Run Out with the Wrong Stuff

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 

“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Have you ever felt like you were run out with nothing left to offer? All you had was the wrong stuff? And you didn’t have what it takes?

Maybe you feel that way right now.

Well, that’s what happened here at Cana in Galilee. The hosts had run out of wine and had nothing left to offer. All they had was the wrong stuff. They needed wine, but all they had was water. And there was nothing they could do about it.

Watch what happens.

Mary gets Jesus involved.

He says something surprising: “Why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” Can’t explain all that – but God’s timing is a real thing.

Trust it. Trust God’s timing.

Now watch.

Jesus asked the servants to fill the water jars with water.

He asked them to give what they had, even if it was the wrong stuff.

They gave it. They filled those jars to the brim. I call that expectancy. Just think what would have happened if the servants had only filled the water jars a little bit. I’m not sure – but they’d be cutting short a miracle.

Then, Jesus did what only he could do. He changed what they gave them into what they needed.

He took the wrong stuff and transformed it into the right stuff.

In fact, it was even better than the stuff they had to offer in the beginning. I love what the master of ceremonies says in his ignorance: “you have saved the best till now.”

Where do you need to trust Christ’s best?

So often I give and give and give until I have nothing left.

What if I trusted instead God’s timing?

What if I gave what I gave him what I had even if it wasn’t the right stuff?

What if I remembered that HE has what it takes?

Jesus changes the water into something like over 700 bottles of wine. 700 bottles! At the end of a wedding! That is WAY TOO MUCH!

Do you see it? Jesus can do for us WAY more than we can do for ourselves.

Think about it in terms of the Last Supper.

The blood of Jesus is an INFINITE OVER-PAYMENT for our sins.

As it says later in the Scriptures “love covers a multitude of sins.”