Do Whatever He Tells You to Do
Br. Antony Augustine Cherian, O.P., reflects on the Gospel for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Jn 2:1-11) in our weekly video series.
When the wedding party runs out of wine at the Wedding at Cana, Mary’s response is a curious one. She immediately goes to her son and tells Him, “They have no wine.” What is she expecting Him to do? Run down to the store and buy enough for a whole party? Even Jesus seems to be a bit reluctant. “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”
There’s something significant in Mary’s response to the situation, though. Notice how her first response to this problem is to go to Jesus. She doesn’t know how He is going to fix the problem. She doesn’t place any expectations on Him of the “right” solution. She simply goes to Him, and lets Him know that there is a problem. Of course, this isn’t to imply that Jesus doesn’t know what the problem is. Rather, the very act of going to Jesus is itself a reflection of our relationship to Him. Mary is our example of what it means to be Jesus’ disciples.
Our first reaction when we encounter any kind of problem or suffering should be to go to Jesus. This is easier for some people to do than for others, but all of us can train ourselves to follow Mary’s example. When we suffer, we are often tempted to turn to worldly pleasures for comfort. We may rely on the little comfort of complaining about it to people around us. We may turn to comfort food, to mindlessly scrolling social media, or to any number of other distractions or addictions. But, when we catch ourselves doing this, if we make a conscious effort to stop, to set it aside, and instead turn to Jesus, we can slowly build up that instinct of letting Jesus be the solution to our problems.
The great thing about this is that Jesus always comes up with a better solution that we could have ever imagined. At the wedding of Cana, who could have guessed that Jesus would have been able to turn six stone jars full of water into wine? When we let Jesus solve our problems through us, with us, and in us, we are rewarded with that overabundance of peace and joy that can only come from God’s grace.
Image: Jan Steen, "Marriage at Cana", 1676
