Robert Mondavi Vineyard in Yountville, California has a patch of ground that is considered to be one of the best vineyards in Napa Valley, maybe in the United States. The vineyard is over 150 years old and is called “To Kalon”, a Greek word that translates to “the beautiful”. I’ve enjoyed a couple of bottles of Robert Mondavi Cabernet, in which one-third of the grapes are sourced from the To Kalon vineyard. I’m not a wine enthusiast but I know enough to tell you that the wine tastes beautiful.
What makes wine like that taste so beautiful? Certainly the variety of grapes used. The land on which the grapes grow, the terroir, is very important. Whether or not the grapes are blended from different vineyards or are sourced from one particular place also makes a difference. For a Christian who responsibly enjoys God’s gift of wine, however, a beautiful wine has a beautiful Creator behind it; a Creator Who makes all things beautiful and for our own good.
The water made wine in John chapter two is literally called beautiful by the master of the feast. It is “good” wine in English, but in Greek the adjective is “kalon”, the same word for Robert Mondavi’s prize vineyard. Usually the “kalon” wine is served first. Once everyone is in a party mood the “kalon” wine is switched out for the not so beautiful wine. Not this feast. Not this host. Not this Savior.
Mothers do not want to suffer the indignity of running out of food. Moms seem to cook too much food to make sure there is enough for everyone. She would rather you eat leftovers for days, even weeks, rather than run out of potato salad, deviled eggs, or hamburgers.
Jesus’s mother leaps into action as a good mother does. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” No one will control the only-begotten Son of God, not even His mother. Jesus’s time is yet to come. His hour of glory will occur upon the cross, not at a wedding feast. Yet mom believes Jesus will do something about the situation as she tells the servants, Do whatever he tells you.
It is often agonizing to wait for Jesus to do something for us. As the hymn says, we take it to the Lord in prayer and it’s as if Jesus isn’t listening. The answer must come on our time, not on His time. The answer always comes according to His time, and His time is always the best time. While we wait for His time, we do as He bids us. We wait, often with impatience, but nevertheless with patience. We watch, as His answer or His return may happen when we least expect it. We pray, both here in the Lord’s house and at home, for Jesus is not a Lord Who is confined to a church building. Jesus dwells in our homes as we read the Scriptures, pray for our needs and desires, and sing hymns to praise His beautiful deeds of forgiveness and salvation.
Jesus helps in His time, and the time isn’t long after mom asks Him. There are six stone jars present for the purification rites of the Jews. Water is ladeled out of the jars to clean cups and plates and other utensils as God has commanded His people to do. Somewhere between being ladeled out of the jars and entering the mouth of the master of the feast, Jesus does something beautiful to the purifying water. Jesus bends the laws of nature that His Father created. Jesus brings joy out of sadness. Jesus cares for the needs of wedding guests. His time is always the best time, and now is the best time of all.
Saint John writes, This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. Mary’s son, Mary’s Lord, shows Himself to be God’s Son, the Lord of heaven and earth, at a wedding feast. The sign did not happen with a divine hand dropping from heaven pointing those present to Jesus among His disciples with His mother. No voice from heaven shouted, “Hey, watch this!” Though His hour had not yet comes, Jesus gives you a glimpse of what is to come by changing water into wine.
What is more, John ends His account of the wedding feast with these words: And his disciples believed in him. Jesus’s disciples believed in Him because they saw the good thing He did for all those present and wanted you to remember it and they remembered it. Not everyone saw what Jesus said or did, but the servants did. Perhaps it was a servant who told John this story and John wrote it down so that you and I have it today. It doesn’t seem like much to make beautiful wine at a wedding feast but to the disciples it was everything. Jesus brings joy wherever He goes, whether a wedding feast, Lazarus’s gravesite, or a locked room the night of His resurrection day. Jesus does beautiful things with ordinary things. Even though you didn’t see it as the disciples saw it, you heard it, and now you believe it. To your ears, in your mouth, and in your life, this Good News is To Kalon, the beautiful thing from the beautiful Savior.
Media Vita In Morte Sumus 