Fill the Jars With Water

Do whatever he tells you. (Mary, Jn. 2:5) Fill the jars with water. (Jesus, Jn. 2:7)

John 2:1-11; Deut. 5:29; Josh. 1:8; Mt. 9:17; Lk. 5:5; John 10:10, 14:21; Rev. 22:15

What Is God Saying?

In the time and place of our Lord's earthly life, a wedding was a big affair. Rapid transportation was unheard of, and people who came to a wedding celebration had to stay for a while. The host required a generous supply of food and wine. If the supply was exhausted, the bridegroom was embarrassed. When the wine failed, Jesus performed his first miracle. The wedding hosts would have used twenty-gallon water jars for washing the feet of guests who walked long distances on dusty roads, as well as for washing hands between courses of their meals. At Jesus’ command, they filled the jars with water, which was then turned into wine. The wine was abundant in quantity and far superior in quality to the wine that had failed.

What a picture of the new wine of the Gospel! It is plentiful and far superior. ‘I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly’ (John 10:10). Jesus came to bring something new, incomparably better, and inexhaustibly abundant. It is not strange that his first miracle should underscore this fact. Those who taste this new wine of life discover the truth in that old Gospel hymn, ‘Anywhere he leads me is better than where I've been.’

How Does This Apply To Us?

These words leap out of the text. They ought to be often on our lips. They ought to rise and give strength to our wills at every crossroad where destiny hangs on a decision, where the heart trembles with a choice, and where the mind searches for the right answer. Mary says to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Jesus tells them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ Do whatever Jesus commands. It may be as common and ordinary as water. Do what he says. Give him what you have. His touch will make the difference. Let him turn emptiness into abundance, and a heavy spirit into living hope.

Pray With Me

Lord Jesus, there would have been no surprising abundance, no miracle, if the servants had disregarded Mary’s instruction. Give me a deeper understanding of this simple command. Give me a heart that is willing to listen, a heart that is quiet enough to hear, a heart that is quick to obey.

Do, don't debate. Don't doubt. Don't delay. Do not necessarily what pleases me, not necessarily the things that are easy or convenient or popular, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ As obedience to this command opened the door for your first miracle, so let my obedience open the door for your continuing miracles. The miracles are yours to perform. The only thing I have to do is to bring the water. You change it into wine. So I bring the most ordinary things of my life—time, talents, voice, strength, and the love of my heart. Then, I can wait with expectancy for your miracle.

Your touch changes the ordinary into the wonderful, the commonplace into the glorious, the defeated into the triumphant, the dull into the thrill of adventure. Help me do whatever you tell me to do, even if it is as simple as filling jars with water. Fill the vessel of my mind with glowing thoughts, the vessel of my hands with meaningful work, and the vessel of my heart with joy and hope.

In the name of Him whose miracles continue even now. Amen.

Moving On In The Life of Prayer

Coming to the place and time of prayer is like letting Jesus fill the empty and ordinary vessel of our hearts with the surprising joy of good wine. Prayer is changing water into wine. Prayer is to become a blessing.