Life seldom goes according to plans. Children, and emotionally immature people have a particularly hard time adapting when things do not go as planned. Mature adults however have learned that when plans fall apart they have to adapt and overcome. These are not new ideas; the inadequacy of human planning is as old as humanity and human sin.

Sometimes plans fall apart because of the failures of the planner. Other times plans fall apart because of the actions of people that the planner could not have predicted. We do not know why the bridegroom ran short of wine. Perhaps more people showed up that was planned on. Perhaps he simply did not plan correctly. There is even the possibility, based on what the master of the banquet said, that too many of the guests had drink more than they should have. The master noted it was after people had had too much to drink that most hosts brought out the cheap wine.

The story does not tell us why the plan for the banquet fell apart. It does tell us that Jesus’s mother saw the disaster for the host and chose to do something about it. She could not make wine appear out of thin air, and I’m sure she even knew what Jesus would do. But having raised him from a child, she knew that he could and would do something. So she came to him and told him the problem. When our plans fall apart talking to Jesus is a smart move. We can never predict what he will do, but we can know that he will do what is right.

Jesus told her that His hour had not yet come. In other words, helping her was not part of His plan. Yet plans can be changed, especially by Jesus. Because of His love for his mother, and because of her faith in him Jesus changed His plans; He turned water into wine. Sometimes, because of love, God will change His plans to meet our needs.