His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
At the marriage in Cana of Galilee where Jesus performed His first miracle at the opening of His public ministry, His mother told the servants to do whatever He instructed them. Though He had said His hour had not yet come, she was not discouraged but trusted His wisdom and power to help with the lack of wine at the right moment, and the servants obeyed without reservation in filling the stone waterpots and carrying to the ruler of the feast what had become the finest wine. The wine He made was the pure, unfermented, wholesome juice of the grape, not made intoxicating by fermentation, giving no sanction for fermented wine. By His presence and miracle at the wedding festival He sanctioned marriage as a sacred institution He Himself had established and showed His sympathy and desire to bring happiness and blessing in ordinary social life. The instruction remains the rule for all who seek Him, to do just what Christ tells without delay, willingly obeying His word and His commandments as the true sign of discipleship and love for Him.
Wedding Setting and Background
The words were spoken at a marriage in Cana of Galilee, where Jesus performed His first miracle at the opening of His public ministry. He had come there with His newly made disciples among relatives of Joseph and Mary, going on purpose because many influential persons would be brought together, and once His presence became known He and His friends received a special invitation so that He graced the feast with His presence.
He had been separated from His widowed mother for quite a length of time, since His baptism by John and His temptations in the wilderness, about two months in which she sorrowed over His loneliness and sufferings and felt deep sorrow as well as joy over His Messiahship. At the feast He was the same tender, dutiful son yet not the same, with changed countenance bearing marks of His fierce conflict in the wilderness of temptation and evidence of His high mission in His holy expression and gentle dignity. He was accompanied by young men who reverently called Him Master and told Mary of wonderful things witnessed at His baptism and on numerous other occasions, concluding He is Jesus of Nazareth, the long-looked-for Messiah of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote.
News of the miracle spread through all that region even to Jerusalem, so that the priests and elders heard with wonder and searched with new interest the prophecies pointing to the coming of Christ. They did so with intense anxiety to know the aim and mission of this new unassuming Teacher who did what no other man had ever done. After the miracle the servants recounted what had happened, while the guests were at first too amazed to think of Jesus, and He then withdrew quietly, unnoticed even by His disciples.
Mary's Trust and Instruction
Though He had said His hour had not yet come, she was not disconcerted and not discouraged. She took His words as encouragement rather than rebuke. She trusted that He would act at the right moment, and she told the servants to do whatever He directed.
She trusted His wisdom and power and left the decision to Him, claiming no authority over His work. Confident He would help with the shortage of wine at the feast, she did what she could to prepare the way for His work. Her direction expressed faith and readiness to have His instructions obeyed, and it prepared the way for the miracle that followed when the servants filled the waterpots and jars and drew out their contents. Her speaking to the servants with authority shows she was present not merely as a guest but as a relative of one of the wedding parties.
Servants' Obedience and Miracle
Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus instructed them, directing them to obey whatever He told them and to follow His commands without reservation. She did not claim authority over His work but trusted Him to act at the right moment even though He had said His hour had not yet come, leaving the decision to Him and doing what she could to prepare the way for it. Her words expressed faith and confidence that He would help with the shortage of wine at the wedding feast.
The servants obeyed His unusual instructions without reservation, following His direction to fill the stone waterpots and jars with water and then to draw out their contents and carry them to the ruler of the feast. Their ready obedience led to the provision of wine, for the water became wine, even the finest wine, made discreetly and superior to what had first been served. In this way her instruction at Cana preceded and prepared the way for the miracle that followed.
The turning of water into wine shows that Christ can transform the ordinary things of life, turning the common water of daily life into wine. The wedding miracle illustrates that Jesus gives gifts that remain satisfying and provides salvation in abundance. In that illustration the water represents baptism into His death, and the wine represents His blood shed to purify the world from sin.
Pure Wine and Temperance
The wine made at Cana was the pure, unfermented juice of the grape, wholesome and refreshing, the pure clarified and refined juice, the new wine found in the cluster in which is a blessing, not wine made intoxicating by fermentation or adulteration. It was wine from the fresh grape with not one particle of fermentation in it, described as pure, unfermented grape juice and a safe drink rather than intoxicating liquor. The miracle therefore set an example of temperance rather than an endorsement of intoxicating wine.
