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Two Miracles
John Chapter 2
The wedding at Cana (Jesus' first miracle):
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited
to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him,
"They have no wine." Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern
affect me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants,
"Do whatever he tells you." Now there were six stone water jars there
for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told them, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled them to the
brim. Then he told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter."
So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become
wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had
drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to
him, "Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk
freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now."
Mark: Chapter 6:34-43
The feeding of the five thousand:
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart
was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things. By now it was already late and
his disciples approached him and said, "This is a deserted place and it
is already very late. Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding
farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat." He said to them
in reply, "Give them some food yourselves." But they said to him, "Are
we to buy two hundred days' wages worth of food and give it to them to
eat?" He asked them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when
they had found out they said, "Five loaves and two fish." So he gave orders
to have them sit down in groups on the green grass. The people took their
places in rows by hundreds and fifties. Then, taking the five loaves and
the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the
loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people; he also
divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied.
And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was
left of the fish.
Questions:
*Wedding parties are often "code" for what? (The
Kingdom of God)
*What do these miracles have in common? (Somebody
asked for help. Somebody contributed a tangible contribution...did not
leave it all in God's hands.)
*What would have happened if Jesus had not performed
the miracles? Let's talk this out.
*Both miracles had at least two similar things happen
before Jesus performed them. What were they?
*The miracles have at least one thing in common in their
outcome. What is that? (Extravagant quantity and quality. 12 baskets
of scraps and 120-to-180 gallons of wine)
*"They all ate and were satisfied." What do you think
this means?
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