Best of the Best

John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 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.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

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I'm going, I'm going where the water tastes like wine
Well I'm going where the water tastes like wine

"Going Up the Country" by Canned Heat

The wedding at Cana was the site of Jesus' first miracle. This is where Jesus performed the miracle more people may know than any other, turning water into wine.

First century weddings are the same sort of production numbers we see today. There are wedding planners and banquet masters and pit masters and all manner of servers and clean up crews. What isn't like today is that it was harder to organize a wedding in Jesus' time than it is today. Yes, this is a message to anyone who has ever dealt with a bridezilla, it was tougher 2,000 years ago to put together a wedding.

A part of what was more difficult is that it was impossible to tell everyone "the service starts at 4:30." Yes, not having clocks made that impossible, but more than that, it was nearly impossible to predict when everything would be ready. So in the first century the wedding didn't start until everything was ready. That was the starting time, not some scheduled hour.

As embarrassing as it is today, in the day it was even more embarrassing to run out of food and wine. Beyond embarrassing, it would have been an even worse slap to business concerns, family members, and the church. So when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus was very concerned for this new family and their standing in the community. She wanted her son to do something about it.

Jesus objected, but finally took care of this new family. He had the servants draw water into ritual washing jars and told them to take a dipper to the banquet master. There he declared it the best wine.

In his way, the banquet master told a tale of the society. Bring out the good stuff early and when everyone's drunk, bring out the Mad Dog 20/20. So the banquet master was amazed that the wine that was coming out long after everyone was well on their way to three-sheets-to-the-wind, the best wine this catering professional had ever had was being served. He was amazed! He was surprised! He also probably thought it was a waste to give such good wine to a bunch of folks who wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

That's what Jesus does. He gives the best to the best to us, even though because of sin we can never really appreciate it. Even though because of sin we can never really appreciate it he gives us himself. What a gloriously generous gift he gives of himself, only the best of the best.