Christian Spiritual Meditation – Thirst and Life
Christian Spiritual Meditation – Thirst and Life
Spiritual Thirst
If death ends our life and existence, why do we struggle and strive for a better universe, even though it will go on without us? – Why do we live? How do we live? Where are you going? Is happiness what we are looking for? Or power? ‘Or money? Or the pleasures? Thirst and Life – Christian meditation quenches spiritual thirst
There is no doubt that everyone is looking for happiness. But what is it that gives happiness? And how? Is happiness in fame, money, travel, self-realization, sex, and power? It can be said that the main goal that a person searches for are happiness. We are looking for a specific thing that gives us happiness. But we do not know the truth of this thing, and how to access it. Thirst and Life – Christian meditation quenches spiritual thirst
What is the thing (x) that if it increases, it can increase happiness, and if it decreases, it can decrease happiness? Is it money? Both. Why? Because it is possible for there to be happy rich people, and vice versa, rich and unhappy people.
The same is true with sex, power, and travel… So what is this thing? It is love: to love, O man, and to be loved. And you must love first because if you do not love, you will not be able to love… And as much as you love, you will be able to love.
But the day you love, in order to be loved, you can no longer love. Our search for happiness has no limits, and so love has no limits.
📌 Note: When Does Sex Make Me Happy?
When he makes me lovable, and in turn able to love (that love 1, love 2), when I love infinitely, I love infinitely. It is not necessary for me to become loved by the person I love (for example: in order to love my companion, I do not need the love of my companion, but, for example, my father’s love). To be loved without limits does not mean to be loved by all people (unlimited love is not in quantity but in quality).
Where do we find boundless love? Is a person able to love without limits, and why?
Man is a limited being, and thus his love is limited, but it is only possible for him to love without limits if he recognizes unlimited love from an unlimited being, who enters the world of a man who is limited to introduce him to his unlimited love.
Only God’s love is unlimited, and if God is the infinite love, He should not have stayed away (merely an idea) as in other religions. Rather, he should have entered into the (limited) history of mankind, that is, become a human being, in order for there to be a sensory experience. With the human being (seeing, touching, hearing…)
Hence the importance of the Incarnation: The Incarnation of God the Word: Jesus Christ. Thirst and Life – Christian meditation quenches spiritual thirst
1. Where is a person going?
2. Where is a Christian going?
3. Messenger to where?
Part One: Where is a Person Going?
What kills the human heart?
What kills the human heart: is the lack of love, which is the only flame that fills the void of the human heart. And love is an experience because it is a word and a verb: it is the word (we hear), which enlightens the action, and the verb (we touch) confirms the word. Every action begins with a word, and this word can only be realized by action. Love is the only flame capable of witnessing the action.
📌 Note: The Christian life is: silence, hearing, and touching.
What is unlimited love? Or how can there be unlimited love?
A person’s love is unlimited when he discovers my weaknesses and shortcomings and still loves me. The human heart was created to love, and to love. The human heart receives blood first and then pumps it. No one can love when he is wounded (we know that this person is loved when he shows signs of love. The person who loves, can only love). When Jesus sees a sinful person, he sees a wounded (unloved) person in him.”
I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.” It is enough for a person to meet a person who loves him, in order for him to be able to love. John the Evangelist says: “If a person does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?”
He who loves God loves man and vice versa. True, the human heart is either whole or wounded: man has lost the secret of happiness and perfection of his heart by committing sin. Here lies the secret of Christianity. Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ, not a religion.
Who is Jesus to us? What do we expect from Jesus?
Some in the Bible said:
1 – “John the Baptist”: What is his relationship to Jesus? John called for repentance like Jesus, but he reprimanded people in order to change their lives (Did Jesus come to give us commandments? No, he came to fulfill the commandments. Jesus did not like the answer.
2- “Elijah”: He is the owner of miracles… the only one in the Old Testament who did almost all the miracles. (raising the dead, bringing down rain). Also, Jesus did not like the answer.
3- “One of the prophets”: Their job is to deliver the word of God… They are to ease the conscience, like a drug. Jesus refused to be: 1 The chastiser and the legislator… 2 The miracle worker.
Comfortable. Who is Jesus Christ? And what distinguishes it from others?
