In a few days, our family will attend the wedding of our third son and his beautiful young bride-to-be. As I prayed about their wedding and prepared some thoughts for the occasion, I was reminded of the account of a wedding in scripture.
In John 2:1-12 scripture speaks to us about a wedding that Jesus attended. The first two verses say this to us, “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.” It says the host ran out of wine before the event was over, so Jesus’ mom went to Him and told Him they had run out of wine. Jesus responded by telling the servants to fill six stone water pots with water. Then He told them to draw some of the water from one of the pots and give it to the host of the wedding feast. When they did, the host realized it was wine, some of the best wine he had ever tasted.
Verse 11 says to us, “This was the beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and He manifested His glory and His disciples believed in Him.” The “beginning of signs,” it says. Signs may be thought of as miracles. Miracles may be thought of as things that happen that cannot be explained, yet they are as real as anything we can see or taste or feel. Miracles are beyond explanation, but they cannot be denied for their reality.
As I prayed for my son and his soon-to-be wife, I thought of this scripture, and I thought how I wanted the young couple to start their lives just as miraculously. You see, we don’t know much about the people who got married that day, but we do know this. They were wise enough to invite Jesus to their wedding. But why? I’m sure they didn’t do it because they anticipated they would run out of wine. Why, then, was Jesus the son of God invited to their wedding?
I don’t know why. But I can see another miracle happened because they had the sense to invite Jesus to be there. I believe someone knew this would simply be an event about a wedding if Jesus were not present. But with Him present, it would be an event about a marriage. You see, the wedding is what we get happy and excited about, but the marriage is what Jesus gets happy about. A wedding is what brings two people together, but Jesus is not in the business of weddings. Perhaps that is why He told His mother His time had not come yet. Jesus is in the business of creating marriages at weddings. He wants to come to weddings so He can put two lives together with Him in the middle, creating a marriage of three people to live together as one. He manifests His glory in this way.
Two people becoming one person with Christ in the middle. That is want I can see from this event. That is what we want for our children as we celebrate their wedding. I can see that perhaps Jesus was not at the wedding in Cana of Galilee to perform a miracle with water. Maybe He was there to help people understand that the joy of a wedding must carry into the life of a marriage with two people in Him together. Could it be that He was there because He wanted us to be ready for the marriage that needed to come?
It was no coincidence that Jesus was invited to the wedding. I believe the people knew they needed Him to turn a wedding into a marriage. First with Him and then between them. You see, a wedding focuses on the joy of two people coming together with their prospects of building lives together. But a marriage is about the wonders of being the bride of someone else. A marriage is learning how to live in a loving and selfless way so that you make the life of someone else better than it could have been without you. When we invite Jesus into our lives in this way, we ask Him to help us become one in Him so that we can help to magnify the glory of who He is to all the people we know and love.
The wedding is simply an event that many will forget in time, but a marriage is a life that will be lived with Jesus in the middle for all life that remains. Jesus is always looking for a bride to share life with and to live with and He is always ready to enter into a marriage with us when we are ready to live with Him as His bride. So, He is always happy to be invited to our weddings.
You see, Jesus knew a wedding without Him would lead to an empty marriage. And a marriage that is empty of the Lord is like:
- Baking a cake without adding sugar;
- Having an apartment building without any tenants;
- Having schools without any students;
- Hospitals without patients;
- Rivers with no water;
- Church with no spirit.
So, as we are ready to get married, let’s make sure we invite to our weddings the One who can make the marriage complete for now and ever after. I have seen the love for the Lord in our son and in his soon-to-be wife. I want to make certain that the Lord is invited to their wedding to be a part of the beginning of their lives together. I want the miracle of the marriage for them, just like the one Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee.
Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
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