He had served at family gatherings for many years, but this wedding was the largest event he had ever been a part of. He had been up early and home late six days a week for the past month. The list of things to take care of seemed endless. The master’s steward was determined that the youngest daughter would have the best wedding in the region; a seven-day event that would talked about for generations.
All the servants in the household breathed a sigh of relief when the first day of the wedding arrived. The chaos would soon be over, and the household would return to normal. Yes, he was happy for the family that their youngest daughter was marrying into a good family. He just wished that their lives didn’t have to be turned upside down to make it happen.
He moved through the crowd of wedding guests with a tray of exquisite dainties. The master’s steward made the best honey cakes. It was hard to walk around with a tray of them and not eat one or two himself.
Toward the end of that first day a slight commotion occurred as a group of men arrived as guests. Mary, one of the master’s wife’s relatives, came running out of the kitchen toward the leader of the group. He watched as Mary tightly hugged the man, laughing and crying at the same time. He figured the man was Mary’s son. She had talked about her son often as they worked in the kitchen together preparing for the wedding. Mary grabbed the man’s arm and led him toward the bridal party. He returned to serving.
The next days of the wedding unfolded normally. He and his fellow servants made sure that the guests were continually supplied with food and drink. It was a happy time of conversation, laughter, dancing, and gifts. At one point Mary introduced him to the man he had seen on the first day of the wedding. He was indeed her son, Jesus. He had heard so much about Jesus, he was glad to finally meet Him.
He saw something different about Jesus. As he went about serving the guests, he watched Jesus enjoying Himself and happily engaging with the family and the guests. But he noticed that Jesus didn’t overindulge Himself in the festivities. There was an air of quiet dignity and power, mingled with kindness and gentleness, that surrounded Jesus. He had never met anyone like Jesus before. He found that whenever he was serving the guests, he hung around the corner where Jesus was sitting a little longer than really needed to.
On the next to the last day of the wedding, he felt a tug on his sleeve while he was serving a tray of fruit. He turned to see one of his fellow servants with a worried look on her face. “The steward needs to see us,” she whispered. Then she turned and scurried back to the kitchen. He turned and followed her.
The steward stood in the middle of the kitchen waiting for the last of the servants to gather. He noticed Mary standing in the back. The room was thick with tension.
“I don’t know what happened,” the steward began. “We made meticulous calculations for the amount of food and drink we needed for this seven-day wedding. But somehow our calculations were incorrect. We are running of wine, and it looks like we won’t have enough for tomorrow. We need to reduce the amount of wine we use today so we can make it stretch as long as possible tomorrow. The family does not know, and we are not going to tell them. We are going to do our jobs and make sure this wedding ends well tomorrow.”
As the group brainstormed together about the best way to make what was left of the wine last through to the end of the next day, he noticed that Mary quickly turned and left the kitchen. He moved to the doorway and watched Mary head straight for Jesus. Mary and Jesus talked quietly for a few moments, and then Mary returned to the kitchen. When she entered, she grabbed his arm and motioned for some of the other servants nearby to follow her to the back corner of the kitchen.
Mary pointed in the direction of where Jesus was sitting and said, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5)
They didn’t have to wait long. Jesus came into the kitchen and the group of servants looked at Him expectantly.
“Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the waterpots with water.’” (John 2:6-7)
As he and the other servants worked to fill the six large pots with water, he was baffled as to why he was doing this. How could six large pots of water ever resolve the issue of running out of wine before the end of the wedding? It made absolutely no sense. But he respected Mary, so he would do what Jesus told them to do. He should probably start making plans for is retirement if this did not work out well.
Jesus came out to where they were working with pots, a look of happy expectancy on His face.
“And He said to them, ‘Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.’” (John 2:8)
Jesus stood there smiling at them, encouraging them to go ahead and take a cup of the water to the master. He and the servants stood there gaping at Him knowing this would be the last thing they would ever do in the employ of this family. The servants looked at each other to see who would be brave enough to carry out Jesus’ command. He was the oldest so he stepped forward.
He went into the kitchen. The steward and the rest of the servants were still discussing how to make the wine last. He reached for a cup and caught the steward’s eye. Then he turned and went back to the water pots. Jesus was still standing there smiling. He wished he could smile.
He dipped the cup into one of the pots and drew out a cup full of water. By this time the steward, the rest of the servants, and Mary had joined them. He stood there with the cup of water and looked at everyone standing around. He wanted to remember their faces after he was dismissed from his employment. Only Jesus and Mary had happy, hopeful faces. Everyone else was worried.
He walked with the cup of water to master trying to figure out what he was going to say when he handed the cup to him. Perhaps it was best to not say anything at all. If the situation were not so dire, he would have laughed. It must have been a sight for the master to see a single servant carrying a cup of water followed by the steward, all the servants, Mary, and Jesus. Maybe someday he would be able to laugh about this.
Silently he handed the cup of water to master. The master thanked him and began to drink.
“When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, ‘Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!’” (John 2:9-10)
Wine? The cup had wine in it? The cup had water in it when he had started walking. When had the water turned into wine? More importantly, how had the water turned into wine? He spun around to ask Jesus, but Jesus was no longer part of the crowd. Mary came up and put her hand on his shoulder. They both stood there smiling knowing that they had been a part of a miracle that day. This really would be a wedding that would be talked about for generations!
It wasn’t a great spiritual battle, and the resolution or not may not have had eternal significance. But for this family, the need had great social and cultural implications. Mary asked Jesus for help with a domestic problem, and Jesus answered her faith-filled request through the power of His word. Jesus said, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7) Jesus cares about every aspect of our lives. Nothing is too small or too great to bring to Him. He still answers faith-filled requests today.
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” (Matthew 6:31-32)
This is why Binding Broken Hearts is passionate about getting God’s Word into prisons and into the hands of inmates who so desperately need it so they can know the Word has the power to meet even the most seemingly insignificant problems because God loves us that much. Because these are men and women who need Jesus most.
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