Serve.

This morning I was reading John 2, the story of the Wedding at Cana where Jesus turns water into wine, and I was blown away by the role of the servant. Here’s Jesus’ interaction with the servants…

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to theservants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” John 2:6-10

Look at what Jesus asked the servants to do.
– Fill the jars with 20-30 gallons of water. This meant carrying these jugs to the well, filling them, and then bringing them back to Jesus. That would have been a lot of work. Have you ever tried to carry 20-30 gallons of water? Those suckers would have been heavy! They might have put them on a cart, but still they had to lift them on the cart. Then they had to take them to the master of the feast. This must have been confusing. Why are we bringing water to the master of the feast? It’s the wine that they ran out of? What the heck?

But look at what the servants witnessed.
– They were the first to witness Jesus transform the water into wine. They were the first to realize what had happened.

Here’s what hit me…
Serving Jesus is hard work. Carrying the water was hard work. Serving others is hard work. It’s not what we naturally want to do. But often Jesus asks us to do that which isn’t easy. But unless we are willing to do the hard work, we will not be put in the position to witness Jesus move in power. It was the willingness of the servants that put them in the position to see the transformational power of Jesus. If they didn’t carry the water, they would have never seen it turn into wine. Unless we are willing to do the hard work of serving others, forgiving others, having the hard conversations, we will never be in the position to see Jesus transform their lives.