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The Fifth Day – Water

We continue our reflections on the new creation that can be ours in Christ in the words of Genesis 1: 20-23, John 2: 1-11, John 13: 1-17
And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good.
God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."
And there was evening, and there was morning
the fifth day.
Genesis 1:20-23 (ANIV)

Reading
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.  
Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. Then he called the bridegroom aside and 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." This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
John 2:1-11

It was just before the Passover Feast… The evening meal was being served, and… he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 
Jesus replied, "You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 
"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." 
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
John 13:1-8

Reflection
How often do we take for granted the simplest of things? Like water with which to wash and quench our thirst… I’ve lived through some droughts in my time, and every time we treated each drop of water like a gift from God… But then the rains came and after a few prayers of thanksgiving, God’s grace was taken for granted – or worse, grumbled about, as it churned up dried up paths into mud-filled channels.
There’s no pleasing us some times…
Mind you, if I’m being truthful, I always prefer a cup of wine to one of water… Water reminds me too much of work… I’m a fisherman, or at least I was until I started to follow the master, and you need something stronger that water to get the smell and taste of fish out of your tubes… Actually my wife also suggested in the past that I was a stranger to water for washing as well the smell of the fish was that strong…
Funny, that’s one of the things that came to mind when the Master started to wash our feet tonight… First, I was adamant that he wasn’t going to do a slave’s job… Then when he insisted I was all for being washed head to toe… But he wasn’t talking about being washed on the outside at all… But on the inside… Changing our hearts and minds so that we could be more like him…
We’d so much to take in tonight, what with him washing our feet with water, and the bread and wine… Comparing it with his body and blood… it was a real come down to tell you the truth, especially as we had been talking about how it reminded us of the good old days… feeding crowds with a few fish and some bread… or that wedding, a few days after I’d started to follow him… We all thought it would be like that forever… Wine flowing like water…
That’s the thing about following the Master, you can’t take what lies ahead for granted… just like water…

Prayer
May we go into this day, knowing that we are a new creation, children of God, washed clean of our sins through baptism in Christ, invited to follow him as fishers of men, and filled with the miraculous new wine of the Spirit, through Jesus Christ. AMEN

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