"Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5).

While chaperoning my daughter’s fourth-grade field trip at the Heart of Jesus Retreat Center in Santa Ana, I picked up a booklet by the founding Sister titled Do Whatever He Tells You. These are the words of the Virgin Mary that were given to the servants at Cana that led to Jesus performing His first public miracle, turning water into wine. It was the sign of the coming wedding feast of the Lamb, when His hour would finally come. This is why, when His mother said to Him, “They have no more wine,” Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). This established the prefiguring of the Eucharist at Cana as the living testimony of the Christ, the Messiah, who would, when His hour came, pour out His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. His Apostles would do through Him this like miracle, but instead of water into wine, He would turn bread and wine into His body and blood, because they would do what He told them to do; the mystery of faith (Luke 22:19; John 6:56). Seeing the title of that book reminded me of what God has called me to do, which is to invite those who are called to give a testimony.

A great example from Scripture illustrates the call to do whatever God tells you to do no matter the consequences. In the book of Acts, chapters six and seven, the Apostle Stephen is accused of blasphemy, and put on trial, and he must give a testimony. Jesus had prepared His Apostles for moments like this by saying, "When they deliver you up, do not be anxious about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you" (Matthew 10:19–20). Stephen gave, in that hour, one of the greatest testimonies in all of Sacred Scripture about the coming and the fulfillment of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ. He was martyred for his faith and although his adversaries destroyed his body his soul lives on and his words live forever because they were breathed into him by God.

This is what makes a true disciple: a person who is willing to witness to their faith without fear, and to do so boldly and courageously, just as every Apostle in Christ has done with their lives. If you are called to testify, listen to Him, do whatever He tells you, because if God has put something on your heart you are called to share it.

May God bless you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

For more information please visit www.christianwitnesspodcast.com

You can find me @JoshRader on Youtube.