Our scripture this week, John 2:1-12, describes Jesus' first observable miracle — turning water into wine at a wedding ceremony at Cana, near Nazareth, his childhood home. Verses 1 & 2 inform us "…. Jesus' mother [Mary] was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding."
In Middle Eastern culture, weddings were, and sometimes still are, large scale community events lasting several days with invitations extended to everyone known by the families.
In verse 3, we're introduced to a distressing situation for the wedding hosts. They ran out of wine; an essential element of the celebration. It's likely Mary was made aware because she was close to the hosts. The subsequent dialogue between Mary and Jesus was a seemingly awkward exchange subject to later centuries of religious speculation.
Some have read Mary's statement "They have no more wine." as a petition to Jesus to do something – even a miracle. Calmer minds have pointed out that she just stated a fact and didn't ask him to do anything.
Some readers have interpreted Jesus' response to Mary's concern about the host's reputation as striking this sassy tone:
Going further, others have claimed Mary's words to the servants in verse 5, "…. Do whatever he tells you." were indicative of pushy, parental presumption and eagerness to show her son's divine attributes to everyone in the community.
But, several things counter these ideas about the exchange between Mary and her son.
First, when the ceremonial water was transformed into wine, only a few people were witnesses to the transformation. Second, review what you know of Jesus' character revealed elsewhere in scripture. Also consider why Mary was chosen by God to bear His son and that she kept many supernatural secrets about him hidden in her heart for decades. Harsh evaluations of their dialogue around the wine supply don't make sense.
So what is revealed about God's temperament from that exchange?
It's good to know that God in His human form doesn't suffer the same emotional fragility and sense of lack that we too often experience. Therefore we shouldn't fear approaching His Throne of Grace with problems caused by human snafus. Nothing is too much to ask. He's capable of fully absorbing the shock of human weakness. Further, His response might even include an observable miracle.
Have you held back on submitting a request for Him to intervene because you or someone close to you failed to plan or unwittingly did something stupid? Reflect on today's passage – soak up His mercy and grace. Lay your situation in front of Him, even if it seems unreasonable that He might want to untangle that mess.
by Kathleen Petersen
