9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “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!”
2:9
When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine,
The “master of the feast” was in charge of the week-long wedding feast. He would be equivalent to a head waiter. He was surprised by the superior taste of the wine.
and did not know where it came from
Because the “master” did not know where the wine had come from, he was able to judge the wine impartially.
(but the servants who had drawn the water knew),
The people who drew the water from the well knew what happened to the water.
the master of the feast called the bridegroom.
The head waiter called the “bridegroom” (who paid for the wedding in those days) to inform him of the high-quality wine.
2:10
And he [head waiter] said to him [the bridegroom],
The head waiter made a comment to the bridegroom about the odd situation of providing the best wine toward the end of the festival.
“Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine,
Inferior wine was reserved for the time when the guests were too intoxicated to distinguish between good and bad wine.
and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.
After the wedding feast went on for some time, it was normal that they would dilute the wine with water because the sense of taste is blunted after intoxication. The groom would normally serve the poorer wine when the guests could not tell the difference between good and bad wine. In this wedding the best wine came last.
You have kept the good wine until now!”
Jesus made “good wine.” It was an excellent quality of wine. This wine carried unqualified superiority over other wine.
PRINCIPLE:
There is no extant justification for absolute abstinence.
APPLICATION:
Some claim that all drinking of fermented drink is wrong. This is ground that cannot be sustained biblically without charging Christ with creating a sinful situation.
The wine at the wedding of Cana was fermented. Only recently in history has it been possible to suspend fermentation. Fermentation begins about six hours after the juice is extracted from the grapes. Primary fermentation takes about one week. A secondary fermentation takes about 40 days. The Bible never condemns drinking wine, but it does condemn drunkenness (Prov 20:1; Lu 21:34; Ro 13:13; Ga 5:21; Eph 5:18).
There is no question that the Greek word for “wine” means fermented wine. However, wine was normally diluted. Thus, the wine that Jesus created was something more than grape juice but also something less that pure, fermented wine.