Only Peter answers by saying: “You are Jesus, the Son of the living God.”… Jesus answers him in a certain sense: “This has been revealed to you from heaven. Not from you because you do not know its meaning.
In order to understand the meaning of this, we will consider the parable of Zacchaeus, the publican: Who was Zacchaeus?
– He’s a short man
– Chief Publicans
– Rich and bouncy
In the eyes of the Jews, the tax collectors were traitors, tax collectors, exploiting people, oppressing people, and taking more taxes than the Romans who occupied the region demanded. The most important thing is that they are sinful people, like the pagans, enemies of God, because they dealt with the enemy, who occupied the land given by God to the Jews. Thus Zacchaeus was rejected, and despised by people (he was wounded, and he needed to mourn, to love).
Why was Zacchaeus not loved? Because he was short in stature (in the case of Zamak)… And beauty among the Jews was measured by height, and by physical strength (beautiful is the one who takes his right with his own hand). Zacchaeus is unpopular… He sees no one… So Zacchaeus thought, that when he has money, he will have power and wealth, and he will gain the love of people. Zacchaeus’ heart was looking for someone to love… He tried with money and power to buy love. But it will fail, why? Because when he loses money, he loses love.
The same is true with the Samaritan woman who has been married five times because she was looking for love, and the same is true with the blind and the rich young man. In the end, each of us is Zacchaeus, and Zacchaeus is every human being wounded… And who among us does not have wounds. Zacchaeus tried to get people to reach sycamore, he will do everything to reach his goal. Zacchaeus represents every person who cannot love himself and others because he is not loved. He is looking for someone to give him life.
Aristotle Says:
“When a man feels unloved, he needs to be admired; if he is neither loved nor admired, he is dying.” Man needs the eyes of others, who appreciate, love, admire and affirm. If these eyes have sinned, or despised by another, or frightened, excluded, or not seen (as if the other did not exist),
Then we feel empty, confined, and collapsed. We are willing to make every effort to find a look that proves us and gives us value. If a person is not loved and admired for his good powers, he seeks to impress others with his destructive powers and with a grudge. The need to be the strongest and the best in the eyes of others is pressing in the human heart! It is a matter of life or death!
- Jesus, if it was John, would have said to Zacchaeus: You must fear God, and he would reprimand him.
- Jesus if he was Elijah: Would have performed a miracle with him, and made him lengthen by several centimeters.
- If Jesus was one of the prophets, he would have told him not to worry, and he would help him clear his conscience.
- How did Jesus act?
Jesus called Zacchaeus out of all the people (the crowd) and asked him to teach him about his house, and Jesus was the center of attention. In spite of this, Jesus said: I must stay in your house (as if there were none other than Jesus and his beloved Zacchaeus). In a sense, Jesus says to Zacchaeus (My project is for love, you are Zacchaeus…. I incarnated your dignity, and you are the only one)… Every human being is unique in the eyes of God.
Every human being is a sacred history… Between Jesus and Zacchaeus: Jesus is the Son of God. And Zakka represents the greatest enemy of God, and he is the one who betrayed God’s plan and commandments, and he is the worshiper of money, not God.
Jesus says by accepting Zacchaeus:
Like what you are with your love, not if you change with your love. Jesus does not love all (he does not love in bulk) but each one individually. Jesus works with each person in a unique story of love and friendship, each of us is a lover of Jesus, a love project that will not end in a spiritual marriage. (From here we see in many books of the Old Testament that God’s relationship with his people is similar to the relationship of a husband to his wife, and the wife’s betrayal of her husband, symbolizes the betrayal of God by the Israeli people.
But even if betrayal occurs, even if we distance our freedom from Jesus, He respects our freedom but does not betray us, because Jesus does not betray Himself. If God abandons us, He will not remain, God, He is always faithful. The result of Jesus accepting Zacchaeus: When Jesus received Zacchaeus, joy entered his heart. What gives joy to the human heart is a moment of love.
What does the anger of others represent against Jesus?
Others’ anger at Jesus is reminiscent of the older brother in the parable of a prodigal son looking for love. The prodigal son was hungry, thirsty, and neither satisfied with sex, nor friends or money because he was empty of love. And when he returned home, he said to his father: “I have sinned against heaven, and to you, and I do not deserve to be your son.
