John 2:1-11
If you are of a certain age, you will remember watching a show on TV starring Robert Young called “Father Knows Best.” Young played the part of Jim Anderson, an insurance agent. The cast included Jane Wyatt, playing his wife Margaret; Elinor Donohue, playing oldest daughter Betty; Billy Gray, as son Bud; and Lauren Chapin as the youngest child, Kathy. Every week, in just a half hour (really less than that, when you figure in commercial breaks), Jim managed to take care of whatever crisis had arisen in the household, especially those involving one of his three children. With his careful thought and wise advice, he steered them through their problems to positive resolutions.
But I always kind of thought that the mother, Margaret, deserved more credit. Her character was often the voice of reason when Jim got flustered or impatient or angry. She managed to stay calm and patient, no matter what was going on around her. And she took care of Jim’s difficulties in working out his children’s problems. May-be the show should have been called, “Mother Knows Best!”
The same label might be attached to the story of the first sign – or miracle – that Jesus performed in the gospel of John. Gary Hansen, a theology professor, calls this “a very important story, set in the midst of ordinariness.” It seems that Jesus had been invited to attend a wedding in the town of Cana, in Galilee, along with his disciples, six of them at that time. Lin Johnson, writing in God’s Word for the Biblically Inept, says, “Jesus wasn’t a stuffy religious leader who didn’t know how to have a good time. Instead, people wanted him at their parties, and he accepted their invitations.”
In those days, wedding celebrations typically lasted seven days and there would be many guests in attendance. While the guests helped with some expenses, the host was responsible for providing lodging for the guests and supplying enough wine for the entire week. Running out of wine would be a huge social embarrassment. Normally, the best wine would be served early in the week; later in the week, it was assumed that the taste buds of the guests would have become “dulled from drinking,” as Lin Johnson puts it.
At some point during the week-long celebration, Mary came to Jesus and told him that they had no more wine. Warren Wiersbe writes, “[Mary] must have been very close to either the bride or the bridegroom to have such a personal concern for the success of the festivities, or even to know that the supply of wine was depleted. Perhaps Mary was assisting in the preparation and serving of the meal.” It could even be that Mary was related to someone in the wedding party. But in any case, when the wine ran out, she went to Jesus to request his help. She had some idea of the kind of power that he had and she was hoping that he would somehow save the situation.
Raquel Lettsome, an elder in the AME Church in New York, writes, “When the wine ran out, Mary went to find Jesus. Mary is in the right place, knows the right person, and thinks it is the right time … She does now know how Jesus will supply the need, what he will require in order to do it, or when he will act. However, the critical issue for Mary is not what, when, where, or how. Her calmness is the result of knowing who … At the very least, she knows her son … She seems confident that he will act on her petition.”
At first, Jesus seemed hesitant, or even irritated, by Mary’s request. He wanted to know why she wanted to get him involved and said that his time had not yet come. He wasn’t there to perform miracles on demand, after all! And yet, when it came down to it, Jesus acted to fix the problem. He took care of her request. Hansen writes, “Jesus honors his mother … by doing what she asks of him. He does this despite his disagreement about the relevance of the lack of wine, and despite the inconvenience to his own sense of timing. He simply does what God’s own commandment says to do (Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16).” Jesus told the servants to fill 6 stone water jars to the brim with water. Each jar held between twenty and thirty gallons. Then he told them to take some of the water to the master of the banquet. When they did, the water had been turned into wine. Not only that, but the master declared it to be the best wine he had been served.
Jesus had just given an overwhelmingly generous gift to the wedding feast; about 120 gallons of wine, or somewhere in the neighborhood of 605 bottles of the best wine. Hansen rather humorously states, “Because Jesus is present, God is present. Because God is present, let the good times roll.” This is recorded as the first sign or miracle of Jesus in John’s gospel. And yet, only Mary, the servants, and the six disciples knew about it. But John says that it revealed Jesus’s glory and the disciples put their faith in him. Hansen says, “Jesus reveals his glory as he honors ordinary people, quietly, wondrously tending to them. Jesus honors the bridegroom whom he saves from social disgrace. If the wine were allowed to fail, people would notice. He would hear about it at every holiday dinner for the rest of his life. Jesus honors the otherwise easily ignored servants whom he makes the only real witnesses to the miracle.” And Jesus reveals his glory by revealing his divinity; only the divine can work miracles. Hansen states, “The power of the divine Word is clearly shown in the miracle; if ordinary people could turn water into wine, no one would ever get anything done.”
While all of these things are true, I see something more. I see something wise about Mary in this story. Mary knew her son. She knew him well enough to know that if he could do something to prevent another person from being humiliated, he would do it. She knew him well enough to suspect that he had the power to do something. And maybe she knew him well enough to believe that the time had come, even if Jesus wasn’t sure that it had. She recognized his authority and she had absolute faith in his ability to take care of the problem. Raquel Lettsome writes, “… at the heart of this story is a mother who believes Jesus will do something.”
I don’t know about you, but I had a mother who believed I could do things, sometimes more than I could believe that about myself. She was an encourager, a prodder, and sometimes even a little bit of a nagger. She reminded me of who I really was: an intelligent, capable, well-educated, deeply spiritual woman committed to serving God and others, with gifts and talents that had been given to me to equip me to do what God had called me to do. Sometimes she pushed me to do things that I wasn’t sure I could do. One time I casually mentioned that Circuit Rider magazine, a magazine for Methodist clergy that is no longer published, was sponsoring a sermon contest. She told me that I should enter; I told her that I was sure there were a lot more talented preachers than me out there who would enter, and I had no chance to win. But she just wouldn’t let up, so I finally sent in a sermon. I came in third place in the whole country, and they published my sermon. Okay, so she was right – that time.
Maybe Mary was trying to encourage Jesus in the same way. Okay, it’s time to get busy doing what you were sent here to do. You may not feel like it’s time, but may-be you’re just stalling for some reason. Here’s your chance to demonstrate to others who you really are. And Jesus listened to his mother’s request to do something. He turned ordinary water into wine. He saved the day for the wedding host. And he won the faith of the men who had already chosen to follow him. Sometimes Mother really does know best.
