Page 327 - Mystic Pathways through the Bible

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chapter eIGhteen 321
Converting Water into Wine
In John 2:1-11, it is told that once Jesus and His disciples attended a marriage ceremony in Galilee. When they asked for some wine, they were told by Mary, the mother of Jesus, that there was no wine to be had. Jesus then instructed the servants to take six empty kegs and ll them to the brim with water. When the governor of the feast was served a drink from the kegs, he joyously praised the bridegroom for serving his very best wine to his guests. This miracle performed by Lord Jesus demonstrated before the eyes of His disciples the glory of His Divine power and intensi ed their belief in His identity as the Enlightened Messiah.
The symbolism of marriage in spiritual literature always implies the wedding of the soul to its essential Self. Life in pursuit of spiritual advancement is not a process of pathetic austerity. Rather, it is a procession of Divine festivity. But when the intoxicating “wine” of spiritual devotion is lacking, this marriage becomes a process of humiliation and pain.
The kegs are human personalities. The vital forces operating through the body are represented by the water. When spiritual initiation instills Divine aspiration in the human personality, the water turns into wine, as it were. Mother Mary symbolizes Mother Nature, Prakriti, who arranges the feast of the world-process. It is by Her intervention that the