In John 2:1-5, Jesus’ mother, Mary, was invited to a wedding in Cana and, as fate would have it, Jesus and His disciples were invited as well. All was going well at the marriage feast, that is, until they ran out of wine (wine – a word describing everything from grape juice to fermented beverage). Mary could not bear the thought of her friends being embarrassed by their cultural unpreparedness, so she took it upon herself to help them. She turned to Jesus.
She found Him and spoke simply, “They have no wine.” Nothing more needed to be said; she knew that He understood her thoughts and motive. No matter how insignificant her need, she believed that He could meet it, that He could do the incomprehensible—the impossible.
Up to this point in time, Jesus had done no miracles because it had not been time for Him to make His divine mission known to the world, but Mary had experienced her own miracle in relation to Jesus: as a virgin, she had borne Him into the world. She had loved Him and taught Him all things human as He grew up, from a baby to a man, at their home in Nazareth. She knew who Jesus was better than anyone on earth, after all He was her son. She understood that He was God in the flesh, the God who is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20)”
There were servants standing by and, though they were not her own, she instructed them, “Whatsoever He saith unto you, Do It! (John 2:5).” She knew that to perform any task required only that He speak the word, and it would be done. The power to perform what He commanded was inherent in the Words He spoke. He told them to fill the water pots with water, and then commanded that they pour some into a cup and take it to the Governor of the feast (the Master of Ceremonies)… it had become wine!
Jesus’ Words still bear the power to perform what He has commanded, and we have a book filled with His Words—the Bible. This is why James instructs us, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22)” To discover this life changing power of His word, “Whatsoever He saith unto you, Do It!”