Wondering, Knowing, Trusting: The Miracle of Water to Wine

“Faith in God is less apt to proceed from miracles than miracles from faith in God.” Frederick Buechner

I am at a new beginning point right now. The beginning of something brings both anticipation and uncertainty. Will what’s ahead be good? How will it all work out? I guess you may be wondering the same thing if you are in the middle of something.

Andrew, John, Peter, Phillip, and Nathaniel may have been asking those same questions as they started to follow Jesus. He had invited them to come and see where he lived. Nathaniel really wasn’t sure he wanted to join in until Jesus shared something miraculous about him. In response, Jesus said, “You will see greater things.” (Jn 1:50)

The Bible is full of miracles. “The purpose of a miracle,” explains Barbara Brown Taylor, “ is to remind us that we don’t really know how things work.” All of a sudden, in the middle of your everyday life, God can use ordinary things in a way that is beyond you.  Maybe you need a miracle right now.

John, the gospel writer, calls them signs and wonders. The reason he wrote about them is so that anyone who hears about them may not only believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but, by believing, have life with him. (Jn 20:30,31) Matthew tells us that the purpose of miracles is to lead to seeing and believing in Jesus, as well as to worship, awe, and wonder. (Mt 28:17) With Jesus, we will see even greater things.

Recently, I have been reflecting on the first sign and wonder that we find in John- the wedding at Cana. (1)  Isn’t it interesting that it takes place in the context of a wedding celebration? This is the first of seven signs in John. Each sign shows who Jesus is; it is a window into the reality of God in Jesus.

This first sign is surprising. It is not a grand gesture but a private affair in a back room. During the wedding celebration, they ran out of wine. While it would be very stressful if this happened, it is a relatively small thing. Perhaps this is one of the most powerful messages of this first sign.  It shows us that we can turn to Jesus with anything, big or small, and trust that Jesus will care.

Notice who Jesus is talking to when the miracle happens - the servants. Imagine working at a large wedding celebration. When I was in college, I worked as a server at large banquets. There is a lot of chaos as you run around taking care of the guests and everything that goes with it. In all the commotion, the servants in our story may or may not have noticed there is a handful of men nearby. Then, suddenly, a woman enters your workspace and says that the wine is gone. What are you going to do? Then this same woman comes over to you, points to one of the men, and tells you, “Do whatever he says.”

This is a bold statement. In the Bible, Luke tells us about when Mary was young and became pregnant as a virgin and went on to become the mother of Jesus. Even at a young age, she models living with faith. She asks, “How can this be?” when she learns of her pregnancy, and she then moves to faith, proclaiming, “Let it be with me as you have said.” She is not sure about what is happening or how it will all turn out, but she accepts it and invites God to be with her through it all. Let it be as you have said.

Now, years later, we see evidence of an even greater confidence in Mary. In the face of trouble and the anxiety of the wine running out, she turns to Jesus and tells those around her, “Do whatever he says.” She has an expectant faith. She knows Jesus cares and has the power to do whatever is right. She trusts in him.

The servants in the story listen to her. Jesus tells them to fill the large stone jars nearby with water. This is probably not what they were expecting. It would have been nice if Jesus had given them the address of a place nearby with some extra wine. It would also take some time and effort to fill the large jars, but they did it, and a miracle happened. The water turned to wine.

Don’t miss the way things work with Jesus. He only acts in accordance with what his Father tells him. Jesus does what God, his Heavenly Father, wants when he wants it. (2) What we learn as we keep reading the Bible is that in the same way that Jesus acts with His Father, we are to act with him.

In this first miracle story, the miracle happens as the servants do their part. We see something significant here. When Jesus asks you to do something, you need to do it, and when you ask Jesus for something, you need to release it into his care. Once Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus said, it was out of her control. She does not know what will happen. She has to have faith in Jesus and trust that he will take care of it. Faith is confidence in someone or something. It involves trust. As a mentor of mine said, “ Faith is what you know in your bones to be trustworthy.” (3)

The joy that had just begun at the wedding celebration spread after Jesus turned water into wine. When this small group of new disciples and servants witnessed the miracle, they believed, and their faith journey began. As his followers remained with Jesus and learned more about who he is and what life is like with him, Jesus told them, “If you obey my commands, if you do whatever I tell you and remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commands and remain in his love, my joy will be your joy.  I want your joy to be complete; to overflow” (Jn 15:10,11 paraphrase).  Joy comes when we make it our focus and aim to remain with Jesus and do whatever he says. With Jesus, we find ourselves surprised by the joy of his presence.

“There is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace,” said Jonathan Edwards. “There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet and having a sense of its sweetness. “

With Jesus, what was once water is now wine. What was once an ordinary day became extraordinary. With Jesus, you remain where you are in the life you have, and yet everything is changed. The real miracle is that we can live life with Him.

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1. You can read about it in John 2: 1-11

2. See John 5:19,8:28,14:10

3. Dallas Willard

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