A familiar story
In the early hours of this morning, I found myself awake and thinking. It wasn’t that I was worrying about something, but things from the past were going through my mind, and I wasn’t drifting back to sleep. I haven’t needed to resort to this for a while, but eventually I got up, went downstairs, made a cup of tea and sat in my comfortable study chair to read my Bible. I took in a couple of chapters from John’s gospel and, returning to bed, went on to meditate upon the story of Jesus at the wedding feast in Cana, before finally dropping back to sleep. You have probably heard, or even taught on this before, but please indulge me.
An open invitation?
This particular narrative begins with the words: “On the third day …..” (John 2:1), which follows on from John telling us about the calling of the first disciples. I was struck by the fact that, along with his mother and brothers, Jesus was invited – but it seems that his disciples were also welcomed. No doubt someone more knowledgeable than I am might explain the circumstances with greater context, but it feels as if this must have been quite a flexible invitation, as these additional men had only been Jesus’ followers for such a short time. This also implies that the wedding feast was a big affair; a conclusion that is supported by the volume of wine that is involved – I calculate that the water jars in the story would contain enough for some 3500 servings (glasses). All of this highlights the extent of the predicament that the wedding host was in when the wine ran out; it would be a huge embarrassment.
An easy ask
Into this story steps Jesus’ mother, who, having nudged her son, went on to encourage the household servants to do whatever he told them. I don’t imagine that these servants were disinterested parties; the embarrassment of the host would be theirs as well, their shame and their desperation. In the midst of this stress, Jesus instructed them to do something very normal and natural. This required little faith, just obedience – fill up the six stone water jars with what they were designed to contain, water. Who could criticise them for doing such a thing? It wasn’t as if they had any more wine that they should be busy serving to the guests! Another point to note is that this exercise would take some time; we are looking at maybe 600 litres, which we might assume had to be raised from a well and carried to where the jars stood. This wasn’t going to be an instant fix to their problem; it would have taken a while. It was only when the jars had been completely filled that a real step of faith was required from the servants. Jesus told them to draw some liquid from the jars and take it to the master of the feast, which they went on to do. Again, there is something to note here: we are told that ‘they’ went together to take the water turned into wine. This story concludes by highlighting the high quality of the wine from the water jars – this wasn’t just of an adequate standard, but a remarkable one. And it wasn’t just a sufficient quantity but a bountiful one.
Obedience
Where is this all leading us to? Put simply, the key to blessing is obedience, but this doesn’t have to be hard, just faithful (Luke 11:28). We see this from the actions of Jesus’ mother. Yes, she knew something of the calling of her special son, but I think she was led by the Spirit of God to prompt Jesus to act, and also then to convince the servants to follow his directions. They had no idea what was going to transpire, but were in a fix and needed a spectacular intervention, so they accepted Mary’s advice and obeyed Jesus’ direction. Maybe, when they took the sample of wine from the first jar, they realised that it was no longer mere water; perhaps that is why they were emboldened to go together to the master of the feast, otherwise they would surely have exposed only one of themselves to potential ridicule.
Desperation
Sometimes things don’t go right for us, and we get desperate – I have been there! In my early 30’s, I had no career direction and found myself unemployed for a protracted period. This was a tough situation to be in, but the hardest part was not knowing in which way to turn. I was desperate to hear from God, but he seemed to be silent. If he had set me a feat to accomplish as a prelude to giving me the guidance that I sought, then I would readily have complied, but of course, he didn’t do that; this isn’t how God works with us. He does not demand that we perform feats, but he does require simple obedience to the prompting of his Spirit, and compliance with the teaching of his Word. Maybe we have all struggled at some point to accept what the Bible clearly teaches, we might even have sensed that God was telling us to do something, but then declined to obey. If we desire God’s blessing on us, then obedience isn’t optional. Yes, we might struggle – we may wrestle with what we know we should be doing. But if we end up saying ‘No’, then we undermine the covenant that we made with him in the first place when we declared that Jesus was Lord of our lives. And, if we never actually made that commitment, then we are destined to struggle with our faith until we surrender and do so.
The Father, Son and Spirit know you through and through. They know what are your heart’s desires (Psalm 37:4). They know everything about you and how your past life experience has impacted you. God loves you and has chosen you since before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4,5). There is no possible excuse for saying no to God; if we do so, then we abandon any idea that Jesus is our Lord – lordship entails submission and willing obedience (Matthew 7:21).
Decisions
Let me conclude by asking two simple questions. What is God saying to you at the moment, and what are you going to do with this? He may be challenging you about your acceptance of his lordship. He might be asking you to take a particular step of obedience. He might be prompting you about your commitment to fellowship with other Christians. Maybe he is reminding you of the need to commune with him regularly and to read the Bible with intent. Perhaps you have been holding God at arm’s length, and you need to let him into your shell. It might be that there is something that you have said ‘No’ to, and you need to repent of this and respond with ‘Yes, Lord’. Whatever situation you find yourself in, God wants you to listen for his voice, to receive what he is saying to you, and to act faithfully in response to his guidance. This is the way to blessing – the only way!