Never Let The Wine Dry Up

This morning I have chosen the gospel reading to share a message entitled “Never let the wine run out.” But before I get into it, listen to this:

A priest was driving erratically on a county road and got pulled over by a local cop. As the cop went up to the car he immediately got a strong smell of alcohol. To add to that, he noticed an empty wine bottle on the passenger seat. Very politely the Officer says “Father, I expect you to speak the truth - were you drinking?” “Not at all said the priest. The only thing I drank was just plain water.” Then why do I smell wine ask’s the Cop? The priest picks up the bottle and smells it and says “Oh my, I knew it - the good Lord has done it again!”

Alcoholics love this miracle. Many use it as a license to drink. I prefer all of us do not drink at all but back in the day of Jesus and even now, drinking wine on occasion was perfectly acceptable but drunkenness is certainly not. The apostle Paul did tell Timothy that a little wine is good for the belly but there is no passage of scripture that supports drunkenness. So instead of using this miracle to legitimize drinking, I want to share with you some greater truths hidden within this miracle

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Marriage is a divine institution ordained by God. Along with baptism and the Lord’s Supper it is considered to be a sacrament of the Church. A sacrament by the way is not something we do for God but it is a means of His grace in which He is fully present. In today’s miracle, we see that Jesus was there to bless the marriage union. It is His will to be present in your marriage too if you will invite him to be a part of it. Proverbs 18:22 says “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor with the Lord. But as good and holy as it is, if we are not watchful it can run into trouble.

Lots of planning goes into a wedding and in this story everything seemed to go well until the wine ran out. This tells us that no matter how much we try our human efforts will always fall short. This morning I am suggesting that the lack of wine may represent a lack of love or loyalty. It can represent the lack of financial security, expectations, character flaws or even your in laws! A flame that was once burning bright might have now come down to a flicker. A simple conversation turns into argument and what started out well may now need a fresh infusion of new wine.

The key to a healthy marriage is to never let the wine run out. In other words, never let the love dry up. All of us are like broken empty vessels. Imperfect as we are, God can restore brokenness and hopelessness into a thing of beauty. Friends, if you ever find things getting out of control, I suggest you invite the Lord into your marriage. Maybe I should add, even if everything seems to be fine, keep him in your marriage so that it stays blessed.

The saving grace for this family was that they “invited” Jesus to the wedding. Vs. 1 & 2 says, “On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.” Friends we can never go wrong when we invite Jesus into every area of our lives. When the wine dries up and all hope is lost, you can still count on him to renew and replenish what is lacking. Yet we cannot just throw everything at his feet and step back and wait for things to happen. As you know, faith without works is dead. So we need to play an active part too to see the miracle come to life.

Look at vs.5 to 7. It says this:

Jesus’ mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 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.

It seemed as though Mary was bothering Jesus to do resolve a serious problem at that marriage. Jesus had never done anything like that before. But unless we ask, how can we receive? Unless we believe in the impossible, how can we see a miracle? Jesus is not only in our marriages, he is in our sorrows, our grief’s and all of life’s struggles. Friends, Jesus can fill the emptiness of any relationship with new wine but the key is we need to take all our needs to his throne of grace. What he did for Mary that day, he can do for you too if we can only ask in faith.