But again, the Lord is a giver, and not a taskmaster. He does not
demand from us: He gives to us. He had been giving from the
foundation of the world. Corn and wine, rain and sunshine, and
fruitful seasons had been his sending. And now He was come to show
it. He was come to show men who it was who had been filling their
heart with joy and gladness; who had been bringing out of the earth
and air, by His unseen chemistry, the wine which maketh glad the
heart of man. In every grape that hangs upon the vine, water is
changed into wine, as the sap ripens into rich juice. He had been
doing that all along in every vineyard and orchard; and that was His
glory. Now He was come to prove that; to draw back the veil of
custom and carnal sense, and manifest Himself. Men had seen the
grapes ripen on the tree; and they were tempted to say, as every one
of us is tempted now: "It is the sun and the air, the nature of the
vine, and the nature of the climate, which makes the wine." Jesus
comes and answers: "Not so. I make the wine; I have been making it
all along. The vines, the sun, the weather, are only my tools
wherewith I worked, turning rain and sap into wine; and I am greater
than they; I made them; I do not depend on them; I can make wine from
water without vines or sunshine.
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