New Wine for a New Man
The Wedding at Cana - Jackson Snyder ,
May 26, 2005
With Applications from the Gospel of Thomas
“A real marriage is when two people are working. It can be in
essence.
When he is asleep she must be awake. When she is asleep he must be awake.”
An invisible man marries an invisible woman.
The kids were nothing to look at either.
– Eric Thiele
No man for any considerable period of time can
wear one face to himself
and another to the multitude without finally
getting bewildered
as to which may be the truth. –
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall; Humpty-Dumpty had a
great fall.
All the king’s horses and
all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.
Ho, every one who’s
thirsty, come to the waters,
Even if you have no money; come and drink;
Yes, come, buy wine without money! Isaiah
55:1.
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The Short Version More John 2:1-12: Marriage, Murder and Mayhem in Cana (2004) Taste the Best
Wine (1994)
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John 2:1-12, A New
Translation
Yochanan
2:1 And
on the third day there came to be[1]
a wedding in Kanah[2]
of the Galil: and the mother of the Yahshua was there. 2 Yahshua and his
disciples were called out[3]
to the wedding. 3 And falling short of[4]
wine, Yahshua’s mother says to him, “They have no(t) wine!” 4 And Yahshua says to her, “What is that to me and to you, woman?
My hour is not yet come.” 5 His mother says to the servants, “Anything whatever he tells you, you do!”
6 And
standing there in that place[5]
were six stone water-crocks left from the cleansing of the Yahudaïm, each
containing above two or three metrêtas[6].
7 Yahshua tells them, “Fill the water-crocks of water,” and they filled them to
the top. 8 And he says to them, “Draw up now and carry to the ‘ruler of three
couches’[7],”
and so they carried.
9 But
when the “ruler of three couches” tasted the water having become wine, and did
not know from whence it is (howbeit[8]
those servants having drawn water, knew), the “ruler of three couches” calls
the groom 10 and says to him, “Every man sets out[9]
the good wine first, and when they have become drunken[10],
the worse. You have kept the good wine until now!”
11 This
Yahshua did in Kanah of the Galil – the beginning of the signs[11]
– and made visible[12]
his radiance[13],
and his students believed in him.
12
After this he went down to Kapher Nachum[14];
he and his mother, and his brothers and his students, and stayed there not many
days.
Psalm 85, UMH 806
Revelation 19:5. Then a voice came from
the throne; it said, “Praise our Elohim, you servants of his and those who fear
him, small and great alike.”
6. And
I heard what seemed to be the voices of a huge crowd, like the sound of the
ocean or the great roar of thunder, answering, “Alleluia! The reign of Yahweh
our Elohim Almighty has begun; 7. let us be glad and joyful and give glory to
Yahweh, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb. 8. His bride is
ready, and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white linen, because
her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints.”
9. The
angel said, “Write this, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding
feast of the Lamb,’ “ and he added, “These words of Yahweh are true.”
10.
Then I knelt at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “Never do that: I
am your fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of all your brothers who have in
themselves the witness of Yahshua. Yahweh alone you must worship.” The witness
of Yahshua is the spirit of prophecy.
Couple
Married 80 Years Tell Their Secret
Percy and Florence Arrowsmith of Hereford,
England have what all couples want: A long and happy marriage. The two
celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary June 1.
Meanwhile Percy said his secret to 80 years
of marriage can be summed up two words: “Yes, dear.”
PRAYER: O YAH, there are many
around the drinking trough but nothing in the cistern. Lead us to the New Wine so that we can become
the New Man. Show us how to make the two
one, the inside like the outside the outside like the inside, the above like
the below, the male and the female as one, fashioning eyes in place of an eye,
hands in place of a hand, feet in place of a foot, and a new likeness in place
of the old likeness, so we might enter into your kingdom. (From The
Gospel of Thomas 74 & 22)
A year and a half ago, I told the story of
this wedding – who was getting married, why Yahshua, his mother, family and
disciples were there, the marriage customs they observed, why they ran out of
wine, and why new wine was manufactured.
It’s a good story, and you can hear it on my CD, “Murder, Mayhem and
Miracle in
Seeking
Integration?
Most of us are like Humpty Dumpty, that
unfortunate little egg who fell off the wall and broke into a zillion
pieces. We search for integration; that is, reassembling of
all our pieces to form oneness of being.
Most are willing to remain broken but some seek a cure; a few have found
that force greater than all the king’s horses and all the
king’s men, and have. They have, with His
help, put themselves together again.
