He can help ...

Dienstag, April 29, 2014. We have been at a wedding last Saturday. First, there was the wedding service in the afternoon. Then, we went with the bride and the groom, with friends and family, to some restaurant at a lake to celebrate. It was a nice and fantastic evening.

Wine at the Wedding …

In the gospel of John Chapter 2 a story is told about a wedding where Jesus was one of the guests. But here, the wedding did not go that smoothly, since they ran out of wine at some point. That is, indeed, some embarrassing situation - imagine you have one hundred guests and no drinks any more!

The mother of Jesus somehow knew, that he could help. We are not told, why and how she knew, but she is pointing the servants to him. But let us read the whole story:

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.1 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 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 10 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.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

He can help …

I do not want to make a lot of words this morning. The main message which I take out of this story is: “he can help”. Jesus can help. Even if he thinks that his hour has not come, he is not letting the people down here - and not his mother, who believes in him. “He can help” is one of the main messages we are told here. He can help, we just have to ask him …

We talked about “faith” yesterday. Faith is not mainly faith in wonders - it must be much more to be well grounded. Faith is love, and love needs character and personality. Faith is trust, and trust needs decisions of those, who trust and who rely. So wonder is not the main thing. But still, wonders and supply are important. Occasionally, we are all in the same situation as the bride and the groom here. We lack something, and the situation is embarassing. Sometimes we have caused the lack by our own failure. Sometimes it is not our fault. But anyway, we need HIM, to help, to restore, to save.

The story with the wedding is a very practical story. And it is a beautiful story at the same time. The first wonder is about wine - about something pleasant. About a celebration. About a party! Jesus is helping the party. He does not want to destroy life, but to help life, full life! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts