I love grapes! Growing up grapes and cheese had been the family staple of long trips. During those long trips I loved my family, long car rides, the scenery, but especially the snacks. Grapes are juicy and sweet but need a lot of tender, love, and care (tlc) before they are ready to be picked. According to an article I found from howtodothings.com, “knowing when and how to harvest the grapes is critical to success. If the grapes are not ready or the harvest is not done correctly, the crop can be a failure.” Needless to say harvesting grapes takes a lot of time, effort, tools, and patience to get it right. You can check for grape maturity by observing the changes in grape color, seed color, size, and taste.

Grapes are good for making jellies, jams, juices, wines, and eating. Early on in John’s book, chapter 2 verse 1 through 11 one of these uses was starting to run low.

“On the third day 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.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his sings, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory, And his disciples believed in him.”

-John 2:1-11

John 2:3 says, “When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’” This is something that would have been embarrassing for the family if their guests found out that they had ran out of wine. Keep in mind this experience was the first miracle that Jesus had performed. I wonder if Jesus’ mother had really realized what was about to happen at this wedding. I wonder if she was thinking that they could get the one some other way than how they did. However, one thing is for sure that Jesus saved face for this family and in so doing increased the faith of his disciples.

Jesus’ mother told the servants of the house “Do whatever he tells you?” Obviously, she knew that Jesus would take care of it. Look at what they do though. Jesus saw six stone water jars, seems okay, right? Under any other circumstances this would be okay; people draw water with stone jars all the time, but look what these stone jars were used for. They were wash bins used during Jewish ceremonial cleansing. To me that is just nasty. Jesus found the six jars with the smelliest dirtiest water in the whole place.

Jesus told the house servants to fill the jars with water. They did so—to the brim. Now, here is what I want you to see. The only thing that Jesus says is, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” He didn’t say, “Be made wine,” or “This is wine; now take it to the master of the feast.” He didn’t touch the water, or say a prayer over it. All he did was to tell the servants, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” This action would have to take some great faith on the part of the servants. For all they knew the liquid in the jars was still water. But, being the obedient servants they were in ‘doing whatever Jesus told them’, they ended up bringing the master of the feast new wine. Look at what the master of feast says to the bridegroom in verse 10, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus, without saying a word and the obedience of the servants turned the water into wine. And notice the wine wasn’t poor, or just okay. It was the best wine served at the whole gala.

There is a principle here that can be gleaned which has to do with what Jesus can do for us, if we let him. Jesus is able to take us from the dirty, grimy, putrid, smelly water that is our sin and turn it into something that is delicious, lovely, admirable, and the best wine that is salvation if we would only be obedient and “do whatever he tells us”. The servants took the dirty water to the master of the feast and in so doing gave him the best wine he had ever tasted at the wedding. In the same way, Jesus is able to make something beautiful out of our broken life if only we are obedient and faithful to offer him our brokenness.

I thank God for you always remembering you in my prayers.

Peace, love, and Christ ‘cause you know He died for you.