Do What He Tells You to Do

Have you ever been to a wedding where something went wrong? That does happen, you know. I went to a wedding one time when the minister called the bride by the wrong name throughout the entire ceremony. Hmm. . . made me wonder if they were really married. Then there was the wedding when the father of the bride's cellphone went off at the worst possible moment. To make matters worse, the groom reached over, took the phone out of his pocket, and answered it! If you use little children as the flower girl and the ring bearer, that provides many opportunities for humorous moments. I heard about one wedding when, at the close of the ceremony, when the minister said, "You may kiss the bride", the ring bearer leaned over and planted a kiss on the flower girl!

In today's Bible lesson, Jesus went to a wedding. It was a big event and almost everyone in the town of Cana was there. Not only Jesus, but his disciples and Mary, his mother, were there. After the wedding ceremony, there was a huge feast and a terrible thing happened. Do you know what happened? They ran out of wine! Oh my, what could the bride's father do? He was sure that from that day on, he would be known as the father who didn’t buy enough wine for his daughter’s wedding feast.

The mother of Jesus heard what had happened and she didn't want her friend to be embarrassed, so she went looking for Jesus. When she found him, she said, "They don't have any more wine."

Jesus answered, "Dear woman, why have you come to me? My time has not yet come."

But Mary was not discouraged. She turned to the servants and said, "Do whatever he tells you to do."

Near the place where they were standing, there were six large stone water jars. Each jar would hold twenty or thirty gallons of water.

"Fill the jars with water," Jesus said to the servants. So they filled all the jars to the top. Then Jesus said to them, "Now take some out and give it to the master of the feast." The servants took the water to the master. When he tasted it, the water had turned to wine.

The master of the wedding called the bridegroom and said to him, "Most people serve the best wine first. Later, after the guests have been drinking a lot, they serve the cheaper wine. But you have saved the best wine till now."

So in Cana, Jesus did his first miracle. There he showed his glory, and his followers believed in him.

Because the servants did what Jesus told them to do, a good thing happened. Jesus wants good things to happen in our life too. If we do what Jesus tells us to do, good things will happen to us too.

Father, we thank you for sending your Son. Help us to do what he has told us to do in your Holy Word. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen