John 2 Mary, the mother of Jesus, was attending the wedding festivities of a close friend in Cana. As she helped her friend with the food and wine, Mary realized they hadn’t ordered enough to serve the guests for the whole feast. If they ran out of wine, the wedding party would be cut short. Knowing that Jesus was teaching close by, Mary sent a young boy to go and bring Jesus to the wedding. When Jesus learned that His mother needed His help, He quickly set off to find her. His disciples followed. When they arrived at the wedding, Mary embraced her son. “Thank you for coming to help,” she said. “There isn’t enough wine for the party, and there isn’t time to buy more!” “Tell me what you would like me to do,” said Jesus. “My hour is not yet come, and until then I am here to serve you.” Mary smiled gratefully. Then she turned to the servants. “Do whatever he asks you to do,” she instructed, and then she hurried off to tell her friend that Jesus would solve their problem. Focusing on the large water pots that were used for ritual hand washing, Jesus thought of a solution. “Take these pots and fill them to the brim with water,” Jesus instructed the head servant. Confused, the servants did as instructed wondering how water could possibly help. It was customary to serve the best wine at the beginning of the feast, and then as the night drew on to serve the lower quality wine. By then, no one would notice the taste. But surely, the guests would notice they were drinking water and not wine! “Good,” said Jesus, after seeing all the water pots had been filled. “Now bring them to the governor, and give him some to drink.” The head servant gaped in disbelief. He had heard Mary’s son was powerful, but Jesus hadn’t even touched the water pots, let alone worked a miracle! How could the head of staff knowingly bring water to the governor to taste? Yet, he had been instructed by Mary to do whatever Jesus asked, and he could not disobey his master’s guest. Resigned, the head servant and a few others carried a water pot to the front of the crowd and served the governor. They watched the governor warily, fearing what he might say. As soon as he had tasted the liquid, the governor called out to the groom, “I see you have been saving the best wine for last!” The servants looked and saw the waterpots were now filled with wine. They looked around in awe to see where Jesus had gone and saw that He was at His mother’s side, listening to her.
