We have the joy of hosting many weddings at my church in the next few weeks and months. I am at the stage of having to prepare new wedding sermons and realized I’ve never preached on Jesus at the wedding in Cana of Galilee at a ceremony. So I turned to that passage. As Scripture always does, it surprises you and shocks you.
What exactly is the problem in the wedding of Cana in John 2? The wine has run out and there’s still hours of the wedding to go. There are at least two possible options for the shortage of wine. One could be that the bride and groom invited heavy drinkers who got through the wine far more quickly than the couple thought they would. The other option, which I think is more likely, is that the groom failed to do his job and plan properly. It’s quite possible that he was being rather cheap and didn’t provide enough wine for the wedding. He has let his new wife down and brought shame on both his and her family. The guests are getting restless, and Mary, Jesus’ mother, a fellow guest, hears about the impending crisis.
The interesting thing about this situation is that when Mary comes to Jesus, she doesn’t bring a solution; she just states the problem in four brief words: “They have no wine” (John 2:3). We don’t know how she said it, whether it was through gritted teeth or quietly in a corner. She doesn’t tell her son to go and rebuke the unruly drunks for their sin, nor does she instruct Him to tell the crowd to forgive the groom for being inhospitable. She doesn’t tell Him how to act, give Him her wisdom, or insist that He follow her instructions. She doesn’t say to Jesus, “You have the power to do a miracle and fix this problem; go and do it.” No, Mary simply reports the problem to Jesus, stating, “They have no wine.” Jesus rebukes her, saying that His “hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). Now is not the moment for Him to be displaying the power of God before the crowds. Yet Mary doesn’t give up. She just looks at the servants of the feast and says, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). It is a beautiful confession of faith that Mary makes here. It reveals her trust in her son. Mary recognizes Jesus’ sovereignty.
When Mary sees that there is a problem, she doesn’t go to her son with a list of demands or a solution. She hasn’t figured out the answer and then asked Jesus to bless her ideas. Rather, Mary believes that Jesus knows what is good and right and has the power to act. In saying to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you,” she is showing that she trusts that He will do what is good and right in the end. He does all things well.
Mary is a magnificent example to us of trusting Christ. The danger for us is to come to Jesus a solution that we want the Lord to endorse: “Jesus, fix my problem. Do this and do that. Restore me to health. Cure me. Provide this; give me that.” We are forever telling Jesus exactly what we need and then telling Him to do it.
We are encouraged, of course, to pour out our hearts to God, to make known to Him the desires and griefs of our hearts. We ask Him to provide our daily bread. Yet we also recognize that He always does what is best; He does all things well. Therefore, we pray that His will would be done because we recognize that God’s ways are higher than our ways. We pray humbly knowing that God always answers, and He will answer rightly, even if that means we don’t get what we want.
The key is to follow Mary’s words: “Do whatever [Jesus] tells you”—to rest in His sovereignty and believe that Jesus’ words have the authority. They are life-giving words. It is His voice that we are to follow. It’s the key to a fruitful life and the key to a happy marriage.
Of course, John 2 is not ultimately about a wedding. It shows us the fullness and richness of what Jesus has come to bring. He is the fulfilment of what was promised. John 2:11 tells us, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.” In many ways, this is the great foundational sign of the gospel, which brings total transformation, a new creation. There’s a hint in verse 1: “On the third day.” That’s a phrase that we find again and again in Scripture, and it reaches its climax at the end of the gospel in the resurrection of Christ on the third day. When Jesus speaks in verse 11 of His “hour,” which has not yet come, He is using a phrase that will come up a further seven times in John’s gospel and always refers to His death. Jesus is showing us that this transformation of newness, goodness, and fullness comes through the cross.
This life-giving, transformational, God-man Jesus has come to make new creation and give life. Jesus takes the public shame of the groom, and in its place, He gives joy, transformation, and overflowing goodness. The jars in the story that were used for ceremonial washing are now replaced by what Jesus has accomplished.
“Do whatever He tells you.” It’s the answer to what our lives should look like.