Obeying Jesus to the Brim

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “What business do you have with Me, woman? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He tells you, do it.” Now there were six stone waterpots standing there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing two or three measures each.  Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim.” (John 2:1-7, NASB)

My daughter, Piper, is in her vastly frustrating– yet slightly endearing– headstrong toddler phase. Each day is an exhausting cycle of asking her a million times to do or not do something, chasing her from one side of the house to the other, and talking her through some big emotions.

One of her new favorite things to do is to help mommy or daddy cook meals at the stove. Tonight, I was preparing a dinner of shrimp tacos and rice. While I was cutting up vegetables, she pulled up her stool and started trying to help. She grabbed for the knife, which started a conversation of how she’s not really ready for that part yet and she can get hurt if she doesn’t wait until she gets older. Next, she started playing with the elements on the stove. I asked her not to play with them because she doesn’t know which one is on and if she touches one that’s hot she can get burned.

I threw the veggies and shrimp in one pan and turned on another element to start the rice. While she was filling the pot for me, I realized I turned on one of the closer elements when I meant to turn on one of the back ones for the rice. I turned off the front one and switched on the one I intended and made a mental note that the front one was still hot. We started the rice pot to boil and moved on to other steps. While adding spices to the other pan, I was keeping an eye on Piper and that other mistakenly heated element. Again, I reminded her that we shouldn’t touch the burners.

In a split second, her little hand started reaching for the hot element. I screamed, “Piper, I said NO!” at a decibel higher than she is used to and very firmly grabbed her wrist and yanked it away from the hot stove. In the next second, looking at her face, I knew I scared her and her face crumpled into tears. I picked her up and sat her on the counter and gently tried to explain to her that I grabbed her because she was about to touch a hot stove and that’s why I kept telling her to not touch the stove, because the burner was off one time, and hot the next but she didn’t know which time she’d get hurt. And that’s why it’s so important she listens when I tell her something.

In John 2, Jesus is at a wedding in Cana, just before His ministry begins. During the wedding, the wine runs out. Back in those times, running out of wine was a major party foul. Running out of wine would have been a mistake that would follow the couple for the rest of their married lives. And it would be more than just a roll-of-the-eyes or shrug-of-the-shoulders mistake. It would be something that spoke ill of the couple from the community for years to come. Wine was a major part of wedding celebrations of the time.

So when word gets to Mary, she turns to her son expecting Him to rectify the situation for the couple. Respectfully, Jesus asks her why this should be their problem. It wasn’t yet His time to be known as the miracle-working Son of God. Still, Mary turns to the servants at the wedding and insists that they follow Jesus’ instructions to the letter.

Jesus tells the servants to fill up the six waterpots that were used for the purification custom in the Jewish wedding ceremony. And the servants filled the pots up to the brim with water.

Not partially. Not halfway. Not almost to the top. 

To the brim.

They followed Jesus’ directions to the letter. At this point, the miracle hadn’t been completed yet. Jesus hadn’t intervened yet. He just told them to do something that didn’t make sense to them yet. If the wedding needed wine, why fill the pots with water? To any normal person, filling pots with water wouldn’t fix the carnal issue of running out of wine at the wedding reception. 

Jesus could have filled those pots Himself with just a thought. He could have skipped the water step altogether and just filled them up with wine. He could have acted without the help of the servants at the wedding. But He chose to partner with the servants at the wedding, and the caliber of their obedience affected the abundance of the miracle. If they grumbled and begrudgingly only filled the pots part of the way, failing to see the relevance of what Jesus asked them to do, the water-turned-wine would have only gone so far at the wedding. 

But the servants trusted Jesus and filled the pots to the brim. Whether they understood why they were doing it or not, they did it. Just like my daughter might not understand why I tell her to not touch the stove because I know something she doesn’t realize, the servants had to obey Jesus even without the whole picture.

So the question today is this: Do you follow Jesus’ guidance to the letter? Do you carry out what He asks, even if you don’t understand why His command is given in a specific way? Do you question some of His commands? Do we ignore some aspects of His Word because they’re not comfortable or convenient to us? Do we cherry-pick what we want to follow and what we don’t?

What are we potentially missing from the Lord due to our disobedience? What amount of wine do we forfeit due to our rebelliousness? What are we risking by touching the proverbial “hot oven” we’ve been told not to touch?

Today, be encouraged to continue following the Lord’s commands, even when they seem strange. Our obedience is the most important thing we have to cosign onto what Jesus is doing. It’s the most valuable thing we have to offer Him and it’s a huge part of our faithfulness towards Him. We should offer it and walk in it because we love Him and because He has proven Himself to be so good and steadfast towards us. At some point, our faith has to mature beyond the spiritual headstrong toddler phase to something more submissive, trusting that He knows better than we do and He is faithful to keep us safe.