Running out of wine at a Jewish wedding celebration was a serious problem. As one of the hosts, Mary must have borne some of the responsibility. Fortunately, her Son, Jesus, and His disciple had been invited to the wedding. Just when they arrived, the story doesn’t say. But they were there when the wineskins gave up their last drops. Mary doesn’t appear worried or flustered. She knew that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. Taking matters into her own hands, she told Him: “They have no more wine” (John 2:3, NIV). A simple statement of fact. What would He do?
His response in modern terminology would have sounded like “Mom, why Me? It’s not My time.” Prefacing His question with the respectful term “Woman,” the same term used when He addressed her while hanging on the cross, Jesus asked the question: “What does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come” (verse 4, NKJV). Sounds to me as if He had slammed the door on her hoped-for solution to the wine problem. I like it that she had no response to Him. Instead, her next words were an order to the servants standing around with their trays of empty glasses waiting to be refilled. Ignoring Jesus’ last statement of fact, Mary nods toward Him while instructing the servants: “Whatever He says to you, do it” (verse 5, NKJV).
In hushed tones, not attracting any attention to Himself, Jesus pointed toward six large stone waterpots and said: “Fill the waterpots with water” (verse 7, NJKV). That is a very normal and unsurprising thing to request when it comes to waterpots. Each held 20 to 30 gallons of water, and they were used for ceremonial washing. Fill the waterpots with water. No big deal. Right? What happened next was surprising and quite unusual. But servants are programmed to act, not ask questions. So when Jesus said, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast” (verse 8, NKJV), they probably thought, Oh, boy, this won’t be pretty. But they did it anyway and filled them to the brim. And it was the best wine ever, because freshly made juice is always best.
Is the Creator of all that exists limited to photosynthesis as His only way of producing juice? His daily routine is making miracles happen.