The Journey

Steve & Shirley

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” John 2:1-3

When I think of all the weddings in which I have officiated, I am reminded of all the festivities that took place there. I’m sure it is the same for you. That’s because people go to a wedding to celebrate and have a good time. Most of the time the good time happens after I leave.

Of course, in Jesus’ day, when someone went to a wedding, they went to a wedding. The festivities lasted an entire week. Imagine, a full week of feasting and celebrating. John tells us in our Scripture text that Jesus, His mother, and His disciples were in attendance at such a wedding in the town of Cana.

Unfortunately, the festivities at this wedding were going to run down because “the wine ran out.” Things were looking desperate when Mary went to Jesus. At His time the Lord Jesus provided some first-class wine. Embarrassment was avoided, and the party went on.

Have you ever noticed that there are times when the wine runs out in our own lives, when there is no pleasure in anything, when we wish to avoid others and if we can’t avoid them, we pick fights with them? We’ve all seen how…

* when the wine of love runs out of a marriage, a couple no longer sees the point of continuing;

* when the wine of peace runs out of our lives, we find ourselves in constant conflict;

* when the wine of excitement runs out of our jobs or chosen careers, we quit;

* when the wine of fellowship runs out in a church, people break away.

Many different things can happen when the wine runs out. And our reaction is often like the writer of Ecclesiastes who commented, “All is vanity” (see Ecclesiastes 1:2).

The question is what do Christians do when the wine runs out?

At the wedding, Mary went to Jesus. In the book of Psalms, when the wine ran out, David turned to God (see Psalm 42:11). Then, having seen what God was doing David wrote, “My cup runneth over” (see Psalm 23).

Perhaps as we read this, the wine is running out in some area of our life. Let me urge us to do as Mary and David did, turn to the Lord. Jesus assures us we will find refreshment when we turn to Him (see Matthew 11:28).

With Him we find the wine of forgiveness; we find the wine of life; we find the wine of salvation; we find the wine if inner strength.

Dear Lord, you have always lead me beside still waters; you make me to lie down in green pastures; you restore my soul, even when I don’t know I need all these wonderful gifts of grace. Thank you for giving us your finest wine… a wine that never runs out, in and through Jesus. Amen.

Grace and Peace

Steve

Filed under: Church, Devotions, Families, Prayer |