Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding John 2:2

Our daughter Laura is getting married on Saturday.   As family and friends gather to celebrate her and Dean, God’s grace and goodness abound. Dan and I are overwhelmed with gratitude for the Lord’s hand in our lives.

I’ve been gleaning John’s Gospel account of the wedding feast of Cana for it is where Jesus begins His earthly ministry. Before that, however, right at the beginning of the Gospel John establishes the divine  authority of Jesus . He was in the beginning with God and is the Light come into the world, the Life of men. Jesus is the Word made flesh, both divine and human. He is the Christ.

Once he introduces who Jesus is, John proceeds quickly into Jesus’ ministry on earth. John the Baptist recognizes Jesus as the Lamb of God and baptizes Him in the Jordan. . Jesus then finds Simon Peter and chooses the disciples who immediately followed Him. The first chapter is electrified with divine energy and revelation.

Suddenly in the second chapter there is a change to quite ordinary human events. There is a wedding celebration:

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there:                           John 2: 1

So were Jesus and his friends. We know the Cana wedding story. The wine runs out and Mary turns to Jesus to help the groom save face.  At first Jesus is reluctant. However, He instructs the servants to fill up six large water pots. The water turns into wine. Only the servants who had obeyed Jesus knew where the good wine came from.   Speaking to the groom, the master of the feast is amazed: “You have kept the good wine until now!” It was one of those extraordinary moments in the Bible when I would have loved to be tucked behind a curtain, gawking. This wedding was far from ordinary.

The master of the feast had no idea who this guest was. When Jesus is invited into our lives  extraordinary things occur.  Miracles show up.   Water is turned into finest wine. Weddings are showered with blessings like summer blossoms.  Heaven visits earth. Jesus is the surprise wedding gift.

The Lord desires to be invited into all affairs of the heart, whether it be a wedding celebration or something more painful. He stands knocking at the door  from our waking up at dawn to sleepless night hours. What if the invitation to Jesus was engraved with each heartbeat? It is not unimaginable that miracle would follow upon miracle. John says as much near the end of Chapter 2. The miracle  at Cana was only the beginning of Jesus’ signs and wonders.  The wine of the Holy Spirit in Jesus poured out over a parched world.

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 2:11

Jesus’s Spirit  still overflows.  My prayer for our daughter’s wedding this Saturday is an invitation. May the Lord be there in our midst. May He bless every empty water pot to gush over as the best wine is saved for the last.