Quality and Quantity
Quality and Quantity
Have you ever wondered why Jesus launched His public ministry by turning water into wine at a wedding party?
Just last night I puzzled over that question as I read the second chapter of John. Why that particular miracle at that particular time? And why wine?
I once heard my friend, Bible teacher Kay Arthur, describe that miracle as one of the highest quality and quantity. “That,” she exclaimed, “is the way Jesus does things!”
Let’s think about that. Those six stone jars Jesus told the servants to fill with water were huge. Each container held up to thirty gallons. Have you ever tried to lift or carry thirty gallons of anything? And those servants, Scripture tells us, filled each jar ’’to the brim.” It must have been tough hauling those enormous jugs from the well into the house.
When Jesus changed that plain Galilean water into chablis—or whatever it was—the wedding party ended up with 180 gallons of it! That, my friends, is a lot of wine. There’s no way folks at that wedding would be able to drink that much, that fast. It was far more than they needed. Surely, one thirty-gallon jar would have been plenty. Hadn’t the guests already consumed every drop of wine in the house?
But that’s what Jesus chose to do. He gave much more than anyone would have expected.
And then there was the quality of that wine. This wasn’t “California Cooler.” It wasn’t plain label jug stuff. It was strictly gold medallion—probably ten grades above the best contemporary French vintage. The quality of that miraculous wine was absolute tops.
The master of the banquet was incredulous after he tasted the fresh supply. “Why in the world did you save the best for last?” he asked the bridegroom. “You could have gotten by with a bargain brand at this point in the feast!”
But that’s what Jesus chose to do. He gave much better than anyone would have expected.
It was as Kay Arthur said: a miracle of quality and quantity. And that’s what He wants to do in your life today. He says to you as He said to His disciples long ago: “I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The life He’s talking about, of course, is His life, flowing in and through you.
When it comes to quantity, this is life that bubbles up and spills over the rim. More than you ever expected or could possibly contain.
When it comes to quality, this is the very life of God. We are, as Peter says, “participators in the divine nature.” It is the best life that can be.
The key? Well, let’s give some credit to Mary, the Lord’s mother. The counsel she gave to those servants that day at the wedding can hardly be improved upon:
“Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5).
Submit to His Lordship, do exactly as He says … and be prepared for a life full of surprises.