As for the father, he did not let him continue to speak. He said to him in a certain sense: (I do not love you because you came back to me, but because you are my son… with your love.” Because I love you, I have not stopped loving you.) Zacchaeus was glad that Jesus entered his house… When I am sad, I must ask myself, where did I lose the bridegroom?
In this, we find the true meaning of fasting, which is to search for the bridegroom, and therefore the disciples did not fast, because the bridegroom was with them, so fasting is because the bridegroom has been replaced by another bridegroom. To meet a true Christian is to meet someone who is able to love you when you are in all your dirt, sins, and weaknesses. For example, a disabled child in a family is like Zakka… The family discovers happiness in the presence of this child among them when it discovers that it is a blessing from God… And when the family discovers love. Then you will be able to love him.
Finally: It can be said that after the incarnation, we do not believe in God, like all other religions, but in the Father of Jesus Christ our Father. The problem today is to believe in this infinite love that is able to love me in the midst of my weakness and my sins.. true love is to love the other in spite of.
It is this love that will create the revolution or the impulse that makes me accept my weakness on the one hand, and on the other hand, to confess my sins I work on myself, develop myself, and strive not to remain at the bottom of sin and the Lord Jesus calls Satan a liar and the father of lies who tries to prevent us from believing this truth that we spoke about earlier: “Jesus loves me as I am.”
Christian Where?
In order to talk about this point, we will start from the story of Jesus and the person who tried to tempt Jesus, who is a scholar of the law, and from the commandment “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” all the way to the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.
If we contemplate this story, we notice that Jesus tells his story and the whole history of salvation. The man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho is like Adam (each of us is Adam = man in general)… And Jerusalem is the place of the temple, where we find the Holy of Holies, which is the place of God’s presence, and in our colloquial language: Heaven.
Jericho, which lies under the sea, symbolizes the place of sin or error: in the Bible, Jericho is usually the place of sin, and in our colloquial language it symbolizes: Hell. On the way, the man met thieves, who symbolize the power of evil and trials. And these evildoers struck the man, causing him wounds, which symbolize the sins of man. After that, there was a priest passing on the same road, and he saw the man who had been beaten (Adam), and he turned away from him.
The priest symbolizes the law (in the history of salvation, the law could not heal Adam’s wounds, but only helped him see sin in order to avoid it). So the law helps me see my sin, my generosity, and my weakness, but it does not remove this dirt. Until the Levite who symbolizes the prophets came, he turned away from him also and went (the work of the prophets is shortened by reprimanding the conscience of the sinner until he repents…).
Until the Samaritan who was traveling (having a goal, a mission) arrived, and this Samaritan saw the battered
1. and took pity on him
2. approached
3. bandaged his wounds
4. poured wine and oil
5. on him (according to medicine) The old one, oil was used to relieve pain and heal, and wine to cleanse wounds). He carried him on his beast
6. He took him to the hotel
7. He took care of him 8.
This Samaritan is Jesus Christ, and the hotel is like the church, and the owner of the hotel is like the official in the church (the church servant or the pastor of the church).
Then the next day, the Samaritan brought out two dinars and gave them to the owner of the hotel in order to take care of the battered one, and said to him: “Whatever I spend in excess of that, I will give it to you when I return.” The two dinars may symbolize the human and divine natures of Jesus, the Old and New Testaments, or the Father and the Holy Spirit, because there is no work for God, except as a Trinitarian work.
What is the Advantage of the Samaritan?
1- He who takes the initiative (got close to him = draws near to him), makes himself close to him… So Jesus calls us to take the initiative to make others close to us, and He is God who made himself a human being, in order to draw near to man.
2- Loving enemies: We know that there is enmity between a Samaritan and a Jew. The enemy has become close to me according to the Lord Jesus (I make myself close to the other, even the enemy). Faith is translated by deeds: In order to get close to the wounded, the Samaritan did many actions, even though he was a traveler, he changed his travel plan in order to help the wounded: he put on his oil and wine (the healing tools, they were originally oil and grapes… the union of God’s love (original) ), and human love (work).
When I give something, I must give myself, my labor, and my love. Transferring him from the road to the hotel (moving him from one place to another, and from one case to another), and placing him in another place (the hotel) in order to protect him from exposure to thieves. Then he handed the task over to the hotel owner (the work of Jesus’ salvation is not for a specific time, but is a continuous work, by handing over the task to the hotel owner, until his return).
