Whatever He Says To Do, Do it.

Sunday, July 6, 2014 11:00KST/8:00UTC/4:00EDT

NOTE:  I was asked to deliver the sermon today at Strong Tower Church in Naivasha.  These are my sermon notes.  Please excuse the lack of literary preciseness as this was to be a prompt for my oral presentation. Hopefully it will make sense.

This is a story of four people, a proud mother, an obedient son, an embarrassed groom, and a proud Father-in-law. And it has two lessons I hope you hear.

Now there are some stories that are told for fun, and some stories that are told to teach.  I like to tell story for fun, that make people laugh and be happy... Like this one: one beautiful  Sunday morning little Johnny decided that he wanted to go fishing in Lake Naivasha.  He was supposed to go to church, but little Johnny said to himself, "it will be OK.  God made the beautiful day and I will praise him in it while I go fishing."  So he got himself a big stick, just the perfect size for a fishing pole, and he got himself some string, and he got him a bit of wire to make a hook.  He took a little bit of biscuit from the breakfast for bait, I mean his momma, she make the very best biscuit, and if Johnny likes them, then the big fishes will like them too! So he puts the biscuit in his pocket and off he goes to catch a fish, I mean to go to church, yeah, that's it, church.

So Johnny keeps his promise and before takes his big old long pole and his string with wire made into a hook and his mamma's best biscuit, and throws that biscuit on that hook in the Lake Naivasha, he says a little prayer, just like he was in church. He close both eyes, puts his hands together, and says, "Oh God, thank you for such a beautiful day to go fishing, I mean go to church.  Help me today to catch a fish. Amen." And with that he toss that hook with his momma's best biscuit into the Lake Naivasha.

Now God, He sees little Johnny on the side of Lake Naivasha with his pole and his string and his hook made from wire with his momma's biscuit on it and says, "why isn't little Johnny in church? Today is Sunday! So God says, I'll fix little Johnny! I'll teach him a lesson to skip church and go fishing! And God says to a big fish, a fish near about as big as little Johnny, "Mr. Fish, I want you to swim up to that biscuit that little Johnny's momma made and eat it." So he did, and he ate the hook too. And suddenly little Johnny feels a tug on his line and his pole. He jumps up and starts to pull and pull on the line with the stick and slowly, he pulls the big fish out of the water. Man, was it big! Little Johnny ran over and lay done be side it and put his feet next to the fish's tail, and puts his hand on the top of his head and then puts it next to the big fish, and his head only comes up to Mr. Fish's eyeball. The fish is bigger than Johnny! He hops up and says, I can't wait to go tell my friends Paul and Joseph about my fish... And then he realizes. He can't.

Johnny is not supposed to be fishing on the Lake Naivasha, he's supposed to be in church just like
Paul and Joseph.  Poor Johnny was so sad. Here he had caught the biggest fish ever and he could never tell anyone about it.  For to tell his fish story would be to admit that he had lied and not gone to church.

That's my story. Was it true? Of course not. The fish only came up to Johnny's knees.

Today's Bible story is different from my story. It really is a true story. It is in the Gospel of John, the second chapter, the first ten verses:



On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to
him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 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.”



In the village of Cana, whenever there was a wedding, everyone was invited. This included Mary, the
mother of Jesus. Because they happened to be nearby, Jesus and his disciples were at the wedding as well.

As the story goes, all was well, everyone was having a wonderful good time, the food was delicious, and the wine was flowing... until a servant boy whispered to an attendee, "we have no more wine." This was a problem.  The father of the bride was the host of the feast, but it was the groom who was in charge of the wine. This was not a good way to start of a relationship with his new wife's family! If he couldn't even get enough wine for the party, what kind of loser son-in-law was he going to be?

Quickly this sad news was spread in hushed whispers throughout the crowd standing in line with empty glasses until Jesus' mother heard it. Because she was a friend of the groom, and did not wish to cause him embarrassment, she turned to her son and said, "Jesus, they have no more wine."  You see, Mary knew that Jesus could solve this problem, she had raised him as a baby boy, watched him grow up, listened with joy as he and his father discussed the scriptures he was learning in church school, and beamed with pride when left home to begin his life as a traveling Rabbi. Jesus. Psst Jesus! They are out of wine!

Jesus, who must have been in the the middle of a conversation with his friends said, "Mother, don't meddle! It is not your problem, and since I'm not the one getting married, it is not my problem either.  Don't bother me right now." Can't you see I'm busy?

But Mary, knowing her son, and knowing his heart, confidently went up to one of the panic-stricken servants, and said, "See my son over there? His name is Jesus.  He will take care of your problem. Whatever he says to do, do it."  Listen as we read again what he said to do... (Vs. 6-7)

Six jars, each holding 25 gallons of water... 150 gallons. That is a lot of water.  But it made sense.  This was water that they used to clean up with before sitting down to eat. The would clean their hands, their arms, their faces, and their feet. Considering there were so many guests at the party that they ran out of wine, they probably needed all of that water. And what did Jesus say? Something very simple. "Fill the jars with water bring them back, pour some in a cup and take it to the Bride's father."

When the bride's father tasted this new wine, he sipped it, swished it around in his mouth, let it lay on his tongue, and then finally swallowed it. A big grin came across his face as he jumped up and ran over to his new son-in-law, gave him a big hug, and said, "welcome to the family 'son'.  Most people serve the good wine first, then when everyone has a bit of a dull tongue, they bring out the cheap stuff, but you have not done that.  You served a fine wine first, but this is an even better wine!

Here is what I want you to hear:

First each of you, and I, need to take to our heart the words of Mary, "This is Jesus, whatever he says to do, do it."

Consider the courage of the servants to listen to the words of this woman...   Without a deep journey into the social implications of listening to a woman, any woman for advice and counsel at that day and time in history,  consider that the essence of of her message, do what this man says to do, which really was not a concrete solution at all.

Secondly, don't be surprised, when what he tells you to do is both simple and obvious.

Again, consider the courage of the servant.  If he had said, take the jars, go down to the river, fill them up, then carry them to the temple, put them on the steps, jump up and down three times, turn around two times, spit on the ground, say some magic words, them bring them back to the wedding, it would made a much better story, but no, he simply said fill the jars with water.

In summary, we learn from this story that the solution to our crises is always to do what Jesus tells you, and to not be surprised when his message is simple and obvious.

Amen