◄ What Does John 2:4 Mean? ►

At the very start of His ministry, the Lord Jesus was an invited guest at a wedding feast and was accompanied by both His disciples and His mother. Jesus was the named wedding guest, for the name of JESUS alone holds supremacy in the writings of Scripture - it is at the name of JESUS alone that every knee will one day bow.

Throughout His life, Jesus increasingly found favour with God and man. He grew in stature and grace, He became strong, and was filled with wisdom and understanding.

During His early life, Jesus submitted to His earthly parents in humble obedience, but at the start of His God-appointed ministry to a lost and dying world, Jesus had to make it plain to all people that His divine mission was not to be influenced by the whims or the demands of fallen man, including His own dear mother who was equally in need of His redemptive blood as you and me.

"Woman, what have I to do with thee?" were words that sound harsh and unloving to our ears, and yet while dying on the Cross only a few years later, the Son of God demonstrated His love and deep compassion for the woman who gave Him birth, as He lovingly handed her into the care of His beloved disciple.

The apparently cool and distant response to His mother was far from disrespectful, but she too had to recognise that He must increase and she must decrease. He was to be the Redeemer, and she was in need of redemption. He was her God, and He was her Saviour, and she needed forgiveness of sins and life everlasting, just like you and me.

For over thirty years, Mary had pondered the wonders of her eldest Son's birth, and no doubt, she too wanted Him to demonstrate to a waiting world Who He was and what HE had come to achieve. No doubt, she too wanted to see her Son scatter the proud in the imagination of their heart. No doubt, she also longed to see the Roman rulers dethroned by her Son, the humble exalted, the hungry filled with good things, and the rich sent empty away.

But Jesus had to remind her that He was about His Heavenly Father's business, Who alone would dictate the hour that all things were to be accomplished.

When His hour finally would arrive, the heart of His mother would indeed be pierced with a sword as prophesied by the aged Simeon, but in the meantime, Jesus would do only those things that he heard from His Heavenly Father.

Thank You, Lord, that You always fulfil Your plans and purposes in Your perfect timing. Thank You for loving us so much that You were born into our race and lived a sinless life so that You could redeem us by Your precious blood, when that hour finally arrived. Give me a deeper understanding in my heart of all that Your death and Resurrection achieved. Thank You that my times and my future are safe in Your hands. In Jesus' name, AMEN.