Wine Etiquette
Isaiah 62:1-5 and John 2:1-11
Second Sunday after Epiphany
January 19, 2025
Who knew the Bible teaches wine etiquette?!
Growing up Baptist, and not being exposed to drinking wine as a child, I remember fondly my early thoughts of this scripture. It was more like a magic trick where Jesus turned the water into wine. Sort of like when a magician turns the flowers in the hat into a rabbit.
I recognized the significance of the miracle that your average person can’t change water into wine, so this took a special power.
It’s really interesting to me how God opens our minds to new revelations when we are mature enough to receive them. When looking at various scriptures throughout the bible for the second, third, fourth, or more times, I’ve heard many of you say, “I’ve read this before, but never thought of that.”
It gives credence to the words that follow when we read our scripture each Sunday, and we say, “Through scripture, God is still speaking,” and hopefully, we truly are still searching and listening to the messages that God is still speaking to us.
I have always been fascinated by Jesus’ response to his mother in this scripture, like maybe he has had too much wine already to be speaking to his mother this way when she informs him that they have run out of wine.
(Read with sarcasm) “Woman, what concern is that to you and me?”
Unfortunately, we don’t know the tone of Jesus when he responds to his mother. It’s how he addresses her that makes it seem sarcastic. We would certainly not address our mother as “woman,” or at least I hope not.
Oddly, John never refers to the mother of Jesus in his writings by her name, “Mary.” He only refers to her as “woman.” I’m not sure what the significance of this is other than maybe it’s John’s way of further separating Jesus, the Son of God, as something more than being from this world.
In any event, it certainly sounds like the response of a sarcastic teenager. “Woman, what does this have to do with you and me?”
Let’s think about this event just a minute. We have a wedding in Cana of Galilee, the center of where Jesus will perform his miracles and teachings. He has already begun to build relationships, along with his disciples, because they are all invited to this wedding. They are already beginning to find favor among the people, enough so to be invited to the wedding to join in the celebration of this couple and family.
These would be the very people who are looking for a new message of hope. These would be the people who have been oppressed and marginalized.
We may be asking, “Why was Jesus reluctant to help out here?” Why did his mother have to give him a little nudge to step in and perform this first sign?
I can’t answer for Jesus, but I can tell you when I was called to deliver God’s word, I was reluctant. I didn’t deem myself worthy to deliver God’s message. Surely this was not what God was calling me to do. I certainly needed nudging, and a lot of it.
In his humanness, maybe Jesus wasn’t ready to step out into his calling, and reveal his divinity. Maybe, like me when God called me into action, Jesus knew that when he did, his life would forever be changed.
Perhaps his mother had already begun to see his divinity in him, and she certainly had been told that he was the one that would be delivered to save the people, and perhaps she knew this was his time to shine.
She ignores Jesus remarks to her, and turns to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
This is a confidence shown by Mary in knowing who her son was, and what he was capable of doing. She is moving forward with her decision, regardless of any hesitation she is picking up from her beloved Son. She knows the time is now.
Her words are so profound, even for us today, “Do whatever he tells you.”
She speaks to the servants there, all those long years ago, and we, as Jesus’ servants today, are still hearing these words. “Do whatever he tells you.” We are called to respond to whatever God calls us to do. We are called to “do it.” We are called into action, in the same way Jesus was this day.
I wonder, what signs do we fail to reveal when we don’t act?
Jesus can no longer ignore the pleas of his mother or of God to reveal the sign of his greatness. It is time.
He tells the servants to fill the six jars with water, and not just halfway or ¾ of the way to the top, but to the brim. “Fill them as full as you can get them.”
They respond accordingly. They move into action.
Next step, take some to the chief steward. Again, they respond.
When the chief steward tastes the wine, he does not know where it comes from. Meaning, he doesn’t recognize it as something he has tasted before because it is a better quality than even their best wine they have previously served.
He calls the bridegroom to chastise him, “You were supposed to serve the best wine first, but this is better.”
I’m sure the bridegroom is as surprised as the chief steward, and they rejoice and celebrate.
This first sign that Jesus performs, speaks to not only the abundance that God delivers as the jars were filled all the way to the brim, but also the quality of what God delivers. It is nothing but the best.
When Isaiah tells us that the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, he is saying that God rejoices over us when we give him our best. God wants us to celebrate, and he wants to rejoice and celebrate with us.
This sign that is being performed is revealing the hope of a new promise of the Old Testament.
Amos 9:13 says, “The time is surely coming, says the Lord, when the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps, and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.”
In Joel 3:18, “In that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, the hills shall drip sweet wine; a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord.”
Today, at this wedding in Cana of Galilee, that day has come. It is a new day of hope being delivered at the hand of God.
The words of Isaiah harken to the truth of this new day when His people will no longer be forsaken, and in His people and their land God will delight.
Indeed, this sign of when Jesus turns the water into wine is a joyous arrival of God’s new age.
How do we reconcile this abundant grace when we live in a world where there is so much poverty, injustice, and abuse? How do we grasp this abundant extravagance?
It’s easy to say we are not worthy; however, on the contrary, we most definitely are worthy. We were created by God to be worthy. God wants a relationship with us. God wants to rejoice with us, all we have to do is embrace His abundance.
God is waiting to give us the most of what he is and the best of what he brings.
Do we recognize the good gifts of God’s grace, or are oblivious like the chief steward?
Can we be like Mary, who nudges Jesus forward, to reveal the abundance, the goodness, the very best of God? The Divine.
So what is our wine etiquette today? Are we holding back the best wine, or are we giving those we meet our very best in abundance?