The Marriage Feast at Cana

John 2:1-11
How do you know if your time is come?

In this story, Jesus says his time has not come yet. Mary does not listen to him, and tells the stewards to do whatever he tells them to.

This puts Jesus in a corner. I'd like to think Jesus was a pinch annoyed with his mother (per Martin Luther’s belief that Jesus was fully human and fully devine). Hard to guess the motivation of asking the waiters to fill those jugs with water. Buying time? Inspiration? Foreknowledge?

I won't make too much of the fact that John is the only gospel writer who tells this story. But, for John this is the first sign that Jesus was the Promised One. Did Jesus recognize it as a sign of his calling?

Although I have not written about it recently, I have not dropped the question of my own call to ministry. I strongly believe the Pauline doctrine of the "eternal priesthood of all believers"; my question is whether I am called to ordained ministry. Additionally, I wonder what form my ministry should take.

I recognize that part of my current ministry is in music. Only a relatively small part of this takes place in a church (by choice), but it is a ministry nonetheless. One way I chose to act on this part of my ministry was to volunteer to be part of the choir for the Watonga mission trip. As it turned out, I was called upon to lead the choir at the last minute.

For the past several months, we’ve been planning the "Faith Sharing Event" for Diocesan Convention. At each planning meeting, I had expected someone else to chair the meeting. Each time, I was called upon to chair the meeting. It was not until the final "de-briefing meeting" that I went prepared to chair, "just in case."

Upon reflection, both these occasions suggest a ministry which involves leadership. The point being that I did not think of it as ministry at the time. Something needed to be done, and I did it. It’s only in hindsight, and with others’ reflections, that I have made the connection.

It’s entirely possible this was true for John; he may have been amazed at the miracle when it happened, but only considered it a sign of Jesus’ ministry years later.