It’s a new year. With a new year, we’re starting a new sermon series called “It’s a Miracle.” We’re going to look at some of the miracles Jesus performed while he was on earth.
We’re not going to look at all of them, of course. Depending on how you count, the Bible records roughly forty miracles that Jesus performed. Obviously, we have no idea whether he may have performed others that are not recorded, but the Bible does tell us that Jesus did many things that are not recorded, so it’s certainly possible. That means there must be some reason that the ones we know about were put into the Bible. There must be something we’re supposed to learn from the miracles we know about, the ones that made it into the Bible.
It also seems likely that what we’re supposed to learn from these miracles goes beyond just Jesus exercising raw power. Jesus did not just perform miracles for no reason. I’ll bet there were times when the disciples wished he would. They may or may not have said so, but we know many of them were expecting Jesus to be in charge of an earthly kingdom. I’ll bet there were times when they wished Jesus would just zap some of those Pharisees who were causing them trouble. Then, too, there were those times when they were traveling a long distance, and it was hot, and they were tired. I wonder if they ever said, “Hey, Jesus, why do we have to walk to Jerusalem? Why don’t you just wave your hand or something and just make us appear there?”
Jesus did not do that. Remember, that’s the sort of thing Satan wanted him to do when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, to use his power for his own purposes. Jesus was powerful, of course, and still is, but there’s more to the miracles than that.
We’re going to start this sermon series by looking at the first miracle of Jesus that’s recorded. In fact, we’re told is the first miracle Jesus performed. It’s the miracle at the wedding feast at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine.
We’re told that Mary, Jesus, and Jesus’ disciples were invited to this wedding. That raises a couple of questions right there. For one, what happened to Joseph? Why was he not invited? Was he dead by this time? Could he not get away from the carpenter’s shop? The Bible doesn’t say.
Also, were all the disciples invited? That seems kind of strange, that all of the disciples would have known the happy couple well enough to get invited to the wedding. It seems more likely that this was more of an open house type thing, where everyone around was welcome to come to celebrate.
At any rate, whoever was in charge goofed up, because they ran out of wine. Then, we’re told Jesus’ mother said to Jesus, ‘They have no more wine.’”
I wonder, how did Mary get involved in the problem? There’s nothing to indicate she was in charge of providing wine. We’re not told she had anything to do with organizing anything. Yet, not only does she get involved, she gets Jesus involved, too.
Notice, too, the faith Mary has that Jesus can and will do something about the problem. We don’t know what Mary thought Jesus would do. We don’t know that she expected him to work a miracle. For all we know, she might have thought he’d go try to get some more wine from somewhere else, from some friends or from a shop or something. Still, even though Jesus does not seem to want to do anything, Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. She seems confident that Jesus will take care of the situation somehow, in some way.
And, of course, Jesus does. He tells the servants to fill some stone jars with water and take them to the master of the banquet, and when the master tasted the water, it had turned into wine. In fact, it was better wine that what had been served before.
When you think about it, this is kind of a strange little miracle for Jesus to have performed. Nobody was raised from the dead. Nobody was even healed. No hungry people were fed. Very few people even knew what Jesus had done. The servants knew, of course. The disciples knew, because we’re told that they put their faith in Jesus. We don’t even know if Mary found out what had happened. Why did Jesus choose this for his first miracle?
Well, as I’ve said before, I don’t pretend to know Jesus’ mind. I can think of a few possible reasons, though.
For one thing, Jesus showed love for his earthly mother. Even though he appears to be reluctant to use his power in this situation, he clearly did not want to let Mary down. Once she put him on the spot, he preferred to go ahead and act rather than have Mary be disappointed.
For another thing, it would have been important for the disciples to know of Jesus’ power before anyone else did. They needed to know that Jesus truly was the Son of God. They needed to know that Jesus had power from God the Father. They needed to know it so that, when Jesus started his earthly ministry, they’d know what was going on and not be taken totally by surprise. They still were surprised, of course. They seem to have been surprised every time Jesus did anything. But at least they had some kind of clue.
I think there was something else going on here, though, and I think it’s the most important thing about this miracle. Again, this was no big, society-changing event. It was just a small, little, intimate miracle. No one’s life was saved. No one was in healed, or if they were it’s not mentioned. No sinners repented and were saved. No advice was given on how we should live our lives. It was just a celebration of a wedding, something that has happened billions of times in the history of the world, and had already happened many, many times when Jesus performed this miracle. It was a big event for the two people involved, but for the rest of the world, it was no big deal at all.
And maybe that’s the point. Sometimes, we get the idea that God is only the God of the big picture. We think that, if God gets involved in every day life at all, it’s only in the big, world-changing events—wars, natural disasters, that sort of thing. We think that God would not care about the mundane, everyday things that we go through in our lives.
It’s not true. That’s not a Biblical idea. The Bible tells us that God knows everything about us. God knows when we get up and when we go to bed. God knows every word we say before we say it. God knows every thought we think. God knows the number of hairs on our heads. And it’s not just us. God knows everything that’s going on in creation. God notices when a sparrow dies. God sees it all, and God knows about it all.
But more importantly, God cares about it. God cares about the things that happen to us in our everyday lives. God is there in those times. God is there when we get up and when we go to bed. God is there when we’re happy and when we’re sad. God is there when things go right and when things go wrong. And God wants to help, if we just open ourselves up to that help.
As far as we can tell, no one’s life changed as a result of this miracle that Jesus did. The disciples came to believe, but surely there were lots of other ways Jesus could’ve convinced the disciples of who he was. The husband and wife, who are not named at all in the story, were already married when Jesus did this miracle—they would’ve been just as married whether Jesus acted or not. All that happened here was that whoever was in charge of the banquet was saved from a little embarrassment, and some people’s lives were made a little happier by being able to celebrate a little more.
I think maybe that’s the lesson of this miracle. Maybe that’s why we’re told about it in the Bible. It shows that God is not just God of the big picture. God is not just involved in the big, world-changing events. God is there in the moments of each of our lives, the big ones and the small ones. And God wants to help make those moments better.
Remember, one thing, though. At first Jesus showed no inclination to do anything. It was only after Mary brought the situation to Jesus’ attention that Jesus acted.
Now, that does not mean Jesus was not aware of what was going on. What it means, though, is that Mary showed her faith. When she brought the situation to Jesus’ attention she expected something to happen. She may not have known what was going to happen, but she was confident something would. She trusted that, once she made Jesus aware of the situation, Jesus would not let her down.
The longer I’ve been a pastor, the more I’ve come to realize that almost everyone has something serious going on in his or her life. If it’s not something that involves you personally, it involves someone you care a lot about. I may or may not know what it is for you, but I know there’s something.
Whatever you’re going through, know that God knows about it. Don’t just know that God knows about it, know that God cares about it. And don’t just know that God cares about it, know that God will do something about it, if we do two things: if we ask God to do something about it, and if we trust that after we ask, God will, in fact, do something about it.
We’re not allowed to tell God what to do. Mary did not tell Jesus what to do. She just trusted that Jesus would do something, and was confident that, whatever Jesus did, it would be the right thing.
I think that’s the lesson for us. Whatever we’re going through, tell God about the situation. Then, trust that God will do something. Don’t tell God what to do. Just trust that God will do something. Then be confident that, whatever God does, it will be the right thing to do.
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