The Good Wine

I was struck by something in the Epiphany scripture reading a few Sundays ago, about Christ’s first miracle, turning the water into wine.

When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroomand said to him, Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” (John 2:9-10).

So there is “poor wine” and “good wine,” a difference in quality. (Also we see that those to imbibe “freely” become less able to tell the difference.) When the Father created the universe through the Son, He saw that it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Similarly, when God in the flesh deigned to make wine, it was “good wine,” as opposed to the other stuff.

The passage and the incident it records suggests that aesthetic qualities have a Biblical warrant. What applies to wine surely would surely also apply to good food, good music, good stories, and good craftsmanship of every kind. God honors those qualities that make them “good,” and so should we, savoring them like the master of the feast.

via John 2 ESV – The Wedding at Cana – On the third day – Bible Gateway.