What is the role or mission of the animal?
Transfer the mill from the side of the road to the hotel, which is very important.
What is the Role of the Hotel Owner?
It is the role of every official in a community, in a church… His role is to help the victim heal and grow (care for him). It can be said that he may begin as Adam, and be exposed to tragedies, pains, and wounds, and Jesus heals him until he becomes the owner of the hotel. Thus, to help another Adam, he needed effective experience.
Where is the Christian? is to turn from the side of the road, in spite of my wounds, and allow Jesus to heal me, and make the experience of the hotel, so that one day I may be the owner of the hotel (for which the danger lies in arrogance, that he becomes the owner of the hotel (in charge, and wait for others to come to him, Without moving a finger, then his mission will inevitably fail.)
But sometimes, I may need to play the role of an animal, so that Jesus can use me to transport the wounded and the afflicted to the righteousness of salvation (the hotel) with mercy and love, without having Jesus off my back. Finally, each of us is Adam, with wounds and pains, and needs to make his experience (the experience of healing and a taste of forgiveness), because the one who comes from the latter (from the hotel owner) without making the first experience, will be a “failed hotel”, who has no mercy and pity The Good Samaritan Jesus Christ. “He who lives his vocation deeply, will receive double what he spent.” Amen.
Study of the Samaritan Text
The Gospel of John 4: 1-30 The events of the text take place in the region of Samaria, that is, in an area where the Jews do not mix with the Samaritan people. Samaritanism is, in short, the place of sinful people for the Jews, and the object of their hatred and malice, even more than the pagans.
(Especially after the division of the kingdom after Jacob into 12 tribes). The text emphasizes that Jesus had to pass through Samaria, so he entered it with his disciples and distinguished himself from the Jews who hated the Samaritans.
Jesus arrived at Jacob’s well as if he had previously given an appointment to the Samaritan woman in particular, and to the Samaritans in general, to enter their homes (their hearts), stay with them, eat and drink (bread and salt), on the example of Zacchaeus the publican.
This sinful Samaritan woman was used by the Lord, after she believed in Him, to preach to an entire people and an entire city, and to finally proclaim Him the Savior of the world, even before the Jews declared Him a teacher.
Jesus then uses a woman to be known to people (the Lord gave value to women unlike other religions that defile a woman), as He did with Mary Magdalene after the resurrection. The Samaritan woman used to come at noon, in the heat of the heat, to draw water, because she was an adulteress, a sinner.
She was afraid of people’s judgment of her, so he wanted the Lord Jesus to save her from the bondage of sin. It is worth noting that the Lord, as usual, is the one who takes the initiative, and draws close to her, when he said to her: “Give me to drink.” It is as if the Lord has been thirsty for her love and salvation since creation, as he is tired of walking and traveling.
After a dialogue between Jesus and the woman who was telling him about the depths of the well, and that he did not have a bucket to pour out the water, Jesus entered with his love and mercy into the depths of her soul and heart to remove the cause of her wound and pain. I come back to draw from here.(I asked for water not to drink, but so as not to return to the well, and so as not to be insulted and harassed by people for being wrong)
But Jesus knew her problem and wounded her, so he said to her: “Go and call your husband,” and thus Jesus defined her problem: sin is the cause of thirst. The way to not thirst is through love, forgiveness, and repentance. Then the woman said to him: “I see that you are a prophet” after Jesus revealed the depths of her heart and that whoever is with her is not her husband.
Here, we notice an increase in the theological level in parallel with the deepening of the relationship with the Lord, from Jesus being a Jew to being a prophet to the level of true worship of the Father in spirit and truth, up to the proclamation of Jesus as the Savior of the world.
This is how we are, on the example of the Samaritan woman, for the Lord reveals Himself to us when we enter into a deep relationship with Him, converse with Him so that we grow by grace and become disciples of Him little by little. And after the Lord, Himself revealed to the woman that He is the awaited Messiah, the Savior of the world, and after He healed her by turning to her and loving her, she made a reaction (the change took place)…
She left her jar the text says, and it can be broken… She gave up her drinking source and quenched her thirst with well water. It has become the jar that will be filled with the water of life, the Holy Spirit that will erupt in it a spring of water overflowing with eternal life, and eternal life, according to John the Evangelist, is the knowledge of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and she knew Him.
