1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
In our verses for today Jesus brings honor to the ordinance of marriage - first by gracing it with His presence and second by the performance of His first miracle. Christ begins His miracles in an obscure little corner of the world, Cana in Galilee at the ordinance and celebration of a marriage. How desirable for Jesus to be present at the celebration. All marriages should be so blessed to have His acknowledgment of them and presence of Him – an honor indeed. His presence elevates the covenant of marriage to its rightful height as two become one flesh - an example of Christ and His bride, the Church.
Mary goes straight to Jesus, the source of all power and strength, when she discovers the problem of the empty wine glass. It would do us all well to follow Mary’s example and apply ourselves to prayer and humbly present our case to Him as a first rather than last resort. His response to His dear mother was “the fullness of time” had not yet arrived. Jesus was in the center of God’s will and about His Father’s business - in His Father’s time – always. He was not in the business of randomly performing miracles for miracles sake. There was purpose behind each miracle as well as purpose behind everything He said and everything He did.
Mary’s response had to be one of her all time greatest – “Do whatever he tells you.” She herself fleshed this out when told by Gabriel that she would be the mother of the Messiah:
35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God." 38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her. Luke 1:35-38 (NIV)
“Do whatever he tells you” – modern day believers are in great need of hearing and applying these five words are we not? Unfortunately, the god of tolerance coupled with gross Biblical illiteracy has blinded our eyes to Truth leaving us ignorant of what we are even to be obedient to. We have bought into the relativism of our day. Statistics prove this out. There is very little difference in the behavior of those who claim to be Christians and the actions of the world. This should not be - shame on us! We are to be different - cities on a hill that cannot be hidden – showing forth good fruit – pointing others to Jesus – bringing God much glory. Indeed, Jesus Himself states:
15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command. John 14:15 (NIV)
21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:21 (NIV)
“Love for God and obedience to God are so completely involved in each other that either one of them implies the other too.” F. F. Bruce
"Faith, as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience to the commandments of Christ." A.W. Tozer
A true faith will show forth in obedience. James tells us:
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. James 2:14-19 (NIV)
“Whenever there is a true faith, it must fix on Jesus Christ alone for salvation; that is its principal act. This same faith unites to Christ; and where there is union, there must be love; and where there is love, there must be obedience; and where there is obedience, there will be a reward of grace; and when the reward is acknowledged to be of grace, and not of merit, God will have all the glory in time and eternity.” K. H. Von Bogatzky
"Beware of reasoning about God's Word - obey It." Oswald Chambers