Faith is the fifth article in the series, The Life of Jesus Christ. To read the whole series click here.
Jesus performs his first miracle at a wedding where they had run out of wine. The miracle is in response to his mother’s faith in him and it’s the most surprising of all his miracles (John 2:1-11). Creating the equivalent of 600-900 bottles of wine for a group of people who’ve already had enough to drink is completely unexpected (v.10). Yet Jesus often does the unexpected.
When I was a young Christian, I discovered that most Christians I knew didn’t drink alcohol. Historically, many Christians gave up drinking as the church reacted (or overreacted) to the growing problem of alcoholism in society. Alcoholics and other addicts often drink, take drugs or gamble to deaden their emotional pain, yet sadly the church rarely addressed this issue.
Is Mary manipulating?
At the wedding, Mary may appear to be the manipulating mother, trying to twist Jesus’ arm to do something to resolve the situation. However, since this is Jesus’ first miracle, Mary has no reason to believe he will perform a miracle. Furthermore, I’ve never had any success in twisting Jesus’ arm to perform a miracle and I don’t believe Mary did either.
Jesus says, “Dear woman, that’s not our problem … My time has not yet come” (John 2:4). We don’t know what tone of voice Jesus uses, so perhaps he says these words in a light-hearted or even tantalizing way. Regardless of the tone, Jesus’ words, produce an expression of faith from Mary. She says to the servants “Do whatever he tells you” (v.5). Perhaps Jesus’ initial reluctance is the opportunity Mary needs to express faith. God’s silences and delays are often designed to grow us spiritually and a verbal expression of faith is important (Romans 10:10).
Later in Jesus’ ministry, he’s again confronted with a mother’s request and hesitates until he hears a statement of faith (Matthew 15:28). Jesus then responds by healing the woman’s daughter.
If we want to see Jesus work in our lives, perhaps it’s time to make a statement of our faith in him.
