January
17th, 2016 “Sharing the Abundance”
Rev. Heather Jepsen
John
2:1-11
The story of the wedding at Cana is
one of the most wonderful and perplexing stories we have about Jesus’
ministry. The story only takes place in
the gospel of John and so it is unique to that tradition and that
community. While what happens at the
wedding is clear, Jesus changes water into wine, what exactly the miracle means
is less easy to decipher.
As I mentioned, this story is unique
to the gospel of John, and like other stories in the gospel it is heavy laden
with metaphor and reference. The story
begins with the phrase, “On the third day” which is interesting in and of itself. It is actually the fourth day so far in the
narrative that John is writing so what could this mean? Perhaps it is in reference to some third day
of activity. Or perhaps, it is a veiled reference
to the resurrection. Personally I think
it is the later, as the gospel of John was written nearly sixty years after the
death of Jesus and was written with the end of the story in mind throughout the
whole of the text.
The symbology is heavy throughout the
text. The wedding itself can be seen as
the great feast in the kingdom of God, the heavenly banquet. The six jars for ritual washing can symbolize
the old religion that Jesus comes to challenge and change. Jesus fills the empty jars, used for ritual religious
purification, with wine for drinking at the party. Not only does it symbolize the new path of
religion that Jesus offers, it will be awfully difficult to wash now that the
jars are filled with wine instead of water.
Jesus seems to be casting the old ways of religion aside. This is seen as well in the comment of the
steward. There is a way things are
generally done, good wine before bad, but Jesus is turning the whole system
upside down by saving the best for last.
The writer of the gospel of John calls
this the first of Jesus’ signs. Its purpose
is to show the glory of Jesus and to demonstrate who he is and who he will be
in the world. The sign is pointing to
something outside of itself, something other than itself. In this story, the sign is pointing to the
person and power of Jesus Christ. Jesus
is the one who has come into the world to shake things up, to make things new,
and to turn the ways of the religious order onto their heads. It is a sign that demands belief, and it is
from this that the writer of John tells us, the disciples of Jesus begin to believe
in him.
Despite the wonders of this story and
its clear message of the person and nature of Jesus Christ, it is still full of
problems. For one, it certainly seems
like a magic trick. Turning water into
wine is something that any street charlatan could do. Not a righteous or dignified miracle for the
Son of God, and certainly a questionable first sign. Also a problem is our Savior’s apparent
support of drunken revelry. The steward
himself suggests that the guests are already drunk and won’t even be able to
tell how good this miracle wine is.
Shouldn’t Jesus have just let the party end, rather than producing a
whopping 150 gallons of fine wine to keep things rocking into the night?
The biggest and most blatant problem
with this text though, has nothing to do with the miracle, and everything to do
with Jesus’ attitude. Everyone is at the
party and it is Jesus’ mother who points out the need for more wine. Wedding celebrations could last as long as a
week, and to run out of wine in the middle of the celebration would be a
disgracing embarrassment for the host.
Mary points the situation out to Jesus and Jesus’ response is to cast
the thought aside. Not my problem he
seems to say; let them deal with it themselves.
It’s not time yet to reveal the divine glory, and so the Lord is
reluctant to perform.
It’s this divine reluctance that is
really the problem in the text. A need
is present, however minor, and a miracle is needed. Not only does Jesus not seem to notice the
problem, he doesn’t even seem to care.
Jesus needs his mommy to point the situation out to him and to tell him
what to do. Jesus needs someone else to
prod him into action. What does this say
about the nature of God?
It’s easy to look around at the world
we live in and wonder just where the divine extravagance is in our own day and
age. At the wedding in Cana, Jesus
produced a huge amount of delicious wine.
It was a miracle of abundant quantity and quality. It was a foretaste of the kingdom of
heaven. And it was for nothing more than
the sake of a party.
Where is the abundance now, we
ask. In the face of poverty, where is
the abundance? In the face of violence,
where is the quality of life? As the gap
between rich and the poor continues to widen, where is the level playing field
promised in the kingdom of heaven, where is the glass of wine for everyone at
the party?
I think we often place ourselves in
the role of Mary in this story. We see
the injustice in our world, we see the suffering and the embarrassment, and we
tug on the sleeve of Jesus’ robe. “Hey,
they are out of wine,” we point out. We
attempt to prod God into action once more, we ask again for another miracle. Fix it God, is what we say . . . fix it.
I’ve preached sermons on this before,
and I always stop there. I always ask
folks to keep praying, to keep asking, and to keep attempting to prod God into
miracles. It is a solid reading of the
text for sure, and a wonderful sermon on the abundant power of prayer, but this
week I was not content to stop there.
This week I was not content to simply put us in Mary’s shoes.
Instead this week, I began to think
that perhaps a better role for us in the story is that of the servants. “Do whatever he tells you,” Mary says to
them, and I think perhaps to us in the process.
You see, the miracle is already done, Jesus has already acted, and the
abundance is already available in our world.
In the story that John tells, Jesus doesn’t go about serving the wine to
everyone. Jesus doesn’t make sure
everyone has a glass. No, the servants
go out and spread the miracle around.
The servants pour the wine, serve the guests, and make sure that the
abundance is adequately distributed.
Perhaps instead of complaining about the world we live in, instead of
prodding God for one more miracle, perhaps we should get busy doing something. Perhaps we should work at sharing the
abundance that we already have.
I can’t speak for you, but the person
I imagine myself to be in this story today is the servant. The miracle has been asked for, the people
are waiting expectantly, and I am called to go and “do whatever Jesus tells
me.” If I am asking God for a miracle of
healing, then I should go and visit the person in need of healing, bringing the
abundance of love I have been given. If
I am asking God for a miracle of wealth distribution, then I should get busy distributing
the abundance of wealth that I myself have received. If I am asking God for a miracle of peace,
then I should get busy cultivating peaceful relationships in my own life.
Why is it God’s responsibility to pour
the wine for everyone? Perhaps it is my
role, as the servant, to help make sure that everyone has some. Perhaps it is my role, as a servant, to
ensure that what access I have to God’s abundant blessings is shared with those
around me.
Rather than looking at this text and
asking where the miracle is in our own time, I think we should look at it as
the sign that the writer of John may have intended it to be. The Lord has come among us as one of us. “What has come into being through him was
life, and the life was the light of all people.” The miracle of abundance is here in our world
today, if only we will learn how to share it with each other. This is the sign of who Jesus is and who
Jesus is calling us to be. Jesus comes
into the world turning things upside down, he shakes up the religions of the
day and instills them with new life centered around celebration, and he blesses
us with abundance in quality and quantity.
As the servants of God, we are called to go and spread the abundance that
we have received with the world around us.
May God help us to share the abundance
that we have been given with the whole world.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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