Women, Weddings, and Wine
“The
next day Jesus’ mother was a guest at a wedding celebration in the
village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus and his disciples were also invited
to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so
Jesus’ mother spoke to him about the problem. ‘They have no more wine,’
she told him. ‘How does that concern you and me?’ Jesus asked. ‘My
time has not yet come.’ But his mother told the servants, ‘Do whatever
he tells you.’ Six stone waterpots were standing there.... Jesus told
the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ When the jars had been filled
to the brim, he said, ‘Dip some out and take it to the master of
ceremonies. So they followed his instructions. When the master of
ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had
come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the
bridegroom over. ‘Usually a host serves the best wine first,’ he said.
‘Then, when everyone is full and doesn’t care, he brings out the less
expensive wines. But you have kept the best until now!’ This
miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was Jesus’ first display of his
glory. And his disciples believed in him.” -John 2:1-11
If you, like me, have been to church since you were in utero, chances are you’ve heard this story a billion times. After I’ve heard something that often, I tend to glance over it quickly. See the forest, but miss the trees-if you get my drift. Do the cliff notes of Jesus’ miracle: Jesus+water =wine. The end.
Needless to say, that broad strokes approach isn’t doing me (or you) any favors. And recently when I was encouraged to do some digging into this passage, I realized that I had been missing so much more. I had been enjoying the Oreo cookie part of the message (the obvious part), but skipping the cream filling (which we all know is the BEST part! And if you’d like to disagree with me about the superiority of the cream filling, I will cut you off).
Can I tell you what I learned? Jesus’ first miracle required PARTICIPATION. It required trust, willingness/obedience, and eventually belief. Jesus used others to help him accomplish his purposes. Whoa! Is your life changed yet? Alright, alright- just give me a second to unpack these ideas.
Trust. The participant: Jesus’ Mom (aka Mary). First of all, can we quickly discuss how difficult it would be to parent a perfect child? I can’t even imagine. My child is far from perfect and he still calls me out on all my shortcomings. Like the other day when he reprimanded me for using the word “hate” in a sentence. Basically, I end up apologizing a lot. But Mary-she actually had the perfect kid. Guilt trips didn’t work on that guy. Which is why I L.O.V.E. that conversation at the wedding. Here’s my version:
Mary: Jesus, they ran out of wine (wink wink, nudge nudge)!!
Jesus: Seriously Mom!?
Mary: Listen people, do what my kid says.
Obviously, I’ve taken a few liberties here. But the gist of the situation is that Mary trusted her son to do the right thing, even with the small stuff. The insignificant problems. You can gather from their actual conversation in the verses above, Mary couldn’t assume how Jesus was prepared to handle the situation. His response to her didn’t spell anything out. But she trusted him regardless. She knew her son, she knew his character. Not only did she completely trust him to handle things however he deemed best, she also encouraged others to act in obedience to his commands. Before she knew Jesus’ plan, she told people to follow him. That’s how confident her faith and trust in her son was.
Willingness/Obedience. The participants: Servants. Here’s one of my favorite things about Jesus. Not only did his first miracle involve providing wine for a party (Hello-how cool is that?), he chose servants as the first ones to witness this “display of his glory”. Because by obeying Jesus’ commands, these lowly men got to participate in his first miracle. Jesus could have made his disciples fill up those waterpots (or he could have miraculously filled them himself just by giving them a hard stare), but he didn’t. I think that is significant. Jesus came here to turn religion on its head- to make the first last, to bring beauty from ashes. I love the parenthesis that follows the “master of ceremonies” questioning the miracle wine’s origin. It says “though, of course, the servants knew”. That’s Jesus for you--letting the servants in on the joke before the “master” had a clue. All he required was obedience. Wealth, power, privilege, and position is irrelevant to Jesus. Just be willing with what you have and who you are.
Belief. The participants: Disciples. After everything was said and done “his disciples believed in him.” Well, duh. Of course they believed, they were his disciples! Can I tell you my take on this? These disciples had literally been following Jesus for only a handful of days now. Who knows how invested they were into him and his ministry at this point? They had certainly heard good things about him. They were interested in what he had to say. They “believed” him enough to follow him around and be a part of his posse. But after watching his first miracle, they had to make a choice. It was obvious that this guy was not just a good person or a great teacher. He was the son of God here on earth. And they could choose to follow him--to fully commit to the fact that he was God in the flesh, or they could choose to deny the events of that day and what they revealed about Jesus. Ultimately their choice wasn’t the easiest one, but it was the right one. A true display of God’s power can serve to confirm what we already suspected. He is worthy of our belief.
In my very first blog post about our story, I mentioned adoption being a miracle by participation. That is why this section of John resonated with me. This process has taught David and I so much about trust, obedience, and belief. Some of it we have learned kicking and screaming, but that’s another story :). We started simply. Our first step forward was just a prayer, something like this: “God, we have faith in you. We know that international adoption is part of your plan for our family. We know that it is expensive and we don’t know where all the money will come from. However, we trust in you and are willing to act in obedience to this calling you’ve spoken to our hearts.” It wasn’t easy. In fact some days it is HARD. Periodically I find myself repeating that prayer like a mantra, finding comfort in its truth and simplicity. So often I feel like the father in the Bible who desperately wanted his son healed and told Jesus, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief! (Mark 9:24)” But although we sometimes hesitate to obey, Jesus has always proved faithful. The risks we take on God are never really risks at all. This adoption journey has confirmed what we (and the disciples of long ago) already knew. God is truly worthy of our belief.
