John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the person in charge of the banquet.” So they took it. 9 When the person in charge tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), that person called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “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.” 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
Reflection
In the town in which I grew up, there was a house that everyone called the “drug house.” You see, at one time it was the house owned by the local drug dealer, and he lived there until he was arrested. Now, the thing that you have to understand about the “drug house” is that even years after the man was long gone from the community, it was still known as the “drug house.” A new family with little children moved in one year, and when they described where they lived to people, the people would continually respond, “Oh, you live in the drug house.”
And, that is the way it is in small towns. Things and people are forever known by these singular events.
If anyone ever mentioned the “Taylor funeral,” people immediately remembered how terrible the music was. “Old man Taylor was dying to get out of there!” they would joke, to the eternal embarrassment of the musicians.
The harvest of 1988 was forever remembered as the harvest that never happened because of a terrible drought.
And, Squishy will forever be Chuck’s name because of what happened in his pants while he was stuck for too long out in left field during the eighth inning of the big game. Poor Squishy.
Eternal embarrassment. Lifelong shame. This is what threatens the lives of people in rural areas, and it is what threatens the lives of this couple who run out of wine at their wedding. Their wedding is threatened to become “the dry wedding” or “the wedding that ran out of wine” or “wine-less-gate.” The start of their entire life together might forever be remembered as a joke. They, themselves, might be remembered as a poor, feeble joke.
I do not intend to make too much of this crisis. It is not like it is a war. It is not like it is an event that causes children to starve and die. There are certainly plenty of other things in this life that are of more importance that running out of wine at a wedding.
“I think they will survive,” crosses most of our minds. My wife and I did not even have alcohol at our wedding.
And, Jesus’ initial reaction to the situation seems to be similar. You see, he, his mother, and the disciples are all at this wedding, and it is Jesus’ mother that alerts him to the situation. “They have no wine,” Jesus’ mother prompts (John 2:3). Nudge, nudge, hint, hint. But, the lack of wine does not seem to get Jesus riled up. He responds, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4).
It seems to me that something as mundane as a lack of wine at a wedding is not what Jesus envisions as the opening moment in his ministry. Maybe, he is waiting for a Red Sea parting sort of event. Moses got one of them. Maybe, something like he got to do later, such as feed well over 5,000 people, is more like what he expects to be his opening sign to the world. Or, maybe, he is simply waiting, and listening for his Father in heaven to give him a sign.
“Do whatever he tells you,” his mother says to the servants (John 2:5). If a Jewish mother ordering you around is not a knock in the side of the head, then I do not know what is. It is his sign. It is his time. The servants fill jars with water and Jesus turns it all into wine. Jesus’ hour has come, but it is in such an ordinary, mundane sort of way.
I think his Father in heaven likes to work that way. I think that God likes to choose the mundane and unexpected and unimportant in order to do something extraordinary. I think that God wants Jesus to start his ministry with this common problem because God cares about common, unimportant people. I also think that God simply desires to bring joy to the world.
Wine is a good place to start if your mission is to bring joy to the world. In the Hebrew Bible, wine is the sign of joy, blessing, and prosperity. Psalm 104 declares that the Lord brings “forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart” (Psalm 104:14-15). Notice how wine is put right up there in importance with food. I think that is because God thinks joy is that important.
The prophet Amos goes even further when talking about what wine offers the world. Amos tells us:
“The time is surely coming, says the Lord, when…the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit” (Amos 9:13-14).
When we envision the Garden of Eden, up on God’s glorious mountain, we expect rivers of water (as described in the Bible) to come down the sides of the mountain in order to give life and rebirth to God’s people, but Amos does not envision rivers of water, he envisions rivers of wine. Amos is my kind of guy. He envisions a joyful time when the people will live a good life, full of wine and gardens and good fruit. He envisions a time when heaven will land right here on the earth.
So, maybe, God knows what God is doing when God chooses this wedding to be the time when Jesus is made known to the world.
Maybe, giving an abundance of wine at a wedding is the way that people will understand that God has placed feet on the earth, bringing the garden and those rivers of joyful wine along with him to everyday people.
Maybe, God knows what God is doing by saving this wedding couple from shame and embarrassment by offering an abundance of wine, so that they might be known as the wedding that served the best wine last, rather than the one who ran out.
Maybe, God knows what God is doing by giving the wedding guests the good stuff last, letting us know that the best is yet to come.
And, what is to come is an abundance of goodness. Because, when Jesus listens to what his Father is up to, Jesus goes right ahead and provides abundantly, to overflowing. I did the math, we are talking about the equivalent of 1000 bottles of wine that Jesus creates in those bathing jars. Jesus provides enough wine at the feast to get the wedding party in trouble. The best is yet to come, and it is coming in abundance.
How hopeful is that? In a world that is burning, in a world that is crying in grief, in a world that seems turned up-side-down from what it ever was, God wants you to know that the wine has not truly run out, the best is yet to come! Jesus has more to give to this world, and it is so, so good. It is life after death. It is rivers of wine making the mournful sing for joy. It is abundance. The best is yet to come.
And, all of this happens because Jesus paid attention. Remember, Jesus did not think that it was his time, but his Father thought otherwise. God used a Jewish mother to let Jesus in on the secret, and Jesus paid attention and listened, and goodness overflowed.
I just want to you to understand what the Bible is saying here. There is nothing wrong with your own expectations being incorrect. There is nothing wrong with needing to learn something new. There is nothing wrong with you needing to change course; to change direction in life to do something new. There is nothing sinful in not knowing.
What is sinful is refusing to learn, and refusing to listen, and refusing to change course in the direction that God leads. What is sinful is listening to a snake instead of God. What is sinful is hardening your heart rather than letting God’s people be free. What is sinful is closing your eyes and ears and hearts to God and what God is up to. That is what is sinful.
But, Jesus pays attention, and a couple’s shame is turned into a joy that the whole community will remember for a long, long time. Their story is still shared to this day!
Jesus pays close attention to God again when he had become convinced that he had come only to serve the lost children of the house of Israel. He is convinced that he is able to help only them. But, a woman with a sick child, a woman who is not an Israelite, reminds Jesus that even the dogs get to eat to food that the child drops. Immediately after that encounter, Jesus feeds 4,000 hungry people who are not a part of the children of Israel. Jesus pays close attention and shifts course, in order to provide in abundance.
There is nothing wrong with your own expectations being incorrect. There is nothing wrong with needing to learn something new. There is nothing wrong with you needing to change course; to change direction in life to do something new. There is nothing sinful in not knowing.
And, because Jesus listened carefully to what God the Father had to say, the blind received their sight, the hungry were fed, to poor were given good news, the world was saved from sin, and, yes, a newly married couple was given the gift of being remembered as the wedding with all that good wine.
So, we listen. We listen closely. And, even if what God has to say is different from our expectations, and different from what we are used to doing, we follow anyway. We do it because even though we do not necessarily know where Jesus is leading us, we do know that the best is yet to come.
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