CONVERSION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

John 2:1-11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s devotion, we found Jesus gaining some faithful followers in first Andrew and Simon Peter, followed by Philip and Nathanuel who all had an opportunity to spend time with Jesus and took advantage of that opportunity. In the case of Nathanuel, Jesus promised this at the end of John 1:

“You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” John 1:50

What things was Jesus referring to?

It doesn’t take too long to find out as we look at the opening eleven verses of John, Chapter 2:

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.  John 2:1-11

In this scene, we find Jesus with His mother Mary at a wedding in the town of Cana. We don’t know too much about the exact location of Cana from the scriptures, only that it is in Galilee so we at least know it was somewhere west of the Jordan River. Of interest, what God’s word does tell us is that Cana was the hometown of the aforementioned disciple, Nathanuel (John 21:2). Perhaps the exact location is not of as much importance as the wedding that took place there because it was the setting for what would be Jesus’ first miracle.

Well, as we often see in modern day weddings, there was a lot of celebration centered on the marriage occasion and we get the sense that a great feast was taking place in Cana, one where great amounts of food and drink were consumed. It’s the latter, the drink part of the festivities, that is the point of great alarm at this particular feast.

For as we see, Jesus is approached by His mother and alerted that the person hosting the banquet had run out of wine. Culturally, this would have been a point of great embarrassment and enough to sour what was a sweet and joyous event.  

At first, Jesus responds in surprising fashion to His mother, first asking why she wanted to involve Him in the matter” and then letting her know His time had not yet come, making reference to the time when He would have to fulfill His destiny and pay the price for the sins of all mankind.

In equally surprising fashion, Mary seems to rebuff the standoffish attitude of her son, simply looking to the banquet servants and commanding them to:

“Do whatever He tells you.”

What I love about Mary’s words here is that she seems to know that Jesus would be able to make something amazing happen. There is no sense of doubt in her mind that given the problem at hand, Jesus would have a solution and as we see, she was spot on in her confidence in Him.

For nearby where they were standing, there were “six stone water jars” typically used by the Jews for “ceremonial washing”, each “holding from twenty to thirty gallons”. It’s important to note here that the Jews were always concerned about defilement and thus washing ones hands was an important ritual, thus the staging of jars of water for that purpose.

The jars Jesus referred to were empty and so He told the servants to fill them with water and they did so to the brim. Jesus then told them to draw out some of the water and take it to the “master of the banquet.”

Imagine if you were that servant who drew what had to be water from the jar. You had to be thinking to yourself, “Why would you send me to the banquet master with a cup of water?” Certainly, you would be concerned as to how the master would react when he took a big drink of water, expecting it to be wine.

Well, we don’t get any sense that the servants questioned what Jesus asked him to do. They just did what they were told and had to be in a complete state of amazement when the master of the banquet tasted the cup and said this to the bridegroom:

“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.”

It was customary for the best wine to come out early before everyone had drunk too much and then later serve wine of lesser quality but the words of the banquet’s master indicated that he had just tasted the best wine of the entire feast, a choice wine that met his pleasure, a wine that unbeknownst to him had been supernaturally produced from mere water by the only One who could do such a feat, Jesus.

In the end translation, what Jesus did was nothing short of incredible and inconceivable, improbable and unbelievable. It was an astonishing act of conversion taking a common element like water and making it into what was needed at the time, wine to satisfy the banquet attendees and spare the host from condemnation.

I want you to think about this matter of conversion as it applies to you and me because it is a deeper dive into what Jesus did at this wedding at Cana.

Think about it. Isn’t the way that Jesus takes sinners like us and converts us into useful vessels that serve a needed purpose akin to how He made water into wine, and in many cases, even more incredible?

Go back to the Bible and think about Saul, a zealous Jew who persecuted and murdered Christians. What happened to him? Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and spoke to him, asking why he was doing what he was doing before striking him blind to get his attention. What happened several days later was nothing short of amazing as Saul regained his sight and was found in the synagogues preaching the good news of the gospel of salvation through Jesus, now named Paul.

Water converted to wine.

A murderer of Christians converted to a Christian apostle.  

Insert your name here and who you were before Jesus and then who you became after He converted you.

Yes, Jesus is in the conversion business and speaking of Paul, he affirmed this through these words to the church in Corinth:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

In other words, if anyone is in Christ, a special conversion occurs, one that makes the converted person new and better than they were.

How has Jesus changed you since you accepted Him? How is He continuing to convert you to be more like Him?

If you like, leave a comment to this blog and share your testimony.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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