Trusting Jesus with the Wine (John 2:1-11)

John 2:1-11 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." ⁴ And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." ⁵ His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." ⁶ Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it. ⁹ When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." ¹¹ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

This the the beginning of Jesus' ministry.  And it is fraught with problems for my non-drinking baptist friends!  I've heard long sermons on how the wine wasn't really wine.  And how the "after guests have become drunk" is properly translated as the "guests were full of juice."  But the Greek word means "to be made drunk." 

On the other hand, my drinking Presbyterian friends love this story.  Jesus goes to a party and when the wine runs low, he turns water into wine!  Not just any wine, but into good wine!  Party on!

Strange stuff.  We also see what seem to me to be this light hearted mother-son exchange between Jesus and his mother.  If it happened today, it might go like this... 

Mom: "Here is a problem you can fix." 

Jesus: "Seriously woman?" 

Mom: "Don't play the 'My time has not yet come' card with me, young man.  Just do it."

We see the creator and the sustainer of the universe at a wedding helping out with the refreshments at the insistence of his mom!!  This is great stuff.  I don't know exactly what to do with it except enjoy it. 

And then I read...  because of all of this... "his disciples trusted him."  This is the point of the story.  They witness Jesus in ordinary surroundings in a playful exchange with his mother and then he does the extraordinary... more than 120 gallons of water is turned to wine.  Good wine.  And he doesn't even make a big show of it. 

Jesus transforms plain to extraordinary.  Focus this day on this beautiful picture of Jesus turning water into wine.  Ordinary into extraordinary.  And let him transform your life in extraordinary ways.  Don't hold him back!