Jesus, His disciples, His mother, and the entire village of Cana had come to celebrate a wedding. It would last for many days and there will be plenty to eat and drink – or so they thought.
We can only imagine what Jesus and His disciples were doing at this wedding. They were probably, like most of the guests, sitting around enjoying the celebration. Perhaps talking about how God had brought together the young bride and groom. As they were enjoying the festivities, Jesus and His disciples could probably sense something wasn’t quite right. Something was going on that would make this a memorable wedding. It could have turned out to be an embarrassment for the family putting on the celebration.
Jesus’ mother, Mary, came up to Jesus and revealed the potential disaster. “They have no more wine!” Mary said (John 2:3). Notice she didn’t ask Jesus to help. She just expected it. It’s as if Jesus was in the corner of the room but Mary knew that His rightful place was at the center of this situation.
Jesus pushed back: “That’s not our problem.” In other words, we aren’t responsible for this ceremony, so why do we need to be alarmed?
Mary’s response was brilliant. Notice she still didn’t give up after His first response. She didn’t say, “Oh, well. I tried. He doesn’t care.” She brought the servants over and told them, “Do whatever He tells you!”
Jesus then had them fill up six water pots that each held twenty to thirty gallons. This water turned to wine.
This was Jesus’ first miracle. A miracle that happened at a wedding. And a miracle that happened when Jesus took His rightful place at the center of the wedding.
Mary was demonstrating what we need to do not only on our wedding day, but also on every day that follows. We need to bring Jesus into the place of honor in every situation. We need to call on Him by faith to help, expecting results; and we also need to be prepared for Him to work miracles.
During our wedding ceremony, the pastor challenged us to each keep our daily time with God a priority. We knew that having a daily time with God and His Word had been important when we were single, but there was no way we could understand the magnitude of its importance when we were married. We soon discovered there is nothing more important than continuing to develop our individual relationships with God every day. Reading God’s Word and talking with Him daily sets us up for success in our lives and in our marriages. Adding in a daily time in God’s Word and prayer as a couple can revolutionize your marriage.
“Keep Jesus at the center of your marriage as well,” the pastor told us. He knew something we didn’t. He had firsthand knowledge he was trying to pass on to us. Although we appeared to be listening with understanding as we gazed into each other’s eyes, we were clueless.
By the time we meet Mary in the second chapter of the book of John, it is clear she understood the magnitude of keeping Jesus at the center. We should all heed the same advice she gave to the servants at the wedding celebration that day. “Do whatever He tells you!” The servants had a choice to make amid the chaos. They could have thought, “Who is this guy and why should we obey this woman?”
Maybe they had tried everything else, so why not? Generations later we are grateful these servants obeyed. In the same manner, if we do what He tells us to do and we keep Him at the center of our marriages, then there will always be hope for our marriages.
Hear more from Clayton and Ashlee Hurst this Tuesday on LIFE TODAY. This is an excerpt from Hope For Your Marriage by Clayton and Ashlee Hurst. Copyright ©2018 by Clayton and Ashlee Hurst. Published by Thomas Nelson, a division of Harper Collins. Used by permission.
