A Mother’s Love Can Turn Water into Wine

Before Mary gave birth to Jesus an angel said to her, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High… His kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:31-33

When Mary held Jesus in her arms for the first time, who was she holding? The almighty Creator of the Universe? The One with all power and authority? Or just a baby? A helpless infant who can’t walk, talk, or do anything? What kind of power does a baby have? What authority does he have if he can’t even speak? The One who would later walk on water came into the world not being able to walk at all.

A baby can’t do much of anything. Babies aren’t born with power. They’re born with potential. Potential is a powerful word. How much potential does a baby have? Potential to do what? God only knows. The sky is the limit to what each child is capable of growing up to accomplish. Mary knew her son was capable of doing great things. Every mother holding a newborn is holding a child capable of doing great things.

The question is not how much potential a child has, but rather what do they do with it? How does a mother point her children towards their potential?

As Mary held her newborn son and “pondered these things in her heart,” I’m sure she was thinking about her child’s potential. I’m sure she was hoping her child would grow to see in himself what she saw in him. I’m sure she was pondering how she could help him see his own potential. Hoping to raise him in a way that would one day allow his potential to be a possibility.

Potential must be pursued. A child can have all the potential in the world, but if the potential is not pursued, it gets wasted. Kids don’t have an unlimited amount of time to pursue their potential. The clock it ticking. Everyday. Potential does not manifest itself on its own. Mary knew this. She knew that if her son was going to grow up to reach his potential, it wouldn’t happen automatically. And it wouldn’t happen all at once. It would happen by growing up chasing it daily. Mary knew her son’s potential, and didn’t want him to waste it. She pointed him towards it. Towards who he could be.

The scary thing about chasing one’s potential is that it takes confronting what’s impossible. Potential is that thin line between what one can do and what one can’t do. We don’t know how far they can actually go until we know how far they can’t go. Reaching ones potential requires running against the wall of what’s impossible. If they haven’t run against that wall, have they really reached their potential?

When children grow up constantly chasing their potential, constantly confronting what’s impossible, constantly running into walls of limitations, eventually they start running through them. Eventually they see that what was impossible yesterday is now possible today. That this line of potential is continually moving out into what’s impossible.

Running into walls represents the line that is one’s potential. Running through walls moves the line. What is actually impossible to a child who sees the wall of impossibility as only a temporary wall to run through? A mindset of running through walls opens the door to a future of possibilities. To a future with no limits, only temporary obstacles to overcome. A child must be willing to run into a wall before running through it becomes a possibility. A child that learns to run through walls is capable of making the impossible possible.

Running into walls is painful for the child. It is perhaps even more painful for the mother. A good mother tries to protect her child from the pain that comes from running into walls. A great mother encourages her child run through them in spite of the pain that comes with it.

Mary raised her son to run through walls. To confront and invade the impossible. How far could he go? Perhaps into eternity.

“When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’” John 2:3

What was his mother expecting him to do about it? What could Jesus do about it?

Jesus’ response, “My time has not yet come,” tells us this was his first public miracle, maybe his first miracle period.

A miracle accomplishes something thought to be impossible. With no logical explanation. Jesus performed many miracles throughout his ministry and consistently tied the miracles to faith. He also tied lack of miracles to lack of faith.

“Let it be done just as you believed it would.” Matthew 8:13

“Your faith has healed you.” Matthew 9:22

“According to your faith, let it be done to you.” Matthew 9:29

“When Jesus saw their faith” he forgave and healed the paralyzed man. Matthew 9:2

“And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” Matthew 13:58

In other words, real faith comes before the miracle. True faith in Jesus is not the result of his miracles; it’s what produces the miracles.

When people put faith in Jesus, Jesus did miraculous things. This miracle was no different. It all started with his mother’s faith in him. It started with a mother believing in her child.

Believing opens the door to possibility. A child will not accomplish something unless they believe that what they’re pursuing is actually attainable. Children are often more capable than they realize. Sometimes they don’t see their own potential. Sometimes it takes a mother seeing a child’s potential before the child is able to see it. Sometimes it takes a mother believing in a child before the child believes in himself. I’m not saying that was the case with Jesus, but clearly his mother was influential in this miracle. If this was Jesus’ first miracle, how would he know he was even capable of performing miracles?

“Why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.”

I wish I knew what Jesus was thinking when approached by his mother. Perhaps he was thinking: “What do you want me to do?… What you’re asking me to do is impossible… What if I can’t?... Mom, I’m not ready for this…”

Whatever he was thinking, his thinking was changed by his mother. He did the impossible. He turned water into wine. Apparently his time had come. Would this have happened without his mother’s influence and belief in him? It sure doesn’t sound like it.

Jesus would go on do way more miraculous things. The lame would walk. The blind would see. The deaf would hear. The dead would rise. The sick would be healed. The storms would be calmed. Sinners would be saved. Death would be overcome. Jesus ran through wall after wall.

Where did he come up with the courage to confront the impossible? Where did his confidence come from? Perhaps he believed in himself because his mother first believed in him.

He was a man. Who used to be a boy. Who used to be a baby. Who was held in the arms of a mother who saw his potential. A mother who encouraged him to confront the impossible. A mother who believed in her child could change the world for good.

And he did.