When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom...

   - John 2.9

Through such unaccustomed acts of government, when things reveal through the will and power of the Governor that which they do not accomplish as a part of their functioning day to day, there come about the miracles of which Scripture speaks.

  - Augustine Hibernicus, On the Miracles of Holy Scripture, Irish, 7th century

The Irish who came to faith in Jesus Christ under the ministries of Patrick, Finnian, Kevin, Ciarán, and the others were a superstitious lot.

Celtic pagan religion sported a pantheon of strange deities and lesser spiritual or semi-spiritual beings, all imbued with powers of magic that allowed them to perform wonders and beguile men. The “Irish Augustine,” the anonymous monk who compiled the catalog from which today’s quote is lifted, was at pains in his exposition to insist that the power wielded by Christ was not magic at all. The miracles of Christ represent the power of divine mind and will, working outside its “accustomed” manner of governing the world to make existing reality behave in an “unaccustomed” manner.

I like that way of thinking about miracles. I especially like it in thinking about this miracle. Water, after all, is comprised of only two elements, hydrogen and oxygen. Wine has, well, let’s just say, a few more than that. So where did the other molecules come from? Christ did not speak to the water, nor did He touch it – behaviors that accompany most of His other miracles.

Rather, in this miracle, it appears Jesus merely thought the additional molecules in place, either creating them out of nothing or summoning them from who knows where to change water into wine by the sheer power of His mind.

Paul says we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2.16), and while we may not expect to call on that power to fetch a glass of merlot out of nothing, still, there is power in our minds waiting to inform, expand, and supercharge our thoughts, outlook, vision, dreams, plans, and ability to grasp – and gasp at – the truth of God.

We have the mind of Christ. Isn’t it about time we began thinking as He thinks?

Psalm 77.11-15 (Leoni: “The God of Abraham Praise”)
Now let us call to mind Your deeds and wonders, Lord,
And meditate on all Your works and praise Your Word.
Full holy is Your way great God of earth and heav’n;
To You, O God of strength and pow’r, all praise be giv’n!

Lord, may the grace of the Holy Spirit be upon me, that I may think with the mind of Christ and live with His power. Adapted from “Cétnad N-Aíse”