It came just after His long fast in the wilderness, where He suffered to break the power of appetite over man, which among other evils had led to the free use of intoxicating liquor. What He then provided brings the taste into harmony with a healthful appetite. He provided no beverage that would becloud reason and benumb spiritual perception, or place temptation before men by bringing the lower nature into subjection.
In this He did not contradict His own Old Testament warning that wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging, His direction that John the Baptist should drink neither wine nor strong drink, His similar abstinence enjoined upon the wife of Manoah, and His example of self-denial in suffering the forty days' fast in the wilderness to break the power of appetite in human behalf. The miracle gives no sanction for the use of fermented wine, for Jesus never by word or act sanctioned fermented wine. It is the unfermented wine alone to keep in the house, calling for putting away all fermented wine, liquor, and tobacco in order to keep the mind unconfused and give God the full strength of the powers He created.
The same unfermented wine was used by the Saviour and His disciples in the first communion and should always be used on the communion table as the symbol of His blood. The sacramental service is designed to be soul-refreshing and life-giving, with nothing connected with it that could minister to evil, using neither leavened bread nor fermented wine.
Marriage Honored and Blessed
Christ began His public ministry at a marriage festival in a festal hall where friends and kindred rejoiced together, and by performing His first miracle there He sanctioned marriage. In doing so He recognized marriage as an institution He Himself had established when He gave Eve to Adam as a helpmeet. His presence at Cana and His miracle there give high endorsement to marriage as a sacred and divine institution. His being there and working that miracle shows He ever honored the marriage relation. The miracle showed that marriage is not forbidden by God.
He ordained that men and women should be united in holy wedlock to rear families whose members, crowned with honor, should be recognized as members of the family above. That union is to be joined in purity, holiness, truth, and righteousness, and as such is a great blessing to the human family. He honored the marriage ceremony by His presence and active interest. He came not to put a cloud over the happiness of family and guests but in full sympathy with pure joy.
He did not come to forbid marriage or to destroy family relationships. He came to restore and ennoble pure affection so that the earthly family might symbolize the family in heaven. He comes not to destroy the sacred relationship of marriage but to exalt it and restore it to its original sanctity, looking with pleasure upon family life where sacred and unselfish love bears sway. His presence gives sanction to every gathering that is pure and lovely and of good report. He enforces celibacy upon no class of men.
Christ's Sympathy and Fellowship
The wedding at Cana belongs to the opening of public ministry, where power was used to add to the guests' joy out of sympathy and desire to bring happiness and blessing. Presence at such a joyful gathering showed that joyful gatherings are right, and that innocent happiness is pleasing. Such occasions were used to turn people toward God's goodness and love and to reveal the way of salvation to those open to receive it.
Attendance was a step toward breaking down social barriers and Jewish prejudice and exclusiveness, bringing people together as members of one family. It opened the way for freer contact among people and served the mission to reach and benefit people of every class. It taught the disciples sympathy and humanity.
Presence among people in ordinary social settings, in the mixed assembly of a festal gathering, helped reach them with divine truth. Serving God does not require withdrawing from ordinary social life, for He did not shun the social life of the countrymen. Followers should meet people where they are and use such occasions to do good and share truth, while keeping their lives pure. His presence and teachings honored those met and gave opportunity to know character.
He joined the gathering and sanctioned social intercourse with His presence, while no shadow of worldly levity marred conduct. Attendance was not worldly conformity. By genial and beneficent character, by precious teachings and generous conduct, He enshrined Himself in hearts and gave those honored with presence opportunity to become acquainted with Him and to see the marked contrast between His life and teachings and those of the Pharisees. His example rebukes self-righteous bigotry, austere seclusion, icy chilliness and reserve, and Pharisaical desire for pre-eminence. His followers must not shun the society of fellow men but seek it with a kind, generous spirit toward the poor, bestowing the heavenly benefits received and using all held as stewards to advance the cause, distinguishing the genuine from the spurious.
