Water into Wine

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                In a wedding feast at Cana, Jesus turned water into wine because the host had run out of it. The master of ceremonies who didn’t know where the wine had come from tasted it and said, “A host always serves the best wine first then when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!” (John 2:10)

                Based on the Jewish practice, the guests would have understood if the wine that came last were inferior to those served first. Jesus, however, opted to make nothing but the best kind.

                Later in his ministry, Jesus began to have many people following after him – five thousand of them in one day and Jesus’ intention to feed each one shocked the disciples. Philip, one of them said, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!” (John 6:7)  But there was one boy there with five loaves and two fish. He offered them to Jesus who multiplied them so that everyone ate as much as they wanted. There were even leftovers!

                When Jesus works, only the best is produced and people are satisfied. This is how He works in our lives too. We work hard to make our lives better but there are times when we run out of wine or we can’t feed five thousand and the only option we have left is to tell the guests the party is over or tell the crowd to go home because we have none to offer them.

                But we can offer God our water and ask him to turn it into wine, our five loaves and two fish and ask him to multiply them. To ask him to do so is an act of faith – a way of allowing God who could do the supernatural to interfere in the natural, a way of allowing a big God to meddle in the small stuff - a way of surrendering in an ordinary way so that God could do the extraordinary. Our water could be anything we have – a sickness, an insecurity, a meaningless life, a failed expectation or a broken relationship. Our five loaves and two fish could be anything we think as insufficient – a meagre pay, a deteriorating strength or so little time to do so many things. To accept the way God would work after we have surrendered is a part of our faith-defining gesture of offering our water, our five loaves and two fish to Him.

One thing is for sure, though, our wine will turn out to be the best and our five loaves and two fish will multiply and we end up satisfied. But we have to do one thing first – surrender to Him.