“Do whatever he tells you”

These are the words Mary tells the servants when the wedding celebration was out of wine.  Jesus seemed to have protested but yet Mary did not seem not to have heard.  Was Mary being difficult?  Did she not hear what Jesus said?

I can picture it.  Mary knows that there was a difficulty and her son had some of his companions with him.  Her son should be able to do something to help the couple celebrating their wedding.  I believe she heard Jesus.  Just like most mothers, I suspect, she did not understand completely.  Yet she did respect Jesus’ answer that it was not his hour.  It was probably like, see what you can do to help.  So it was not Jesus' hour, yet there is definitely more than one way to help them, right?  Perhaps, Mary thought that her son could get his companions together to carry the jugs of wine from the vineyard in the next village.  Whatever it was, Mary must have had the confidence that Jesus would be able to help in some way.  That was why she did not specify the help.  She simply said, “They have no wine.”  Her instructions to the servants were just as simple: “Do whatever he tells you.”

Unlike Mary, we might not be so simplistic when we encounter a crisis.  We would probably specify what God needs to do.  Instead of saying, “Lord, I am in trouble,” and then listen for his instructions, we probably would say things like, “Lord, I need to get out of this mess I am in.  Can you get me out of this mess?”  When the Lord tells us what to do, we would probably not understand anything because we have got in our heads the solution we want.  His instructions would be left unheard and then we would complain that the Lord had not heard our prayers.  Ironic isn't it?