God, help me to learn Your truth
and hear clearly Your instructions.
I want to do what You say.
Focus of the Month: Ordinary Women with Extraordinary Hope
Have you ever hired a wedding coordinator? Party organizer? Event planner? The details are discussed; the items purchased; and the coordinator, organizer or planner ensures all the tasks are accomplished. Usually, a high level of trust exists between the party host and the planner… So much that when others ask how they can help, the host defers those individuals to the planner as if to say, “Whatever the planner says, do that.”
There’s an incident in a woman’s life in the Bible, where that actually occurs. Mary, the mother of Jesus, attended a wedding feast with Jesus. In the middle of the feast, a crisis arose in that the wine was exhausted. This would have been a huge embarrassment to the bride and groom and their parents. Mary, perceiving the trouble, turned to Jesus. Jesus was not the host or planner – but Mary knew Jesus could “fix” the problem. Read the account from John’s Gospel, chapter 2:
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him. When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:1-11)
Mary hoped in Jesus, and knew He was able to work a solution to the problem. But verse 11 declares this was the first sign Jesus performed. How did Mary KNOW Jesus could fix the situation?
Mary believed Jesus was the Son of God. She trusted His character and she was confident in His ability and His power. But, it didn’t stop there. Mary shared her hope, trust and faith in Jesus by instructing the servants at the wedding feast to do whatever Jesus told them to do. For reasons not explained in the passage, the servants obeyed the words of Mary, and then obeyed the words of Jesus.
Maybe the servants were frustrated or embarrassed. Perhaps they were in a state of panic. Whatever they were feeling or thinking, they saw the hope and faith Mary had in Jesus, and they did exactly as Jesus instructed, believing He could indeed help.
Are you like Mary – pointing others to the words and instruction of Jesus? Are you confident in hope, resolute in trust, sure in faith that Jesus has the answers and the ability to perform those solutions for others? How about for you?
Mary unwaveringly excels as a hope-filled woman who led others to also believe in and trust Jesus. As a result of this first miracle, many believed upon Jesus. What if Mary hadn’t have spoken? What would have happened if Mary hadn’t shared her hope and confident trust in Jesus’ ability?
Thankfully, we don’t have to answer that question. But in reflection, what about you and me… What if we don’t speak up and share our hope and confident trust in Jesus’ ability. Let’s hold fast to our hope in Him and encourage ourselves and others to do whatever He says. After all, He is the Master-Planner!
Scripture References: John 2:1-11; Luke 1:46-55; Hebrews 10:23; Ephesians 2:10; Romans 8:30