Here. Now. Love.

by Jenny Klejeski

“Do whatever He tells you.” - John 2:5b

Mary made this simple request to the servers at the wedding in Cana. Her words feel very significant, particularly when taken on their own. In these words, I often hear a grand call, the emphasis falling on the word “whatever.” Whatever thing Jesus tells me to do, I must do; whatever sacrifices He calls me to make, I must make; whatever life He calls me to, I must live.

This is true. We owe God, literally, everything. And we should do whatever He tells us to do.

However, as I recently meditated on this episode in John’s Gospel, I thought about the recipients of this command and how perplexed they must have been. And, frankly, they were probably annoyed, too. Here, the waitstaff is facing an embarrassing catering crisis, and this woman gives a cryptic request without any explanation that they should do whatever her son tells them to do. Sure, lady.

And then comes Jesus’ actual request: fill up 6 stone basins (20-30 gallons each) with water—an arduous task, even by today’s standards, to say nothing of their lack of running water. This is the point at which I would say, “ummm….I’m going to need to speak to my supervisor.”

Now, I don’t intend to take liberties with the Scripture. Perhaps all of the servers reverently and piously followed Jesus’ requests with no questions asked and with hands folded devoutly; the Gospel does not indicate any protests from those involved. On the other hand, at this point in the Gospels, Jesus hadn’t shown Himself to be anyone special. This was to be His first (recorded) miracle. And here He was requesting something that was tedious and probably seemed pointless.

Regardless of what the servants were actually thinking, we do know that they fulfilled Jesus’ request. They were obedient. And what came of it? A glorious sign of God’s presence in our midst—a sign of God’s reign.

There is a story of St. Teresa of Calcutta in which a Jesuit priest named John Kavanaugh visited her in the sisters’ Home for the Dying in Kalighat. He asked Mother Teresa to pray for him that he would have clarity to know what God wanted him to do. Her firm response was “no.” He was taken aback; it seemed to him that Mother Teresa had an abundance of clarity for God’s will in what she was doing. She said, “I have never had clarity. What I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.”

When considering our vocations, we often want clarity. We want to know exactly what it is that God is calling us to. This likely comes from a very good intention to follow God. However, it is also linked to a desire, in our brokenness, to control. We want to know what is coming next. We want to see the plan. We want to know that we’re serving a purpose and going the right way. And when this is not clear to us, it is easy to feel discouraged, frustrated, and despondent. It may feel that we are missing our calling.

Caryll Houselander addresses this very fear: “Sometimes it may seem to us that there is no purpose in our lives, that going day after day for years to this office or that school or factory is nothing else but waste and weariness. But it may be that God has sent us there because but for us, Christ would not be there. If our being there means that Christ is there, that alone makes it worthwhile.”

Through the mundane, the painful, the frustrating, the seemingly pointless, say yes anyway. Nothing is wasted if we love. It is from small obediences that God calls forth great abundance. Do not be afraid that you are missing your vocation or that you ought to be somewhere else. Trust that your vocation is wherever you are.

Rather than longing for the whatever that we want to be called to, let’s ask for the courage to listen for the still, small voice saying, “Here. Now. Love.”