Skip to main content

52. The First Of Many Miracles


Key Verse: His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you."
John 2:5

John tells us that this is Jesus' first real miracle.  This is probably accurate.  However, something else is true as well.  This is probably one of Jesus' most private miracles.  Providing the wine was merely a byproduct of Jesus' real task, which was to glorify His Father and strengthen the faith of those who had responded when Jesus said, "follow me."

Jesus' actions are not revealed in this story at all except to the servants and his first, possibly only six, disciples.  Jesus is at the wedding because He has been invited, along with His family and, evidently His disciples.  In other words, Jesus was among people who knew Him as a friend or relative. 

In those days, it was common for a celebration, such as a wedding, to go on for seven days.  In this particular case, the party had run out of wine.  Who knows why!  Was it poor planning on the part of the groom or the steward?  Did they receive more guests than they were expecting?  We don't know and, for God's purposes in relating the story, these details must not be very important.  It was a situation that would have brought on much shame for the hosts, however, if the lack of supply was discovered. 

Mary knows the situation.  Perhaps, because of the close family ties, she truly wants to do what she can to help.  Thus she turns to Jesus.  Jesus does not seem overly interested in the lack of wine.  Certainly, His response to Mary seems a bit disinterested if nothing else.  "Dear Woman, why do you involve Me?  My time has not yet come." (John 4:4)

Mary tells the servants to obey Jesus anyway, and Jesus tells them what to do. 
 Nearby stand the jars used for ceremonial cleansing.  That means that these weren't common jars for drinking water, or household chores.  The water in these jars was used to prepare the people to stand clean before the Lord.  The water in these jars would be used for a holy purpose.  Jesus would use the water to bless the guests. 

The servants fill these jars to the brim.  There is between 120 and 180 gallons of liquid that we are talking about here.  Then He tells the servants to take some of the water to the steward of the feast.  This must have taken a great deal of courage on the part of the servants.  If I fill a glass with water, I would expect water to come out of it.  Yet they, not knowing what to expect, comply and somewhere, between the jar and the steward, the miracle occurs.  Jesus is not given any credit.  In fact, no explanation is given.  Neither  the groom, nor the steward are told how this wonderful, mysterious wine came to be.  They are blessed unaware as so many of us are in our daily lives. 

The disciples, however, were watching.  Mary's words to the servants would ring in their ears.  "Do whatever He tells you," and great things will happen.  Shouldn't that be our lesson from this story as well?  The result is that Jesus revealed His glory to His disciples and His disciples put their faith in Him.  The partnership was strengthened and many were blessed. 


Hymn: "Trust and Obey

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...

These Boots are Made for Walking

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-15 These Boots are Made for Walking. Of course, I picked that title because it has a reference to popular culture, and it connects with our text today about “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I was tempted to play the video of that song, but it’s really not amenable to worship. If you remember that old song, it was quite confrontational. The singer had a righteous complaint against a boyfriend or spouse who was cheating on her. She’s not going to put up with that, and the song goes on to say, “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!” And that “take a stand” bravado made her a hero! It was a #1 hit in 1966. I mention it because it has one interesting parallel and one major contrast with the message of grace and forgiveness. That parallel is this. God has a righteous complaint against the entire human race for cheating Him out of the loving relationship He desires with us. As the God who created us, he h...

186. Ten Healed, Or One?

Luke 17:11-19 Key Verse: Then He said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:19 At last, Jesus has left the crowd behind and again is continuing His journey toward Jerusalem. His path takes Him and His disciples along the border of Judea and Samaria, between the pure Jews, and the hated half breeds of the day. On His way, Jesus encounters an interesting group of people. We only learn the nationality of one of them and, though we don't know the nationality of the others, because Jesus sends them to the priests in Jerusalem we can probably assume that at least some of them are Jews. Isn't it interesting that through leprosy, a disease that causes much suffering, the dividing wall of hatred has come down for the sake of companionship? We encountered one leper earlier on our Journey. Lepers were the dreaded untouchables of the day. Their disease cut them off from all they loved. It was a very lonely life. No wonder these people had ...