Presence at a wedding is not a warrant for treating theater, dancing, parties of pleasure, or other pleasure-seeking entertainments as harmless merely because they are pleasurable.
Fruit of the Miracle
The miracle at Cana confirmed the disciples' faith in Jesus. It gave them the opportunity to openly acknowledge that faith in Him. In doing so it stood as a testimony to Him as the world's Redeemer.
That same working of power prepared the way for Jesus to be warmly and cordially received and welcomed in Galilee. By miraculously changing water into wine He displayed a power that encouraged the nobleman to believe He could heal his dying son.
Obey Whatever Christ Commands
Those who seek God with the whole heart are to do whatever He tells them, following His direction in carrying out His plans. Those who seek counsel from God and those who serve Christ are to obey whatever He tells them to do. God provides the help needed when human resources are unequal to the demands. Doing just what Christ tells without delay means standing fast in faith and good works, which brings going forward and upward, blessing, and increased faith and hope. When reading the Word, what it teaches is to be done rather than delayed, as temptation may urge.
His directions are to be obeyed willingly, following God wherever He leads and accepting His teaching. The Lord is to be sought to understand duty, and whatever He bids is to be done, for each person is given work with light and conviction about that work, and His leading and the Holy Spirit guide how to proceed. Christ's followers are to do whatever He tells them, with His word as their assurance, and with living faith and union with Him they are to follow where He leads, trusting He is willing to teach them. The words also teach believers to follow His leading and obey what He commands. Obedience shows the reality of love for Jesus, who gave His life, and receiving Him makes people children of God.
Obedience is the true sign of discipleship: he who says he knows Him and keeps not His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him, but whoso keeps His word has the love of God perfected in him and is thereby known to be in Him, and he who says he abides in Him ought to walk even as He walked. To claim all that is promised to God's children while transgressing the law and lightly regarding its requirements is presumption with no right to the promises, and talk of Jesus' love without obedience deep enough to lead to obedience bears fruit proving faith is not genuine. Those who follow Christ must obey all He commands by being grounded upon principles of truth, understanding what the Bible teaches about faith and sanctification through the truth, standing firm so they cannot be moved to false positions on holiness, illustrating its practical workings in life and distinguishing the genuine from the spurious. This condemnation does not apply to those who never had the light of present truth and through grace are keeping the law as far as they understand it and living up to the best light they have. For one who clearly sees it is duty, this obedience means leaving a narrower work such as teaching for the broader field of ministry, to labor and pray and plant and water the sown seed hopefully and cheerfully.
Living the Command Today
To do whatever he says includes living in harmony with the laws of health, practicing temperance in all things, and learning what constitutes true health reform in order to teach its principles to others. That teaching is to be given by precept and by quiet, consistent example, line upon line, with instruction at large gatherings followed up by publications to arouse intellect and conscience. Nearly every family needs to be stirred up on the question and have conscience aroused to duty, for unless true temperance is practiced people cannot be susceptible to the sanctifying influence of the truth. Obedience therefore embraces the light and knowledge given about health and the care of the body.
The providing of wine at the wedding feast, together with the feeding of the multitude, teaches a lesson of the highest importance about food, that God provides for human needs and gives His people guidance in preparing the best foods for different times and occasions. The food business is one of God's own instrumentalities to supply a necessity, and God uses the health-food work to provide what is needed and to teach people how to prepare wholesome foods. Christ as the heavenly Provider of all foods will not leave His people in ignorance but will teach them the preparation of the best and most healthful foods for all times and occasions.
The same command gives the rule for dress, to do everything Christ says, including His teaching that women adorn themselves in modest apparel. That standard forbids display in dress, gaudy colors, profuse ornamentation, and any device designed to attract attention to the wearer or to excite admiration.
As at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, Christ works together with a God-fearing mother who has a close connection with Him, and with a mother in ordinary home life, helping make her loving work a blessing to her children. Her ministry of love makes the home a Bethel, and Christ joins her in turning the common water of daily life into the wine of heaven. This cooperation displays the power and excellency of home religion in the mother's God-given mission to her children.
