“Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5)

“You need to shift your way of thinking,” the professor intones and the parent lectures. Sometimes, like this, we’re told to change; at other times, a shift can blindside us. Almost every encounter with Jesus results in the latter. Take Jesus’ first miracle, for instance: changing water into wine. Everyone present undergoes an unexpected shift in thinking. 

Mary, as a mother, must desperately want Jesus to reveal Himself, and the wedding wine running out must seem a perfect stage. Jesus addresses her here as “dear woman,” not Mother, roles shifting from mother/son to woman/Lord. When He tells her, “my time has not yet come” (v. 4), she must - and perhaps unhappily - shift her expectations. The master of the banquet tastes the miraculously-transformed water, blindsided (but newly impressed) by the bridegroom who has kept this supposedly vintage wine in reserve. The servants must have shifted their thinking since they knew they lugged water, not wine. The disciples’ perspective also shifts; they now “put their faith in Him” (v. 11).

What can we learn from this miracle about shifting our thinking or expectations? Undergirding the miracle is the shift from focusing on self to paying attention (or more attention) to Jesus, to doing “whatever He tells us to do” (v. 5). Let’s examine how to get there.

We likely all have “water” (whatever that may be for you) we want Jesus to change into “wine.” And we want Him to do it now. We probably have even told Him how we’d like this accomplished! Mary surely wants an immediate solution, too, but when Jesus says “no” for the moment, she doesn’t argue; she doesn’t tell Him how to solve the problem. We can learn from her not to micro-manage Jesus.

Even if we’re not micro-managing, we probably expect Jesus to fix our problem Himself (and now, too). But notice how Jesus works through surrendered servants. When Mary says, “Do whatever [Jesus] tells you to do” (v. 5), these men obey immediately even though this must be a ridiculous task. Jesus uses their resources; Jesus asks them to work. Solving problems isn’t either I do it all alone or Jesus, take the wheel; I’m just along for the ride. Jesus invites us in; He uses us asHe works. But being surrendered is key here - Mary doesn’t argue; servants don’t walk away (“you’re not my master”); they participate.

Their shift in thinking bears fruit (literally, “fruit of the vine”) as they change their behavior. Something similar can happen for us, too. As we shift our expectations from what Jesus should do toward a posture of accepting His timing and surrendering to letting Him use us as He will, our problems might be resolved in ways we’d never anticipate. Here, because of Jesus and the servants’ willingness, water becomes so much more than it ever could have been otherwise: premium, vintage, miraculous wine.

What necessary shift might God be prompting in you? To shift perspective to see that He can turn your “water” into “wine,” but that He doesn’t need you to tell Him how? To shift your desire away from a magic wand solution to realize a more laborious, lengthy one might be a superior miracle? To simply say to Jesus, “tell me what to do”?  And then ask for the strength and obedience to do it?