Trying to be like Jesus - water into wine

It wasn't that long ago that I posted at length about how drinking alcohol is not inherently evil:

http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2017/02/trying-to-be-like-jesus-inside.html

Given concerns at times about water safety, it was once much more common, and given the current emphasis on probiotics and the role of fermentation in creating some of them, wine and mead and ale could have played an important health role for many cultures.

None of that takes away now from our current commitment to not drinking, or all of the reasons why there is wisdom in that commitment. I just wanted to get any weird feelings about alcohol out of the way so we can focus on the rest of the story.

We can focus on a weird phrasing of translation, where it looks like Jesus is trying to put his mother off, which nothing in the rest of the story bears out. We can focus on this being the first of the miracles and how it gained him disciples. We could use this as a jumping off point for speculation that there is no way of resolving (though I am putting that off for next week). What I really want to take from this is that our Lord and Savior is not against letting us party.

There would be many times when the Pharisees would look down on him for any enjoyments and not being properly solemn. There are people today who will look down on any type of leisure that they don't partake in. There is also a lot of work to do, where how you choose to spend your time matters. It is still permissible and healthy and necessary to have times of relaxation and fun.

This was a wedding, where people do bring out the good food and drink and enjoy it. It is possible that he was just capable of making much better wine than anyone could imagine, but the steward's comment about this wine being superior to the previous wine may indicate that these were poorer people who could not afford the best. (Possibly the mere attendance of Jesus signifies that they were no wealthy.)

They still deserve their fun. They deserve their celebration. And, with a spirit of love and gratitude, not having the finest ingredients doesn't have to be much of an impediment to enjoyment; some of the best foods come from poor people learning to make do with scraps and then elevating it.

But sometimes they can also have really fine wine, and he has no objection. He will help them get it.

And because we tend to be more judgmental about leisure and pleasure for those who are not rich, this is something that touched me:

https://theestablishment.co/poor-people-deserve-to-taste-something-other-than-shame-90eb3aceabf9#.ov6c9jno9