A Strange Little Miracle

The message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church January 10, 2021.  The Bible verses used are John 2:1-11.

Our Bible reading tonight tells the story of 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.

            Now, this is one of the miracles that just about everyone knows about.  Even people who are not Christians have heard this story.  They may not believe it, but they know there’s a story in the Bible about Jesus turning water into wine.

            The thing is, as Jesus’ miracles go, this is really kind of a strange one.  No one was raised from the dead.  No one was healed.  No demons were expelled or anything.  No one was even fed.  All that happened was that there was more wine available for people at a wedding feast.  The only thing anyone was saved from was a little embarrassment.

            Let’s look at the story in more detail.  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.  As far as we can tell, she was just a guest at the wedding, just like Jesus and the others. 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.  We don’t even know whether, at this point, she knew Jesus could work miracles.  I mean, she knew he was the divine Son of God, but that did not necessarily mean he could work miracles.  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.  But whatever she thought, she had complete confidence in Jesus.  Even though Jesus does not seem to want to do anything, Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. She’s complete assured 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.

            This is such a strange little miracle, when you think about it. Not only was nobody was raised from the dead or healed or fed or anything, but it looks like 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.  But we don’t know that anybody else knew. We don’t even know if Mary found out what had happened. Why would 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. Again, no one’s life was saved. No one was in healed. 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.  And again, we don’t know if they ever even found out what happened. 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 don’t need 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.

            God may not act right away.  God may act in a way that surprises us.  God may act in a way that we never would’ve thought of at all.  But God will act.  And God will act at the right time.

            So if you’re struggling with something tonight, tell God about it.  Ask God to take care of it.  Don’t tell God how to take care of it, just ask God to take care of it.  Then, trust that God will.  And trust that whatever God does will be the right thing.