Relating to Jesus

I don’t know about you, but often times I have trouble relating to Jesus. After all, He is the Son of God… the sinless Savior… the living Lord… the perfect Lamb. He has done so much more than you and I could ever hope… lived a life better than we could dream… followed God perfectly… there’s no way we can measure up. I guess it’s just that He’s both God and man simultaneously, and that I struggle with latter part of that combination… seeing Him with any amount of humanity with which I can relate.

I’m thankful that every now and then my eyes are opened and I can see Jesus in a fresh light again. This morning I experienced another of these moments during a radio sermon from Pastor Bob Coy (I really do enjoy his messages!), as he was relating the story of the wedding feast at Cana from John 2.

¹On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ²and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

⁴“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.”

⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

⁷Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

⁸Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, ⁹and 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 ¹⁰and 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.”
¹¹This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

I’ve heard or read this account hundreds of times, but there was something new this morning that stood out as Pastor Bob preached… the interaction between Jesus and his mother, Mary.

In the past, I’d always blown right past verses 3-5, never really considering what was going on, just realizing that Mary told Jesus about a problem, and that He ended up addressing the issue by performing His first miracle.

This morning was different.

Look at the dialogue, and allow yourself to visualize the situation and the interaction between the two. Here’s what I see…

In the middle of this grand wedding celebration… people dancing, smiling, eating, drinking… having a great time… we see Mary making her way through the crowd toward her son. He, of course, is surrounded by people… friends… talking and laughing with him, all thoroughly enjoying the party. Mary carries a slight look of concern on her face, and makes her way through the people, perhaps even coming up behind Jesus, placing her hand on his shoulder to get his attention, or leaning down to a seated Jesus, wrapping her arms around his neck and speaking into his ear.

“Son? Can you take a minute from your friends? We need to talk.”

Jesus politely excuses himself, and Mary leads him to the banquet table. She gestures toward the wine.

“Look… they’re running out. I know you can help. Would you, please?”

“Come on mom”, Jesus replies. “How’s this my problem? My time has not yet come.”

Awkward silence, and the two simply look into each other’s eyes. Mary looks at him with insistence, and a wry grin appears on Jesus’s face.

Mary calls for the servants.

“Do whatever he tells you to do.”

The rest of the story isn’t all that important to me… but that moment of humanity I see in Christ… it’s everything that matters.

I can relate to Jesus in that moment.