Let’s Be Extra Ordinary

Written by Ernie Perry

“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.”

John 2:10 (NIV)

I have recently been reflecting on that first miracle of Jesus, at the wedding of Cana. I have often pondered the response of Jesus to His dear mother’s request and its seeming abruptness. "Woman", Jesus says in response, "Why do you involve me?" Was Jesus really being so dismissive toward His mother — this humble woman chosen by God to be the vessel through which the promised Saviour would enter the world?

There are many commentaries offering a variety of theological perspectives on this interesting topic. But recently I have started reading a rather beautiful book entitled The Reed of God, a spiritual reflection on Mary, that most blessed of women. And in reading, the author has shifted my attention to the miracle itself — to those stone jars, the water within and its transformation. And so, I have been pondering and reflecting on what this miracle means — its deeper message. We are, as the author of this book writes, like those stone jars, the water within and upon which Jesus acts.

As Christians we are not primarily asked to do something, but to be something. Not a striving to be, but a passive act. As passive as those jars of water — still, passive recipients of Christ's miraculous, transforming presence.

And it is through that willingness and desire to be something: to let Christ's love act within us, as He acted upon those stone jars of water, turning us into Christians, bearing the fruit of Christians — the fruit by which Christians are known — that true Christian work takes place in the world, wherever in the world we are and whatever we are doing.

But it seems to me that perhaps we, as providers of care, are especially positioned with the need for Christ's transforming presence. To give ourselves and our attentiveness to the being rather than the doing, even in the act of doing. So easy it is, a natural tendency, to shift our sight to the task before us, to the doing. To move a body, to wash a body, to feed a body. And the affection — that supernatural love that comes from God — that gentleness, compassion, patience, and indeed joy that is the natural fruit of that love. The fruit that has the potential to uplift and transform those around us, fades into the background, and sometimes out of view.

How important it is to remain in that love, to be.

And the world takes note. For what is made by supernatural means, by the work of God, is markedly different from what is made by man. The supernatural wine made by Jesus was so different, so good that it did not go unnoticed. So too the supernatural love that Christ pours into our hearts. When it pours out, it does not go unnoticed. It is different, markedly different. We are changed, from a clanging symbol to a symbol of Christ, from egocentric to love-centric, from tares to wheat.

The work that we do in the world may continue to be ordinary, local and simple. But the way we work, the way we live, the way we love, through that love of Christ that we live in and surrender to, will not be ordinary. And our little corner of the world will take note, for something extra ordinary, in the ordinariness of life, is unmistakably visible.

My friends, let us be extra ordinary in the ordinariness of our work, being Christ in the world, in all our doing.

God bless you.