Saving The Best For Last

Second Sunday After Epiphany, January 10, 2016.  Year C

The Rev. Virginia Tyler Smith

“You have saved the best wine for last.”

A long time ago, my friend George told me about his Uncle Robert and his wine collection.  Robert was a wine distributor, and he knew a great deal about the industry.  He had invested early in great vintages at wholesale and discounted rates, and had stored them for years.  Most of the extra money he had, he’d poured (literally and figuratively) into wine buying. At his death, his personal collection of wine was quite vast and very valuable.

His heirs had banked on this wine.  All their life, they knew it was waiting for them, and they looked forward to enjoying it and its financial benefits.  Their father had taught them how to care for the wine, how to store it, when to drink it, and how to enjoy it by matching it with the right foods.

After his funeral, they decided to honor his life by opening a bottle.  They selected a large jeroboam of a wonderful vintage—something they knew their father would have loved.  They drew friends and family together, and carefully opened the bottle. After aerating it, and doing everything else that Robert had taught them about how to prepare the wine for drinking, they poured small glasses to taste it for the first time.

And here’s what they found. It was vinegar.

The family figured that the cork had gone bad, and let air in, causing the wine to turn.  Maybe it was a fluke. They opened another bottle, and found the same thing.  A third bottle was just as bad.  Ultimately, after opening and tasting dozens of bottles, they came to the very sad realization: ninety percent of it had spoiled. The million dollar collection was worthless.

Some were angry—they were counting on the money that the wine would bring. Some were disappointed, because they wanted to enjoy the wine as their father had.  And some, were simply stunned to realize they had waited too long.

We each have things that we wait on—things that we put away because we are busy,

Or because they are too special for every day or things that we wait to share until the right person is there. 

But today Jesus is telling us not to wait.

The story of the wedding at Cana is the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in the gospel of John. 

And we tend to think of this story as a miracle of process: Jesus turns a very large amount of water into wine. 

But REALLY, it’s a story about the product.

It’s not just any wine.  It’s the best wine. 

And it’s not served to temple dignitaries in Jerusalem, it’s served at a wedding in a backwater town, where even the wedding couple go nameless. 

The wedding itself is not what is important—it’s the wine that is important.  Running out of wine would be unthinkable, but so would saving the best wine for last.

Jesus actions do a couple of things.  They tell us that what he brings is uniquely different and BETTER than anything we’ve had before.  And though custom would dictate that the best wine be given first to the highest ranking at the wedding, and the worst wine given to the people of lowest status, Jesus’ wine is available for everyone.

Jesus does not care about what has been served before, or who has received it.  Jesus will give the best wine to all who will receive him.  And we don’t need to worry about running out of this wine.  He’s got everything we need.

So, imagine if you were at that wedding, and all of a sudden you got the best wine. Would you wonder why they had waited to bring it? Would you be angry that we had wasted time on the lesser wine? Would you try to save this wine for a time when we really could enjoy it? 

Or would you simply take the wine, in this moment, and be grateful that it had come to us now?

Jesus is telling us:

Don’t worry about what you had before…

And don’t worry about what you will need in the future.

You have saved the best wine for last….but now is the time. 

This became really true for me this week.  When I originally thought about what to say this morning, I was going to talk about my mother’s porcelain tea cups, and how I’ve brought them in to use in the office, rather than letting them languish in the office.

God had a better idea. Tea cups? Small potatoes!

So instead he gave me a better example.  On Friday, our website got hacked.  What that means is, then you’d type in our website address, instead of learning about us, you’d get redirected to an Asian escort service.  I am not making this up, and for those of you reaching for your phones to look it up, we have since taken the site down.

But here’s the thing: we have been wanting to update our website, and make it a little more user friendly.  I’d been waiting until things calmed down after the ordination and Christmas, until I had it all planned out, until it was ….PERFECT.

But Jesus changed the water of our website into wine this week. Not the wine we expected, for sure, but wine that will give us the opportunity to expand our wedding feast to other guests.

My friends, there is no reason to wait on anything in our lives.  Jesus has turned out water into wine. Not just any wine, the BEST wine.  Do not be surprised at what has been given you, and do not wonder what you are to do.  Do not wait to glorify our Lord until the perfect time, the perfect day, or the perfect hour.  Now is the hour.

 

Drink the wine –in whatever form it takes---while the party is still going.

Drink the wine and see the reality that God has intended for each of us. 

Drink the wine and celebrate what you has been given to you now.

Drink the wine.