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A Call to Stand Apart
convinced her that He could be no one else. Yet she also experienced
doubts and disappointments and longed for the time when He would
finally show His divinity. By now, death had separated Mary from
Joseph, who had shared her knowledge of the mystery of the birth
of Jesus. So she had no one in whom to confide. The past weeks
had been especially difficult
At the marriage feast she saw the same tender Son she had raised.
Yet she could tell He had changed. She saw the evidences of the
cruel temptations in the wilderness and a new sense of dignity and
power as He walked and talked. A group of men accompanied Him.
Their eyes followed Him constantly, reverently, and they called Him
“Master.” These men told Mary what they had seen and heard at
His baptism and elsewhere. They concluded with what Philip told
Nathanial: “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law,
and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the
son of Joseph.”
John 1:45
, NIV
As Mary saw the many glances of the guests in Jesus’ direction,
she longed to have Him prove His Messiahship. She hoped and
prayed He might perform a miracle. At that time marriage festivities
continued for several days, and at this wedding the wine ran out
before the party ended. As a relative of the bride and groom, Mary
was among the caterers, so she commented pointedly to Jesus, “They
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have no wine.” It was an undisguised suggestion for Him to do
something dramatic
Jesus’ answer, “My hour is not yet come,” indicated that no
earthly ties would dictate His conduct. Though Mary did not fully
understand her Son’s mission, she trusted Him implicitly. And Jesus
responded to that faith. He also acted to strengthen the faith of His
disciples by performing His first miracle
Beside the doorway stood six large stone water jars. Jesus di-
rected the servants to fill them with water. And because the guests
needed to be served immediately, He told them to take some of the
contents to the person in charge of the gathering. When they did,
instead of the water with which they had filled the jars, they poured
wine! Hardly anyone knew the original wine supply had run out, but
when the wedding coordinator tasted what his servants brought, he
knew it to be far superior to any he had drunk thus far at the wedding.
Turning to the bridegroom, he said, “Everyone man serves the good
