Wine testing times 

Continuing with the theme of marriage from my last blog, many of you will know that 2022 is a big year for Colin and me in relation to weddings.  Daughter number 2 got hitched in August and daughter number 1 ties the knot in December.  Of course, we are delighted and, aside from the inevitable penury, it’s a wonderful and exciting time in our lives.

I was the official wedding planner for the August wedding, which was held locally in Richmond, with the reception in Chiswick.  One of the readings at the Service was John 2: 1-11, the story of Jesus’ first miracle and how he changed water into wine,  perhaps better known as the wedding at Cana.

One of my biggest challenges as the appointed wedding planner was estimating the amount of wine, beer and champagne that our guests would consume over the afternoon and evening and then shopping for it – tasting and selecting the wines was not so challenging!  As hosts you want to be generous and certainly don’t want the embarrassment of not ordering enough. Then again, you don’t want to buy too much as you can’t always take it back and I didn’t want to be finding storage space for the leftovers.

So, the water into wine story in John really resonates with me.

The wedding at Cana quite possibly took place over 7 days, as was the custom, and hundreds of guests would have attended, many travelling from afar. Estimating the amount of wine and food to provide was a far greater headache than I experienced. And there was no Majestic Wine in those days for a last-minute dash.  The fact that Jesus’ mother Mary was so upset about the wine running out suggests that she too was involved in the wedding planning.  The presence of Jesus’ brothers points to this being a family celebration, so to run out of booze would have led to a loss of family honour, indicating either thoughtlessness by the host or that they were poor.  Hence Mary’s pleading with her son to help, though she knew it wasn’t what his divine power was intended for.  Again, all so relatable – desperate times call for desperate measures. And I love the fact that Jesus, obedient son that he was, performed his first miracle for his mum.

So what should we take away from this story where the context for Mary’s situation appears so contemporary?

The key thing I think is that we shouldn’t be afraid to petition Jesus, even about seemingly small things – either first world or first century problems – but we must be prepared humbly to accept the outcome.  It’s not for us to decide where, when, how or if Jesus answers our prayers but that shouldn’t stop us.  And the more we can come to him with humility and an obedient and faithful heart, the more likely he is to hear us.

And in case you’re wondering about how I did on estimating wine quantities for the wedding – we ran out of white wine halfway through dinner but, thankfully, because we had overestimated the rosé quantities, we simply switched, and nobody noticed!

Photo by Apolo Photographer on Unsplash