Last Sunday in Bible class we discussed the Gospel lesson of that morning’s Divine Service—Jesus turning water into wine (John 2:1-11). My Iranian parishioners asked me why the Lord hadn’t prevented that embarrassing crisis from occurring in the first place, with the host running out of wine. I explained that this is the first miracle recorded in the Gospel of John and that Jesus had allowed the issue to happen so that He could manifest His glory—not only to his disciples and to His mother Mary—but also to all the other wedding guests who would come to recognize His deity through that miracle. We turned to Romans 8:28: “For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who were called according to his purpose.” I asked the group: “In this verse, who are ‘those who love God’?” “We are…” they responded, “All those who follow Jesus Christ.” “Exactly,” I responded. “So, here’s a question: Have any of you ever undergone something dangerous or scary, but which Jesus later worked for good?” One of the men replied that his refugee experience—traveling from Iran to Germany under the most harrowing of circumstances—had been beneficial for him. That horrific journey taught him things that he would never have learned otherwise. A young Iranian lady offered: “In a weird way, I think that the ongoing Iranian uprising against the mullahs might turn out to be a blessing. The brutality of those criminals ruling our country is opening the eyes of a lot of Iranians. Many are taking to the streets to protest and quite a few are exploring Christianity as an alternative to Islam. Maybe Jesus is permitting this situation so He can grow his Kingdom in Iran? There are a lot of things I don’t understand about Jesus and how He works in the world. But I do know that He is in control and I trust him to do what is best for His people.” Amen, sister!
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