Our Heavenly Father desires that we regain
his image and likeness as an essential compliment to our uniqueness.
If he gets his wish, the pieces of selfhood begin to slowly migrate back toward
the center. The Son of Yahweh releases
his Father’s radiance upon us. For those
who appropriate it, unity of flesh, soul, spirit, Son and Father may be
achieved. That’s a promise!
Unity Prayer
Yahshua’s most fervent prayer was all about integration:
Consider
John
17:11,22 I am no
longer in the world, but they are in
the world and I am coming to you.
This
prayer indicates that Yahshua was entirely integrated – body, soul, spirit,
father and son – all one; but that
his people were still in the world, and fractured. As long as a person is earthy-minded,
consumed with the assault on the five senses, one’s ability to come together is
very limited. Only when we rely on the
power of the sixth sense may we become whole.
That mythical sense resides not in the brain, but in the heart.
Yahshua also prayed:
Holy Father, keep them in
your name, which you have given me, that
they may be one, even as we are one.
He’s
asking his Father to supernaturally
resume his mission – that of integration – unity – for he had to leave
those he loved behind. The Father had
already planned a replacement – another paraclete, or helper – to stand
alongside his friends and teach them, through the sixth sense, the way
of unity.
He then prayed:
The RADIANCE that you have given me I have given to them, that
they may be one.
Yahshua
would bestow on them something of himself; LIGHT – the “glory” of the Father –
through which the spirit-paraclete-helper sent from above could readily
communicate the pathway to wholeness.
The Struggle
Though Yahshua was a whole man, he still had
to STRUGGLE with his identity, work hard toward integrating the warring
factions within himself, battle the devil in desert of this world, while, at
the same time, keep his heart in tune and his course straight. Yahshua wasn’t born the New Man; like us, he
had TO BECOME.
This HUMAN STRUGGLE for inner unity –
integration – The New Man[15]
– had to be resolved before Yahshua could manifest any signs of his
divinity. Being the Son of Yahweh wasn’t
“a gimme” – he neither sprang from the head of Zeus, nor was he the
product of careful genetic engineering, as some today teach. He had the same kinds of internal struggles
as us, and WORSE – because he came into this world at a great
disadvantage. Yet if he would gather the
scattered pieces and OVERCOME, he could BEcome the sign to
Ninety-nine percent of humans simply cover
the Old Man in some filthy rag or scrap of painted paper; but the Son of Man
chose to deal with his fraudulent feelings; to reintegrate and become the best
he could be with the aid of the highest power.
I believe his therapy took many years.
The New Man
The signal that Yahshua had become The
New Man was given at his dunking.
Don’t assume Yahshua hadn’t been dunked before: he’d been dunked many times,
perhaps hundreds – hundreds of opportunities for heavenly affirmation. But it was at this dunking that the Voice
hailed down like fresh, cool rain:
“You are my son, today have I fathered you. Ask of me, and
I shall give you the nations as your birthright, the whole wide world as your
possession.” (Psalms
2:7b-8 NJB)
The Gospel of John is all about Signs of the
New Man; the changing of water to wine is only the First Sign. Even though Yahshua’s heard the voice,
he’s still hesitant, even hostile, to his mother’s request for wine. But once he tells the servants to fill the
crocks, it’s too late to go back. He’d
have to make his radiance visible and
demonstrate the power of ONE.
My struggle between the Old Man and the New
has proven to me the need for integration; I’m shredded and torn,
expecting a puzzle master to put me together again. It’s been a long process, but at least now I
can SEE the New Man in the distance. And
I’ve observed the struggles of hundreds through the surveys completed on my
websites. For some struggling pilgrims,
finding integration is a matter of life
or death.
The Delusions
of Introverts
You see, I offer a survey to measure how one
sees herself – and a second survey to
measure how she really is. There’s usually a significant disparity between the two. That’s because people construct MASKS to hide
their brokenness. Or they just imagine
themselves as being different than they
really are – either better or worse.
Many are unaware that they masquerade, yet the MASK takes all their
energy to maintain.
For instance, many, many see themselves as very outgoing and
caring. But their surveys often prove
them to be reserved, self-centered, sometimes isolated and mean. Even wretched people can convince themselves they’re
wonderful. But they can’t convince
others; so they can’t understand why they’re avoided.
Some fine people are convinced they’re
rotten to the core. These masks have
been one for so long that some are totally incapable of self-honesty and repentance:
too stubbornly entrenched to see the truth even when it slaps them in the
face. Know anyone like that? The Old Man is the False Man and the
Fractured Man – unfortunately, he’s also the Boss Man.
