Women's Corner                                                                                        May 10, 2006

      Whatever He says to You, Do It 

Have you ever been to a wedding? How about a Jewish wedding? There is lots of singing, dancing, shouts of joy, and plain old CELEBRATING. It is great. It reminds me of the account in the second chapter of the book of John. There is a wedding in Cana, and Jesus’ mother was there, likely in a “helping to organize and serve” capacity. I can see all the women friends and relatives of the family gathering to help prepare and present the wedding feast. Verse 2 of the chapter says that Jesus and His disciples were invited also.

Can you picture the festivities? The wedding feasts went on for days. Somewhere in the middle of the big party, the wine runs out. What a nightmare for the host/hostess! Jesus’ mother knows who to turn to in her trouble. She simply says to Jesus, “They have no wine”. She presents the situation to Jesus, fully confident that He is able and will be willing to help. Jesus, however, replies that His hour has not yet come (v.4). Was He really saying that He would not help? Notice that Mary does not beg or whine (no pun). Instead, she turns her attention to the servants, and instructs them, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Mary seems to be confident that Jesus will intervene, and wants to be ready when He does. She does not put Him in a box as to what He will do. She does know one thing- it will be necessary to do what Jesus says.

Now, let’s put ourselves in the position of the servants for a moment. The party is going along well, but suddenly the wine is gone (clearly a huge embarrassment to your master) and one of the women in charge tells you to do whatever her son says. Since we are just servants, we really have no choice, but how are we feeling and what are we thinking right about now? There are 6 large stone water pots near the entrance to the feast. They are used for ceremonial washing. Normal households had only one of these, so the friends and neighbor around must have brought theirs to help out for the occasion. They are most likely empty, or nearly so, from the use by all of the guests. Jesus approaches the servants and tells them to fill the jars with water. At this point in time, I would be thinking- Hmm, we are well into the wedding celebration. People customarily do not arrive late. Does He know something we don’t? Will there be even more guests who will need to wash their feet that, by the way, we also don’t have wine for?? Take notice, however, in verse 7, that they go and fill the water jars to the brim. What good servants.

After they fill the water jars, Jesus has more instructions for them. He tells them to draw some water out and take it to the headwaiter. Surely those servants HAVE to be thinking twice. The water in those jars is NOT for drinking, and why would they be taking even drinking water to the headwaiter?! After all- this is a PARTY, and who drinks water at a wedding party? NO ONE! What if they lost their jobs (or their lives) for doing something as seemingly foolish as taking the washing water to the headwaiter to taste? I can just hear one of the servants mumbling under his breath, “There goes my camel payments”. Yet, they honored Mary’s instructions and did as this Jesus told them to do. The results are in verses 9-11 of John chapter 2. The new wine was a great hit. No one lost their jobs (the servant could keep his camel) and all turned out well. We have to know that the lives of the servants, at least, were surely changed. They knew the truth.

So, what does this have to do with us? To begin with, do we know where to take the difficult situations of our lives? Most would say, absolutely. How about those situations that are irritating, but not really something we feel we can’t handle. Guess what? God says that without Him in our lives we can do NOTHING. He wants it all. The good the bad and the ugly. Jesus wants to be involved in every aspect of our total life. He knows it is the only way we can survive. Another key is in the words- “whatever He says to you, do it”. Those are extremely good instructions for us today. While on this earth in bodily form, Jesus said that He only did and said what His Father in heaven said (John 12:49-50). We are to follow Jesus’ example of doing nothing on our own authority or will (John 14:10-11), but only what Jesus tells us to do (John 14:26; John 16:7-15). Jesus, through the Holy Spirit communes and talks with us on a daily, moment by moment basis. (Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Hebrews 3:15). Sometimes the Holy Spirit may prompt us to do or say things that to us, in our natural understanding, may sound far out, illogical, crazy, or even stupid (try out the ‘give that you may receive’ principle). It may make us unwilling to be perceived as strange or out of touch with “reality”, but God is working in the spiritual realm with us and through us to accomplish His good will. We do good to remember the words, “Whatever He says to you, do it”.

Jesus knows what He is doing. He knows the plans He has for you and others (Jeremiah 29:11). What He tells us to do may be to build our faith, or the faith of those around us. What He tells us to do may be for our benefit, or someone else’s, but it will always be for the good, and for the accomplishment of His divine purposes. Remember to do what He says. Who knows what water He will turn to new wine in your life because you obeyed?