Pastor's Weekly Word

“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)

This is a quote from the wedding at Cana, the story we talked about on Sunday. Going to the wedding was, for John at least, the first stop Jesus made as he began his ministry. In the story, the mother of Jesus (John never says Mary) did her “mom” thing and got Jesus to do something about the fact that they had run out of wine. Jesus conceded by turning water into wine. As John tells it, no one knew where this new wine had come from, hence the comment from the steward. The only ones who knew were the servants and the disciples. The story ends by stating that the disciples believed in him.

On Sunday, we talked about how Jesus brought new life to this party, a sign of the new life he ultimately brings to us. Another way to listen to the story, though, is to focus on the wine itself, with the steward’s comment serving as a foreshadowing of the cross. The good wine being served when we think the party is over points us to Jesus giving us his very best on the cross when we think his life is over.

It may help to tell you that the amount of wine Jesus made was way more than the people could possibly consume. They had already drunk plenty of wine, and now they have more than they could finish. We have already been living life, but on the cross and through the empty tomb, Jesus offers us more life than we could ever live. It is God’s absolute best, abundant grace that can never be fully consumed and will always fill us to overflowing. Not everyone knows this, but we do. In Jesus Christ, God saves his very best for last. Like the disciples in the story, may we find ourselves believing too.