31st January 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Jude 1v8-10) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


Jude's opponents were acting like the rebellious Israelites in the wilderness, the fallen angels in the beginning and the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. To support their actions they bypassed Scripture and appealed directly to their dreams. It's hard to argue with such people, they will simply not be told and their attitude is "God told me in a dream that what I'm doing is okay."


I'm sure you can see the problem here. Is grace an excuse for an "anything goes" faith? By no means. Such a faith is a perversion of grace and it leads to sinful behaviour within the church of Christ. Jude told us that the false teachers were those who “defile the flesh.”  To defile is to rob something of its purity and these individuals were acting in a manner that degraded both themselves and their sexual partners.


The false belief of these people had led them to a place of so called “sexual freedom.” They were men and women who thought themselves to be so enlightened and so in tune with the Lord that sexual norms did not apply to them. I'm aware that the very mention of sexual norms is a controversial thing in 2026. Are there sexual norms any longer? It seems that our day and age is one where anything goes. 


But we live in a misguided age which calls sin to be good and evil deeds praiseworthy. Jude's false teachers would fit in well in our time. This generation is one which practices things which are shameful and defiling before Almighty God but who cares? The spirit of the age is one of anti-authority and Jude well understood that this was another sure example of false teaching.


False teachers “reject authority”, they have no regard for the local church and the authority that God Himself has placed within it and I suspect this is perhaps the biggest challenge for the modern church. We are all aware of our rights and privileges in 2026 regardless if we are returning an item to Tesco or raging against the spiritual authorities in our own church. Jude is clear, rejection of authority is a clear sign of a false teacher - they are individuals who simply will not be told!


Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord defines how we are to live not the so called "influencers" on Instagram who have ushered in all kinds of new "freedoms" that we are to enjoy. Physical intimacy is a gift to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife and the marriage bond itself gives us a glimpse of the Gospel and the relationship between Jesus and His church. To rage against such truth is to rage against the Lord Himself. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q86 What is faith in Jesus Christ? Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.

30th January 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 2:12-25 focus v18-25)


Message (Alan Burke)


I’ve read a lot about the temple in Jerusalem over the past few days just to get my head around what was happening in this passage. The origins of the temple are found in Exodus. God had redeemed his people from their slavery in Egypt, and then he dwelt among them in the Tabernacle. It was where he dwelt among his people (see Ex 25-31 for the details of the temple). Later, when David was on the throne, he wanted to build a temple where God dwelt among his people. Long story short, David didn’t build it; the LORD wouldn’t allow it (1 Chr 17). The reason was, in part, because David was a man of war (1 Chr 22:8, 28:3). Instead, his son Solomon would (1 Ki 6-7). Often referred to as Solomon’s Temple because Solomon did build it, the temple was destroyed after some 400 years at the hands of the Babylonians, and the ark of the covenant would never return (2 Ki 25:8-9). After the return from exile in Babylon, the people under the leadership of Zerubbabel the Second Temple was completed about 60 years after the first was destroyed (see Ezra and Nehemiah, completed 515 BC). The Second Temple, the Temple Mount, was enlarged, and the temple rebuilt under King Herod (38BC) only to be subsequently destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans along with Jerusalem by Titus’ army. 


Ok that is it in broad brush strokes. Here, as Jesus is confronted by the Jews, they question him and want to know what authority he has to have done these things. They have no concern for the reason. They want a sign to satisfy them. The cleansing of the temple was already a sign, but they did not have the eyes to see. In response, Jesus says he would destroy this temple and raise it again in three days. From a human perspective, Jesus is off his rocker, but while the Jews who confronted Jesus did not know, which is explained to us here, is that what Jesus is saying is not about the temple building but the temple of his body. Even if Jesus was being literal rather than figurative, they were hardly likely to do it so he could prove what he had said. In what he was saying, Jesus was figuratively and prophetically speaking of what was going to take place. That he would die and three days later rise. Jesus was the temple; he was the manifestation of God to man. It was the dwelling of God among them, the fulfilment of what the temple was pointing to, for all the sacrifices that were performed at the temple were pointing into the ultimate sacrifice that would take place, that Jesus would hang on that cross or he would die, be buried, and the true temple with three days later rise from the dead.


