John 2:6-7 --- 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
As we continue in John chapter two, we've seen Mary inform Jesus of the issue. Jesus responds respectfully and makes clear it's not His time to be publicly revealed as His ministry is just beginning. Mary doesn't argue, gripe, or try to convince Him, she simply turns to the servants and tells them to do whatever Jesus says.
There were six stone water jars nearby and Jesus tells the servants, "Fill the jars with water.". One of the things that jumped out at me was the word "Fill".
In the Greek this is the word used is gemizō and it means: to fill full, to fill entirely. It is used here in the Greek in the imperative mood, meaning it was a command.
So, here stand these servants. All of them are quite aware of the no wine dile. Mary goes to talk to Jesus, then turns to them and says, "Whatever He says to you, do it.". What's next? What will Jesus say? What will Jesus do? Then he speaks. Giving the command to fill full and entirely the jars with water.
There is so very much going on in all of this but for today the Lord really led to focus on the servant's response to Jesus' command. We see here in the Word, "And they filled them up to the brim". There's no recorded hesitation, discussion, questions, just from Jesus' command to the servants acting to fill the jars to the brim.
Let's take a second and look back at verse six.
John 2:6 --- Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Using some handy dandy multiplication, we're talking at least one-hundred-twenty gallons of water to fill these six pots. That's a lot of water and a whole lot of hard work. There were no faucets, no water hoses, no big industrial sized restaurant kitchen sinks here, in fact, where they were in Cana did not even sit near a river or lake. They had a good old-fashioned town well.
Now we don't know how much water was already in the pots, if any, but research says a gallon of water weighs around 8.5 lbs. Now, because I'm a nerd I went and weighed a full gallon of milk from my fridge, and it weighed 8.9 lbs. So, for these servants one-hundred-twenty gallons would be around one-thousand-twenty lbs. of water to haul, not including the weight of vessels they used to transport it!!! WOWZA!
As my brain was kicking all the facts and details around, the enormity of what was required here to fulfill Jesus' command starts to become clear. None of the servant's workload or time it took is recorded. So, all of this is just details gathered around the facts of what God did record in His Word.
I'm sure someone is saying, "Oh for heaven's sake Phillip, why? Just why with all this?"....
Well,h ere's what hit me, it wasn't the amount of work that mattered, it's the fact they went, and they did it. There is no denying the amount of work to complete this simple command was daunting. The focus of the servant wasn't on the work, it was on fulfilling Jesus' command, no matter what the work was. They heard what He said, and they did it.
Oh Christian, how many times do we hear what He commands of us, and we hesitate, we make excuses, we balk, we distract ourselves, or worse we pull a Jonah and work harder to go the opposite direction, than it would be to do just do what He's commanded?
So, another interesting thing here is, Jesus commanded the servants to "gemizō" fill full the jars. In the text it says the servants "gemizō" the jars, they filled full the jars……….BUT…………. there is just a wee tiny bit more to what they did. They "gemizō" filled full the jars "TO THE BRIM". To the very, very, absolute top!
Beloved, how many times do we answer the Lord's command with doing just enough to satisfy our own standard so we can check the box we did it?
Also think about this, had the servants been lazy and not fully obeyed. It wouldn't have changed the miracle Jesus performed, but it would've changed the amount they ended up with. I'm instantly hit with parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 and the principle of reaping what you sow in Galatians 6:7-9.
So, to bring it all home, I talked a lot about the servants, their workload, their response, but in the end, this is all about Jesus. He commands and performs the miracle. He is Savior and Lord. He died on the cross for our sins. He rose again three days later. Everything for us Christian should be from Jesus, in Jesus, and to Jesus.
How do you choose to respond to Jesus today? How hard will you work for Him? How far are you willing to carry the water? Far enough to give the lost a drink? Even further to someone who has offended or hurt you? Just far enough to say you carried some?
Some heavy things to think about this Sunday morning. I close out with a few snippets from Guzzik's commentary:
'd. They filled them up to the brim: The waterpots were filled to the brim – with no room to add any more – because Jesus wasn’t going to add something to the water; He was going to transform it.'
'i. This is a pattern for our faith and obedience. “When you are bidden to believe in him, believe in him up to the brim. When you are told to love him, love him up to the brim. When you are commanded to serve him, serve him up to the brim.” (Spurgeon)'
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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