She then became his messenger to the Samaritans, who asked Jesus to reside with them, telling them about him, and everything he did with her… She went on to say to God who is not far from us (My God is not far from me), and thus a personal relationship with him… So are we today calling Jesus to stay in our homes and hearts?? Thus, the Lord entered the homes of the Samaritans and stayed with them, and they were the first people who declared Him the Savior of the world when they heard His life-giving words.
A Summary
The Samaritan woman (and we are like this woman) was transformed from a sinful and adulterous person to a Christian when she met the Lord, healing took place, and his messenger and evangelist. And Jesus, who in his person brings God and man together, embodied in his person the reconciliation between God and man, between God and the sinful woman (man in general).
Only then will the true healing take place… Jesus began thirstily and asked to drink, and the woman was likewise, and the two ended without thirst without one of them drinking water… Jesus quenched with his tenderness and mercy the thirst of man and his thirst for God… And man quenched God’s thirst To save man and return him to his love.
What happened with the Samaritan woman in terms of healing, can happen with us today “and now” (the word that is repeated in the text) as it indicates the moment of salvific time, because salvation has been completed, and will be completed by the second coming of the Lord. And to live within this time of salvation with great hope despite our pains and sorrows, waiting for Him who conquered the world and loved us until He gave Himself for us, so that we would not die in our sins, but would have eternal life.
Messenger to where? Thirst and Life – Christian meditation quenches spiritual thirst
We will expand on this subject through the figure of the Virgin Mary (the first disciple in the Church), at the wedding of Cana in Galilee. It is a wonderful beginning chosen by God for the launch of the Church.
(John 2:1-12)
1 “On the third day he was at a wedding in Galilee, and Jesus was there. 2 He also invited Jesus and his disciples to the wedding. 3 and when the wine was killed. I came after. He said to them, “Now draw up, and come to the chief of the sanctuary.”
So they came. 9 And when the head of the meticulous water tasted the wine, and he did not know where she was, but the servants who had ruffled the water were taught, called on the head of the bridegroom. As for you, you have kept the good wine until now!” 11 This is the beginning of signs, and Jesus did it in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed on him.”
Interpretation and Analysis: Theological Ideas of the Text
1. The first difficulty is that they do not have wine.) The first and superficial meaning: is that they had wine and the wine ran out), (John usually uses double meaning in his texts), but John wanted to convey the deeper and theological meaning of the verse, which is that they do not have wine in the first place. (What they considered wine, is no alcohol at all.)
2. The second difficulty is in the following verse: “What is the matter with you and me, woman? 1 My hour has not yet come. 2. (And his mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it) (What is the connection between these two incomplete ideas?) How did we arrive at the text saying Umm? Jesus: Whatever he says to you, do it. (The difficulty lies in Jesus saying this to his mother and his mother saying the opposite.) Something is missing. The solution is in the literary genre that is related to the Greek language:
« 3bΚαὶ ὑστερήσαντος οἴνου λέγει ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν· οἶνον οὐκ ἔχουσιν. 4[καὶ] λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί, γύναι; οὔπω ἥκει ἡ ὥρα μου. 5λέγει ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ τοῖς διακόνοις ὅ τι ἂν λέγῃ ὑμῖν ποιήσατε ».
It is one of the solutions given to this contrast. In the ancient Greek language, there were no question marks, or stop marks. Literally and linguistically, we can say that the verse has not yet come, bearing a question mark at the end of it. Then this verse can be understood in its place. (John most of the time uses two successive questions, so the verse becomes correct as follows: “What is the matter with you and me, woman? 1, has my hour not yet come. 2”
The biggest problem is how to pass from this verse to what follows it: What is the matter with you and me, O woman? What is the relationship between you and me, woman? If the relationship is between a mother and her son, he does not follow her watch, so he asks her what is mine and yours, O woman?
But if the relationship between them changes, i.e. it follows his watch and thus becomes the new Eve, or the new life (the new believer), then the relationship is no longer human but a new relationship with the mother of the church as a new (new birth). The time here has changed, and the concept of the hour has changed. (The hour became the hour of Jesus’ new birth, not the physical birth.)
