Wellspring UMC; Third
Sunday after Epiphany; January 21, 2007:
“Water or Wine?”:
-Psalm
36: 5-10; John 2: 1-11
I’d like to start by asking you a
question today. It’s a simple
question. Somewhat provocative but
simple. It’s not a question we usually
hear in church, and the answer given might not be the one, someone would want
to share among church folk (especially Baptist circles). But the question I want to begin with...the
question I want to ask during our time together is this. “Water...or wine?” That is, would you rather receive water or
wine?
That
can be a tricky question to answer.
After all, for many, imbibing in fermented fruit is seen as a ‘no-no,’
maybe not as much as it was a few decades ago, but still the resistance to
alcohol is alive and well. And there is
good reason for that. Alcohol can
destroy, and yet here we are entering the story of Jesus’ first miracle,
according to John, and not only is wine flowing, but Jesus is the supplier!
Now
a wedding party today is different than a wedding party in Jesus’ day. Modern weddings usually have a reception
following and that’s it, and though destination weddings are big these days and
amount to a weekend of partying, in Jesus’ day the wedding lasted a week! Folks celebrated the union of two families
for a week! So when we get to the point
in the story when the host runs out of wine, we aren’t too surprised. Oh, the host would still have been
embarrassed, because the expectation was for a week-long party, but we can
understand.
Mary,
always the mother, gets wind of the predicament and turns to Jesus. Jesus was not yet feeling ready to begin the
mission before him. After all, he had
just gotten his disciples together. He
was in the team building not action stage.
And yet, if you remember what we heard less than a month ago, Mary
treasured what the angel said to her.
Mary carried Him for nine months in the womb with the knowledge and expectation
that He was the Son of God, and that meant he could do anything. Mary raised Him as a miracle worker called to
be a blessing. Knowing all this and
probably feeling a prompting of the Spirit inside, she turned to her son and
said, “They’re out of wine. Do
something.”
I just love this interaction between
mother and son. Mom says, “Do
something,” and Jesus says, “What do you mean?
I don’t want to get involved.
It’s not my time yet...” But Mary
won’t take no for an answer. (Do any of
you have mothers that won’t take ‘no’ for an answer? Are any of you mothers who won’t take ‘no’
for an answer when you know darn well that your child is capable?) Mary turns from Jesus and goes to the
servants anyway saying, “Do what he says.”
I
love mothers, because sometimes they are the only ones who can get us to do the
things we really need to do. We may not
like it sometimes, but when we really get down to it, there are times when, if
our mothers had not pushed us, we never would have accomplished our goal. Whether it’s riding a bike to excelling in
school, mothers have a way of bringing out the best in us.
I
am the youngest of four siblings, and I remember always seeing my sisters and
brother go to our mother when they had papers to write for school, so when it
came time for me to begin writing papers, I naturally handed them over to mom
for editing.
Now
I don’t know about you, but for me at least, this process was and still is a
bittersweet experience, because my mother used to be a professional
secretary. Part of that job entailed
editing. Editing newsletters, letters,
and at times, my father’s sermons. By
the time I was writing papers she was in her 40's and had two decades of
experience editing. I remember getting
those first drafts back, and they were bleeding. That is, there was more red than white on the
page, all from the markings she made for corrections.
At
first...and this happened every time...I’d get mad, defiant, and
defensive. I’d be thinking, ‘but, but,
but...,” and she’d see it in my eyes and read it in my body language and simply
say, “These are just suggestions...but if you want to do it right...” I’d eventually let my guard down reflect upon
the comments, change the grammatical errors and honestly assess her
suggestions. Sometimes I followed those
suggestions, sometimes not, but always I walked away, recognizing that my
mother was only trying to get me to be the best I could be.
Mary knew what Jesus needed to do,
so she said to the servants, “Do what he says.”
The servants followed the
instructions. They took the six HUGE
stoneware jars which were used for ritual washings, and they filled them with
water. Each jar holding 20-30 gallons,
were returned filled with water, and when the bridegroom tasted it, it was
wine. But it was not just any wine, it
was the best wine.
This, the first act of the
Messiah. Jesus at a party, miraculously
changing water to wine, and the Bible says, “this was the first glimpse of His
glory. And his disciples believed in
Him.”
I ask again, “Water or wine?”
Water. It is vital for life, necessary for all
things to be sustained. It is a gift
from God, and without it we would die.
It is also something that is everywhere.
The planet and our bodies are made up almost completely of water. It is a blessing, and yet at the same time,
water is something that, at least for folks in
Wine,
on the other hand, is much more unique.
