From Glorious Light to Glorious Light
The Best is Now:
The Glorious Light Revealed!
John 2:1-11

† In Jesus’ Name †

May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ help you realize the great miracle that was revealed at Cana!

• What a party!

Growing up in an Italian/Irish family, you learn to appreciate a good wedding reception. And the one in the gospel must have been a massive one. How do I know>

Once they ran out of wine, towards the end of the celebration, they still needed 120-180 more gallons of wine. Now I don’t know about you – but that seems like a lot of wine?

If it doesn’t, come talk to me!

It also must have been pretty significant, as not only were Mary and Jesus invited, but so where Jesus’ disciples – which was at least 14 men, and 4-5 women that travelled in their company. Considering this is before the formal ministry of miracles and teaching began – they probably weren’t the VIP’s of the event…

What a party…

But the words that seem key, are those of the master of ceremonies, who didn’t realize how true they were…

“you have kept the best till now…”

But boy was the best going to be revealed that day- as the glory of God was first seen in Christ Jesus….

And it wasn’t just the wine….

• It’s not just about the wine!

Most people are a little shocked when they hear Jesus reaction to Mary when she asks him for help. “Not our problem!” is how our translation phrases it! The original language is a little more blunt than that – “It’s nothing to me!”

And if the refusal wasn’t understood – Jesus goes on to say, “My time has not yet come!”

After all, he’s just a guest, not even an honored guest.

It’s not his wine, it’s not His wedding, it’s not His responsibility, and it’s not time to have the great mysteries of our faith to be revealed.

Of course that’s how I would have said it, my attitude read into it, with a healthy sense of cynicism. We read it into Mary, who expects Jesus to just fix stuff, as if God is some kind of Genie in a Bottle, there to fix our problems, we want to read it into Jesus’ whose words seem disrespectful to His mom, whom even He is supposed to honor. We might even want to blame the master of ceremonies or the groom’s family, for not providing for the feast better.

Sometimes, our sin in thought, word and deed shatters the 8^th commandment—as we don’t come up with the best explanation, but we base it on our own experience, and our own sin. So it seems impossible for there to be a reasonable explanation, and we bear false witness, we hold onto the falsehood.

And whether we tell others about it or not, the idea sticks with us.

And we miss what is better, as we whine…instead of tasting the better wine… we miss the best that is saved for last.

• Deeper-Better (Eucharist)

It seems appropriate that the first miracle of Jesus’ ministry, and the last both are at a party, and include the drinking of wine.

If the water turned to wine was considered the best, the wine that is the Blood of Christ, served at the last Supper and ever since, is even better. It is here, at the altar, as we receive the Body and the Blood that something better happens, we are invited to feast with God, as His invitation where He is the master of ceremonies and the feast…

The one miracle is a picture of the other, God providing the wine, the best wine, which erases our shortcomings, our sin.

• Deepest (best)

Even as the drink at the first feast pictures the second, so does this wedding pictures another.

The wedding pointed out in the first reading, in the incredible words of the prophet Isaiah:

The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory. And you will be given a new name by the LORD’s own mouth. ³  The LORD will hold you in his hand for all to see— a splendid crown in the hand of God. ⁴  Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.” Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the LORD delights in you and will claim you as his bride.

In yesterday’s devotion I used the grins of a couple guys on their wedding day to try and picture God. Partially because their wives were part of the study, but also when I’ve mentioned their wedding day before, the grin they had then, returns to their faces, and they can’t say a word, they just nod.

We need to realize that Jesus sees us, His church, that way!

He ensures we are at our best, our most perfect, that is what Isaiah says, and the Apostle Paul repeats it,

²⁵  For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her ²⁶  to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. ²⁷  He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. Ephesians 5:25-27 (NLT2)

It wasn’t Jesus time, it wasn’t the wine He came to provide, it wasn’t the wedding He came to be part of…

That wine would be shared at Last Supper, and on altars all around the world. That wedding is the one still to come, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, The wedding that He would prepare us for, make us Holy, washing us, and cleansing us because His blood was spilt.

His time has come, the best wine is ready and our Lord is ours and we are His…and He delights in us.

As He ensures we will be ready, guarding our hearts and minds, even as we dwell in His perfect peace! AMEN!