This is one of those miracles we hear about in passing. We talk about how Jesus performed this miracle and how wonderful it is. But it didn’t really connect until I heard my pastor preach on it. Something about it just grabbed me by my soul and I needed to dive deeper.

One of the greatest things about the Word is that there’s always more to learn, always more revelations, always more insight to receive. Between my pastor sharing what the Lord gave him to my own research and reading it again and again, my mind is absolutely blown. 

John 2:1-1 (ESV):

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with 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, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? 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 for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus 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 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.” 11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

They were At a Wedding

As we can see, they were at a wedding. Most commentaries I found believe that the ‘third day’ references the third day from Jesus’ encounter with Nathanael. The ‘third day’ symbolism is strong as we know that Jesus rose on the third day. And on this day He’s going to perform His first miracle.

At this wedding, they were out of wine. In this culture, hospitality was very important and this could make the family look bad if they didn’t have enough. Whether it’s from poor planning or over-drinking we don’t know, but either way, there’s a whole word here for us to come back to another time.

Mary Came

Mary came to Jesus telling Him that they were out of wine. Even though He hadn’t performed any miracles up until this point, Mary chose to go to Jesus to ask Him to fix the problem. While this is strictly my own opinion and not biblical, I believe that God put it on Mary’s heart to approach Jesus about it. Why else would she assume that her son would be the one to somehow solve this problem? We know that Mary and Joseph both were obedient to the Lord and listened immediately. So I believe that she didn’t even argue. God told her to go to Jesus and she did.

Jesus’s response “my hour has not yet come” was Him telling her that He wasn’t ready to be known publicly, His hour to be known as Messiah wasn’t there yet.

But this is where it really begins to pull at my heart.

Watch the video version here!

Mary Didn’t Respond

Mary didn’t respond to Him saying that it wasn’t His time. She simply told the servants to do what He says. She had full faith in Jesus and knew that He would be able to turn this into something wonderful.

Jesus asked the servants to fill these giant jars of water. Each jar was 20-30 gallons that were filled to the brim. In those days, they had to go out to go get water. And due to the size of these jars, they wouldn’t be able to carry them. So they had to go back and forth to fill them up.

This is something my pastor referenced that absolutely blew my mind. Can you imagine being in the mind of those servants? Mary told them to do whatever this man said to get wine and all He says is to fill them up with water. He doesn’t give them money to go buy any more to get grapes and get to smashing. He simply told them to fill up all of these jars with water. 

Not only did they have to go back and forth, but then Jesus told them to fill a cup with that water and give it to the master of the feast. The first thing I imagine is these two servants glancing at each other. They don’t argue but they certainly think this man is crazy. Picture yourself as the servant who brings the master of the feast some water. I can see it playing out so clearly in my head.

The Story in my Head

Servant brings cup full of water to the master of the feast.

Master says, “I didn’t ask for water.”

Servant says, “no sir. That man, Mary’s son, wanted us to give it to you.”

Master: “…why?”

Servant: “I’m not sure. Something about the wine?”

If I was a servant being told to go do all of this work only to bring some water to the master of the feast, that’s how I would picture it going.

But it didn’t.

Instead when the servant brings the water to the master, the master says it’s the best wine they had.

My favorite part of this whole thing is the fact that no one knew what Jesus had done. No one knew that it had just been water except the servants,disciples and, probably, Mary. Jesus didn’t use this as an opportunity to do something loud and proud. He instead gave servants the opportunity to be part of an incredible miracle. We don’t know any more about the servants but their life was permanently impacted. Think about the look on their face when the master exclaimed that it was the best wine. The servants gave him water but what he received was wine.

SO much to unpack here.

Jesus’s first miracle wasn’t something massive like healing the sick or giving sight to the blind. Instead this miracle solved a problem of inconvenience. It wasn’t the end of the world that they were out of wine, but Jesus did it anyway.

Y’all, Jesus cares about the little things.

He cares about the little inconveniences. He cares about the things that we think are huge but are really so small. Jesus cares. He wants us to be happy and have the best of things.

Something that my pastor pointed out in his sermon covering this is that Jesus used who was close to Him. He didn’t call people to come near – He simply told the servants that were right there to do something. When we are close to Jesus, we’re able to hear what it is that He’s telling us to do. That means that it’s our job to be close to Him. It’s our job to lean into Him and seek His guidance. 

Seek AND Obey

Not only do we need to seek Him but we need to obey Him. When Jesus tells us to do something, we do it. We don’t hem and haw or whine or argue. We don’t put it off until tomorrow, we do it. This is the type of obedience that will put us in proximity to miracles. The servants weren’t told to go and do something massive. They weren’t told to go speak to Pharoah or prophecy, they were told to fill up jars full of water.

I don’t know about you, but my ego has a whole attitude. When God tells me to do something that I don’t think is important, I don’t want to do it. If it’s not speaking to an audience, giving someone a word directly from God or posting a viral Reel, I don’t want to do it. Why? Because to me it isn’t important. It’s the mundane and boring stuff that I don’t want to do. But it’s the boring and mundane that will absolutely change our lives. It’s the boring and mundane that allow us to be part of miracles.

My pastor said in his sermon,

“a life of significance is doing whatever God said to do.”

He then says that “obedience in the mundane paves the way to operate in the miraculous.” This is the best way to say that. If we want to be significant, we do whatever God says to do regardless of whether it’s boring or not, whether we want to or not, whether we like it or not. I have had so many times that God has told me to do something and I have downright refused. It always bites me in the butt, every single time. But when I’m obedient, something beautiful always comes out of it.

Those servants got to be part of a miracle that day, they got to be part of the story of turning water into wine. I’d like to believe that they told their families about that moment. I hope it’s a story that has been passed down through the generations. I hope that that miracle saved someone’s soul.

When we obey God, it has ripple effects that we’ll never know about.

Obeying God can lead to wonderful, incredible, magical things happening. When we listen intently to what He has to say, miracles happen. The problem is that we try to get in the way because we want all the insider information. We want power over the result when our only responsibility is obedience (also taken from my pastor’s sermon).

The next time that God tells you to do something, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant or dumb or a waste of time, do it. Don’t think about it, just do it.

Prayer

Dear God, thank You for your everlasting Word and for the opportunity You’ve given us to get to know Your heart through it.

Lord, I pray that you soften my heart to one of pure obedience. Help me to do what You tell me to do the first time, to see past what others may see as crazy or dumb and see Your will through it all.

Help me to lean on You instead of my own understanding.

Thank You, God, for all you’re doing in me.

Amen

Obedience doesn’t have to be big or loud, it just has to be faithful.

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