Day 8: The First Sign

Read: John 2:1-12 

I am getting married in seven weeks. Wedding planning has been incredibly stressful. I constantly feel overwhelmed and like I have no idea what I’m doing. In my stress, I’ve continuously failed to go to God, believing that it’s unnecessary and that I just have to figure things out. People around the world are dying, starving, and grieving, so my small problems are not important in comparison.  My stress isn’t big enough to bring to God. I’ve quickly come to realize though that what we think are small matters are significant to God.  

In John Chapter 2, Jesus was at a wedding when the wine ran out. This would have been a huge deal in the culture at the time. The couple was bound to face serious embarrassment, so Mary went to Jesus for help. He could have saved His first miracle for a more spectacular setting, but instead chose to have compassion on the couple.  

This was His very first miracle, the first of seven signs in the book of John that pointed to the proclamation that He was the awaited Messiah. This miracle took place before He healed the blind and the paralytic, before He fed the hungry crowd of 5,000, before He raised Lazarus from the grave. Jesus simply asked a group of servants fill six stone jars with water and turned it into wine. He didn’t shout what He was about to do. He didn’t make a spectacle of His miracle.  

After they gathered the water, Jesus had them bring some to the master of the feast. Verses 9-10 tells us, “When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ 

Jesus cared about the problems that might seem small in comparison to His future miracles. He chose His first miracle to be an act of compassion that prevented a couple from social humiliation. He performed His miracle quietly and humbly. His character is revealed here. He is a humble, compassionate God. He is a God that cares about the small and big things. Jesus cares for His people.  

Think of something small in your life that you feel is not important enough to bring to God. Bring it to Him. Pray to Him. Matters that seem small to us matter to Him.