If you, like me, have been to church since you were in utero, chances are you’ve heard this story a billion times. After I’ve heard something that often, I tend to glance over it quickly. See the forest, but miss the trees-if you get my drift. Do the cliff notes of Jesus’ miracle: Jesus+water =wine. The end.
 |
| Elijah perusing the Good Book at a very young age....and apparently without pants. |
Needless to say, that broad strokes approach isn’t doing me (or you) any favors. And recently when I was encouraged to do some digging into this passage, I realized that I had been missing so much more. I had been enjoying the Oreo cookie part of the message (the obvious part), but skipping the cream filling (which we all know is the BEST part! And if you’d like to disagree with me about the superiority of the cream filling, I will cut you off).
Can I tell you what I learned? Jesus’ first miracle required PARTICIPATION. It required trust, willingness/obedience, and eventually belief. Jesus used others to help him accomplish his purposes. Whoa! Is your life changed yet? Alright, alright- just give me a second to unpack these ideas.
Trust. The participant: Jesus’ Mom (aka Mary). First of all, can we quickly discuss how difficult it would be to parent a perfect child? I can’t even imagine. My child is far from perfect and he still calls me out on all my shortcomings. Like the other day when he reprimanded me for using the word “hate” in a sentence. Basically, I end up apologizing a lot. But Mary-she actually had the perfect kid. Guilt trips didn’t work on that guy. Which is why I L.O.V.E. that conversation at the wedding. Here’s my version:
Mary: Jesus, they ran out of wine (wink wink, nudge nudge)!!
Jesus: Seriously Mom!?
Mary: Listen people, do what my kid says.
Obviously, I’ve taken a few liberties here. But the gist of the situation is that Mary trusted her son to do the right thing, even with the small stuff. The insignificant problems. You can gather from their actual conversation in the verses above, Mary couldn’t assume how Jesus was prepared to handle the situation. His response to her didn’t spell anything out. But she trusted him regardless. She knew her son, she knew his character. Not only did she completely trust him to handle things however he deemed best, she also encouraged others to act in obedience to his commands. Before she knew Jesus’ plan, she told people to follow him. That’s how confident her faith and trust in her son was.
Willingness/Obedience. The participants: Servants. Here’s one of my favorite things about Jesus. Not only did his first miracle involve providing wine for a party (Hello-how cool is that?), he chose servants as the first ones to witness this “display of his glory”. Because by obeying Jesus’ commands, these lowly men got to participate in his first miracle. Jesus could have made his disciples fill up those waterpots (or he could have miraculously filled them himself just by giving them a hard stare), but he didn’t. I think that is significant. Jesus came here to turn religion on its head- to make the first last, to bring beauty from ashes. I love the parenthesis that follows the “master of ceremonies” questioning the miracle wine’s origin. It says “though, of course, the servants knew”. That’s Jesus for you--letting the servants in on the joke before the “master” had a clue. All he required was obedience. Wealth, power, privilege, and position is irrelevant to Jesus. Just be willing with what you have and who you are.
Belief. The participants: Disciples. After everything was said and done “his disciples believed in him.” Well, duh. Of course they believed, they were his disciples! Can I tell you my take on this? These disciples had literally been following Jesus for only a handful of days now. Who knows how invested they were into him and his ministry at this point? They had certainly heard good things about him. They were interested in what he had to say. They “believed” him enough to follow him around and be a part of his posse. But after watching his first miracle, they had to make a choice. It was obvious that this guy was not just a good person or a great teacher. He was the son of God here on earth. And they could choose to follow him--to fully commit to the fact that he was God in the flesh, or they could choose to deny the events of that day and what they revealed about Jesus. Ultimately their choice wasn’t the easiest one, but it was the right one. A true display of God’s power can serve to confirm what we already suspected. He is worthy of our belief.
In my very first blog post about our story, I mentioned adoption being a miracle by participation. That is why this section of John resonated with me. This process has taught David and I so much about trust, obedience, and belief. Some of it we have learned kicking and screaming, but that’s another story :). We started simply. Our first step forward was just a prayer, something like this: “God, we have faith in you. We know that international adoption is part of your plan for our family. We know that it is expensive and we don’t know where all the money will come from. However, we trust in you and are willing to act in obedience to this calling you’ve spoken to our hearts.” It wasn’t easy. In fact some days it is HARD. Periodically I find myself repeating that prayer like a mantra, finding comfort in its truth and simplicity. So often I feel like the father in the Bible who desperately wanted his son healed and told Jesus, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief! (Mark 9:24)” But although we sometimes hesitate to obey, Jesus has always proved faithful. The risks we take on God are never really risks at all. This adoption journey has confirmed what we (and the disciples of long ago) already knew. God is truly worthy of our belief.
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