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Learning From Mary

When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
John 2:3

In Bible times, offering wine to your guests at a wedding was a sign of respect, so running out would be considered a social disaster. But notice how Mary handled it; instead of trying to allocate the blame, she decided it was better to solve the problem. John Dewey said, "A problem well stated is a problem half solved", so before Mary did anything else, she talked to Jesus. Smart move! Jesus told the servants to fill the jars with water and give some to the headwaiter. When he tasted it, the Bible says, "the water had become wine" (John 2:9). But note: it happened after they’d obeyed Jesus, not before. At a particularly tense church leaders’ meeting, when one committee member suggested that they pray about the problems, another responded, "Has it really come to that?" There are basically two reasons we make prayer our last resort instead of our first: (1) We like to think we’re mature enough to solve our own problems (2) We feel insignificant and think, ‘It’s alright for Mary to ask Jesus; she’s His mother, but He’s got bigger problems to solve than mine’. No, your problems are important to Him! He delights in you (Psalm 18:19). He rejoices over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isaiah 62:5). You’re never too big or too small to ask your Father for help. Just take your cue from Mary: (a) identify the problem (b) bring it to Jesus (c) do what He says - and you’ll love the results!