John 2:1-11–The
custom is to prepare an invitation list for a wedding. The invitation signifies
you are important to the one inviting you. It indicates further that you are
wanted. The unknown couple in the Gospel put Jesus on their invitation list.
And they could be glad they did! Jesus
honors them with His presence. He met their needs of wine. He saved the
reception from failure. Have you invited Jesus to come into your marriage, your
work, your life?
For many, life is
empty. Our lives may be as empty as the stone jars. When we come to Jesus, as
Mary did, for help, Jesus not only fills us up to the brim, but gives us an
excess. The six stone jars provided 120 – 180 gallons of wine! Note, too, the generosity of Jesus in feeding
the 5,000 – twelve baskets were left over. Jesus is able not only to meet our
needs, but to exceed them.
Without wine, the rabbis had
said, “there is no joy.” Thus a situation of considerable embarrassment if not
disgrace has risen for this couple and for Mary the mother of our Lord, who apparently
had considerable responsibility for the wedding feat arrangements.
The statement, “they have no wine,” is a request for
help, not necessarily the expectation of a miracle. Just like the Nike commercial, Mary told the
servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. “Just do it!” She had learned to respect His words. If the servants
had not obeyed, there would have been no wine out of water. A miracle will take
place in our lives when we “do whatever
He tells us.” To obey is a test of
faith when the command seems illogical and ridiculous. The need was wine and
Jesus commands getting water! He has other seemingly illogical demands: “Give and it shall be given you,” “He who loses his life shall find it.”
A prayer for
newness of life in Christ–Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the
works of darkness and put upon ourselves the armor of life, now in the time of
this mortal life, in which Your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great
humility, that in the last day, when He shall come again in glory to judge both
the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal.[2]
-14 January, 2022
[1] Wedding at Cana, copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things
[2] Collect for newness of life in Christ, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
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