At the marriage in Cana of Galilee where Jesus performed His first miracle at the opening of His public ministry, His mother told the servants to do whatever He instructed them. Though He had said His hour had not yet come, she was not discouraged but trusted His wisdom and power to help with the lack of wine at the right moment, and the servants obeyed without reservation in filling the stone waterpots and carrying to the ruler of the feast what had become the finest wine. The wine He made was the pure, unfermented, wholesome juice of the grape, not made intoxicating by fermentation, giving no sanction for fermented wine. By His presence and miracle at the wedding festival He sanctioned marriage as a sacred institution He Himself had established and showed His sympathy and desire to bring happiness and blessing in ordinary social life. The instruction remains the rule for all who seek Him, to do just what Christ tells without delay, willingly obeying His word and His commandments as the true sign of discipleship and love for Him.
Wedding Setting and Background
The words were spoken at a marriage in Cana of Galilee, where Jesus performed His first miracle at the opening of His public ministry. He had come there with His newly made disciples among relatives of Joseph and Mary, going on purpose because many influential persons would be brought together, and once His presence became known He and His friends received a special invitation so that He graced the feast with His presence.
He had been separated from His widowed mother for quite a length of time, since His baptism by John and His temptations in the wilderness, about two months in which she sorrowed over His loneliness and sufferings and felt deep sorrow as well as joy over His Messiahship. At the feast He was the same tender, dutiful son yet not the same, with changed countenance bearing marks of His fierce conflict in the wilderness of temptation and evidence of His high mission in His holy expression and gentle dignity. He was accompanied by young men who reverently called Him Master and told Mary of wonderful things witnessed at His baptism and on numerous other occasions, concluding He is Jesus of Nazareth, the long-looked-for Messiah of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote.
News of the miracle spread through all that region even to Jerusalem, so that the priests and elders heard with wonder and searched with new interest the prophecies pointing to the coming of Christ. They did so with intense anxiety to know the aim and mission of this new unassuming Teacher who did what no other man had ever done. After the miracle the servants recounted what had happened, while the guests were at first too amazed to think of Jesus, and He then withdrew quietly, unnoticed even by His disciples.
Mary's Trust and Instruction
Though He had said His hour had not yet come, she was not disconcerted and not discouraged. She took His words as encouragement rather than rebuke. She trusted that He would act at the right moment, and she told the servants to do whatever He directed.
She trusted His wisdom and power and left the decision to Him, claiming no authority over His work. Confident He would help with the shortage of wine at the feast, she did what she could to prepare the way for His work. Her direction expressed faith and readiness to have His instructions obeyed, and it prepared the way for the miracle that followed when the servants filled the waterpots and jars and drew out their contents. Her speaking to the servants with authority shows she was present not merely as a guest but as a relative of one of the wedding parties.
Servants' Obedience and Miracle
Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus instructed them, directing them to obey whatever He told them and to follow His commands without reservation. She did not claim authority over His work but trusted Him to act at the right moment even though He had said His hour had not yet come, leaving the decision to Him and doing what she could to prepare the way for it. Her words expressed faith and confidence that He would help with the shortage of wine at the wedding feast.
The servants obeyed His unusual instructions without reservation, following His direction to fill the stone waterpots and jars with water and then to draw out their contents and carry them to the ruler of the feast. Their ready obedience led to the provision of wine, for the water became wine, even the finest wine, made discreetly and superior to what had first been served. In this way her instruction at Cana preceded and prepared the way for the miracle that followed.
The turning of water into wine shows that Christ can transform the ordinary things of life, turning the common water of daily life into wine. The wedding miracle illustrates that Jesus gives gifts that remain satisfying and provides salvation in abundance. In that illustration the water represents baptism into His death, and the wine represents His blood shed to purify the world from sin.
Pure Wine and Temperance
The wine made at Cana was the pure, unfermented juice of the grape, wholesome and refreshing, the pure clarified and refined juice, the new wine found in the cluster in which is a blessing, not wine made intoxicating by fermentation or adulteration. It was wine from the fresh grape with not one particle of fermentation in it, described as pure, unfermented grape juice and a safe drink rather than intoxicating liquor. The miracle therefore set an example of temperance rather than an endorsement of intoxicating wine.