The Jews here respond to what he has said with mockery. 46 years it has taken to build this temple. The temple building would later be destroyed in AD70 by the Romans, but when Jesus died on the cross with the curtain torn in two, no longer did the temple in Jerusalem have a function; that temple had been replaced by another where God would dwell amongst his people, permanently. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, it is the church itself who has become the dwelling of God, the new temple here on Earth. The Church is now the temple. Not the building that we meet but the church, the people of God (1 Cor 3:16-17). In 1 Corinthians, we are told: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Co 3:16). And God cares what goes on in his temple. We are the body of Christ; now the Lord dwells in us by the Holy Spirit. He dwells within us, and we are the temple of God on this Earth. We represent Christ in this world. We are a city on a hill, a light to the nations. We manifest the invisible reality (see Mat 5:14, Acts 13:47). There needs to be no ‘Third Temple’ built because the church is the temple of God. 


Pray (acTS)


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Q85 What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.
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29th January 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Jude 1v8-10) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


In addition to their arrogance, pride and sensuality, Jude stated that false teachers are those who rely on their dreams (v8). In other words they claimed that they had visions and messages given directly to them from God via the means of a dream. But dreams are not the Word, they are fleeting and often incredibly strange. They are not the basis for truth and I would urge you to beware anyone who tells you that they receive direct messages from God.


In Jude's day the false teachers were acting in all manner of sinful ways and to support their behaviour they were clearly appealing to private, special revelation which allegedly came from God via a dream. Many years ago I found myself in a meeting which sought to discern the way ahead in a particular situation. One individual in the meeting declared that God had told them that the issue could only be resolved in a particular manner. Another individual then revealed that God had also spoken directly to them and that the issue needed to be resolved in an altogether different fashion. Who won? No one. The meeting ended with the issue unresolved because it appeared that God was contradicting Himself.


For the record, I do not believe that God contradicts Himself. Equally, I do not believe that the Lord sows seeds of confusion among His people by speaking to them in private ways and sometimes in dreams. Such "special messages" cannot be challenged. If you have ever tried to disagree with someone who said "God told me this in a dream." then you know that to disagree causes great hurt. Even so, we must disagree.


The Lord speaks to His people by the means of His Word. It should be read and preached publicly for all to hear and it is by this means that God grows His people. It is clear that the Word wasn't enough for the false teachers who opposed Jude. They needed something more which enabled them to justify their sinful ways - the Word challenged them and so they bypassed the Word with dreams.


Brothers and sisters, be hesitant when someone brings teaching which has never been considered orthodox throughout the history of the church. Be careful when someone promises that God speaks to them directly and tells them things that He shares with no one else. Be wise when people try to justify sin with "fresh" takes on Scripture.


"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world." (Hebrews 1v1-2). Listen to Jesus.


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Q84 What doth every sin deserve? Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.
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28th January 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 2:12-25 focus v17)


Message (Alan Burke)


Many people have an idea of Jesus that simply doesn’t match up with the pages of scripture. More often than not, he is portrayed as ‘Gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ as the hymn writer Charles Wesley puts it. Yes, we see the compassion of Jesus throughout the gospels; we see him befriending those who are often outcasts, excluded, those who are the ‘religious’ have no time for. This is often the popular idea of Jesus. These things are true, but when we begin to look at the four gospels accounts, there are often times that Jesus is anything but meek and mild. When we look at the gospels, Jesus wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade. He wasn’t afraid to call out sin for what it was or confront error. Here, as he comes to the temple, he had made a whip out of cords and got angry, driving out those who had made the Temple into a market yard. Let’s think of that just for a moment. You weren’t allowed whips in the Temple courts because they were deemed as a weapon, so Jesus has to make one. This isn’t Jesus bursting into a rage in a momentary loss of control; this is a measured response, premeditated, you could say. In response to what Jesus had done, this, we are told, the disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”


This is a quote from Psalm 69:9, where David in his lament cries out to God because of the opposition that he endured, because of his commitment to the temple and the worship of the Lord God. Up to this point, Psalm 69 had not been understood as one that spoke of the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. Yet Jesus is the one that is the key to understanding all of the Old Testament; he is the interpretative lens that all of the scriptures should be understood through. All its sixty-six books focus on Jesus, the one Lord who is the terminal point of God’s promises. While here the disciples remembered what was written, this is still only a glimpse of the fullness of what was unfolding before them. They would only know later, after Jesus had died and risen, after the temple of his body had been raised from the dead, defeating death and sin for all those who would repent and believe. 


