...do what Jesus wants you to do...

“1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 

3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’

4 ‘Woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My hour has not yet come.’

5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’

6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim.

8 Then he told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’

9 They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. 

10 Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.’

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days” John 2: 1-12.

There are two (2) things at play in John’s Gospel narrative above.   There is a simple surface story that anyone can understand and retell;  but there is also a much deeper meaning for those who have the desire to search for an understand John’s deeper meaning. First we will look at it quite simply, and then we will then look at what that tell us about Jesus and his work.   And finally we will look at the permanent truth which John is seeking to tell us in the story.

Cana of Galilee was a village quite near to Nazareth — in fact you can see Cana from Nazareth. In Cana, there was a wedding feast to which Mary went — and it’s clear in the story that Mary held a special place in the wedding.   She obviously had something to do with the arrangements, for she was worried when the wine ran out; and she had authority enough to order the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do.  

There is no mention of Joseph.   The most accepted view is that by this time Joseph was dead. It would seem that Joseph died quite soon, and that the reason why Jesus spent 18 long years in Nazareth was that he had to take upon himself the support of his mother and his family.   It was only when other family members were able to look after themselves that he left home.

The scene is a village wedding feast.   In Palestine a wedding was a really notable occasion. 

It was the Jewish law that the wedding of a virgin should take place on a Wednesday. 

The wedding festivities lasted for far more than one day.   The wedding ceremony itself took place late in the evening, after a feast.    After the ceremony, the young couple were conducted to their new home.    By that time it was dark and they were taken through the village streets by the light of flaming torches and with a canopy over their heads.  

They were taken by as long a route as possible so that as many people as possible would have the opportunity to wish them well.   But a newly married couple did not go away for their honeymoon; they stayed at home; and for a week they kept open house. 

They wore crowns and dressed in their bridal robes.   They were treated like a king and queen — and were actually addressed as king and queen, and their word was law.   In a life where there was much poverty and constant hard work, this week of festivity and joy was one of the supreme occasions in the life of all residents of the village.

But something went wrong.   It is likely that the coming of Jesus caused something of a problem. He had been invited to the feast, but he had arrived not alone but with 5 disciples — John, Peter, Philip, Nathanael, and Andrew (see John 1: 40-44).    Five extra people may well have caused complications.   Five unexpected guests might provide any festival with a problem, and the wine ran out.

For a Jewish feast, wine was essential. ‘Without wine,’ said the Rabbis, ‘there is no joy.’   

It was not that people were drunk, but in this part of the world wine was an essential.   Drunkenness was in fact a great disgrace, and they actually drank their wine in a mixture composed of two parts of wine to three parts of water.   At any time, the failure of provisions would have been a problem, for hospitality in the middle east is a sacred duty; but for the provisions to fail at a wedding would be a terrible humiliation for the bride and the bridegroom.

So Mary came to Jesus to tell him that it was so.   Jesus’ reply makes Jesus sound very discourteous. He said: Woman, my hour has not yet come.   But Jesus is not rebuking or disagreeing with Mary His mother, but instead He is speaking gently to Mary, telling her that He understands what is going on, and that He will settle things — and that He has his own time and his own way of dealing with the situation.    The word woman is also misleading.   It sounds to us very rough and abrupt.   But it is the same word that Jesus used on the cross to address Mary as he left her to the care of John (John 19:26).   It is the title by which Augustus, the Roman emperor, addressed Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian queen.   So far from being a rough and discourteous way of address, it was a title of respect. We have no way of translating it in English — but the British would translate it into My Lady, which suggests the courtesy intended in it.

But however Jesus spoke, Mary was confident of him.   She told the servants, "Do whatever Jesus tells you to do."    These are arguably some of the most important words ever spoke: Do whjatever Jesus tells you to do! What a difference it means to us to do whatever Jesus tells us to do! This is, indeed, the purpose and goal of life. Take these words to prayer today.

But let us continue: At the door, there were six (6) great water jars — each holding about 30 gallons of water. So the jars were very large.   John was writing his gospel for Greeks, and so he explains that these jars were there to provide water for the purifying ceremonies of the Jews.   Water was required for two purposes.   First, it was required for cleansing the feet on entry to the house.   The roads were not surfaced.   Sandals were merely a sole attached to the foot by straps. On a dry day the feet were covered by dust and on a wet day they were soiled with mud; and the water was used for cleansing them.   Second, it was required for the handwashing.   Strict Jews washed their hands before a meal and between each course. First the hand was held upright and the water was poured over it in such a way that it ran right to the wrist; then the hand was held pointing down and the water was poured in such a way that it ran from the wrist to the fingertips.   This was done with each hand in turn; and then each palm was cleansed by rubbing it with the fist of the other hand.    The Jewish ceremonial law insisted that this should be done not only at the beginning of a meal but also between courses. If it was not done, the hands were technically unclean.  

It was for this footwashing and hand-washing that these great stone jars of water stood there. Jesus commanded that the jars should be filled to the brim. John mentions that point to make it clear that nothing else but water was put into them. He then told them to draw out the water and to take it to the Head Waiter — the steward in charge.  At their banquets, the Romans had a toastmaster called the Arbiter — the arranger of the drinking.   Sometimes one of the "guests" acted as a kind of master of ceremonies at a Jewish wedding.   But it was the Head Waiter who was responsible for the seating of the guests and the correct running of the feast.   When he tasted the water which had become wine, he was astonished.    He called the bridegroom – it was the bridegroom’s parents who were responsible for the feast – and spoke jestingly.    ‘Most people’, he said, ‘serve the good wine first; and then, when the guests have drunk a good deal, and their palates are dulled and they are not in much of a condition to appreciate what they are drinking, they serve the inferior wine; but you have kept the best until now.’

