EPIPHANY ii
THE Gospel shows us that we follow a very old custom,
when we start our guests with sherry, and then put them off with vile mixtures.
It did not happen at the Cana wedding, because our Lord and God himself
replenished the wine, and it is not his custom so to treat his guests;
he keeps the best wine until last. It was in the end of his dealings
with Israel that he brought them his life-giving blood, and it was in the
end of his earthly days that he mounted the cross and poured it out.
We drink it week by week at his altar, but it keeps its best savour until
the last. If you are faithful, the love of God will be stronger in
your veins next year than this. It takes no staleness from the passage
of time and, says Jesus, I will drink it new with you in the Kingdom of
God.