1- The steward of the table went to the bridegroom, who kept the good wine until now. But at the beginning we knew that it was Jesus who transformed the water into wine, so Jesus is the one who kept the good wine until now, and thus Jesus is the Bridegroom in the deep sense, so the steward speaks to Jesus (the new bridegroom).
2- When did the water turn into wine? The commentators found a word that was repeated twice upon which they built their theology. The word is “now”. The turning point, then, is when Jesus says “now”.
Theological Summaries
– Theological summary of the text: The meaning of the text is related to the cross, that is, what Jesus did by turning water into wine, which can only be understood in the light of the cross.
3- The new creation: This idea comes from the seventh day, from the idea of O woman (the word that Adam used for his wife Eve, so we say about Jesus that he is the new Adam, and Mary is the new Eve). Thirst and Life – Christian meditation quenches spiritual thirst
4- The sky is open, which expresses the abundance of good things represented by wine. These good things remind us of the messianic time that became present with the surplus quantity of wine (the abundance of good things expected in the Old Testament).
5- The pots that were filled with water to purify the Jews (ablution before eating…), this purification is no longer with Jesus with water, but with wine, that is, it became by drinking and not through the hands. The deep meaning is that purification becomes internal, a place of internal purification (purification of the soul). Not through outward, meaningless practices.
6- “Jeremiah 31 + Ezekiel 36”, “Ezekiel 31: 31-34”: God made a new covenant with his people (the new covenant and the new relationship with the Lord), and Jesus removed the heart of stone and planted in its place a heart of flesh. (Not of stone, as they used to do by cutting the covenant). So, this dispossession of the stone heart is what Jesus did by cleansing, the heart became acquiring the new wine, or the flesh (the body of God + blood) with the new Adam with the new wine, (the summit of creation on the seventh day, found here).
7- An important note: God was the bridegroom when it was used to talk about God’s relationship with his people in the past, such as the relationship of a bridegroom with his bride, who sometimes betrayed him with Baal, and the one who makes a covenant with God was like an adulterer. So Jesus is a new bridegroom (the new Baal) waiting for his bride the new people who are based on faith. So his disciples believed in him = a new safe people + a new start.
Note: The third day has two meanings:
First: The end of the seventh day
The second: is its connection to the resurrection
Meditate on the Text
The text of the wedding at Cana in Galilee bears great weight in the Gospel of John. First of all, the popular interpretation of the miracle of turning water into wine, which is that Jesus performed the miracle “as Mama’s sand”, must be invalidated.
Jesus performed this miracle on the third day, the beginning of the church, and the formation of the group of apostles. In this text, we find the problem of running out of wine, which is a big problem for a wedding (the wine was for times of feast and joy… and when the wine was finished, meaning joy was saved). As for the wedding, the person prepares for it since his childhood, and after it ends, the person continues to live in its light.
We find in this text that at the height of the wedding, the wine ends, that is, the joy ends, and this is the condition of man in general… Man is threatened at any moment that his joy ends, the joy of life as a result of a disease, betrayal, failure, and so on. A person turns to the Lord, but often, not to seek healing, but to admonish Him.
This is what is called the natural religiosity that most people experience. (It is what we see in Buddhism, the Islamic religion, and even in nominal Christianity. What Muhammad did was to organize natural religiosity in which man searches for a strong God, who relieves his pain whenever he wants, and only realizes his dreams).
In natural religiosity, man searches for God to give him strength and overcome weakness, so he does what pleases him to calm his anger… and this was prevalent in the Old Testament, where there was a priest or mediator who offered sacrifices for the people for this purpose. Jesus has completely reversed this relationship with God, to tell us that it is not the man who searches for the Lord Jesus or for God, but that Jesus is the one who searches for man, and there is no mediator between you and me.
And Mary’s first position was carrying the image of natural religiosity, so she would come to Jesus to say to him, “They have no wine” (I am the mother of the Lord), as if Jesus, saying it, does not care about man. Jesus said to her, “What is the matter with you, woman, my watch has not yet come”, meaning what is between you and me… and Jesus will tell us the same answer every time we come to Him in the mentality of natural religiosity. The keyword in the text is: “My watch has not come yet.”
And we read in the Gospel of John the following saying: When the hour came (John uses the expression “hour” as the hour of Jesus’ crucifixion, the hour of his death, the hour of his resurrection, the hour of his glorification in parallel) to pass from this world to the Father, he loved his own, and he loved them to the end.
