Bible Study Review— The Rock, The Road, And The Rabbi/ Part 2/ Nazareth

I\’m participating in a six week Bible study titled the Rock, the Road, and the Rabi—By Kathie Lee Gifford; with Rabbi Jason Sobel—. The tagline of the study guide appropriately says, \” Come to the land where it all began.\”

The Rock is Jesus—The Road is the Holy Land—and the Rabbi is the word of God.

Jesus was what?

The word for what Jesus and Joseph did for a living in Greek is tektõn, pronounced tek-ton. By definition, it means builder, craftsman, or architect. Keep in mind that there was only rock in Isreal at this time.

Jesus and Joseph were thought to be stonemasons. Wait what!? While they did work with wood, they worked with other materials as well. You see, during Jesus\’ time, there were no trees. All the wood used for building came from cedar trees found in Lebanon. These trees were cut, made into rafts, and floated down the Maris River—The rad of the sea— which joined the Mediterranean. The rafts were broken apart and taken to various construction sites.

Jesus is the Tektõn of creation., the craftsman John 1:13

One of God\’s first actions was bringing light out of the darkness and order out of chaos. God is our great creator—the master craftsman of all things made.

What is the representation of Jesus\’ first miracle turning water into wine?

Let\’s go back aways to Moses. Using Moses, God turned the water of the Nile river into blood. This was meant to warn Pharoah and the Egyptians that Isreal\’s God had the power of death.

So why water into wine?

At the wedding in Cana, Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine. The wine symbolizes life. The fall of man broke the connection between Heaven and earth. However, in His goodness, God sent Jesus as the second Adam to break man\’s curse to restore the relationship between Heaven and earth.

Take Away

Jesus\’ first miracle is symbolic of what God wants to do in us. By turning water into wine, God wants to transform us from ordinary to extraordinary. Therefore the old is gone; the new is here.

Photo by Cristiano Pinto on Unsplash