It came just after His long fast in the wilderness, where He suffered to break the power of appetite over man, which among other evils had led to the free use of intoxicating liquor. What He then provided brings the taste into harmony with a healthful appetite. He provided no beverage that would becloud reason and benumb spiritual perception, or place temptation before men by bringing the lower nature into subjection.
In this He did not contradict His own Old Testament warning that wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging, His direction that John the Baptist should drink neither wine nor strong drink, His similar abstinence enjoined upon the wife of Manoah, and His example of self-denial in suffering the forty days' fast in the wilderness to break the power of appetite in human behalf. The miracle gives no sanction for the use of fermented wine, for Jesus never by word or act sanctioned fermented wine. It is the unfermented wine alone to keep in the house, calling for putting away all fermented wine, liquor, and tobacco in order to keep the mind unconfused and give God the full strength of the powers He created.
The same unfermented wine was used by the Saviour and His disciples in the first communion and should always be used on the communion table as the symbol of His blood. The sacramental service is designed to be soul-refreshing and life-giving, with nothing connected with it that could minister to evil, using neither leavened bread nor fermented wine.
Marriage Honored and Blessed
Christ began His public ministry at a marriage festival in a festal hall where friends and kindred rejoiced together, and by performing His first miracle there He sanctioned marriage. In doing so He recognized marriage as an institution He Himself had established when He gave Eve to Adam as a helpmeet. His presence at Cana and His miracle there give high endorsement to marriage as a sacred and divine institution. His being there and working that miracle shows He ever honored the marriage relation. The miracle showed that marriage is not forbidden by God.
He ordained that men and women should be united in holy wedlock to rear families whose members, crowned with honor, should be recognized as members of the family above. That union is to be joined in purity, holiness, truth, and righteousness, and as such is a great blessing to the human family. He honored the marriage ceremony by His presence and active interest. He came not to put a cloud over the happiness of family and guests but in full sympathy with pure joy.
He did not come to forbid marriage or to destroy family relationships. He came to restore and ennoble pure affection so that the earthly family might symbolize the family in heaven. He comes not to destroy the sacred relationship of marriage but to exalt it and restore it to its original sanctity, looking with pleasure upon family life where sacred and unselfish love bears sway. His presence gives sanction to every gathering that is pure and lovely and of good report. He enforces celibacy upon no class of men.
Christ's Sympathy and Fellowship
The wedding at Cana belongs to the opening of public ministry, where power was used to add to the guests' joy out of sympathy and desire to bring happiness and blessing. Presence at such a joyful gathering showed that joyful gatherings are right, and that innocent happiness is pleasing. Such occasions were used to turn people toward God's goodness and love and to reveal the way of salvation to those open to receive it.
Attendance was a step toward breaking down social barriers and Jewish prejudice and exclusiveness, bringing people together as members of one family. It opened the way for freer contact among people and served the mission to reach and benefit people of every class. It taught the disciples sympathy and humanity.
Presence among people in ordinary social settings, in the mixed assembly of a festal gathering, helped reach them with divine truth. Serving God does not require withdrawing from ordinary social life, for He did not shun the social life of the countrymen. Followers should meet people where they are and use such occasions to do good and share truth, while keeping their lives pure. His presence and teachings honored those met and gave opportunity to know character.
He joined the gathering and sanctioned social intercourse with His presence, while no shadow of worldly levity marred conduct. Attendance was not worldly conformity. By genial and beneficent character, by precious teachings and generous conduct, He enshrined Himself in hearts and gave those honored with presence opportunity to become acquainted with Him and to see the marked contrast between His life and teachings and those of the Pharisees. His example rebukes self-righteous bigotry, austere seclusion, icy chilliness and reserve, and Pharisaical desire for pre-eminence. His followers must not shun the society of fellow men but seek it with a kind, generous spirit toward the poor, bestowing the heavenly benefits received and using all held as stewards to advance the cause, distinguishing the genuine from the spurious.
