A Wine that Surpasses All Others

“Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” (John 2: 6-11, NIV)

In John 2, Jesus attends a wedding in which the wine runs out. In those days, it was a party foul to host a wedding and not have enough wine for the whole party. When the wine runs out, Jesus’ mother, Mary, asks Him to intervene and sends a few servants to help Him rectify the situation.

Jesus tells the servants to fill up the waterpots that were being used for the purification ritual for the wedding ceremony. The servants fill up these six stone jars that each hold about twenty to thirty gallons. 

Once the jugs are full, Jesus tells the servants to draw some and serve it to the master of the banquet. When the master drinks, the water has become wine, to which he calls the groom aside to ask him why he saved the best of the wine for last, instead of serving it first at the beginning of the party. 

In today’s times, lots of people like to use the saying ‘the best is yet to come!’ In fact, the phrase is heavily tied to prosperity gospel and the orators that have become popular due to the self-improvement messaging that many mistake for Jesus’ gospel. In reality, when Christians say something along the lines of your best days being in front of you, they’re not talking about the best of this world or the heights of the human experience. They’re not talking about riches or joys found anywhere in this world.

At this wedding in John 2, the best of the wine the wedding had to offer was consumed as the party went on. It ran out. It was finite and fleeting. But when Jesus steps in, the wine He makes is overabundant and it is better than the wine that the wedding party had to offer. And the master of the banquet, who didn’t know he was drinking something that was water a few moments ago, marveled at the quality and the caliber of the wine he was served so late into the party.

If we were to apply this to our faith, we would agree that the world’s “wine,” or the things the world has to offer, simply falls short to what Jesus offers us– unshakable hope, irrevocable salvation, and spiritual life.

Jesus’ water turned wine represents the hope we have through His gospel– His finished work on the cross and the empty grave. His blood shed to cover our sins, the sacrifice that redeemed us from the death we were living in. It’s a miracle that cannot be matched or topped.

If the water were to represent God’s covenant with His people under the Law, we would find that the wine comes after the water the way His new covenant of grace came after His Law found in the Old Testament. That Law served as a way to save, but it was insufficient to satisfy. It fell short of the grace won by Jesus on the cross that was to come. The wine also came from the water. God’s Law alluded to the gospel and His new covenant. Without God’s previous covenant with Abraham and the law established through Moses, there would have been no foundation for God’s people to understand what He wanted to establish under the new covenant through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The new covenant came from the old, just the way the wine Jesus worked His miracle through came from that water.

And most importantly, the wine was better than the water. The water would not have pleased the master of the banquet in the way the wine did. Not only was the wine a good wine, but it was better than anything else that was available at the wedding. The quality of that wine is only possible because Jesus intervened. The Old Testament covenant would never have satisfied our Master the way our agreement to Jesus’ new covenant by grace does. 

When we are presented to our Master, Lord, and Savior at the end of our lives, will we be our best under the saving grace of Christ? 

It should be our life’s work to try and be, but as much as we aspire to be the best we can be before the Lord, our efforts are futile without the intervention of Christ. Our spiritual wine would just be weak and measly water before God without Jesus’ help and the grace He extends to us. Because there is nothing on earth that could possibly compare to the hope we have through Him. 

So are our best days to come? Are they constantly in front of us the way the saying goes? Yes. But it’s not because God is going to reward our faithfulness on earth. After all, there is no wine here that compares to the wine we will taste at the marriage banquet between Christ and His Church in eternity. So our best days, as Christians, are no days we will see or experience here on earth. Our best days are ahead in the respect that after our time here is done, Jesus will gather us to go home to the Lord, whether that’s on an individual basis or when God decides time itself is over and gathers the Church together to Himself. 

Even though it’s hard to imagine, I think of my best days on earth: my wedding day, the births of both my children, vacations, parties, and everything else, and all of them will pale in comparison to the day I stand before the Lord forever.For those without Jesus, the devil offers his best wine first, attempting to swoon people away from the steadfast love of God. For them, their best days are now. They will enjoy the best of what the world can offer here and now, and those pleasures will be like the wine the couple served at their wedding in John 2– average, finite, and fleeting. And when their days are over, they will be met with the suffering of that choice.

But for those who follow Christ, the wine He offers– the love and the joy He gives– gets sweeter all the time. The closer we draw near to Him, the deeper the intimacy of our faith goes, the better we will see Him. And when this life is done, we’ll have Jesus fully, better than we ever have before.

“I can conceive you, brethren, in the very last moment of your life, or rather, in the first moment of your life, saying, ‘He has kept the best wine until now.’ When you begin to see him face to face, when you enter into the closest fellowship, with nothing to disturb or to distract you, then shall you say ‘The best wine is kept until now.’” - Charles Spurgeon