Living Stones – Monday, November 13, 2017
God of the miracle
John 2:11
This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
The wedding in Cana, recorded only by John, in chapter 2 verses 1 to 11 of his Gospel account, was a big wedding. Jesus, His family, and His followers, were all invited. Maybe, the wedding was bigger than expected because, as often happens, more people than were invited showed up. Or, maybe, the wedding planner didn’t do a good job. Whatever the reason, they ran out of wine.
Maybe the reason why Jesus had His whole crew at the wedding was because He was related or connected to one of the families in some way. The fact that when the crisis occurred, Mary, Jesus’ mother, was the one who set about looking for a solution, and was giving instructions to the servants would also seem to suggest a family connection.
Mary went to Jesus and what follows seems like a situation that could occur in any mother son relationship. The mother wanted her son to find a solution and the son just wanted to stay out of the people’s affairs and have a good time with his friends.
What we would never know is what things took place in their home on a normal day that caused Mary to come to Him in such a dire set of circumstance and express such confidence in the face of His obvious reluctance. She did not even stay to fuss with Him, she just walked away and told the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
We know the rest of the story, Jesus looks around and sees the jars that keep the water for the washing of hands and feet, and tells the servants to fill them. All six jars! That’s six water jars at about 30 gallons each; they were about to get 180 gallons of the finest wine ever made.
When the wine gets to the toast master, he mounted a protest with the bridegroom saying, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” Someone said to me yesterday that we should give the bridegroom a break. They believe the bridegroom did serve his best at first, it’s just that the wine which Jesus provided was so much better.
For everyone else involved with the wedding or attending, there was wine again. The party could resume in earnest. The family was saved a major embarrassment and Mary will forever be a hero in the family.
But back in the corner, where Jesus was hanging out with His crew, something else was happening. What they just witnessed was not the saving of face for the hosts of a wedding reception. What they saw was a manifestation of the Glory of Jesus. They were not just struck by the miracle of instant wine, they also saw the God of the miracle who was worthy of belief and faith.
The disciples were not distracted by the wine. Very often today we are so easily distracted. Many are consumed by miracles for miracles sake. Miracles are used for advertising and promotion of ministries and events, and miracles are often used to draw our attention to men through whom they are performed.
This tendency, to be distracted by men in the miracle and not the God of the miracle, is not new. In Acts 3:12, after the first recorded miracle at the hands of the Apostles, Peter had to go to great pains to point out that their focus should be on the God of the miracle and not on the men He used. Again, in Acts 14:8-18 a whole ‘cult’ got started to worship Paul and Barnabas and “they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.”
The display of God’s glory should confirm the word we have heard, and the word that we have in our heads and in our hearts. Our attention should always be turned to the God of miracles. We should never be distracted by the people and events around us when the Glory of God is on display.
Think on these things:
- Have you ever witnessed a miracle?
- Do you ever exercise faith for a miracle or have such expectations?
- Have you ever seen miracles used to draw attention to men rather than to God?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would experience God’s miracles and by them, our faith would grow.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
