NEED a miracle? Forget those lame beggars picking up their mats. Those lepers getting new skin. The dead coming back to life. Okay, well maybe don’t forget them, but for us beginners, how about something simpler. Like turning water into wine.
Even Jesus–the miracle worker–had to start somewhere!
So there he was partying it up with his mom, the Holy Virgin Mary, and his friends at a wedding feast in Cana when–horror of horrors–the wine ran out.
“They have no more wine,” Mary gasped. (Okay, John chapter two, where this story is found, doesn’t actually say ‘gasped,’ but let’s imagine.)
Running out of wine was no small matter, my husband’s cool commentary in The Archeological Study Bible explains, “… the family had an obligation to provide a feast of the socially required standard.” Picture a birthday party without a birthday cake and you get the idea.
So there they were, wedding party in full swing, heal-kicking guests heading for the punch bowl, and… no punch!
Mary immediately tells her son to do something. And like most sons, he tries to get out of it. “Ah, Mom. Do I have to?”
But after a little prodding, Jesus relents, snatches some servants, and instructs them to fill six stone jars with water.
They do.
“Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet,” Jesus says.
These guys are on the ball! When they take some of the “water” to the master of the banquet, he dips in a finger and tastes wine! Not just any wine, but the very best! Six jars full!
Had this been 2013, this is where Jesus would have posted on Facebook, “Party tonight! Wine on me!”
But why the importance? What significance does this have for me?
Jesus’ first miracle is all about turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Got an ordinary life? Give it to the miracle worker and see what he turns it into.
This requires cooperation. Like the servants in this story, I’ve got to pay attention to Jesus and do what he says. It also requires trust–not knowing exactly what Jesus is going to turn my life’s water into. Yet, doesn’t he promise the very best?
Scripture says God made us in his own image. We were made to resemble him. Sin distorted that. Yet, the New Testament promises that as we follow Jesus, we are being conformed to his image. Yep, his. The very image of God.
In order for this incredible transformation to happen, one more thing is required: Christ’s involvement.
No Christ. No wine.
So, when I read this story, I’m encouraged to take the plain, ordinary, every day things in my life and offer them to God. My family. My job. My friendships. My dreams. My future. All of it.
In His hands, every day is a miracle–six jars full and the seventh to give thanks.
“This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him,” John 2:11.
What miracle are you trusting God for?
