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Hauling Water

writertaboland




A number of years ago, I entered the jail on a Sunday afternoon as was the custom for myself and a friend. Because recidivism was always a constant, you could expect to see familiar faces return to jail after being on the outside for some time. I confess I couldn’t remember everyone’s name and face.

 

One day, we had finished the Sunday lesson and presented the gospel. Afterwards, a young lady approached me who had been in jail for a few months the year before. She reintroduced herself and told me that she remembered the lesson I had taught months before and she recited it back to me. She informed me that the message from scripture gave her the strength and courage to take herself and her kids out of her abusive boyfriend’s house.


I had no recollection of the lesson that she remembered. If she received strength and encouragement that day, it wasn’t from me. I have no power to grant wisdom or the influence necessary to make someone change their life. It all comes from God.

 

There is a natural human tendency to think that we are the main character on the stage of our lives. We are seldom aware of the needs of our audience or our impact on them. We believe our performance is our gift to the audience. We write the script, stand in the spotlight, deliver the main performance. After all, our life is our stage, right?


 

 Changing Water into Wine


 

John 2:1-11 can be read at this link:

 

Jesus went with his mom to a village wedding. The disciples were invited to come as well. Wedding feasts often lasted as long as a week. But on the third day, the host ran out of wine, a highly embarrassing occurrence. Mary went and told Jesus the wine ran out and told the servants to do whatever Jesus said to do.

 

Jesus told the servants to fill up six stone jars with water. As servants, hauling water from the well was a common, mundane part of their day. Depending on the number of servants and the distance to the well, this chore could have taken awhile. The six stone jars held approximately 60 to 90 gallons of water. That’s a lot of trips to the well.

 

The servants had no idea what Jesus was going to do. They also had no idea they were about to witness a miracle.  They hauled bucket after bucket of water, pouring them into stone jars because as a servant, you do what you are told.

 

Between the point where the servant carried a sample of the water from a stone jar and the point where the master of the banquet tasted it, the water became wine. When the master of the party tasted the water turned into wine, he was surprised. It was the best wine he’d tasted, and he had 60-90 gallons of it to share. Jesus not only performed a miracle, but he was very generous.

 

The servants had done what they were told and had carried a lot of water inside to the banquet. But the servants did not turn the water into wine. The servants had obeyed but they had not performed a miracle.

 

John tells us that the miracle of turning water into wine was a sign. It was meant to reveal the identity of Jesus and help people believe. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” John 2:11.


 

Still Center Stage?


Someone has said that we all want our moment in the spotlight and our fifteen minutes of fame. What if we live in a way that the life we live becomes Christ’s stage? We step out of the spotlight so that the audience sees and hears Jesus. We are the stage manager of the story of God. The work of a stage manager may seem unimportant and common. By allowing Christ to take center stage, the power and love of Jesus changes lives.

 

Jesus in the center stage spotlight allows the audience of our lives to see what is important.

 

We can’t always see or understand how God is working. But may we always be the humble, willing water bearers in the miraculous work of Jesus.



 

“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters” John 10:24.

 






Copyright @ T.A. Boland 2025

 

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