Presence at a wedding is not a warrant for treating theater, dancing, parties of pleasure, or other pleasure-seeking entertainments as harmless merely because they are pleasurable.
Fruit of the Miracle
The miracle at Cana confirmed the disciples' faith in Jesus. It gave them the opportunity to openly acknowledge that faith in Him. In doing so it stood as a testimony to Him as the world's Redeemer.
That same working of power prepared the way for Jesus to be warmly and cordially received and welcomed in Galilee. By miraculously changing water into wine He displayed a power that encouraged the nobleman to believe He could heal his dying son.
Obey Whatever Christ Commands
Those who seek God with the whole heart are to do whatever He tells them, following His direction in carrying out His plans. Those who seek counsel from God and those who serve Christ are to obey whatever He tells them to do. God provides the help needed when human resources are unequal to the demands. Doing just what Christ tells without delay means standing fast in faith and good works, which brings going forward and upward, blessing, and increased faith and hope. When reading the Word, what it teaches is to be done rather than delayed, as temptation may urge.
His directions are to be obeyed willingly, following God wherever He leads and accepting His teaching. The Lord is to be sought to understand duty, and whatever He bids is to be done, for each person is given work with light and conviction about that work, and His leading and the Holy Spirit guide how to proceed. Christ's followers are to do whatever He tells them, with His word as their assurance, and with living faith and union with Him they are to follow where He leads, trusting He is willing to teach them. The words also teach believers to follow His leading and obey what He commands. Obedience shows the reality of love for Jesus, who gave His life, and receiving Him makes people children of God.
Obedience is the true sign of discipleship: he who says he knows Him and keeps not His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him, but whoso keeps His word has the love of God perfected in him and is thereby known to be in Him, and he who says he abides in Him ought to walk even as He walked. To claim all that is promised to God's children while transgressing the law and lightly regarding its requirements is presumption with no right to the promises, and talk of Jesus' love without obedience deep enough to lead to obedience bears fruit proving faith is not genuine. Those who follow Christ must obey all He commands by being grounded upon principles of truth, understanding what the Bible teaches about faith and sanctification through the truth, standing firm so they cannot be moved to false positions on holiness, illustrating its practical workings in life and distinguishing the genuine from the spurious. This condemnation does not apply to those who never had the light of present truth and through grace are keeping the law as far as they understand it and living up to the best light they have. For one who clearly sees it is duty, this obedience means leaving a narrower work such as teaching for the broader field of ministry, to labor and pray and plant and water the sown seed hopefully and cheerfully.
Living the Command Today
To do whatever he says includes living in harmony with the laws of health, practicing temperance in all things, and learning what constitutes true health reform in order to teach its principles to others. That teaching is to be given by precept and by quiet, consistent example, line upon line, with instruction at large gatherings followed up by publications to arouse intellect and conscience. Nearly every family needs to be stirred up on the question and have conscience aroused to duty, for unless true temperance is practiced people cannot be susceptible to the sanctifying influence of the truth. Obedience therefore embraces the light and knowledge given about health and the care of the body.
The providing of wine at the wedding feast, together with the feeding of the multitude, teaches a lesson of the highest importance about food, that God provides for human needs and gives His people guidance in preparing the best foods for different times and occasions. The food business is one of God's own instrumentalities to supply a necessity, and God uses the health-food work to provide what is needed and to teach people how to prepare wholesome foods. Christ as the heavenly Provider of all foods will not leave His people in ignorance but will teach them the preparation of the best and most healthful foods for all times and occasions.
The same command gives the rule for dress, to do everything Christ says, including His teaching that women adorn themselves in modest apparel. That standard forbids display in dress, gaudy colors, profuse ornamentation, and any device designed to attract attention to the wearer or to excite admiration.
As at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, Christ works together with a God-fearing mother who has a close connection with Him, and with a mother in ordinary home life, helping make her loving work a blessing to her children. Her ministry of love makes the home a Bethel, and Christ joins her in turning the common water of daily life into the wine of heaven. This cooperation displays the power and excellency of home religion in the mother's God-given mission to her children.