Jesus and His disciples were invited to a wedding in Cana, and Jesus’ mother was also there. She came to Him and said, “They have no wine.” So Jesus checked in with His Father. “Abba, how about it? Want Me to do something here?”
I imagine the Father’s response must have been something like, “Not now. Too disruptive. Once You perform that first sign, it will tip the domino and there will be no going back. It will be full steam ahead toward Golgotha. It’s premature. Let’s hold off for now.”
So Jesus turned to His mother and said, “It’s not the right time.”
But Mary wasn’t about to accept no for an answer. She decided to push back. “We don’t need wine tomorrow,” I can suppose her saying to Jesus. “The wedding’s not tomorrow, it’s today. We need wine now.” So she immediately said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
When I look at what Mary is doing here, it seems illegal to me. She is basically at loggerheads with Abba Father. The Father is saying, “Not now,” and Mary is saying, “Now.” Can you really have a difference with Almighty God and get what you want?
Maybe Mary pulled out her Mother card. “You know that Scripture says children are to honor their father and their mother!”
Whatever she did, Mary decided to leverage her relationship with Jesus. I can imagine her wondering, “How much relational equity do I have with You, anyway? I conceived You, carried You, pushed You into the world, nursed You, changed You, fed You, clothed You, protected You, trained You and raised You. Do I have enough equity in our relational bank to demand something of You when I need it?”
Relationship had made her bold.
Jesus’ earthly mother and heavenly Father were at odds on the matter, and Jesus was caught in the middle. He looked over at His mother; then He looked up at His Father. “Abba, look at her. She’s using her Mother card.”
It’s as though Abba shrugged and said, “Yeah, I know. What can You do?”
And Mary got her wine.
But she did more than just get an abundance of wine. She actually activated the advent of Christ’s supernatural ministry. And what’s really stunning is that she triggered it before its time. It was certainly due to come, but not just yet—as Jesus reminded her in John 2:4. Until Mary got into the mix, that is. She participated in what Peter later called, “hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Pet. 3:12). What Mary did here was epochal. She initiated, through her audacity, a new era in God’s calendar.
And all because she needed wine now.
If you’re looking at something that God has no intention of doing, then you can’t accelerate it through your boldness. But if it’s within His will, and you know it’s just a matter of time before He does it, then Mary’s example tells us we can put pressure on God’s timetable. If you, like Mary, have relational equity with Jesus, you just might get your wine before its time.
