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.” (John 2:1-5)
Problems are a part of everyday life. We all face them. Sometimes our problems are human sized, and we can come up with plans to fix them on our own. Many times, however, we face challenges that are too big for us.
Part of being human is accepting that you need help. I wish that weren’t the case, but I have never met a truly self-sufficient human being. Eventually we all reach the end of our capacity.
This famous story found in John 2 from the life of Christ is one I always had a hard time understanding. Some of it may have been the King James Version I grew up reading, where Jesus is basically like, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?” And as a young person, that sounded a bit snappy. Of course, if anyone was allowed to be snappy with His mom, it was Jesus … but it seemed contradictory to how kids (even adult ones) were supposed to act.
Ah, the value of cultural context!
No, Jesus isn’t being rude to His mom. But also, Mary isn’t nagging Jesus either, which is the other part of this story that always confused me.
Mary knows the family putting this wedding on, and this problem of running out of wine is a big deal culturally speaking. It would harm their reputation. No, it’s not life or death, but it would have a damaging effect on the family.
But what can be done? There isn’t a local WineMart down the street where they can get more. Amazon didn’t deliver back in Bible days. The only option was Jesus. Mary knew it.
Mary had no illusions about her firstborn Son. She knew who He was. I don’t think she fully knew what He could do, but she knew where He came from. That was enough.
All Mary did was to share the problem with Jesus and then tell the ones who needed help to ask Him for it. She doesn’t tell Jesus what to do. She didn’t have that authority (and still doesn’t, by the way). She simply brought Him the problem and left it with Him.
Mary couldn’t fix it. None of the people in charge of the wedding could fix it. All they could do was ask. Jesus is the one who chose to act.
Notice He said it wasn’t His time, not that He wouldn’t do it.
Now, did He act because it was Mary who asked? Did He act because the family was in danger? I don’t know. We don’t have that context. What we do know is that Jesus decided this was worth His time, worth revealing His power, worth making this His first recorded miracle.
When we ask Jesus for His help, He will act when He believes the time is right. He will respond in a way that fits the work He is already doing. It might be flashy; it probably won’t be flashy at all, just being honest. It might be an action so small you miss it at first glance. But He will always respond.
I can’t fix the problems in my life. I can’t fix the problems in the lives of the people I love. All I can do is go to Jesus and tell Him about the broken things I can’t repair. And then I can encourage the people I love to do what Jesus says to do.
Then, I need to step back. My part is done.
I have to let go. I have to trust that Jesus will take care of the things I am powerless to control. It isn’t easy, especially when I feel like I need to be the one checking items off the task list. But the more I try to help, the greater distraction I become to what Jesus is doing.
The only way to handle problems that are too big for us is to do whatever Jesus says to do.
When was a time that you faced a problem with no humanly possible solution?
If you took it to Jesus, what did He tell you to do?
How have you seen Jesus work in your life through your unsolvable problems?
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