It is not necessary for life. It
too is a gift from God but not something we’d die without. It is something which has to be processed and
made. It is something that we have to be intentional in receiving and giving,
but for a wine connoisseur, a good bottle of wine can be more precious and
special than anything else.
As I was reading and reflecting upon
this story I found myself thinking about the symbolism of the situation and the
meaning of those six stoneware jars.
This first act of God administered through Jesus played itself out in
the normal intersections of life. It is
a party...a wedding. Does that seem as
strange to you as it is to me? After
all, wouldn’t God want to draw attention to Jesus in a more public
setting? In front of religious leaders?
And then, the miracle is so
subtle. Did you notice that only Mary,
the disciples and the servants were clued into what actually happened? The bridegroom and, we can assume, the guests
had no idea. All we hear is that they
are wondering why the host bumbled the regular order of things by serving the
best wine last. The miracle reveals to
us that Jesus’ work takes place in the common intersections of life, among
folks whom one normally might not expect.
We read a little further and
discover that this miracle takes place through six stone jars. The number six is important here, because in
ancient cultures six implied something not yet complete. Seven was complete, but six was not quite
there. That which was used, that which
was available, that which was obvious was not complete, but needed Jesus’
touch.
On top of that, those stone jars
were not only huge, implying abundance, but they were made of stone – a
substance which was specifically used because it resisted impurities. Impurity resisting jars which were used for
ritual cleansing. Anyone see any
symbolism there? Jesus takes that which
implies dirt and not being complete, and He transforms it into the best. That water which was poured into those
vessels was changed, and it was transformed into the best!
Friends,
as is always the case in John’s Gospel, this is significant, because through
Jesus’ use of wine, which if you remember was central to the last supper, he
makes a statement to the world, that he came to take that which was incomplete
and transform it. He came to take the
incomplete teachings and erroneous actions of the Jewish leadership and reveal
God’s intent, that faith produces the best.
This reveals that God takes that which was common place, water, and
transform it into something different, blessed and powerfully meaningful,
wine. This first miracle proclaims to
all, that God’s intention through Christ was to take what is so easily taken
for granted and change it as a blessing to the world.
This
is Good News! This is something to celebrate...and
yet it is more than just a good story.
It is more than just a story that speaks to what happened long ago, and
it is more than a story about Jesus and a miracle, Mary and the disciples, and
even more that just a story of how Jesus came to transform the Jewish faith and
show a new way. No, this is scripture,
the living word, and it is a story for us and for our application.
I asked at the beginning of our time
together, “Would your rather receive water or wine?” But the question digs deeper and even changes
when the miracle begins to sink in. It
may not be so much that we ask which we’d rather receive, because most folks
here have received the water of life. Maybe
that which we need to ask is “Whether we’d rather BE water or wine?”
After all, each of us are vessels
into which God has poured the water of life.
Each of us are incomplete and need wholeness. Each of us are ones that which God desires to
change and transform to be a blessing to the world. But when we are honest with ourselves, we’re
probably more often water, than we are wine, and in fact, I’d venture to say
that we RATHER be water than wine, because then we can just blend in.
We can be good church folks who keep
our routine, at times quenching the thirst of souls who are lost, but all too
often having no taste, no specific color, and just more of the same old same
old. Just as water is available around
us every moment, we are by Christians every moment as well. Most bodies of water aren’t much different
then other bodies.
But friends, what I’m hearing God
say to us today is that God wants us to be wine. God wants us to be that which goes through
processing and transformation by the master’s touch. God wants us to be ones who are different
than the rest of the world. Ones who
stand out as blessings. Ones who know
that we can be made complete in Christ.
One who are able to be poured out as the best for the
What God wants from us and for us is
to be ones who are shared at the party of life, and when someone sees us they
are taken aback. They meet us and
interact with us...taste who we are and say, “You’re a Christian? Well I guess I don’t know what to say,
because you’re a whole lot more like the Christ I’ve heard and read about than
so many others. You’re different, and I
want more of you! I want more of your
God!”
What’s
the answer my friends? Water or
wine? Do we want to be like everyone
else? Blended in and bland, or do we
want to be a blessing? Do we want to be
transformed, changed into who God needs us to be?
This passage ends with John telling
us, “This was the first glimpse of Jesus’ glory, and when people caught a
glimpse of that glory, they believed.”
Water or wine? The same or different? The way we answer that question, makes all the difference. Both are gifts from God, but one reveals God’s glory and can lead others to believe...