We love to, love to, LOVE to celebrate! And celebration always includes good food and good things to drink. Whether your favorite is iced tea, a mocha latte, a refreshing punch or a glass of wine, it seems that there is an unending supply of some kind of beverage for all the guests.
Except for a particular wedding at Cana. This wedding was different. I don't know if the host just didn't plan well. Or if every invited guest brought an extra guest. Maybe the party goers were having such a good time that they all overstayed their welcome and the supplies ran low. But regardless of the circumstance, at this famous wedding, the drink ran dry. The wine was gone. Consumed by all the bride and groom's well wishers.
What a dilemma! What a disgrace! How would the bridegroom face his family and friends? He would lose face with them all. The bride and her family would be so embarrassed and the celebration marred by this turn of events. In those days, this would have been a devastating social faux pas.
Fortunately for the bridegroom, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in attendance at this wedding. And she had brought her son along. Jesus, the man that people were already whispering about and telling tales that there was just something different about Him. Jesus, who had already created a bit of a stir at His baptism. Jesus, who had already developed somewhat of a following. He was almost famous!
Apparently, Mary must have been close to someone in charge of this celebration. She found out about the situation with the wine and her mind started working out a solution. You know how us women are. We have to fix things. Her way of fixing this thing was to let her son know that she expected some assistance from Him.
She had birthed Him and raised Him to be a man. She knew Him as no other human being on earth knew Him. Mary knew exactly who Jesus was and she knew exactly what He was capable of doing. Shoot! She may have even secretly been hoping to show Him off. You know how you are when you are just bursting with pride in your kid. You want other people to know how special and wonderful he is.
So like any mother would have done, she said to her son "They have no wine." Just a simple statement of the situation. She could have only been commenting about it or feeling some compassion for the bride and groom. But, of course, Jesus knew that in 'motherspeak' this meant she expected Him to be the One to do something about it. Kind of like telling your kid "The garbage can is full." He knows you expect him to bag it up and take it out. No questions asked.
Mary knew that He would do what she wanted. So, like any mother, she disregarded His quiet protest. She told the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
What an incredible statement! “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
Whatever.
Do it.
I mean, really! What did she expect Him to do about it anyway?
This is a statement that can only be made when you KNOW without a doubt that something is going to happen.
If He says “pat your head and rub your belly”, then DO IT. If He says “do 15 jumping jacks”, then DO IT. If He says “fill those empty water pots to the brim“, then DO IT. Don’t ask questions. Don’t make excuses. Don’t wait. Don’t try to rationalize the situation. To borrow from the Nike commercials, Just Do It.
Her command to the servants showed extreme faith. Faith that grew from living day in and day out with this once baby, once child, and now a man. This Jesus. Faith that came from knowing Jesus intimately inside and out.
Faith from seeing Him in action.
Faith from knowing His heart.
Jesus tells the servants “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. (John 2: 7-8 NKJV)
They did what He told them to do. They were servants. They did as they were told. They may have had some doubts. They may have laughed. They might have thought this lady and her son were half a bubble off. But they did what they were told.
Then the impossible happened. A dramatic and impossible transformation took place in those water pots.
The water became wine.
But not just any wine. The master of the feast proclaimed that this was the “good” wine. (John 2: 10 NKJV)
The word “good” used in the Bible is from the Greek word “Kalos”. Kalos is defined as: excellent, precious, magnificent, praiseworthy, noble, beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, and hence praiseworthy; morally good, noble, honourable, conferring honour, affecting the mind agreeably, comforting and confirming.
All this to praise a bit of water turned to wine.
All this to describe an impossible transformation of nature’s elements.
“Whatever He says to you, do it.” Such a simple request. Such a simple command from a mother’s heart of love and pride in her son.
Just do it. Then wait and see what kind of impossible and miraculous transformation takes place.
Your water may not turn to wine. But your heart of stone might become soft and pliable.
Your circumstance might not change, but your attitude could be altered.
Your favorite drink may run dry, but your dry and thirsty spirit could be quenched with Living Water.
“Whatever He says to you, do it.”
Then EXPECT a miracle! Expect a ‘kalos’ miracle.
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