Fill Your Jug and Start Walking…Your Miracle Awaits

My husband and I recently celebrated 32 years of marriage. 11,680 days. As newlyweds, our early days were full of fun, laughs, exploration and discovery as we learned the art of marriage. Children, jobs, job losses, moves, and all the responsibilities of adulting crowded the middle years and somewhere around day 7,305 I found myself wondering if we’d make it to the next day.

Our relationship was empty. The party was close to over. We needed a miracle.

Another day a long time ago a wedding party was in full swing when they ran out of wine. The jugs were empty. We don’t know much about ancient Palestinian weddings, but running out of wine was as much a faux pas then as it is today.

Jesus and his disciples were guests, as was Mary, his mother. I’m curious about their relationship to the family hosting the wedding. Mary was distressed enough about this predicament that she reported it to Jesus, implying they were more than casual guests. She wanted to help their friends save face and she went to the one person she knew could help. What did Mary expect Jesus to do? It seems from his response to her that he understood what she hadn’t spoken. She was asking him to supernaturally intervene.   

Jesus gave the servants instructions to fill their jugs with water, then to draw the water out and present it to the host of the wedding. They filled their ladles and by the time the servants crossed the courtyard to the host, the water had miraculously turned into wine. This was not your cheap “two-buck-chuck” wine either. The passage emphasizes that it was the best that had been served all night (John 2:1-11).

I’m drawn to the interplay between Jesus and the servants because this is where we find ourselves.

At some point in our lives we’ll encounter situations that feel unsolvable, are uncomfortable, or put us on the defensive. We’ll experience discouragement, doubt, and uncertainty. We’ll lack confidence in our abilities, prospects, or decisions. We’ll wonder what to say or do next.

Like the servants, we are caught in the middle between the water – what is – and the wine – what will be. And like the servants, we don’t know there is a what will be until Jesus speaks.  He spoke to the servants and he will speak to us too.

And when Jesus speaks, sometimes he gives the darndest instructions.

Unbeknownst to the servants, Jesus’ instructions were an invitation to participate in the miracle. Would they fill the jugs or not? Each jug had the capacity to hold 20 to 30 gallons of water, weighing in excess of 165 pounds. They’d already filled them at least once for the ceremonial cleansing all the guests would have performed. They looked at Jesus. Looked at the jugs. Looked back at Jesus and were probably thinking what I’d be thinking: They are out of wine. Why is this guy telling me to fill this stinkin’ big jug with water? How can that possibly help?    

In our miracle-needing situation, Jesus doesn’t always give us easy instructions. They may not make sense or may seem to be pointless. The servants had a choice to fill or not fill the jugs, but the miracle in this story started with their obedience. Whatever our situation is, Jesus is speaking into it and us. And because we have this story to engage with, we know he is inviting us to participate in the very miracle we are seeking. We have a choice too. Will we go to counseling, apply for that job, start those classes, get ourselves into support groups? There are myriad ways Jesus will ask us to be a part of what he wants to do in response to our request for a miracle. The question is, will we fill our jug?

Miracles are sometimes a process.

The story does not say the entire jug of water was immediately turned into wine – problem solved. The story says that Jesus instructed the servants to “draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” Draw some of what? The water. Just the portion that was drawn out and carried by the servants turned to wine. The miracle didn’t happen in the jug. It happened as the servants walked their journey – from where they were to the host.

Our miracles might require that we take steps of faith with what we have in order to see what it will become.

The best is yet to come.

Let’s not miss this. When the servants completed their trek and presented the host with a sample, the host declared it to be exceptional. The miracle far-exceeded anyone’s expectations. The wine was not the normal cheap stuff served after everyone was already tipsy. No. It was even better than what had come before.

This part of the story is the most exciting. We can trust this to be true for us. Whatever the miracle is, when it comes, it won’t be just enough to get by with. It’ll be abundant and better than anything we knew before.

Even though my husband used “counseling” and “psycho-babble” in the same sentence, even though I’d been going and hadn’t noticed remarkable progress, we still filled our jug with it. We filled our jug with Jesus’ instructions to forgive even when we didn’t want to. We filled our jug with the friendships the Lord placed in our path when we most needed them. We stayed in it. We took what we had in our jugs and made the journey. In the process, a miracle happened. Is still happening. 7,305 days turned into 32 years and we look forward to each year as our best yet.

Jesus did not turn water into wine to help the bridegroom save face. He did not restore our marriage to keep us from becoming a statistic. Jesus did these miracles to reveal his glory every time the story is shared. The wine story, our story, and your story. Your miracle will reveal his glory too.

Listen for Jesus to speak. Fill your jug and start walking. Jesus promises the best is yet to come.