Lentness: the 40 Day Challenge with John

the Senior high Bible Study group has taken a 40 day challenge....and my challenge to the group was to read a chapter of John each day and then write thoughts on the chapter in a journal. I will put that chapter up each night on this blog and then write out my thoughts, or 'Shimmer points': those things that really jump out at me or touch my heart or challenge me. This is really a form of accountability for me too! So here we go. my thoughts (breakfast with Tiffany) will follow the scripture.

John 2

Jesus Changes Water to Wine

¹On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, ²and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."

⁴"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."

⁵His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

⁶Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.^a]">[a]

⁷Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.

⁸Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."

They did so, ⁹and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

¹¹This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Jesus Clears the Temple

¹²After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

¹³When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

¹⁷His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."^b]">[b]

¹⁸Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"

¹⁹Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

²⁰The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" ²¹But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

²³Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.^c]">[c] ²⁴But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. ²⁵He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

Breakfast with Tiffany (my thoughts and 'shimmer points')

Jesus got upset at the strangest things. I wonder what would 'set him off' in the church today. Are we making his father's house a 'den of thieves'? What would it be? How are we getting it wrong? I think alot about what would really make Jesus up[set about the church and Christians...would he really like Family Christian stores or big Christian concerts? Would he wear Christian tshirts? Would have have to? Not to say these are bad...but i'm just thinking. Which leads me to also ask: what would make him happy? Where or with who would he spend his time? I have a feeling that we might be surprised.