Picturing A Joyful Jesus Series

But the food and wine were taken very seriously. The host honored the guests by keeping their plates full and their cups overflowing. It was considered an insult to the guests if the host ran out of food or wine.

This hospitality at a wedding was a sacred duty. So serious were these social customs that, if they were not observed, lawsuits could be brought by the injured parties! The rabbis of the day could have served on the Lexington City Council deciding New Year’s Eve ordinances, because their position was that “Without wine there is no joy.”

Wine was crucial. And understand this cultural difference. It was not for drunkenness, which was actually considered a disgrace, but for what it demonstrated. This presence of wine stated that this was a special day and that all the guests were special guests. So the absence of wine, then, was a social embarrassment.

This marriage feast could last for a day or several days. Apparently, this particular wedding feast at Cana has lasted longer than originally anticipated, and the supplies of wine have ran out.

You should be getting the picture and idea that wine was to a wedding back then what cake is to a wedding today. Can you imagine a wedding without cake? Well, they couldn’t imagine a wedding without wine. To offer wine was to show respect to your guests. Not to offer wine at a wedding was an insult.

So what the bride and the groom were facing here was a serious social problem. And when you think about it, it was a foul-up. A snafu. What might be referred to as a calamity on the common scale. There is no need to call 911, but there is also no way to sweep the embarrassment under the rug, either.

When you think about it, it is kind of like most of the problems we face. Seldom do we have to deal with dilemmas of national scale or world conflict. Seldom do our crises rock the Richter scale. We’re late for a meeting. We leave something at the office.

A coworker forgets a report. Mail gets lost. Traffic gets snarled. Nothing life threatening, but enough to light a fuse, and enough to rob us of our joy.

So we might want to note how Mary reacted. Verse 3 (read). She told Jesus. That’s it. That’s all she said. She didn’t go ballistic. She simply assessed the problem and gave it to Jesus.

A pastor writes about a tense deacons’ meeting he attended. Apparently there was more agitation than agreement, and after a lengthy discussion, someone suggested, “Why don’t we pray about it?” to which another questioned, “Has it come to that?”

Often happens to us, right? As trouble is rising, and joy is fading, we often go to the first option last, rather than the best option first. Not Mary, she went to Jesus. Christ had not publicly declared Himself to be the Son of God or the Messiah, but Mary knew His divine position since surely she had not forgotten His miraculous birth. I’m sure she remembered the words of the angel Gabriel. So she told Him about the situation, and left the rest to His wisdom and His will.

So what does Jesus do? Verse 4 (read).