Gratitude, expectation, entitlement

A man was hungry; on the streets.

He approached a fish merchant to beg for small change.

The fish merchant took pity and a fish.

The pity touched his heart and the fish he cooked for the man.

The man's heart swelled with gratitude.

A man was hungry; on the streets.

He approached a fish merchant expecting a fish.

The fish merchant recognised the man.

Pity was joined by friendship and the fish was once again cooked.

The man was pleased; he got what he expected.

A man was hungry; on the streets.

He approached a fish merchant expecting a fish.

The fish merchant was sad, he had no more fish.

"Where is my fish? I am entitled to a fish."

The man left; hungry and angry.

The fish merchant wept.

Of course I am not like this man. 

I know how to be grateful when others do kind acts.

I never let myself expect, nor feel entitled.

Wife, where is my cake? I always get cake with my tea!

I feel so disappointed that there is no cake today!

A Wedding Feast

And on the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 And both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when the[a] wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine!” 4 And Jesus said to her, “What does your concern have to do with me,[b] woman? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it!” - John 2:1-5

The popular interpretation of this scripture always bothered me. I was taught that Mary essentially forced Jesus into a miracle. That his mother came to him and told him to solve the wine shortage, which he did even though he says his time has not come. That seems to be inconsistent with who Jesus is and how he worked. He always only did the will of his father. If his time had not come then nothing Mary could say would make him go against the father's will.

It occurred to me that we could see this conversation from a different angle. I'm sure others have thought of this and maybe theologians will explain why the popular interpretation is used instead. I'm no theologian. 

Imagine Mary coming to Jesus at the feast telling him there is no more wine. This is tantamount to saying, "Time to go home Jesus. The wine is finished. The party is over." Jesus, being Jesus says, " Don't tell me that, I'm not leaving. I haven't done what I need to do here." Jesus knows he has a miracle to do here. The time for leaving is not now. Mary, realising that Jesus has something up his sleeve, tells the servants to do whatever he asks. I'm not convinced that Mary knew Jesus could turn water into wine, he had never done something like that before or showed any signs of things like that, but I think she was confident that he would do something.

This seems to be consistent with how John describes Jesus' response when his brothers urge him to go to the Feast. Again there he says, "My time has not come, it's not time for me to go to Judea yet." 

To me, that perspective fits better with who Jesus was and how a typical Mother/Son relationship might work.

Moments of Wonder

Occasionally I experience a moment of wonder. That moment where i realise that i am here and this is now. That "here" is Germany. That "now" I am riding a bicycle through the German countryside, with nature - so different from Africa - surrounding me. 

These moments never occur when I am busy. Seldom when I am at home. They happen unexpectedly. When I have time to free my mind. When the stress of life falls away. When I open myself up to God and free my mind from the concerns of the "daily".

Oh that I could more often free myself to experience these moments of wonder, instead of rushing from one task to the next.

Reboot....again....

I feel inspired to write more. I think I might do that here in my old Blog space. So here come the reboot of Interesting Times!