John 2:1-10 “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. (2) Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. (3) And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." (4) Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." (5) His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." (6) Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. (7) Jesus said to them, "Fill the water pots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. (8) And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it. (9) When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. (10) And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”
In this section we want to discuss our Lord’s generosity, and the reason for doing so is to more clearly understand God’s generosity, for in His actions, Jesus revealed our Heavenly Father to us. The above quoted passage of scripture is a very clear account of the generosity of our Lord Jesus. The context of this passage is that Jesus was attending His younger sister’s wedding; for the reason that Jesus was allowed to invite His disciples to the wedding was because He was the bride’s older brother. And that is also the reason why Mary became involved with the issue that had arisen with the wine running out, for it was her daughter and new son-in-law that were about to be embarrassed in front of their guests. We are all familiar with the above account of how our Lord turned the water into wine, and our natural thinking is that Jesus saved them from embarrassment by performing this miracle. But there is more to it than that, for in effect, through this miracle, Jesus blessed the newlywed couple with a wedding gift. And so the reason that I made the comment that this account shows the generosity of the Lord is because when we calculate the quantity and quality of the wine that Jesus blessed them with, we see that this wedding gift equated to approximately seventy-five thousand rand in today’s value. And so even though it was Jesus’ younger sister, the value of the gift was still extremely generous.
Luke 5:3-9 “Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. (4) When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." (5) But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net." (6) And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. (7) So, they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. (8) When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" (9) For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken.”
The above quoted passage of scripture is another very clear account of the generosity of our Lord Jesus. The context of this passage is that our Lord had borrowed Peter’s boat to use it as a platform from which He could preach the gospel to the multitudes. It could not have been more than a couple of hours that He made use of Peter’s boat, nevertheless when our Lord had finished speaking, He paid Peter for the use of his boat. Again we all know the account of how our Lord worked a miracle through the multitude of fish that Peter and his colleagues caught, and in our natural thinking we focus on the miracle. Nevertheless, the reason that I say that this act also demonstrated our Lord’s generosity is because of the value of the payment that He made. For when we calculate the quantity of fish that was caught on that day, it equates to approximately one hundred and sixty thousand rand in today’s value. That is an extremely generous payment for a couple of hour’s use of Peter’s boat.
Mark 6:37-42 “But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to Him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?" (38) But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish." (39) Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. (40) So, they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. (41) And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. (42) So, they all ate and were filled.”
Again, in the above quoted passage of scripture we see another account of the generosity of our Lord Jesus. This is the account in scripture when our Lord fed the five thousand. In the natural it would have taken roughly half a million rand in today’s value to be able to buy enough food to feed that many people, so that all were filled. And the scripture says that all were filled. So clearly our Lord was more than generous in the way that He fed the multitudes.
John 21:5-11 “Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any food?" They answered Him, "No." (6) And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So, they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. (7) Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it) and plunged into the sea. (8) But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. (9) Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. (10) Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish which you have just caught." (11) Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.”
The above quoted passage of scripture is another very clear account of the generosity of our Lord Jesus. For when we calculate the quantity of fish that was caught on that occasion it equates to approximately forty thousand rand in today’s value. And so it is important for us to see these examples of our Lord’s generosity because it reveals to us just how generous God our Father is, for our Lord and the Father are one. And so we see that God is not in the least bit stingy and when He blesses an individual then He does so generously.
Michael E.B. Maher
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