God is a multiplier. We see this even in the natural order, as he created living things to reproduce themselves. Some of Jesus’s miracles involved multiplying things – bread and fish, for example. When Jesus took the 5 loaves and 2 fish and blessed and multiplied them, it was enough to feed over 5,000 hungry people. There were even 12 basketfuls left over. Jesus calls himself “the Bread from Heaven” four times in the New Testament. This miracle was no doubt a foreshadowing of his body, the Bread, that would be given for EVERYONE.
I have been pondering the first miracle recorded in the book of John, at the wedding at Cana, and the details surrounding it. There is so much richness about the story. The wine had run out, an embarrassment for the hosts. Jesus’s mother asked him to do something about it. Even though he had done no public miracles to that point, she knew who he was, and that he could remedy the situation if he chose to. She told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Jesus asked for ceremonial pots to be filled with water, up to the brim. There were 6 pots, each one holding 20-30 gallons of water, normally used to cleanse dirty hands and feet. It was the water in those pots that became wine at his will. One thing that strikes me is the sheer quantity – 30 gallons times 6 is 180 gallons of wine. Although we are not told how many people were in attendance at the wedding, 180 gallons would surely be more than enough for everyone. The wine was given in abundance, and no doubt represented the blood he would later shed, the blood that would be for EVERYONE. Taking our dirt and filth and giving us something that brings joy, the foreshadowing of the blood that would cleanse our sin and give us righteousness in return.
What He gives is always more than enough. He offers us his body and blood. He trades us life for death, praise for heaviness, and abundance for poverty.
More than enough for EVERYONE.
Life By The Way 