Friday, January 14
Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.
—John 2:10
That is Jesus in a nutshell. Always the best. Always for us.
This story concerns a wedding attended by Jesus and his mother. In ancient Israel wine was served at weddings. And, as now, lots of the guests had fun and quite a few drinks. Most hosts were wise and served better wine at the start of the party. When the guests had gotten to the stage in which inferior wine still tasted good, perhaps as good as the first, the host would switch to less expensive varieties.
In this scenario, the wine stewards go to Jesus' mother and tell her they are running low. She turns the problem over to Jesus. The wine that he provides causes the chief steward to make the above remark to the bridegroom (who we assume is the host). The steward is very impressed with the wine's quality, commenting that unlike other hosts, he has saved the good wine until late in the party.
But that is not the real point of the story. The real point is that this wine that tastes so good was water just a few minutes before. Jesus has turned water into wine. This is said by the evangelist (John) to be the "first of [Jesus'] signs."
And of what was it a sign? It revealed his Lordship over everything, including water, wine—and life. God in Christ is saying that He is the Lord of All. He is saying that He can change that in our lives which is bland, pale and tasteless into joy and fullness. He can take our burdens upon him and give us rest. He can revive our tired souls and breathe new life into us.
Praise the Lord!
Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, O God. Amen.
These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2007.
