Jesus was at a wedding when Mary, his mother, came to him with a problem. “They have no more wine” (John 2:3). Weddings lasted as long as seven days in first-century Palestine. Food and wine were expected to last just as long. So Mary was concerned when she saw the servants scraping the bottom of the wine barrel.
We’re not told the reason for the shortage, but we are told how it was replenished. Mary presented the problem. Christ was reluctant. Mary deferred. Jesus reconsidered. He commanded. The servants obeyed. The sommelier sipped and said something about their squirreling away the best wine for the farewell toasts. Mary smiled at her son, Jesus raised a glass to his mother, and we are left with this message: our diminishing supplies, no matter how insignificant, matter to heaven.
