“Saving the best until last”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Friday, August 5, 2022
John 2:1-12 (Forward, p. 7) CEV p. 1101
Today’s passage is a favourite with Marriage Encounter, and no wonder. And, not surprisingly, the foyer of the little church in Cana of Galilee is festooned with cards and letters from Marriage Encounter communities from around the world.
This miracle—John calls them signs—resonates with the Marriage Encounter people for several reasons. Firstly, this miracle took place at a wedding feast. Secondly, John records that this was the first sign or miracle that Jesus performed, which, in itself, must be rather important and significant. I happen to think that Jesus wanted to say something about marriage and married life, namely how important they are. Indeed, He goes out of His way to make sure that nothing mars this important day and its festivities. I mean, the party had already gone on for some time and, as the steward said, the guests ‘have had plenty’ in terms of wine. (That, I think, is probably a classic case of understatement.) And so He concocts not a tiny amount of wine, but wine in great abundance and quality, 120 to 180 gallons of the very best ‘stuff’.
But then Jesus knew fully well how the wedding couples’ families would have skimped and saved for years—and possibly gone into debt—to afford this ‘wingding’. And, He would have known what a public embarrassment and shame would have resulted had the news of a wine shortage ‘got out.’ It would have probably been a blot, and an unpleasant memory of the day that remained with this couple and their families for the rest of their lives.
There is one other thing that people take away from this cozy little story and prize. It is the notion that in God’s economy, God’s reckoning, often He saves ‘the best until the last.’ In other words—and this applies to far more than just marriage—there be times of tension and uncertainty, times of shortage, times when troubles and problems erupt, in every person’s life. And, indeed, at such times there may well seem to be ‘no way out’, no obvious solution.
So here the actions of Mary, Jesus’ mother, are well-worth imitating and following. Firstly, she takes the problem to Jesus and simply lays it at His feet. She trusts Him to somehow take care of it. And then she steps out in faith in such a way as to give Jesus full rein in whatever He might decide to do. She says to the servants, “Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.” She essentially gives Jesus carte blanche to do whatever He wants. And the servants, in like manner, do the same by following His instructions to the T and not questioning or double guessing His orders. And, indeed ‘the best is saved until the last. And, it isn’t ‘just’ them: the same can happen with us. If we go to Him in prayer, trust Him to take care of things, and ‘clear the deck’ of our lives so He can do so, we will find that in our lives as well He saves the best for the last. Amen.
Forward notes: “’Everyone serves the good wine first…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” (verses 10-11).
“What embarrassment for the host—to have the wine run out during a crowded wedding celebration! In Jesus’s day, you couldn’t just hop in a car and drive to the store. Mary, his mother, who knows who Jesus really is, turns to him for help. And he transforms water into wine.
“While we celebrate this as his first miracle, it is also a portent of Jesus’s public ministry. Since every step brings Jesus closer to the cross, the wine he gives them will eventually be his blood. This miracle didn’t just help the host to please his guests; in a more profound sense, this miracle is a sign of our own redemption.
“Jesus is with us in the most unexpected of ways, turning the water of our lives into the good wine of a rich, satisfying, and energized existence. In a very real sense, we are indeed his guests, and he is our host. His presence is with us always, offering us the celebration of a new life.”
Moving Forward: “Reread this lesson through the lens of the eucharist. How does that change your understanding of this miracle?”