Now, how do we square up this portrayal of Jesus, his zeal that is so evident to those with whom he is, a zeal that consumed him, that led Jesus to make a whip of cords, that led him to drive out the animals and money lenders, in effect to be filled with anger? Well, the God that we come before, he is a zealous God, for his worship, for his glory, zealous for the truth, and his people are to be zealous for such things, and it should grieve us when we see his worship, his glory, and truth polluted and defiled, ignored or rejected. Our God is filled with anger at such things. It is possible to be angry and not to sin (Eph 4:26-27). The anger that Jesus displayed here is holy and righteous anger, an anger against the sin of his image-bearers. There are times when what we hear, what we see, what we experience should lead us to anger, a righteous anger. But there are other times when we get angry for things that are of no eternal significance; we can be filled with anger because things weren’t done the way we wanted, when things took too long, when we are like this, we need to repent of our sin, we need to look to Christ, and if we have taken that anger out on someone, that frustration, we need to apologise and seek their forgiveness. Because remember, you do not deserve forgiveness, neither do I, yet we have forgiveness through Christ who died so that we might be forgiven. In our relationships with one another, our attitude should be the same as Christ (see Phil 2:5-11).


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q83 Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.
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27th January 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Jude 1v8-10) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


What does a false teacher look like? How can we recognise those who do not have the interests of Christ at heart? The book of Jude is incredibly helpful in this regard. As Jude continued his argument he outlined five characteristics of false teachers.


Firstly, Jude said the false teachers acted “in like manner” to the three Old Testament examples in verses five to seven. We considered those examples last week with Jude saying he wanted to remind his hearers about this particular teaching (v5). Let me put you to the test for a wee moment - can you remember the three Biblical examples that Jude brought to our minds? I don't write this to belittle you but if you can't remember doesn't that prove the point that we so quickly forget truth?


Jude had previously pointed to the Israelites in the wilderness, the fallen angels and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Therefore, according to the Lord's little brother, false teachers display the unbelief of the Israelites in the wilderness, the arrogance and pride of the fallen angels and the sexual immorality of those in Sodom.


The years may have rolled on but there is nothing new under the sun. The history of the church is littered with those who proved themselves to wolves among the sheep. Even in modern times we have seen famous pastors groom sexual partners from among their congregations. A story over the weekend told the tale of a well known pastor acting inappropriately with younger staff. He would force them to wrestle with him, touch them in an unwelcome manner and then play stupid when his behaviour was challenged.


When I was at college two big names were slowly emerging in the Christian world. One of them eventually arrogantly declared himself as “a big deal” whilst using underhanded methods to sell his books. It is said that he ruled his fellowship with fear and threat. The other big name was found to have conducted numerous affairs and even acted sinfully with women in his pulpit. If Jude were here today he wouldn’t be surprised. Falsehood is often accompanied by unbelief, arrogance and sensuality.


Brothers and sisters, be on your guard against such things. The foolish church member says "it can never happen here" and the foolish pastor says "it can never happen to me." It is tragic when a Christian falls and the Gospel is dragged into the mud. May the Lord have mercy on sinful people like us and may we lock the doors to all manner of sin not least unbelief, arrogance, pride and sensuality.


Pray (acTS)


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Q82 Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed.
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26th January 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 2:12-25 focus v12-16)


Message (Alan Burke) 


There are some things that are worth fighting for, we all know it’s true. It’s worth fighting for the last packet of Tayto cheese and onion crisps; they are the superior crisp, and if you don’t agree, we can have a fight over it. It is worth fighting for colourful socks; they help cheer up a dreary world. It is worth fighting for the right way the toilet roll goes on the holder; the easy way to remember the right way and the wrong way is that “beards are good, mullets are bad”; it’s always over and never under. Ok, I hope that you know that I’m being a little facetious with my examples, but sadly there are many things that people get excited over that are not worth fighting about. What about worship? Is right worship important enough to get hot under the collar about? Is right worship something that we have even thought about?


