Listen to Mama

There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there. – Jn 2:1

Our Lord’s miracle of turning of water into wine at Cana was one miracle that almost did not happen. But for the keen perception of the Lord’s mother, no one there would have thought of asking a guest to miraculously provide wine for them when it ran out.

Nevertheless, we mustn’t hinge the success of the miracle on Mary alone. Because it still had to pass another hurdle – the servants.

It’s one thing to be a servant whose sole job is to do tasks for the master, it’s another thing, however, to be asked to go on a fool’s errand; which was exactly what the Lord asked them to do. Filling the giant water pots, all six of them, with water even though no one needed it is the kind of order a sadistic master would give to his servants when he was bored.

Thankfully, the Lord’s mother had primed them beforehand, John 2:5 states, “His mother said unto the servants, whatsoever He says unto you, do it.”

That was the key factor in the success of that miracle – and in every miracle. It’s doing exactly what the Lord says. Would to God those of us in the body of Christ who pride ourselves in Marian Veneration would actually obey her actual words as documented in scripture.

“Whatsoever he says unto you…” that’s the directive from Mama Mary.

“Whatsoever he says unto you…” that’s from one who knows a thing or two about birthing unprecedented, impossible miracles.

“Whatsoever he says unto you… DO IT!”

Interestingly, as we see here, His instructions are not that complicated (fetching water is actually the most basic thing a servant does), yet many still miss this. Yes, the ways of the supernatural are inscrutable to the senses, but you can be sure God’s not going to ask you to carry a black pot on your head to the road intersection. (Or scream at you “Delay is disobedience, go to the phone and send a thousand dollars to that Man of God, NOW!”). Instructions in the New Testament are devoid of mysticism and esoterica. They begin, continue, and end in Faith in the finished work of Christ.

Let’s stop looking for arcane directives from ‘prophets’ ‘bishops’ or (Marian) apparitions; let’s go straight to God’s words and see His commandment as outlined there. And when you do see it, follow Mama’s directive, and “DO IT”.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Unprecedented

There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there. – Jn 2:1

What gave Mary, the Lord’s mother, the impression that she could ask Him for a miracle when the wine ran out at Cana? She had raised him from birth to adulthood, and He had not done any miracle all that time, not even a tiny weeny one. Do you realise what that knowledge does to your faith level? It lowers whatever expectation you may have had about the Messiah.

His newfound acquaintances like Peter and John may be deluding themselves that the “Messiah” must possess some miraculous graces somehow; but when you have the benefit of having lived with Him all His life and not seen even one manifestation of the supernatural, you get to think differently. 

Not only had Jesus never done any miracle before then to warrant Mary’s belief, there had been no such miracle as creating wine ever in Israel’s history as a precedent for her to hinge her faith upon. However, Mary was an expert in unprecedented miracles. Recall that no woman in the entire human history before her had ever conceived without a man, but when the Angel Gabriel announced to her circa 30 years earlier that that was going to happen to her, she believed!

Beloved, given the rich history we have both from scriptures and two millennia of documented church history, it’s going to be pretty difficult for you to have a need today that God has not already done. But even if your situation today is so unique, so never-before-heard-of, so unprecedented, you can still have faith for it. You can have the faith of Mary – the ability to believe God in areas where others may still be dillydallying and doubting about; to know fully and comprehensively that “with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luk 1:37).

Get your faiths up. The impossible, and unprecedented, is still possible.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

More Than Enough

There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there. – Jn 2:1

The account of our Lord’s turning of water into wine at a wedding ceremony at Cana is most notable for the quality of wine He created.

True to His supernatural excellence, the wine Jesus produced was of the finest vinification. The combination of bouquet, acidity, body, fruit, flavour and sweetness of this new wine must have been of such ethereal perfection as to warrant the exclamation of the governor of the feast.

What is not readily noticed from the narrative, however, is the quantity of wine that He produced.

Considering that it came from six water pots (each containing over a hundred litres) filled “to the brim” (Jn 2:6,7), the amount of wine Jesus made that day would have been enough to satisfy an entire village! (This may also explain the consternation of the Governor to the groom for bringing such fine wine in such copious quantity when everyone were just about filled.)

Again, was this prodigality of Jesus even necessary? He obviously was present at the wedding and He could well see that what He was producing was going to be excess, (to put it mildly). But I believe He did it that way so that this miracle – His first ever – should serve as a stark index of His nature.

