The
wine has run out and with one more “l’chaim” the guest’s goblets will go dry
and the party will be over ahead of schedule. Mary is determined to do
something about it and counting on those things she has treasured in her heart
she gets Jesus to serve the good wine before his time. John records this as the
first sign of many and even though the other Gospels remember more pressing
first signs, like healing diseases and casting out demons, turning water into
wine is the sign for the time to come. It might not seem so in a world where
more important things than wine run out, where a surplus of sorrow and
suffering beg God to heal and exercise evil before filling the carafe with Cabernet But the miracle of water into wine is more than a story of good
timing for a worried wine steward and it is Mary who gives it to us. Like Jesus
in the garden she asks for what she wants and accepts his rebuff. In the same
way Jesus will ask for what he wants, “Take this cup from me” but accept “Thy
will be done.” And so Jesus in faith will leave the garden for the cross and
Mary, with every reason to believe the answer is no, tells the servant, “Do
whatever he tells you.” She has no idea what he will do but believes he will do
something. Faith in the face of jugs gone dry is what is called for in the face
of circumstances that drain reserves, sorrow that consumes joy, questions empty
of answers, which is why water into wine is a sign of the time to come. Without
knowing how or when we believe God will do something like Isaiah imagined; a
feast of rich food and fine wine for all people where God will dine on death for
when Jesus' time finally came the One who asked for the cup to be taken from him
is the One who filled it.
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