Reading 20
Water into wine
The reading
John 2:1-11
The third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the marriage. When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”
Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews’ way of purifying, containing two or three metretes apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” They filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast.” So they took it. When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and didn’t know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom, and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now!”
This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
The companions
Psalm 104:14-15
He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth: wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.
Isaiah 25:6-9 (selected)
In this mountain, the LORD of Armies will make all peoples a feast of choice meat, a feast of choice wines. He will destroy in this mountain the veil that is spread over all nations. He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces, for the LORD has spoken it. It shall be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is the LORD! We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”
The note
The first sign is not a healing or a rescue. It is a supply problem at a village wedding, solved quietly.
The scale is worth noticing. Six stone jars, twenty or thirty gallons each, filled to the brim. That is far past what the party needed. So is the quality: the host, who has no idea what has happened, complains that the usual order has been reversed and the best was held back until now.
Notice who knows. The host does not. The guests do not.
The servants who carried the water know exactly what happened, because they did the filling. The people doing the work are the ones standing inside the sign.
Mary’s instruction is the plainest line in the passage: whatever he says to you, do it. She brings the problem in four words — they have no wine — with no plan attached, and hands the next move to someone else.
This week
Bring one problem without the plan attached. Most people present a difficulty already packaged with the answer they want, which is not really bringing it. Mary uses four words and stops; they are there in the passage.
Try that once this week with something you have been managing alone. Then do the next instruction that comes, even if it looks pointless, the way filling six stone jars to the brim looked pointless.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered “the LORD” and “the Lord GOD” in the prophet reading.
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