Naked in the
Mirror
One famous motivator suggests how we might
reintegrate if we don’t like how we look (Jack Canfield).
Set up a full-length mirror somewhere private. Every day, stand NAKED in front of the mirror
for a long time and look at yourself.
Tell yourself how shapely you are (no matter the
reality). Compliment each part – especially the parts
you despise. This expert says that if
you’ll do this every day, you’ll soon start loving your body just the way it is. Maybe it’s worth a try; but oh, you’d have to
lie.
When the difference between a person’s real
self and the fantasy is discovered, through my surveys or by admiring the image
in the mirror (for instances), some become shocked, shamed, denying or
hostile. As Candid Camera taught
us, “It’s hard to look at yourself as other people do.”
I discovered my MASK in a paper mirror – a
psychological profile. I was very shocked to see myself naked. I’d been very self-deceived. I couldn’t understand how anyone might
dislike me – such an outgoing, bubbly, optimistic, friendly guy. Then the truth was revealed –I wasn’t this
outgoing, bubbly, optimistic, friendly guy at all! Just the opposite. Having seen it, it took a long time to
accept. As Mrs. Covan observed, “You’re
really not a people person, are you?” I
wanted to see the false, it was more intoxicating; but embracing the truth was a giant step toward
sobriety and integration.
Yahshua was a
TEARER
Meet yourself. When the illusion is torn away, your soul
becomes HOSTILE, SHAMED, UNBELIEVING – or goes into SHOCK. Consider when Yahshua tore away masks. He shamed the young ruler, “You love your
money more than me.” He riled the
Pharisees, “You’re painted graves full of rot.” He annihilated Simon’s false
self, “You’ll deny me three times.” He
unmasked Martha’s neurosis, “You’re a compulsive, trouble-making
complainer.” Only one received the truth
right off. That was the man to whom he
said, “You wouldn’t have any power if my Father hadn’t given it to
you!” Yet these acts of shame served to
set each person aright, tradition tells us.
He ripped off the scabs of deception to get
at the cancers. He displayed those he
cared for in a mirror - NAKED. He put
their shame on display so they could never again publicly assume their filthy
rags. This is the meaning of one of
Yahshua’s most obscure sayings:
Thomas 37 His disciples said, “When will we see you as you are?” Jesus said, “When y`ou take off your clothes shamelessly and stomp on
them like toddlers, then will you see the Living One, and you’ll fear no more.”
Yahshua taught what rags needed to be torn off, that they tear off their own without shame, and
that they put on a new garment – the New Man. After the resurrection, we read of how the
Apostles ripped the false faces of others to shreds (Peter vs. Magus; Paul vs. Peter; James vs.
Paul, etc.). Yahshua and his
Apostles were powerful rippers; they knew that the tick had to come out. There’s
no soul too fractured, drunken or parasitized that Yahshua
can’t restore. But heart surgery
requires the removal of clothing, even if it must be cut away. A person must sober up, humble
herself, repent then taste the NEW WINE.[16]
Listerine
the Cure for the Fractured Self
George was a new believer with a soft
heart. We decided to catch the trolley
to the Gulf shore. Walking to the stop,
we followed a wretch dressed in rags who ducked into the Dollar store. George wanted to see what he’d buy. The fellow soon came out, sat at a bench,
took a bottle of Listerine from his sack, cranked off the cap, and slurped it
down.
George felt sorry. “Could I give him some money?” he asked
me. I said, “He’ll spend your money on
Listerine.” George said thoughtfully,
“He deserves better, like a bottle of good wine. I have five dollars – is that enough?” I said, “No, but I’ll lend you five
more. You’ll have to escort him
across the street into that wine shop and stay
until he buys, or he’ll get more Listerine.
Mark my word.”
George went to “the Chimp” on the
bench. They walked together toward the
wine shop. At the curb, the Chimp
continued on. When George returned, I
said, “I told you to escort him
in!” Said George, “He smelled! Besides, he’s going in right now! Look!” George had tears in his eyes.
We missed the trolley and headed back. I said, “That’s OK, you did a good
deed.” When we got to the Dollar store,
there was the Chimp on the bench. “Let’s
see what he bought!” cried George with excitement. Beside the Chimp were eight bottles of Listerine in a sack, a ninth in his hand and two
empties on the sidewalk. He hoisted
that ninth in the air as a Listerine salute to his benefactor as we
passed on.
