Nothing But Him

"willing vessels of magnificent things"

THERE WAS a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and Mary asked her son to perform a miracle. There is symbolism in the cleansing jars of water becoming new wine, finer than any other. There is great understanding in Mary asking for the miracle. Mary had pondered in her heart all that was told her about Him (Luke 2:19). She hadn’t forgotten the miracle of His birth, nor the prophecy of Simeon, nor, I’ll bet, the glory of God which surrounded Him. The leaders in the temple questioned Him where He’d learned the Scriptures. He hadn’t trained beneath any of them. Jesus’ reply was to turn their eyes toward the Father and the Spirit who anointed Him in fullness (John 7:16). But Mary had learned these things from the angel (Luke 1:35), from Elizabeth who called the child she carried blessed (Luke 1:42), and from Simeon’s prophecy. “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people (Luke 2:30-31).” It says she and Joseph marveled at what was spoken about Him (Luke 2:33).

We’ve let go of the height of trusting God which filled her and those like her. We’ve relegated it to those called into the ministry and made ourselves less. Though we have the picture of it painted for us in passages like Hebrews 11 and the trust of a young girl named Mary, most of us settle for milk (Hebrews 5:12). I made this remark the other day, but if you strip away all the physical things we lean on in replace of Jesus, if you have nothing but Him to trust in for the difficult moments, how sure are you? Mary said yes to God’s plan. Though she had Joephs’s unstated opinion in her mind and a million other questions, she laid her understanding on the Father whose Spirit would anoint her.

She and Joseph raised the Messiah, visited by a field of shepherds and a group of wise men from a faraway place. They observed Jesus’ spiritual growth from infancy to adulthood. This is stated in their amazement when, at age twelve, He stayed behind in Jerusalem. He wondered why they hadn’t gone to the temple to look for him first (Luke 2:49). His Father’s house, He called it. And there with Him stood those amazed by His wisdom. Given that, what was water into wine, in her point-of-view, with all that she knew about Him?

And how high did she trust God after seeing Him crucified, that she gathered with His disciples in the Upper Room (Acts 1:14)? Here is a new vision of the Savior. He’d promised the disciples the Comforter would come. He would return to be with them (John 14:18). Jesus lives in our hearts upon salvation. He came to live in His mother’s heart as well, and I dare to say she was not surprised by the tenderness of it nor the spiritual magnitude of what God in heaven would do, individually, to make Himself known to her.

When will we hunger for more and seek it without needing human understanding? When will we set aside the questions and just let God speak? We must release our doubts and take hold of His hands, willing vessels of magnificent things such as we cannot begin to think. If His peace is beyond our understanding, how much more is His truth? This question fueled her in that moment, at a wedding seemingly ordinary, where she knew her son, God’s Son, would answer in a miraculous way. Not because she was Mary and had gained position, but because she already glimpsed the possibilities of Jehovah in a measure others around her walked past and couldn’t yet see.

“When people had drunk all the wine, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’ Jesus replied, ‘Woman, why do you tell me this? It is not my time yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do anything that he wants you to do.’” (John 2:3-5, EasyEnglish)

“But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)

“And Joseph and his mother [Mary] marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.” (Luke 2:33)

“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” (Acts 1:14)

Photo by Chloe Bolton on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com