"Birth is cause for celebration."
// Elizabeth Kubler Ross, Psychologist
"Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey!"
// Barbara Hoffman
18 Now k John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, l “Why do John's disciples and m the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, n “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 o The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and p then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old q wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
// Mark 2.18-22
33 For John the Baptist has come p eating no bread andq drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come r eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, s a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet t wisdom is justified by all her children.”
A Sinful Woman Forgiven
36 u One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table. 37 v And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears andw wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If x this man were y a prophet, he z would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him,“Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred a denarii, and the other fifty. 42 b When they could not pay, he c cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; d you gave me no water for my feet, but e she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 f You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to g kiss my feet. 46 h You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, i which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, j “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say amongthemselves, k “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”50 And he said to the woman, l “Your faith has saved you;m go in peace.”
// Luke 7.31-50
The Wedding at Cana
2 On h the third day there was a wedding at i Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with j his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, k “Woman, l what does this have to do with me? m My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now there were six stone water jars there n for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirtyo gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted p 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 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested q his glory. And r his disciples believed in him.
// John 2.1-11