The Chimp, like most, wasn’t interested in quality, only quantity. Listerine is 25% alcohol and only a dollar a
bottle. The Chimp never intended to humble
himself for the New Wine much less become The New Man. The alcohol blinded his mind as the carbolic
acid ate away the little bit left of his heart. On the bright side, the Chimp probably had
the freshest breath in
An Apostle is
Born
The wedding guests were also drunk on cheap swill – a literal translation of
the text confirms it. They were
completely disintegrated; in consuming,
totally consumed; with false faces fortified and self-deception discarded, toasting the anti-bridegroom over and over
again. Yet here’s the catch:
someone at the wedding tasted the superior vintage. It was the Ruler of the Three Couches
– the banquet manager. He didn’t know
the source of the new wine. He only knew
it was BETTER.
Symbolically, Yahshua is also the groom –
all the drunks in the chamber may be his brides, for better or worse – for the
chamber is the world. The “Ruler of
Three Couches” is his FUTURE APOSTLE, a potential leader of the Messianic
Movement who acknowledges the tastelessness and inferiority of the old
“spirits,” and becomes enthralled by the bouquet and ambiance of the New
Spirit. “Everyone else,” he says,
“serves the good first. When everyone’s
drunk, he brings out the new, minty Scope.
By that time,
folks are too Listerated to know
the difference. But you’ve saved the best for last!”
This guy catered lots of wedding, but none so extravagant as this – and
all for the sake of Heavenly Hospitality!
All Are Drunk
Now, another of Yahshua’s more obscure
sayings makes it’s way into this essay:
Gospel of Thomas 28 - Jesus said:
I stood in the middle of the world. I found them all drunk; not one was
thirsty, and my soul was afflicted for
humanity; for they’re blind in heart,
and can’t see that they came empty
into the world, (and) will leave the
world empty still. When they have
thrown off their wine, they will repent.
The Apostle of
the Couches will see that all have the opportunity to repent, because he won’t
keep his mouth shut. He’ll go to the
guests and preach – “Look what kind of a host we have! He’s saved the best wine for last! Repent of your drunkenness, cast off your
falsehoods; take off all those silly masks!
Tell us what you think of this fellow and his wine! Is he not the New Man? Is he not the Master? Call all your friends, because there’re 160
gallons of New Wine – and electric refrigerators won’t be invented for
another eighteen hundred and eighty-six years!”
Yes, that Couch-Ruler strips himself naked
before the crowd and tells all. An evangelist
of the New Wine, New Birth, the Right Spirit, and the New Man, is reintegrated. Did any drunkard pay attention to his
message? Did any acknowledge the great
generosity of the bridegroom or the uniqueness of the banquet? Did any of these partiers care that there was
something higher to swallow than the frivolities of this world? Or were they just as content to enjoy
Listerine Moments?
The Last
Invitation
The New Testament ends with an unusual
invitation. “COME
to the Marriage Banquet of the Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world.” Friends, this is the only wedding invitation
that counts, because the wedding guests will be made up of NEW MEN AND WOMEN
only. “Blessed
are those who are called to the wedding supper of the Lamb,” cries the
angel of Yahweh. There’s only one
requirement necessary for you to attend.
You must strip off your filthy rags before him and put on white linen, “for the white linen is the righteousness of the saints,”
says the Angel.
I’ve heard of a woman from the paper
mill. She was vile and wicked. Some evangelist showed her a true picture of
herself. It wasn’t a pretty sight. But she beheld it, then testified, “I was
like the rags[17]
that go into the paper mill. They were
all torn and filthy, but they came out as clear, white paper. That’s what Jesus is doing for me!”[18] Not only do the vile testify – consider the
words of the Cornish evangelist: “I asked the LORD: you’ve said, ‘Knock and the
door shall be opened, and I have the faith to believe it! In an instant the Master made me so happy
that I can’t express what I felt; I shouted for joy! I preached Him with my whole heart.” Both the evangelist and the formerly vile
woman were obviously inebriated with New Wine.
Both of them eventually became NEW MEN, shouting for joy.[19]
What ragged clothing do you use to hide your
naked self today, my friend? It’s late;
you need that white linen – the robe of
repentance and rightness – to
enter into this banqueting hall.
Change your clothes and come. The
wine and oil will flow freely and the festivities will be unlike any you’ve
seen; New Wine and New Life will be party favors, and the Marriage Supper will
last forever. My friend, give up your Listerine and your broken chamber
pot and dash into the radiance and glory of your bridegroom. For you’re not only invited as a guest,
but if you’ll put on your linen gown, you shall also make for a beautiful
bride.