He who was with the Father, why did He come?? Jesus left the bosom of the Father in order to search for the man who left his heavenly Father, and he searched for another bosom. (The hour is the hour to return to the bosom of the Father.) Thirst and Life – Christian meditation quenches spiritual thirst
Thus, Jesus wants to say to Mary, I want O woman (woman = mother of the believers, like Abraham, the father of the believers), to return man to the bosom of the Father, where there is no happiness, no joy, and no life, except by returning to Him. (Jesus did not want to do miracles that people wanted, so he would run away at such times.) Note: The words of eternal life = the words of God’s love
Loving God
Because he lives alone, he knows that outside of him, or at a distance from him, there is no life. There is neither life nor happiness, except in the love of God: “They left me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves cracked wells.” So the hour of Jesus is the hour of man’s return to his heavenly Father. For the Father, the hour of Jesus is present, lacking only the attitude of man and his answer. As long as a person rejects the hour, the hour will not be completed: “You created us, O Lord, without our will, but you cannot save us without our will.”
Thus comes Mary’s words to the servants as follows: “Whatever he says to you, do it.” … Mary, who said during the annunciation of the angel to her: “I am the handmaid (servant) of the Lord, so let it be to me according to your words”… The meaning of this is not yet in the sense, that is, I understood, And I will work.
Rather, the correct meaning is: Yes, Lord, I accepted to work in what you want… She is the one who discovered God’s love for her… (The meeting of two wills = the meeting of two forces). From here we can understand the correct meaning of submission… A thirst for life – a Christian meditation that quenches a spiritual thirst
It does not nullify human freedom, but rather it is the confluence of two freedoms and two wills… Man’s freedom and will, with God’s freedom and will. When I discover God’s love, I allow Him to share my life with me. This God is the Father of Jesus Christ, the Father who knows what his children want… He loves them, and He wants them to be the best, and the greatest, which is his participation in his life. And so I must be like a servant, allowing the master to do in me his will.
Mary remembered the hour of the Annunciation
(Let it be to me according to your word), so she went to the servants to say to them, “Do as he tells you,” that is, to teach them how to surrender to her son. I did this in front of the apostles in order to teach them the true meaning of surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is, in short, the role of Mary. God not only wants to give many blessings, but to give the greatest blessing, which is to give himself, and with this grace, all graces are given. “Seek the kingdom of God first, and all things will be added to you.” Thirst and Life – Christian meditation quenches spiritual thirst
(God filled Mary with grace = He filled it from Himself). The gift of God is a free gift of love, and Mary understood, and she answered. Then the servants went to fill the pots that were for purification, and their number was six, which is a minus number, in contrast to the number seven, which is the number of perfection, meaning that the Sharia cannot purify a person from his sins, and justify him.
As for Jesus, who says to man, “Return to me, that I may satiate you.” Only by His bloodshed on the cross will man be justified. Thus, the water turns into wine, and the wine is a symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for us so that we do not die through our sins. Through Him alone is our salvation and purification from our sins. The blood of Jesus is the elixir of life that the people searched for. What, then, was Mary’s role?
Its role is summed up in the messenger, and the role of the messenger is to help the brothers, and the human being in general, to take a step toward God the Father. It is our role, we are called to be apostles, helping man at the moment to take a step, until the hour (in Greek kairos), (the hour of salvation is present now), and thus man will move from this world to the bosom of the Father.
And who is taking this step, except for the one who has already taken the step of faith? And if we look closely at the text, we do not find the bridegroom, because the bridegroom is Jesus, and with Jesus, the wine is always good (answer to the chief servant), and every day with Jesus the wine becomes better.
Finally, God loved us, before we loved Him, and His love for us is eternal life… Christianity is not a religion, but rather it is man’s encounter with Jesus the Lord, in order to connect us to God the Father, who made us His adopted children through Jesus His beloved Son. (Google Translate) By Father Mocap
More Spiritual Reflections
- Purity of Heart and Mind – Spiritual Journey Towards God
- God Teach Me How to Follow You and Help Me Walk Your Path
- What People Learn from Corona & what Secrets are Hidden?
- What Resists Faith from the Challenges of this Material Age
Christian Spiritual Meditation – Thirst and Life
