written law of Moses, the inside of the temple was where the animals would have already have been sacrificed. By the time they’d gotten inside of the temple the sins would have already passed through the place of sacrifices and now the priests would have been approaching God Himself on behalf of the people with the already shed sacrificial blood. The atmosphere would be one of thanksgiving, praise, worship and prayer.
What is the temple? Or rather who is the temple?

1Co 3:16 – Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
2Co 6:16 - And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: "I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Eph 2:21 - We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
1Pe 2:5 -And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are God's holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ.

If we are the temple of God, of the Holy Spirit of God, is sacrifice being made in us? Are we approaching God in thanksgiving, praise, worship and prayer? Daily? Or do we just buy and sell, buy and sell, and buy and sell enough for others to make sacrifices? Taking the money to further buy and sell, while we ourselves have not entered in?
Does the fire and passion of God draw us closer to Him, to go inside, to be clean inside as well as out?
Are we convinced by reason of logical thought, that He is the Messiah? Or do we know that inside of the deepest part of our changed beings?
Do we know Him or just know of Him or about Him? There is a big difference.
He said to them, meaning every man who was ever alive on earth, in their end, “Did I ever know you? Did I ever see you approaching Me personally, coming inside of My house, being My house- of prayer? Did I ever come inside of your house? Did I ever stay there, or did I just visit a few times? If I lived there, did I stay forever? Or did you get “tired” of Me and boot Me out? Did we really know one another, as a bride and bridegroom do? Did we stay together until your end, still loving one another, till death do us part?”……Or was there some confusion about our lifelong commitment to one another?

Daily Repetitive Verses:

John 3:17
You know these things – now do them! That is the path of blessing.