There are three general things about this wonderful deed which Jesus did.

(1) We note WHEN it happened. It happened at a wedding feast. Jesus was perfectly at home at such an occasion. He was no severe, austere killjoy.   He loved to share in the happy rejoicing of a wedding feast.   Jesus never counted it a crime to be happy. Why should his followers do so?

(2) We note WHERE it happened.   It happened in a humble home in a village in Galilee. 

This miracle was not performed against the background of some great occasion and in the presence of vast crowds.    It was performed in a home where it brought God right into the home circle and into the ordinary things of life.   

(3) We note WHY it happened.   We have already seen that in the middle east, hospitality was always a sacred duty.   It would have brought embarrassed shame to that home that day if the wine had run out.  It was to save a humble Galilaean family from hurt that Jesus put forth his power. 

So it was in sympathy, in kindness, in understanding for ordinary people that Jesus acted.

Jesus does the big thing on a simple, homely occasion like this.    Jesus, the Lord of all life, and the King of glory, used his power to save a Galilaean wedding couple from humiliation. It is just by such acts of simple kindliness that we too can show that we are followers of Jesus Christ.

This story further shows us very beautifully two things about Mary’s faith in Jesus.

(1) Instinctively Mary turned to Jesus whenever something went wrong.    She knew her son. 

It was not until Jesus was thirty years old that Jesus left home; and all these years Mary lived with him.   Those who know Jesus intimately turn instinctively to Him when things go wrong – and they never find him wanting.

(2) Even when Mary did not understand what Jesus was going to do, even when it seemed that he had refused her request, Mary still believed in him so much that she turned to the serving folk and told them to do whatever Jesus told them to do.    Mary had the faith which could trust even when it did not understand.   She did not know what Jesus was going to do, but she was quite sure that he would do the right thing.   In every life come periods of darkness when we do not see the way. In every life come things which are such that we do not see why they came or any meaning in them. Happy are those who in such a case still trust even when they cannot understand.

This story also tells us something about Jesus.    In answer to Mary, he said: ‘My hour has not yet come.’   All through the gospel story, Jesus talks about his hour.    In John 7:6, 8 it is the hour of his emergence as the Messiah.   In John 12:23 and 17:1, and in Matthew 26:18, 45 and in Mark 14:41 it is the hour of his crucifixion and his death.    All through his life, Jesus knew that he had come into this world for a definite purpose and a definite task.   He saw his life not in terms of his wishes, but in terms of God’s purpose for himself.   He saw his life not against the shifting background of time, but against the steady background of eternity. All through his life, he went steadily towards that hour for which he knew that he had come into the world. It is not only Jesus who came into this world to fulfill the purpose of God. 

We, too, must think not of our own wishes and our own desires, but of the purpose for which God sent us into his world. The deep and permanent truth which John is teaching in this story.

We must remember that John was writing as a Jew and he was writing for Jews; but his great object was to write the story of Jesus in such a way that it would come home also to the Greeks.

From the Jewish point of view. 

There were six stone water pots; and at the command of Jesus, the water in them turned to wine. According to the Jews, seven is the number which is complete and perfect; and six is the number which is unfinished and imperfect. The six stone water pots stand for all the imperfections of the Jewish law.  Jesus came to do away with the imperfections of the law and to put in their place the new wine of the gospel of his grace. Jesus turned the imperfection of the law into the perfection of grace.

There is another thing to note in this connection. There were six water pots; each held between thirty gallons of water; Jesus turned the water into wine. That would give anything up to 180 gallons of wine.   What John meant to say is that when the grace of Jesus comes to men and women there is not only enough — but the grace of God provides MORE THANK ENOUGH for all. 

No need on earth can exhaust the grace of Christ; there is a glorious superabundance in it.”

From the Greek point of view. 

It so happens that the Greeks actually possessed many stories like this — stories and our legends about the Greek gods doing miraculous things.   But these are only made-up stories — and everyone knew that that are not really true.   But Jesus has come to do what the Greeks have always dreamed that their gods could do.   Jesus has come to make the things the Greeks longed for come true.

To the Jews, John said:   Jesus has come to turn the imperfection of the law into the perfection of grace.   To the Greeks, John said: Jesus has come really and truly to do the things you only dreamed the gods could do.

What is John really teaching us?    

Every story tells us not of something Jesus did once and never again, but of something which he is forever doing.     And what John wants us to see here is not that Jesus once on a day turned some water pots of water into wine; he wants us to see that whenever Jesus comes into a person’s life, there comes a new quality which is like turning water into wine.   Without Jesus, life is dull and stale and flat — but when Jesus comes into it, life becomes vivid and sparkling and exciting.    When John told this story, he was remembering what life with Jesus was like; and he said, Wherever Jesus went and whenever he came into life, it was like water turning into wine.

This story is John saying to us:   If you want the new life of hope, become a follower of Jesus Christ, and there will come a change in your life which will be like water turning into wine. Mary said it best: "Do whatever jesus tells you to do!" Let Mary's seven words be your focus today, tomorrow, and forever.

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