“Unwavering faith, unquestioning obedience”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, February 27, 2023
John 2:1-12 (Forward, p. 29) CEV p. 1101
For all its retelling and re-reading over the ages, the story of the wedding at Cana of Galilee never ceases to amaze me. Of course, and rightfully so, the major focus of our thoughts should be on Jesus, for, after all, this is the first of the ‘signs’ that He performed, signs that were meant to point beyond the mere miraculous and on to the person who performed them.
But equally noteworthy—in my thinking at least—are the various other characters that show up in the story. Most significant of these is Mary, Jesus’ mother. As soon as she becomes aware of the problem—and this appears to be before anyone else—she immediately goes to Jesus and leaves Him with the problem. And notice that: she just leaves it with Him, no badgering or recriminations, no, not even after His seeming rebuff. “Woman, what is that to you or to me. Mine hour has not yet come.” No, that doesn’t put her off even one iota. I wonder, just how many of us would react in this way. I would suspect that we get put off with God for far smaller things than that!
In fact, she goes one better than just leaving the problem with Jesus. She goes to the servants—she must have had some bearing, some clout, there in that gathering—and tells them, “Whatever he says to do, do it.” She basically gives her son, Jesus, carte blanche, a blank cheque, to do whatever He wants. Again, then, I must ask: ‘how many of us could do that? Be willing to give God complete and wavering permission to do what ever and whenever and wherever He wants: I think not.
And then there is the question of the servants. Jesus tells them to fill up the stone water pots used to store water for purification purposes and they fill them up to their very brim. That’s something like 120-180 gallons! And Jesus tells them to carry it over to the man in charge of the feast. And they do so, no questions asked. If they carried all the water, that would have been quite a task, and yet they appear to have done it without even the least bit of hesitation or murmuring. Perhaps, as servants they were accustomed to obeying promptly and totally, but even so, it is still pretty significant. Again, I wonder whether we would be willing to respond anywhere as quickly or willingly.
And so, Jesus’ action in performing this sign, this miracle, is amazing, and certainly very significant, but I can’t help but also think of the people who made it possible, who facilitated it. So then, let me leave us all with something to think about: maybe God, Jesus, wants to perform some sign or miracle in our midst today, but is only waiting for us to help Him set it in action, maybe by our prayers perhaps, or maybe by some action or word on our part. It is surely something to think about. Amen.
Forward notes: “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you’” (verse 5).
“Moms know their children and what they are capable of. By the time this wedding in Cana rolled around, Mary had already been told by an angel that her baby was chosen for something amazing. She gave birth to him out of town in a stable and had shepherds and stargazers travel to see the newborn. Under threat, she fled with the child to another country and then lost him for three days when he was twelve. So yes, she knows what she’s talking about when she says, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ When the servants do as Jesus requests, there is plenty of wine for all. Imagine if we responded the same way to Jesus’s requests in our lives!
“Sometimes I feel Jesus in a simple nudge, ‘Take that class’ or ‘Introduce yourself to that new colleague.’ Other times, Jesus has bigger requests: ‘Now is a time to let go and move on,’ and the hardest one for me, ‘Forgive yourself.’ Every day is another opportunity to listen to Jesus. So, go to the Sunday school class, sign up for the holy hike, volunteer on a mission trip. Do whatever Jesus tells you to do. Even his mother said so.”
Moving Forward: “What is Jesus telling you to do today?