Today we come to a passage where Jesus gets angry and it is all to do with worship. Jesus, we are told, went up to Jerusalem and in the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. This wasn’t all bad; the cattle, sheep and doves were there for the sacrifices and the money changers were there because you had to use a specific currency in the temple. In effect, they were providing a service to the people. There was a time whenever this took place across the Kidron Valley on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, but that was no longer the case. Now you procured your sacrifice in the court of the Gentiles on the way in and there were all these animals and moneychangers. To give you an idea of the Temple, the Temple sanctuary, which had the Holy of Holies, the holy place that was divided by a curtain, it was 150ft or 45 m by 75ft or 23 m covered in white marble so in the sun it would have been blinding. Then outside were the courts. These courts were areas that were designated for different people and uses. There was an area for the priests, an area where men could go, one for the women and outside of this enclosure was the court of the Gentiles. 


The Gentiles could come to worship God but could not go beyond this area and it was filled with cattle, sheep, doves. This was a place where the Gentiles were able to come to worship the LORD; they would come and stand in silence as the Jews approached God. There Jesus found in this court of the Gentiles men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. Making a whip of cords, we are told, Jesus drove them out. Jesus’ actions would have been seen as an attack on the whole sacrificial system itself, a threat to the priestly authorities and a way of life. His retort is “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” 


What we learn in the midst of what happens is that worship matters, it matters a lot. It mattered enough to see Jesus filled with anger, driving animals and people away from the temple. The temple was laid out in a way to make it clear to the people that how we approach God matters, how we worship Him matters. The church today can easily allow worship to become about our wants and desires rather than what is good and right according to the scriptures. The scriptures are our rule and guide, the scriptures lay out how God is to be approached. The Westminster Confession is helpful in this; it summarises the teaching of scripture reminding us that… ‘the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture’. (WCF XXI.1). If right was something that Jesus took seriously, it should also be something that we take seriously too, but sadly we often get more excited about things that don’t matter than things that do.


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Q81 What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.

24th January 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Jude 1v5-7) 
Message (Scott Woodburn) 


Jude sought to remind his hearers that Christ has always opposed all kinds of wickedness. False teachers thrive when truth evaporates but Christ is not ignorant of their schemes - He will certainly punish those who promote falsehood and to underline this, Jude gave three examples from the Old Testament.


Firstly, Jude recalled that Christ saved a people out of Egypt but later destroyed those who didn’t believe (v5b). According to Jude, Jesus was instrumental in the exodus out of Egypt but when the people rebelled in the wilderness, it was the same Christ who destroyed those who didn’t believe. Scripture interprets Scripture and so Jude placed Jesus in Egypt as liberator and in the wilderness as judge. 


Secondly, Jude remembered that it was and is Christ who has kept the fallen angels in eternal chains in gloomy darkness until the final day (v6). These angels fell with Satan filled with arrogance and rage. They refused to keep the position that the Lord had assigned them to and a suggestion in Revelation hints that a third of the angels fell in the angelic rebellion (Revelation 12v4). Today Satan and his angels are active in the world but 
we can take comfort from the fact that they are not free to do whatever they want. Christ has placed them in chains and will judge them at the last day.


Finally, Jude spoke about the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Christ destroyed these places by fire due to their sexual immorality and unnatural desires (v7). As we recall the story we remember that the men of Sodom wished to rape the angels who had come to urge Lot to flee. The destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding cities was an example of the eternal fire of punishment to come.


False teaching is no small matter and Jude couldn’t be clearer - Christ will judge and punish all manner of sin. It might be the sin of unbelief or the sins of arrogance and pride or the sin of sexual immorality, Christ hates sin, opposes sin and will certainly judge and punish sin. He has in the past and He will certainly do so when He comes.


Brothers and sisters, God’s Word is not immune from attack in this world, indeed it is often hated and despised. Therefore, it is of vital importance that you know what truth is so that you may be well established and grounded in the faith. Bathe regularly in the refreshing stream of truth. Test everything in the penetrating light of God’s Word. Be hesitant to believe those who promise a “new thing.” Demand more of God’s Word in your life not less. What’s at stake in the battle for truth? Nothing less than eternity.


