If you look around at people’s shopping trolleys in the supermarkets in the lead up to Christmas, it becomes clear that the fear of people is that they will run out of food and drinks to entertain their guests. It would of course be very embarrassing to do so!
John 2:1-11
Jesus at a Wedding in Cana
2 Three days later Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at a wedding feast in the village of Cana in Galilee. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited and were there.
3 When the wine was all gone, Mary said to Jesus, “They don’t have any more wine.”
4 Jesus replied, “Mother, my time hasn’t yet come: You must not tell me what to do.”
5 Mary then said to the servants, “Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.”
6 At the feast there were six stone water jars that were used by the people for washing themselves in the way that their religion said they must. Each jar held about twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told the servants to fill them to the top with water. Then after the jars had been filled, 8 he said, “Now take some water and give it to the man in charge of the feast.”
The servants did as Jesus told them, 9 and the man in charge drank some of the water that had now turned into wine. He did not know where the wine had come from, but the servants did. He called the bridegroom over 10 and said, “The best wine is always served first. Then after the guests have had plenty, the other wine is served. But you have kept the best until last!”
11 This was Jesus’ first miracle, and he did it in the village of Cana in Galilee. There Jesus showed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Another story of extravagance and what Jesus can do with the ordinary when he is given it for use. This ties together the two other lectionary readings for this week.
- these are not just jars of drinking water, they are jars of washing water. It is not clean and pure, it is for the dirt and grime. That is what Jesus takes and makes into this amazing wine.
- Jesus doesn’t make mediocre, or even perfectly adequate wine – he makes the very best.
Jesus can work with whatever he has got. It doesn’t have to be the best to become the best.
Jesus can take and use whatever we have to bring him. We needn’t worry about the quality, he deals with that. It is our offering and our willingness to give it that makes the gift usable. The host had struggled on with “good-enough” wine, when Jesus was able to supply the best.
What have you got in your life that Jesus can take and use into something magnificent and generous? And will you let him do so?
Lord,
Take what I have
and what I am
and make it magnificent
and abundant
in you
