Living Stones – Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Just do it
John 2:5
His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
With my tendency to see drama everywhere, I imagine Mary shrugging off the protests from her son Jesus and instructing the servants as she walked away. Whatever the atmosphere at the time, she basically said, “whatever He says to you, [just] do it.
We are all familiar with the Nike slogan, JUST DO IT. That slogan, developed in 1988, and the advertising campaign created around it, served to substantially increase Nike’s market share in the shoe market. Their campaign for athletic shoes was aimed at the entire market with no differentiation for age, gender, or physical fitness. The result was that Nike’s athletic shoes became a fashion statement and now, more that 80% of the Nike athletic shoes are not worn for athletic purposes. In other words, people responded and “just did it.”
It is amazing that, so often, it is easier to get people to respond to advertising campaigns than to get Christians to obey the simple instructions of Christ. It would appear, that sometimes, the instructions are either too simple to be taken seriously, or that we think them too ridiculous to follow, or that they present a challenge that we are not prepared to take up.
The case of the servants in this story of the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, John 2:1-12, is a model of instant obedience. Jesus had not yet begun His public ministry, as a matter of fact, this was a part of His protest, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” It is therefore very unlikely that the servants knew who He was.
I continue to believe that, although this is the “beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee,” Mary was confident in her knowledge and experience of Him that He could deliver a solution, seemingly out of nothing, and that all that would be required is obedience to His commands.
Mary’s influence at the wedding clearly played a part in them following the obviously ridiculous instruction from Jesus to fill the six stone waterpots with 180 gallons of water. Then, with full knowledge that this is just water they had fetched and poured in the waterpots, they dipped some and took it to the master of ceremonies.
It is not until the declaration by the toast master, who seemed to also be a taste master, that the servants might have felt vindicated in doing what Jesus requested of them. John records that when “the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.
Sometimes it would help if we, as children of God, would take Jesus at His word and just do it. Often, the things that God requires of us seem ridiculous and it’s only the exercise of childlike faith that would really get us through. Maybe what we are missing is the knowledge and experience that Mary had.
Jesus met a man who was blind from birth and used His saliva to make a paste with dirt on the ground, He applied this mixture to the man’s eyes and then instructed him to “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” Looking back, this is a ridiculous action and a ridiculous command, but the man obeyed. We don’t have the details of how he got there. Did he know the way and guided himself there with a stick, or was there someone to lead him? What we do know is that “he went and washed, and came back seeing.”
Sometimes, people balk at the instructions from Jesus and so miss out on the miracle, or miss out on what God has in store for them. Simple childlike faith is not always easy for those of us who are no longer children.
Jesus met another man, this one considered himself to be righteous, Jesus told him to “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” It would be great if this story had a happy ending just like that at the wedding or of the blind man. It didn’t, however, because, “when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich” Luke 18:22-23.
Many of us have read God’s instructions in the scriptures, or have sensed the leading in the spirit as we prayed, or heard a prophetic word that we knew was for us. Nevertheless, we continue to doubt, dissect, and deny the clear instructions we have received, and so delay what God is at work to do for us.
Maybe we should listen and just do it!
Think on these things:
- Do you expect to receive personal direction from God as to what you should do in any given circumstance?
- Are you confident that you ever received clear instructions from God through the scriptures or during pray, church or other circumstance?
- If you are confident that you have received direction from God what caused you to obey, or, what caused you not to?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that, we would be able to discern the clear instructions from God and to with childlike faith obey.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
