Who were the wedding attendees? There were the invited guests- Mary, Jesus' mother, Jesus Himself, and His disciples. There was also the household family including the servants and of course the master of the feast.
The wedding was taking place in Cana in Galilee. Everything was going along smoothly until a problem of the wine running out arose. Mary's solution was to present the problem to Jesus. I have heard so many comments and questions about this portion of scripture. For example: How long did wedding feasts usually last? If the wine had run out does that mean the people were 'plastered'? Why would a God fearing woman want Jesus the Son of God, to make more wine that would make the people more drunk? Was the wine like the wine of today? Was it alcoholic? Does this mean it is okay to drink until the wine runs out?... Did Jesus make wine that caused people to be drunk?
There are answers to these questions. Wedding feasts did last sometimes a week. The English word wine is alcoholic beverage and is made so deliberately by the wine makers. The Greek has more than one way to use the word- new wine, fruit of the vine, etc. so more than likely the 'wine' was pure sweet grape juice, the fruit of the vine. Because juice did ferment so quickly it was often made into a paste with water added to it or the juice was watered down and so would not taste as good as pure sweet juice freshly made, therefore the master could say, "the best was saved for the last.." when Jesus made the water into wine!
I often ponder on Jesus answer to Mary when she told Him about the wine. He said, "What does that have to do with Me?" What does making wine have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come. This did not deter Mary, she turned to the servants and told them to do whatever Jesus told them to do. This I also find interesting. What authority did Mary have to be able to tell the servants what to do? Was she close enough to the family even as an invited guest to automatically give the servants instructions? Yet that is what she did and they obeyed her. Jesus hadn't said He would take care of the problem but He did.
Here is some application for us.
When problems arise do we naturally turn to Jesus and tell Him about it? Do we just know that He will take care of it and so do not hesitate to ask Him? Are we so sure of His care for us that we rely on Him to meet unexpected problems that arise? Think of how frequently you automatically turn to Jesus at the first sign of trouble. What happened as a result of turning to Him immediately? of not turning to Him immediately?
When was the last time you directed others to turn to Jesus with their problems? How did you go about it? Did it help them?
God uses prayer, petitions, and supplication for our benefit. Turn your problem over to Jesus and watch Him take care of it. He can make the ordinary water of life into pure sweet wine. Enjoy!
to the praise of the glory of His grace...
