The Wine Server at Cana

[Journey with Jesus – Day 4]

So, I am the one who messed it up. I was the one who calculated how much wine we would need for the wedding. I’m normally good at that sort of thing – it is my job, after all. We asked how many guests were expected for the feasting and we made sure we had enough flagons to last – both flagons of the quality wine and then, once everyone had had a bit, flagons of the lower quality stuff – after all, there’s no point in wasting good wine on people who are already sozzled! Anyway, we had the numbers and did the calculations and all was good. It was a good party – everyone was enjoying themselves and speaking about how good the wine was – from our very own vineyard with the best of grapes, and flavoured with the most luxurious spices – it really was the best vintage we had – but, we quickly realised people were drinking more than we expected, and before we knew it, we were already on the cheaper stuff. The servers did their best to serve it in smaller and smaller qualities but this seemed to do no good – we were certain that we would run out. Well, the panic that ran out from everyone behind the scenes was massive. What would we do? We couldn’t let people know – it would be so embarrassing – the wedding couple, the guests, the head waiter – none of them could know the catastrophe that would be upon us. People would be talking about this embarrassment for years. And then, it happened, the last drop of wine was poured out. It was only a matter of time before everyone found out and we would be ruined. We had failed at our sacred duty of hospitality.

I stood there with the other servants before the empty flagons of wine, numb, and trying to work out how to break the news to the wedding family, when I felt a hand upon my shoulder. A young man, one of the guests, was standing there, beside an older woman, who I recognised as a close friend of the family. “I hear you have a little problem …” he said.

“Yes, it’s a disaster,” I began. “I swear I’d calculated it all so carefully … but all the wine has run out. It’s all gone – every drop. What are we going to do?”

Then the older woman said to us, “Do exactly as he tells you.”

I opened my mouth, to express what I was thinking, which was, “What on earth is the point?” but held back. The man gestured to six stone water jars that were set in the corner for our purification rites. They each contained 75 – 115 litres of water. “You see these? Fill them with water – all the way to the brim.”

The servants all looked at me. I was mystified – I couldn’t see what good this would do, but I had completely run out of ideas myself, so simply nodded. So the servants filled all the jars to the brim.

Then, once they did this, he said again, “Now, draw some out and take it to the head-waiter.”

Again, there was an awkward pause. Why on earth would the waiter want to taste water? But again, out of ideas myself, I nodded again, steeling myself for the response.

The headwaiter, having tasted the wine seemed flushed and immediately summoned the groom. The game was up. We knew it. I was not prepared for what came next.

As the groom approached, the headwaiter cried out, “At all the weddings I’ve been to, everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior wine comes out. But you have kept the best wine until now.” The groom looked pleased, if a little bemused, and muttered his thanks.

I was absolutely flabbergasted. I went back and took another look at those stone water jars. Sure enough, the liquid inside them was red. I took a cup myself and sampled it – and it was the most extraordinary wine I had ever tasted. I looked for the man who had made it happen, so I could thank him, but he was nowhere to be seen. He had saved me and the groom’s family from huge embarrassment. It should have been known as the wedding of no wine, but instead it became known as the wedding of the finest wine. What kind of man would do such a thing, to do something so generous for what was, after all, just an ordinary wedding? There are so many deeper, more significant needs in the world and yet he saw ours and showed us that what matters to us matters to him.