God is not the kind of God that gives you water to drink, one teaspoon at a time. He’s the God of the Niagara Falls, 5,520 cubic meters per second of raw waterpower; He’s the God of Mount Everest, the “Forehead in the Sky”, towering 8.8 kilometres into the heavens; He’s the God of the night sky, with more stars than we can count in a near eternity; and yes, He’s your God: the God of Cana. HALLELUIAH!

Open your heart and receive His overabundant, extravagant and excessive blessings today.  

“And God is able to make all grace overflow to you so that because you have enough of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow in every good work.” – 2Co 9:8 (NET)

AMEN.

GREG ELKAN

Useless Miracles

There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there. – Jn 2:1

Our Lord’s first ever miracle – the turning of water into wine – puts paid to the notion that God does not provide miracles for His children unless it serves a ‘higher purpose’. Of what ‘kingdom’ value was the turning of water into wine? The Lord never used it as premise for a message – the way He used the multiplication of five loaves of bread to set up the stage for His talk about the “true bread” from heaven (John 6)

He never taught the “Parable of the Stranded Couple” or made any reference whatsoever to it in His ministry. As a matter of fact, but for John’s unique chronicling of this event, we’d never have known it even occurred.

Yet we make prayers like, “Lord, if you give me the car, I’ll use it for evangelism”, “If you give me the job, I’ll place tracts on every person’s table each morning” “If you give me food, I’ll fast twice a week”.

(Yes, those thoughts are noble; just like Samuel’s mother, Hannah. Nevertheless, not every barren woman in the Bible took her route.)

James, Jesus’ blood brother (he should know what he’s talking about, right?) chides us that “You don’t have the things you want, because you don’t pray for them;” earlier he states that we should ask of God because “God is generous to everyone and doesn’t find fault with them.” (Jas 4:2; 1:5 GW).

Beloved, I learnt from a reliable source that God – the Monarch of Heaven, the creator of the Universe, the One whom everyone in the world is praying to get a miracle from – is actually your Father! You’re blessed O!

If I were you, I wouldn’t be doing this ‘gentility’ with Him O. I wouldn’t be doing all these “Father I don’t want to bother you”, “Father I know it’s my fault”, “Father, I hope my requests are not getting too much”,…

Na! I’d boldly walk straight to Him – like a certain woman who knew that being related to the Messiah counts for something – and tell Him my need.

AMEN

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Mary’s Miracle

There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there. – Jn 2:1

Of all the innumerable miracles performed by our Lord while He was on Earth, His turning of water into wine is quite fascinating. It’s not your typical miracle or “sign”; in fact, given the way it transpired, it almost did not happen. The miracle was not on Jesus’ to-do list that morning;

Jesus wasn’t even a ‘miracle worker’ yet, and even if He were, it’d be difficult to pass off one’s poor wedding planning as a legitimate need requiring God’s intervention.

But fortunately for the couple, they had invited just the right person to their wedding – Mary.  This is why I call the miracle, “Mary’s Miracle” because if she had not been there, it wouldn’t have happened. Not because Jesus was callous or insensitive but because she was the only one present that knew what Jesus could do.

Evidently, the couple were relatives or at least family friends of Jesus seeing that they invited both Him and Mary to the party and also considering Mary’s involving of herself in their predicament. Some commentators contend that Mary was only reporting the issue to Jesus. Others say she was asking Him to give some godly exhortations to the guests to save the bridegroom from embarrassment – and possible legal action (the Jews take their wedding ceremonies pretty seriously). Nevertheless, considering Jesus’s response, it’s pretty clear He understood what she was asking.

Are you in a similarly tight spot today? It’d be nice to have Jesus as your relative, wouldn’t it? Better still, it’d be nice to have Jesus as a relative and a ‘Mary’ who’s familiar enough to know what He could possibly do and also ask Him to do it on our behalf.

Thankfully, that’s exactly the way things are right now! Because of our adoption into God’s family at salvation, Jesus is now our Elder Brother,  literally! And not only do we have the benefit of historical/biblical hindsight to know the miraculous powers that He possesses and is able to exhibit, we also have the Holy Spirit, resident inside us, making us “ know the things that are freely given to us of God.” (Jn 1:12; 1J 3:1; 1Co 2:12) Glory!

Beloved, you have an omnipotent, all-loving elder Brother. Don’t suffer in silence, take your problems to Him today; like 1Pe 5:7 says, “Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.”

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN