Transformed – teen devotion – January 19, 2025

One key truth: God’s mission is bigger than ours, and his timing is better than ours.

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
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 2:1-11

God Delivers More Than We Ask, Not Less

A wineless wedding may not be a big deal to you, but in ancient Jewish society, a wedding without wine was culturally disastrous.

Mary, Jesus’ mother, apparently knew that. So, she asks her son, Jesus, to do something about it. Was she hoping he’d work a miracle? Maybe, but we’re told this was the first miracle Jesus had ever performed; up to this point, she had never seen such raw demonstrations of her son’s divine power. As Mary speaks to Jesus, you get the impression she talks to him as if he was only her son—and nothing more; the son she bore; the son she nursed; the son she cradled; the son she taught to walk and took to the temple.

Mary certainly hadn’t forgotten what the angel said to her about this child: the child she would miraculously conceive was born of God: the child she carried was the Son of God, God Incarnate. But when Mary discovers there is no more wine, she leverages her relationship with Jesus as his mother to get him to do what she thinks is best when she thinks it’s best.

And Jesus, with gentleness and respect, “leverages” his relationship to her as the Son of God and Savior of the world to effectively tell her two things: 1) My mission is bigger than yours, 2) and my timing is better than yours.

So, what calamity is crashing into your life right now?

Where, in your life, do you feel things aren’t going according to your plans?

Is it fatigue from feeling like the weight of the world is on your shoulders? Is it the fear of getting sick? Is it the weariness of feeling like a failure? Like you just can’t do anything right? Is it when your closest relationships seem to be falling apart all around you? Is it the sting of being dumped or rejected? Is it the pain of losing a loved one? You don’t have to be the guest or groom at a dysfunctional wedding to doubt God’s mission is bigger than ours and his timing is better than ours.

But this story showcases more than hearts dealing with doubts in the face of disaster; it showcases a better groom—and he brings a better wedding. When it came to wine in first century A.D., it was commonly diluted with water—to where the wine that was served was two parts water and one part wine, or sometimes even three parts water and one part wine. And then there’s Jesus, and when he makes wine at this wedding, he fills six 20-30 gallon jars—not with two parts water and one part wine—not even with three parts water and one part wine—but with one part water and zero parts wine. For the Lord of all creation, the God through whom all things were made and all things hold together, water was more than what he needed to make wine. And not just any wine: wine better than the wine before it.

That is what is so beautiful about this wedding story: Jesus doesn’t just give these wedding guests something they didn’t have; he gives them something better than what they did have.

You see, Jesus didn’t come to this broken, fallen world because our wine glasses would be empty without him; he came because we would be empty without him. Our God didn’t enter this dying world to save weddings; he came to save you.

At that wedding in Cana, Jesus reveals himself to be the better bridegroom. Just as God spoke of his love for his wayward world as a faithful husband to a faithless bride, our God would demonstrate that unwavering fidelity and love by dying for us. This bridegroom would endure the justice of a holy God on a cross so we would be brought into his family. This bridegroom gave up his body and blood into death to give us something better than this world could ever give: forgiveness, newness of life, and heaven as our ultimate home. This bridegroom washed you in the waters of baptism to present you to himself as a radiant bride—without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. And this bridegroom is the one who will carry you over the threshold of this life into the mansions of heaven—where the wedding party will never end!

Prayer:
Lord God, heavenly Father, so often things spiral out of our control—and we’re incredibly quick to panic and frequently fail to give it over to you in prayer. Forgive us for these moments of doubt, encourage us with your steadfast love, and help us by your Spirit to trust your plan and your timing. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.