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Water into Wine

¹ The next day, Jesus attended a wedding in Cana with his mom. ² Jesus's twelve cowboys were also invited to the party. ³ The celebration ran out of wine before the party was over and Jesus's mom said, "They've run out of wine."

⁴ "That ain't none of my business," Jesus replied. "I'm staying out of the limelight for now, but my time will come."

⁵ But Mary was undaunted, and she told the serving staff, "Do whatever he tells you to do."

⁶ There were six water barrels nearby that the Jews used for their ritual washing. Each barrel could hold about thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus told the serving staff, "Fill those barrels with water." After this was done, ⁸ he said, "Take some out and give it to the person in charge of the party." The staff hurried and did as instructed.

⁹ The fellow in charge had no idea where the wine had come from, but the servants knew. The guy called the groom over to him and said, ¹⁰ "Most people serve the best wine first. After everyone is drunk, then they bring out the cheap stuff. But you did so differently. You saved the best wine for last."

¹¹ This was Jesus's first miracle, and his cowboys believed in him because of what they had seen.

¹² Later, Jesus and his cowboys rode to Capernaum for a spell. His mother and brothers rode along also.

Jesus Clears the Church

¹³ It was gettin' close to the big Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ When he got to the main church, he saw people making a mockery of the sacrificial system by selling cattle, sheep, and doves. There were also people making a fortune off of exchanging money for foreigners. ¹⁵ Jesus sat down and braided a bullwhip out of some rope and sent all those scoundrels runnin' for the fences. He drove out all the stock and flipped over the tables of the money exchangers. ¹⁶ He stopped in front of the dove salesmen and said, "Get out and take all these doves with you. My Daddy's house isn't a shopping center." ¹⁷ His cowboys remembered that it had been written long ago, "I'll protect my Daddy's place at all cost."

¹⁸ But Jesus's actions stirred up the Jewish leaders. They asked him, "Who do you think you are? If God gave you authority to do this, then give us a sign to prove it, cowboy."

¹⁹ Jesus said, "Knock this church down, and I'll rebuild it in three days."

²⁰ They scoffed at him, "It took forty-six years to build this church. You think you could rebuild it in three days?" ²¹ But they didn't realize that when he said "this church", he was talking about his body. ²² After he had died and then come riding back into town, Jesus's cowboys remembered what he said this day and they believed everything about him the Good Book had said.

²³ While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, a lot of people saw and heard what he was doing and believed in him. ²⁴ But Jesus never let his guard down because he knew their sorry tendencies. ²⁵ He didn't need anyone telling him they couldn't be trusted. He already knew their hearts.