The servants knew...

Recently (well, twice recently, actually) I’ve been a part of discussions over John 2:1-11 – the passage where Jesus turns the water into wine.

Both conversations were so rich. So rich.

I loved talking about these passages and hearing different insight/perspective/truth. This passage is full of things to think about, be challenged by…and encouraged by. (like how when Jesus got involved the solution to the problem was far beyond what anyone would have asked for or imagined…and how the wine that Jesus made was the best wine…and how there was an abundance when Jesus got involved…and how about the interaction between Mary and Jesus…I’ve got lots of questions about that. Did Mary change his mind? How? What happened there?!?!)

We ended up talking a lot about the servants…what they thought when Jesus told them to fill up those huge jars with water. I think I might have had a bad attitude…it’s not like they could just turn on the tap and be finished with it…they had to pump the water (probably by hand)…and carry the water from the water source to the containers…it would have been hard work. I wonder if there were any servants who decided to sit that one out (and therefore missed the opportunity to be a part of what Jesus did)…It’s not hard to imagine someone saying, “Hey, I’ll let you take care of that, I’m gonna go check and be sure the chicken hasn’t run out on the buffet.”

But there’s a line said a few times in the passage – after the water has been turned into the best wine (and lots of it…) it says no one knew what Jesus had done, except the servants. The master of ceremonies didn’t know…the guests didn’t know…the servants knew.

And as we talked, all of a sudden I thought, “oh, this is like Jesus’s birth” when he was born the announcement was made first to the shepherds. The lowest. The outcast. The untrustworthy. Not to a king, not to the religious folks…not to important people…the shepherds. And it would seem, that when it was time for Jesus to begin his season of ministry on earth, once again, it was the servants who knew first. The folks to be avoided, the “small” the “low” the “insignificant.” That’s who Jesus made himself known to.

It’s beautiful…and awfully challenging…