I find myself feeling so deeply for the master of the banquet. Here is this person hired specifically to handle the logistics of this wedding. His entire job is to ensure everything runs smoothly to keep an excellent reputation. By the time of the event, he has gone over every item in the inventory: the food, the wine, the décor. Every table is perfectly decorated. The entertainment is in place. He has ticked every box on his list and smoothed every possible wrinkle beforehand. This event will be perfect. He lets out a deep breath. "One more successful event in the bag," he's thinking, pleased with himself.
Imagine his horror when a day or two into the wedding, he peers into one wine jug to refill the guests. Empty. He looks into the next. And the next. And the next! He is shocked to see that every single one of them is bone dry. This can't possibly be! How could he have misjudged the necessary amount so badly? Such a basic mistake! He is going to look like a complete idiot and bring so much shame on the family who put their trust in him! The prospect of that much public humiliation must have been overwhelming – not to mention the ferocious anger of the parents who hired him..
How many times have I felt in over my head like that, red-faced, heart pounding, terrified of falling short in front of others?
Enter Jesus of Nazareth. At the quiet request of his mother, He works without fanfare in secret, without the bride or groom, without the parents, without a single guest having any idea of the miracle occurring in their midst. Suddenly, this scarcity that threatened to become this person's deepest shame, is simply resolved by the supply of the most delicious, extravagant wine anyone has ever tasted. Jesus protected this wedding planner's worth and reputation – for nothing at all in return. The master hadn't even asked Jesus for the favor. This exhibits how the abundance of God's Kingdom is given freely to all.
This miracle brings me back to a hymn I used to sing as a child in church.
We will work with each other.
We will work side by side.
And we'll guard each man's dignity
And save each man's pride.
As a child, I never understood that lyric. Why should I be concerned with someone else's pride? Why is their own dignity my problem? Wasn't pride something we were trying to drop anyway? I have since realized how much Jesus was concerned about other peoples' dignity: Zacchaeus, looking ridiculous up in the tree, was exactly the one Jesus would dine with. And because of Jesus' special conversation with the woman at the well, she went from drawing water alone (due to her shame), to evangelizing her whole community and becoming a pivotal figure to them. Jesus takes away peoples' blindness, their lameness, their personal transgressions, and restores their dignity, transforming them into something more than they ever imagined.
As a reminder of our responsibility to protect each other, to be mindful of each person's innate dignity – simply as a human being made in the image of God – this is a beautiful song for meditation: They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love
by Carie Grant