Father God, we pray as Christ once prayed, sanctify us by the truth, your word is truth!For Christ’s sake. Amen.   


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q80 What is required in the tenth commandment? The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor, and all that is his.

23rd January 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 2:1-11 focus v6-11)


Message (Alan Burke)


When I grew up there were things that when it came to a wedding had to be done, you could call them traditions. One of the most important was of course the ‘doin’. Now I’ve only seen it once since I came up this part of the world probably because it’s very nice Co Down and we’re all too polite and sophisticated for that. If you don’t know what a doin is, it is when in effect the couple getting married are kidnapped, tied to the back of a trailer, taken round the country side so that people can douse them in all kind of lovelies and publicly humiliate them. Now that I’ve just put that on the page I can understand why they aren’t really a thing up here, if the peelers got involved I’d say there could be lots of people being brought before a court. 


As we are told of the six stone water jars these weren’t so much of a tradition but part and parcel of the culture, something that would have been done at every wedding not simply because of tradition but it was ceremonial and symbolically used to ensure ritual purity. Not only were the pots and pans that would have been used for cooking washed using this water but the guests hands and feet (see Mk 7:2-5). In total these jars held when filled with water between 120-180 gallons and Jesus tells the servants to fill them with water, they filled them to the brim. The servants would have had no idea what was about to take place, the fact that they were filled to the brim removes any possibility of deception, anything being added and as they are told to draw the water the language that is used of drawing intentionally speaks to what has been put in the jars. 


Somewhere though between the filling of the jars and the drawing of what was in them by the master of the banquet the water has been turned into wine. The master of the banquet what he remarks tells us that what Jesus has done is turn water into wine, the best wine. It was customary to serve the best wine first when it would be enjoyed most intently by the guests then when they had eaten and drank the cheaper plonk would have been brought out. The master of the banquet acts as a witness to the miracle that Jesus has preformed in their midst and it is an abundant provision.


Yet there is a wonder of what takes place here that can easily lost on us is how it points to how the old has gone and the new has come. This was the first sign, the first miracle of Jesus and it is pointing to what Jesus had come to do, for the old order that here in this passage is symbolised by the sone water jars, that were used for ceremonial washing (v6) that people had to symbolically wash their hands and feat as they entered, well he transformed what they contained into new wine that is symbolic for eternal life in God through Jesus Christ. 


This was the first of the miraculous signs, this was the first miracle that is recorded in the gospels. It revealed, manifested his glory. The disciples we are told put their faith him or they believed in him, their faith was superficial, they had believed yes, because they had seen the miraculous sign, they had known and tasted, but not because they had come to saving faith, they had put their faith in him in what lay ahead. Their understanding was still limited, they accept them as one from God, they continue and they follow him. It would not be until after the hour that Jesus had come that they would understand why he had come. 


And all that goes on here do not miss that this account is revealing the glory of Jesus, that he indeed is the Messiah, the Christ, the one who has come for he can only do what God can do. The wonder of the one who has come, his supernatural power, the one that the prologue had been preparing us for, chapter 1 verse 14, his glory is not only evident in how he is able to make the water into wine, he does it in abundance, graciously not calling in the question the bridegroom, his failure. Instead we see this extra extravagant outpouring, this generosity, and his gracious provision for all who will believe in him.


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Q79 Which is the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

22nd January 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Jude 1v5-7) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


As Jude contended for the faith against the false teachers who were always seeking “new” things, he took us on a journey through the Old Testament showing us that even in the thirty-nine books of the Old, Christ was active against all kinds of wickedness. Perhaps you find that statement jarring...Christ active against wickedness in the Old Testament? Really? Well, yes, really.


This wasn't new to Jude's hearers. Christ's little brother made it clear that his fellow Christians had already heard this teaching. “I want to remind you” said Jude (v5a). Whatever it was that Jude was about to say, had already been said and now a gentle reminder was necessary.


Isn’t this still a sobering reality for each church? Truth is preached and studied and proclaimed and yet for a multitude of reasons it doesn’t seem to stick. The average new minister will sometimes be told "thank you for your teaching...we have never heard this before!" Now, it is true that some churches have not had truth preached in their fellowship in generations. Even so, other places have had long term faithful ministries and yet for some reason, the truth taught over twenty or thirty years doesn't seem to have stuck.


