Something for Everyone

Weddings are big deal occasions. If you are invited to one, you are being given the opportunity to join in a celebration of love, and witness a covenant that is meant to be holy. If you are family, and invited to a family member’s wedding, and don’t show up, you’re toast.


Jesus finished his first week of ministry at a relative’s place in a little village in the Galilean countryside. It was a Tuesday, the day before the wedding was to take place. At some point during the wedding festivities, the wine ran out. This would be a bummer for party host or guest, but in those days, it was potential cause for great embarrassment for the people in charge.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, made mention of it to Jesus – the implication being that he might do something about it. Mothers have a way of doing that, don’t they? My guess is Jesus wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the wine supply, so Mary was clueing him in.

Jesus responded with a familiar Semitism – what’s that have to do with me? And, I think, he probably winked. Mary didn’t know what would happen, but she knew something was going to happen, and alerted the servants to be ready to do whatever he instructed. Jesus saw the teaching opportunity before him – they were at a wedding, and the wine was running out – people would connect the dots. The Jews knew the metaphors used for God and his beloved people: a Husband and Wife. They also knew about the images of heaven – a place where there was an abundance of food, and more wine than anybody could hope to drink. Jesus did that and still does that – taking everyday moments and making them special, even life changing at times.

Jesus instructed that six stone jars (used for ceremonial hand-washing) be filled to the brim. Each of them could hold as much as 30 gallons. Six jars – not a perfect seven. Hmmm. Water used for purification that never quite got the stain out. Hmmm. Hmmm.

Once filled, he instructed some servants to dip some out for the MC. He tasted it, and remarked that it was clearly the best wine that had been served since the party began. The best. Better than that bottle the family had been carefully preserving for all those years. Screaming Eagle best. 180 gallons of the best. 900 bottles of the best. Great wine isn’t usually cheap – easily $100 a bottle, and probably more. We’re talking $100K of wine, here. A fortune. Way more than enough for everyone to enjoy as much of the best as they wanted.

Wouldn’t it have been a bummer if you left the party early – maybe even because the wine ran dry? You’d feel like such an idiot for leaving too soon, and not waiting to see how it might turn out. We do that sometimes, don’t we? We get frustrated, restless, can’t see how there’s going to be much fun in the future, and we bail out. Too soon. And we miss out on the surprise, on the best.

Wouldn’t it have been a bummer if you were the reason the wine ran out? Maybe you were so focused on your own need to be satiated that you guzzled right through the Two-Buck-Chuck that was brought out. Now you’re so full, you can’t even take a sip. And even if you could, you would have a hard time appreciating the taste because your senses have been too dulled. Sometimes we get so filled up on the junk of this world that when the opportunity comes to experience the Kingdom of God breaking into our lives, we can’t appreciate it. Might even be Two-Buck-Chuck. Or workaholism. Or school-activity-aholism. Or TV, internet, gossip, whatever – you fill in the blank. We all do it at certain times, making us unavailable for the much greater gifts from God.

The wise who were there weren’t there for the wine in the first place. They were there for love. Love of family and friends. There to celebrate love. To witness love being expressed. To express love to others. When they saw – and tasted – what happened, they experienced love. Love from God. Love saying to them and all of humanity, “I choose you! I love you! You are my beloved, and I am yours! One day I will provide a never-ending celebration where the food will multiply before your eyes, and the wine will never cease to flow! Don’t give up on hope. Don’t give up on love!”

All of this caused a reaction, which points to the answer to the question of why Jesus bothered with this inaugural miracle in the first place. The benefactors of this miracle were many – there was something here for everyone. But the motivation of the miracle provided a much bigger something for everyone – it simply made the declaration boldly and creatively that this Jesus was the One sent from God that everyone had been waiting for. The disciples certainly responded to the abundance of wine by enjoying a glass or two. Much more importantly, however, is that they found something – someone – much more intoxicating – Jesus – and responded with increasing belief. How are you responding to this Jesus?