He did it suddenly
read time: 6 mins
“The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions. When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”
John 2:1-10 NLT
The first thing that jumps out to me in this story is the faith and persistence of Mary, and it honestly bothers me. Jesus and His friends get invited to a wedding, and when the hosts are not organized enough to adequately plan for their event, they run out of wine. Mary, Jesus’ mother, turns to Him and tells Him of the issue and Jesus politely responds by saying that isn't His problem. But Mary doesn’t give up there. She has the persistent and annoying faith that Jesus speaks of in Luke 11. Even though Jesus said His time hadn’t come, Mary still tells the servants to wait by Jesus and do whatever He tells them to do.
The reason this bothers me is because it almost feels disrespectful, right? No means no. Lay it off, Mary. Jesus said not now. But Mary has a persistent and patient faith that allows her to wait on the Lord.
Now, I wish I could get in Mary's head for this. What did she think Jesus would do? I wonder what her expectation was, especially considering that this was Jesus’ first miracle. What did she expect Jesus to do, considering that she had nothing to base it on but the word she heard spoken over her Son's life? I remember seeing a thing where someone went through the song “Mary Did You Know” and answered the questions based on the Bible. Mary probably didn't know that her baby boy would one day walk on water, but according to Matthew 1:21, the angel did tell her that He would save our sons and daughters. She probably could’ve inferred from the prophecies of Isaiah that the Messiah would give sight to a blind man, but she had no reason to specifically predict that He would calm a storm with His hand. While Mary would’ve known that Jesus was Lord of all creation or that He would one day rule the nations, I can't think of any reason she would have special knowledge to know what specific miracles He would do during His time on earth.
I say this to say that Mary may have not specifically been asking Jesus to turn water into wine. Maybe she thought this wise boy she saw ministering in the temple was resourceful enough to delegate one of His disciples to get more or creative enough to think of another option that would fill the void. Maybe her faith was so lofty that she thought He would create wine out of thin air or create a time warp and have everyone forget that they wanted wine in the first place. But we can be like Mary. She may have not known specifically what He would do, but she knew, whatever it was, that He could do it. You don't have to predict what He will do, but giving Him the space to work in whatever manner He desires is what is required of you.
This is the faith that allowed her to call the servants and tell them to trust Him no matter what He says or however long it takes. These servants are just on standby. There's no reason for them to know or trust Jesus at this moment. But they are waiting at the ready because of a word. We need to have the faith of Mary and these servants to take a word and run with it, no matter how long it takes for us to see it come to fruition.
I believe that Jesus saw their faith and was prompted to act. He tells them to fill jars with up to 1500lbs of water, not even counting the weight of the stone jars themselves. I can only imagine how long this took. It would take about an hour to pour this much water from a bathtub spout but this is before household plumbing. I see them spilling the water as they strain to carry it back from wherever the source was. It could seem like a lot of messy work for an unknown end goal. But they’re trusting and moving on a word.
Finally, they’re finished, clothes soaking wet and arms tired, and Jesus tells them to dip out some water and bring it to the master of ceremonies. I want you to notice that He doesn’t tell them to dip out wine, He tells them to dip out water. The transformation happening somewhere between the dip and the sip means that the servants were tasked with carrying what they knew was water to the master of ceremonies and trusting that by the time it got to him, something would’ve changed. I want you to feel this walk of faith. They’re bringing water to their boss because a man they may not even know has told them to after spending an hour filling up jugs. All of this is happening based on a word, not anything that anyone has seen to serve as proof that good will come from this.
Imagine handing your failed assignment to your teacher and trusting that the answers would change somewhere on the journey from your hand to theirs, just because someone told you to. This is a level of faith I believe we are called to emulate. This gives us a glimpse into the partnership that brings our liberation. While Jesus does all the transformative work, you can forfeit the blessing if you don't obey by walking it out in faith. What if they never filed the jugs? Jesus would still have the power but nothing around them would have been transformed. What if they never took the walk of faith to bring the water to the master of ceremonies? The water would have been transformed but no one at the party would've known or experienced it. Faith and obedience have to coincide with God's power in order for it to come to fruition in your life.
