John 2:3-5 "And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. (4) Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. (5) His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."
Jesus and His disciples were called to a wedding in Cana three days after He
was baptized. It is here that He performs His first miracle. We know that
miracle to be the turning of water into wine, but for today, I want us to think
about the three verses that I have included.
Mary came to Jesus with a declaration. Notice the manner in which she
approaches Him. She simply stated, "They have no wine." We will
see a very similar approach to Jesus when we get to chapter 9 when Mary and
Martha sent for Jesus. Their approach to Him was simply, "He, whom thou
lovest, is sick." Neither of these attempted to tell Jesus what to
do or how to remedy the situation. They simply stated the circumstance to
Jesus. Mary and Martha did not try to tell Jesus how to heal Lazarus, nor did
Mary, His mother, attempt to tell Jesus how to remedy the situation. She stated
a simple fact: "They have no wine." My thought for myself is
how do I approach the Lord in my prayer requests? Do I attempt to tell Him how
to fill my request, or am I content in trusting His wisdom and ability to do
what is right?
Next, we look at the manner in which Jesus addresses Mary, His mother. We
usually read this with the mindset of modern day language. We read verse 4 and
think it sounds rough and almost crude; yet, the term "woman" in that
day in the original language carried the utmost respect. It addressed the fact
that Mary was a mature woman and was to be honored as such. Again, we will see
in Chapter 19 that Jesus used this same term when He was committing the care of
Mary into the hands of John, the Beloved. "Woman, behold thy son!"
And then He said to John, "Behold thy mother!" We need to
understand Jesus was not disrespecting His mother in any way. If this had been
a statement other than honor, Jesus would have transgressed the law of God
which says, "Honour thy father and thy mother."
The third thing I want us to see in these verses is what Mary then said to the
servants: "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." She had
presented the dilemma to Jesus and now she was waiting for Him to remedy the
situation. I'm not certain that she could possibly have known what Jesus was
about to do, other than she had to know it was going to be something
spectacular. "Do whatever He tells you to do. (this next part mine) Ask no
questions. Just do it."
We will look at the miracle itself next, but for now let us meditate today
on being obedient to the Lord. In order to enjoy the blessings of the kingdom
of God here on earth, we must be obedient to that which the Lord directs us to
do. We do not need to express our inability. Jesus knows. We do not need to
express our lack of resources. Jesus knows. We simply need to say, "Yes
Lord. Here am I." He will supply the ability and the resources
according to His riches in glory. Do we trust Him?