I don't blame ministers for this nor do I blame congregations. The problem is our own human frailty. We are limited creatures who lack the capacity to retain everything we are taught. Consider your time at school - back in those days you may have had a good grasp of algebra, your understanding of photosynthesis was excellent and you were close to the top of your class when it came to french vocabulary. Now? You haven't used algebra since school, you haven't thought about photosynthesis in years and when you camped in France back in 2006 all you managed to say was George Griffiths' favourite word "bonjour."


The human mind is like a leaky bucket which can be filled to the brim but inevitably begins to spill water everywhere. If this is true and I think it is, then we must be prepared to work hard at retaining precious truth. Brothers and sisters, sitting in church isn't the same as going to the cinema. In one you sit to switch off and be entertained, the other is the body of Christ. Prepare yourself before coming to church, pray that the Lord would help you to listen well and come with expectation that you will hear from the Lord. If something is said which encourages you then write it down. If a verse makes your heart sing then try to memorise it. If you don't understand what was said then speak to your pastor.


Truth can sometimes disappear like snow off a ditch. Knowing this, do all you can to immerse yourself in the Word of God. The truth of the Gospel is always worth remembering.


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Q78 What is forbidden in the ninth commandment? The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbor’s good name.

21st January 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 2:1-11 focus v1-5)


Message (Alan Burke)


Normally when I conduct a wedding I say to the couple not to invite me to the reception. In large part it is because my day is ruined if at the evening do there is a Ceilidh. Some people love them but to me it is just torture. Of course the meal can ruin the whole thing but a few years back I conducted a wedding and against my better judgement I agreed to go to the reception. With the wedding ceremony over everyone was invited back to the reception. The wedding was at 11am and the food wasn’t until 5pm but my heart sank when I arrived and found out that it was an open bar because I knew that this was going to be carnage. Anyway we stayed for until the meal was over, as the minister I was asked to say grace and then to avoid the Ceilidh we headed home. You can guess how things went with no food and people at the bar from 1pm, well in the days later I was more relieved that ever that I left after the meal because the ambulance had to be called and the police, a fun end to an evening I’m sure.


Well the wedding that Jesus was at in Cana had food and wine in abundance, the master of the banquet (v8) would have been like a fancy wine waiter who would have made sure that the carnage of that wedding I was at didn’t happen while he was in charge. The fact that they ran out of wine would have been inexcusable especially in a culture that hospitality was seen as so important, and the wine itself seen in Jewish thought as a symbol of joy and celebration as the Psalmist declares, that God gave wine to gladden the heart of man, they understood it as a gift (Ps 104:15 and Ecc 10:19 also see Talmud (Pesachim: 109a).


The fact that wine had run out at this wedding would have been a disaster. You might think that the wine running out would do none of them any harm, but for the bridegroom this would have been a big, big thing. It was his duty as the bridegroom to make provisions for the wedding feast for all of his guests, during the entirety of the celebration at the time such a failure could have resulted in a lawsuit, you could have been sued by the brides family. Jesus then is told by his mother about the situation and he gently rebukes her. Why do you involve me, my time has not yet come. Yes Jesus will go on to intervene, he determines to act for his glory, to reveal his divinity. In doing so he meets the needs of that hour by preforming a miracle, a miracle that for many causes consternation. In what Mary has said to Jesus we see that she believes that Jesus is able to do something, whether he would do it or not that was for him to decide, she has merely mentioned it to him. 


We also learn that Jesus in all that was taking place that Jesus was living in the shadow of the cross. We’ll see the phase “my time has not yet come” repeated throughout the gospel of John, a literal rendition of it would be “the hour has not yet come”. We know what is coming but John wants his readers to be coming to this gospel account and expectantly looking to that hour. John wants us to ask the question what is this hour that is to come, what is so significance of it. The hour to come was that Jesus would be crucified for the sins of many (see Jn 12:27). Everything Jesus did, his entire earthly ministry was lived in the shadow of the hour to come, all his actions were to bring glory to the Father, to live his life as a ransom for many (Mk 10:45).


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Q77 What is required in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor’s good name, especially in witness bearing.
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