This story teaches us a lot about faith. It teaches about patience in our faith when we don’t know when God will move. It teaches about the persistence of faith when we must trust that filling up these jugs will amount to something. And it showcases the timing of God’s moves in response to our faith. What I find most interesting may be an insight it gives us about what God seeks to do as a response to your faith. The biggest miracle here isn’t Mary’s faith or the servants’ faith. The biggest miracle isn't simply Jesus turning water just wine, it's Him getting wine from the water. Follow me here.
While Jesus manipulating matter to turn one thing into something else is crazy, have we thought about the fact that He is also manipulating time? A core difference between water and wine is that water is naturally occuring while wine takes a process, and the best wine is the wine that has gone through the longest process. Water is always ready while the best wine takes time to develop. And Jesus gets the best wine from this water in an instant.
So Jesus isn't just breaking the laws of science by creating from seemingly nothing, He is also doing in an instant what would normally take a lifetime. You may be wondering why God seems to have you aimlessly filling up jugs, but in an instant, He can take the ordinary and transform it into the extraordinary. Keep pouring in faith. He can do what should take the process of a lifetime in an instant, just keep following the path He laid out did you. The woman with the issue of blood would join in with Bishop Eddie Long and sing, “there’s been a change in me... and He did it suddenly.” The blind man would tell you that he was blind but now he can see and Jesus did it suddenly. Peter would recount his swimming lesson on the Sea of Galilee and tell you that His Savior reached out His hand to save him immediately… He did it suddenly. The man with leprosy would tell you that when Jesus reached out His hand and touched him that he was healed in an instant… He did it suddenly. The paralyzed man would tell you that he went from lying on his mat to carrying it… He did it suddenly. Jesus is showing that He can do in an instant what should take decades. He can completely transform us past what science and time can explain. Faith in connection with God's power opens the door for some chains to break and walls to fall suddenly.
Some of yall can testify that Jesus did it and He did it suddenly. I don't know what your suddenly is but I know that you know that even though He may not come when you want Him, He will surely come right on time. I don’t know what you're praying for but be reminded that it can happen in an instant. He can turn your mourning into dancing in a moment. He can turn your sadness into joy in an instant. And if you need more reason to hold on to the faith, be reminded He is coming again like a thief in the night. That’s a suddenly. The Bible says that in a moment like the twinkling of an eye, the dead in Christ will rise. That’s a suddenly.
Hold on to the faith. You may not see the benefit or progress that you’d expect trusting God to bring, but keep filling those jugs. You don't want to stop right before you reach your suddenly. It may not make sense but as Rihanna said, “victories within a mile. You’re almost there, don't give up now.” It may hurt. It may not make sense. But God can produce in an instant what should take a lifetime. And He will do it suddenly.
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Send this to a friend who needs to be reminded that God will come through suddenly. Remind them to hold on to the faith and tell them to subscribe to these devotionals through the “subscribe” tab on this website.
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There is one more initiative I am asking for your continued giving in. There is a teacher named Sanna who has immigrated here from the continent of Africa. He has been teaching in Cincinnati while in the process of trying to bring his wife and kids here with him. He is a regular at church and is instrumental in making sure we have breakfast every morning before service. But he let a few of us know that he has been walking 30 minutes each day to go to his school in this snowy Ohio weather. He hasn’t complained one bit and has done so much to serve the church and kids in this community.
I want us to band together. By faith, I believe we can get him a car.
So here’s the plan. I need us to click the link below and start consistently donating to the “ROAR Ministries” tab (or $shilohsda513 on Cash App). I want you to pray and ask God how much He wants you to give. I believe we will be able to showcase the surprising and providing love of God to many through this initiative. Appreciate you. I’ll keep you updated!
