Living Stones – Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Saving the best for last
John 2:10
“Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”
“Save the Best for Last” is a 1992 single, considered to be the signature song of Vanessa Williams, the former Miss America.
The story we are meditating on from John 2:1-12, the wedding that Jesus attended in Cana of Galilee, is probably one of the most famous occasions when someone was accosted for saving the best for last.
If the wedding in Cana was in 1992, the guests might have been dancing to the Vanessa Williams hit. But this was a long time ago, and in any case, the master of ceremonies was indignant that the bridegroom got the order mixed up.
The culture of that time was so different, but some practices of event managers seem to have been around for a long time, serve the good stuff first and, as people grow tired or drunk, serve the cheap stuff. As the night wears on people are less discerning and, as is the case with alcohol, less able to make a good judgement about product quality.
As I mentioned when we started to consider this passage yesterday, someone said to me that we should “give the bridegroom a break.” They believe that, “the bridegroom did serve his best at first, it’s just that the wine which Jesus provided was so much better.”
This practice, though, is just like how we tend to live our lives. We often strive in our own understanding, our own strength, and our own resources, to do what is required or desired. Often, it is only when we fail that we fall on our knees to ask God for His intervention or provision.
We should note that God’s invitation to enjoy the best from Him is always open, but it is we who don’t take it. This is clear in the well known and well recited verse from a different context, 2 Chronicles 7:14, “… if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
More fundamentally though, we need to recognise that we really need the best that Jesus has to offer to save us from the lives we have been living. According to David in Psalm 51, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” We have started out with the cheap stuff. However, the Apostle Paul, writing in 2 Corinthians 5:17, again in a different context, tells us that, “… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Jesus dumps the old stuff we started out with and gives us the best.
The ultimate case of saving the best for last is the return of Jesus Christ. Just as He turned the water into wine at the late stage of the wedding feast in Cana, so too He has saved the best for another wedding, the marriage supper of the Lamb. “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” Revelation 19:9.
Many will miss out on that because they would have rejected Jesus Himself through their lives, living instead according to their own understanding. Of course, there too, the best will be saved for last, but there is something that could be done about it now.
Here is a different song to reflect on that should really guide us now so that we enjoy the best now and “at last.”
Come, now is the time to worship.
Come, now is the time to give your heart.
Come, just as you are, to worship.
Come, just as you are, before your God.
Come.
One day every tongue will confess
You are God.
One day every knee will bow.
Still the greatest treasure remains for those
Who gladly choose you now.
(Phillips, Craig & Dean Lyrics)
Think on these things:
- Are you guilty of trying to live your life according to your own strength and understanding?
- Do you tend to turn to God for help only when something is failing, rather than going to Him at the very beginning, with everything?
- What changes do you need to make to ensure that you go to God first and not wait for things to possibly go bad?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we would come to Jesus first with everything we need to do in our lives day by day.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex