John 2:5 (AMP)
His mother said to the servants, Whatever He says to you, do it.
Weddings and mothers! Yeah, we’ve been to those at some point by ourselves or with “mother,” right? Only we didn’t think we’d be working to either provide or top-up the refreshments.
Awesome that Jesus stepped into His earthly ministry at a wedding by providing wine! He did not discriminate on what was needed to carry out His Father’s business- making wine, raising the dead, healing the sick, you name it, all part of His Father’s business.
Mary noticed the problem and wanted to do something about it, but what could she do? Even though she didn’t have the resources to solve the problem, she knew who has the resources: Jesus. With unbounded confidence in Him, she simply puts the need before him: “They have no wine.” Seriously! She expects Jesus to use His supernatural powers and anointing to make wine? God is always in the details and joy is the purpose.
Mary instructed the waiters to do whatever Jesus tells them. That instruction is for us all: whatever Christ tells you, do! Not one of us is exempted from spiritual activities, commands, and assignments.
And the servants in the story did; they did exactly what Jesus told them to do. His instruction was simple, fill six large stone jars with water and then bring a glass to the steward (the manager) of the feast. Whenever I read this part, I can just imagine their reaction to Jesus’ words. “You want us to do WHAT???!!!!” They must have thought He was crazy. Remember Jesus hadn’t performed any miracles yet, so they probably didn’t know who He was. It would have sounded like He was telling them to give water to their boss and just pretend it was wine. It must have seemed ludicrous to them. But they did it anyway.
We must do whatever the Lord tells us to do!
We’re not only supposed to follow if it seems reasonable to us or if it makes sense, as 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 states, that the things of God are foolishness to the unbeliever. Like the servants in this story, we’re called to follow God’s will unconditionally; we’re called to serve Him no matter what.
The simplicity and humility of Mary’s approach are how we need to approach Jesus. He is our Saviour and loves us unconditionally.
In our needs, confusion, troubles, and sufferings, we should make Mary’s prayer our own: “They – we, I – have no wine…” That’s a great example for us to follow. We don’t always know what God is doing with us or where He’s taking us, but we should trust Him anyway.
Esther did not learn obedience on the day at the palace but from before then under Mordecai, Esther 4:14 says she obeyed. If she had not lived in obedience with Mordecai before now, she would not have been able to do as instructed. God doesn’t ask more of us than we can give Him. If all we can do is just obey without feeling optimistic about the outcome of our actions, God will accept that. The important thing is that we stay the course, not that we always understand it or feel good about it. So, whatever He asks you to do, do!
Shalom
