Mon Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

“On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’”

It has been said, “A problem well stated is a problem half solved.” That is exactly what Mary did. She tells Jesus exactly what the problem is. Do you know why this was such a problem? It was a big problem. In Bible days, a wedding was “the” social event on any Jewish calendar. If you got invited to a wedding you really didn’t have a choice. You had to go. It was practically a social felony if you didn’t go. There was not a bigger social happening in Jewish life than a wedding.

It usually began with a ceremony at sundown in the synagogue. Then the entire wedding party would leave the synagogue and begin this long candlelight procession right through the middle of town. The couple would be escorted past as many homes as possible so everyone could come out and congratulate them. After the procession, the couple didn’t go on a honeymoon; the honeymoon was brought to them.

They went home to a party! This party lasted several days. There would be gift-giving, speech-making, food-eating and wine-drinking. The place would be kept full of food and the glasses would be kept full of wine. If the food or the wine ran out, it was considered a tremendous insult.

Get ready for this. It was worse than an insult. Hospitality at a wedding was considered such a sacred duty that the master at the wedding (whom you might call the Master of Ceremonies) could actually be sued for “breach of hospitality.” That’s right! If you ran out of food or wine you could be sued! (Some things never change – do they?) This is why Mary makes this 911 call to Jesus.

I can’t leave out Jesus’ response.

“And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’” (John 2:4)

I always get a kick out of Jesus getting away with saying that to His mom, “Woman why are you bothering Me with this? My hour has not yet come.” Men, try this at home. The next time you are watching a ball game and your wife asks you to take out the garbage or help her with the dishes just quote Jesus and say, “Women, why are you bothering me? My time hasn’t yet come.” See what happens!

What Jesus was saying was it wasn’t yet time for Him completely to reveal who He was. I don’t want you to miss the bigger picture. Mary has a problem. She turns to Jesus with the problem and talks to Jesus about the problem, because she knew something about Jesus that you and I need to learn about Jesus, know about Jesus, and remember about Jesus. What matters to me matters to Jesus.