Family is the most foundational institution in God’s created order. Before He created Israel or the Church, God created the family. Family first.
Here’s the problem with America today: The family has become irrelevant, unnecessary, and dysfunctional. The problem in America isn’t the fella in the White House. The problem isn’t the church-house or the school-house. It’s my house. It’s your house. “Oh God, help us, send revival, heal our land, starting in my home and in my heart!”
God loves family.
Jesus demonstrated his love for home and family by performing His first miracle at a wedding feast. “A wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’s mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, ‘They don’t have any wine’ ” (John 2:1–3).
Weddings in the first century were week-long affairs hosted by the groom and his parents. Meals, food and drink, were provided for all the invited guests as they lingered and lounged. The catering services kept serving, kept pouring, kept smiling as every guest was fed and filled.
To run out of food or drink was unthinkable. Inhospitable. Inexcusable. To run out of wine before the final curtain would have been embarrassing, humiliating, shameful. It would have been the talk of the town. Unbelievable. Unforgivable. Unforgettable.
The Bible doesn’t disclose the relationship between Jesus and the young couple. Jesus was on the guest list and Mary was apparently acting as a hostess, so it’s likely that they were extended family or close friends. When they prematurely ran out of wine, Mary stepped in to meet a need, to prevent a calamity, to divert a catastrophe.
Mary, knowing Jesus’ capacity and capability, knowing Jesus’ tender and compassionate heart, knowing that she could count on Jesus for a solution, approached her Son, her Maker and Master, and said, “Jesus, help! This family is in desperate need of a miraculous solution to an insurmountable problem!”
Jesus cares about family. He didn’t want this young couple to begin their marriage with the stigma of a failed feast. So, the One who created the universe, turned the water in “six stone water jars” (John 2:6) into wine. He turned the ordinary into the extraordinary and He turned a calamity into a celebration.
Jesus specializes in turning wreckage into righteousness! He creates life from death. He breaks the chains of condemnation and sets the captives free. He’s the God of endless grace.
The young couple at Cana miscalculated. They didn’t prepare well. They didn’t have enough wine. They goofed! But they did one thing right. They invited Jesus to their wedding and into their home. We should do the same!
