And They Believed in Him – Sermon Jan 17, 2010
Jan 17, 2010
Scripture: John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Sermon: And They Believed in Him
by Rev. Doreen Oughton
In just about 6 months, I am getting married. Quentin and I have been talking about our wedding for awhile, but are just recently getting into the nitty-gritty of planning. Quentin is a great planner, very methodical, and he says he will make a list of things to be done. He plans to search the internet for samples of such lists, which makes sense. Why try to re-invent the wheel. But that idea makes me nervous too. I can just imagine some of the things that will be on these lists, extravagant expenses, framed as must-haves. I hear of weddings costing tens of thousands of dollars, and I cringe. It boggles my mind, the idea of spending about a year’s salary on a one-day event, maybe two if you count the rehearsal festivities. And for people who are just getting by, paycheck to paycheck, well, they just go into debt for such an event. And I can’t help but think that even people who have the money, isn’t there a better way to spend it, or wouldn’t it be wise to save it? I watched a t.v. show where 4 women judged one another’s weddings for the chance to win a fabulous honeymoon. The lowest budget was $35,000, and the highest was $80,000. Mind-boggling. You all will be invited to our wedding, but please be prepared for a celebration on a much smaller scale.
As I did my research for this week’s scripture, I admit I cringed when I read about what was involved for weddings in 1st century Palestine. They were the most festive occasions in the world, especially in the peasant class, and Cana was a peasant village. The banquets commonly lasted seven days and featured dancing, wine, and vast quantities of food, food that was rarely served day to day, such as meat and poultry. Seven days of feeding and entertaining the village, extravagantly, for a peasant family. Imagine the tensions building up, the fears about not having enough, the worries about how to get through the rest of the year after spending everything on the big occasion. And then the worst nightmare happens, they run out of wine. My research says this would be a very shameful thing and would harm the reputation of the family within the village. But Jesus comes through and saves the day, turning the water into very fine wine, and in abundance. So what is the message of this morning’s gospel? That Jesus will help us live up to society’s expectations and save us from shame and embarrassment? Hmm. The one who died a scandalous death on the cross, who constantly challenged society’s expectation in light of God’s will for justice and peace was concerned about saving face? That doesn’t seem right. Jesus’ initial response to his mother seems more in line with his ministry – “what concern is that to me?” But he changes his mind and performs this “sign,” as gospel writer John calls it.
Commentators on this passage made much about the way Jesus brought the fine wine to the party. He used the water in the six stone jars used for purification rites. In this religious culture washing up is a very important ritual. Some see it as symbolic that Jesus interfered with a traditional religious rite by filling these jars with wine rather than water. They say we can find meaning in the change from a ritual that focuses on purifying outwardly to an act that allows one to take internally joy in abundance. So is this a dis on the Jewish purification rites? Then again one commentator likened it to a time like our current one, with heightened concern about H1N1 and sensitivity to the need to wash and sanitize when you are around lots of people. It would be like turning into wine our hand sanitizer, or having wine come gushing out of the faucets as we go to wash our hands. Just drink the wine and you won’t worry about germs. Of course I am battling my bias against abundant wine as necessary to celebration given my years of work in addictions treatment. So for some of you without that bias the message of Christ’s gift of abundant celebration may resonate more strongly. And this is one of the reasons I love the bible. It is so rich, there are so many layers of meaning, so much food for thought. For me, these angles do not resonate – helping the hosts save face, nor the symbolic transformation of an old religious rite, nor the abundant wine-filled celebration.
So I kept reading the text, and what called to me were the opening and closing linesof this reading. It starts, “On the third day..” The third day of what, I wondered. So back I went to the passages just before this, to see what the first and second days were that were followed by this wedding with it’s sign. I couldn’t find anything about a first day, but there are three places in the gospel of John preceding this passage that say, “the next day.” The first place it says this is John 1, verse 29, and it follows right after John the Baptist had clarified that he is not the messiah. Verse 29 says, “the next day he (meaning John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming, and declared, “Here he is the Lamb of God.” He goes on with his testimony about Jesus, and then in verse 35 it says “The next day..” Here John tells two of his disciples as Jesus walks by that that’s the guy, the messiah. The two disciples followed Jesus and talked with him, then stayed with him. One, Andrew, goes to get his brother Simon Peter to meet Jesus, proclaiming him to be the messiah. We see the phrase “the next day” again in verse 43, when Jesus goes to Galilee and collects a few more followers. He has Andrew and the unnamed former disciple of John, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanial, and it is this crew that head off to the wedding “on the third day.” Now we’ve already had three “next days” since John the Baptists call to the people to prepare for the coming of the lord, so it’s not literally the third day. It’s just the next event in the gospel of John. And the last line of today’s passage is “and his disciples believed in him.”
To me, this is the point of the story, that the sign, the turning of water into wine, was an offering to Jesus’ new disciples, a confirmation of their decision to follow him, to put their hope in him. Because this decision is not a one-time thing for most people. I know it wasn’t for me. I didn’t hear a sermon about Jesus for the first time and have a powerful conversion experience. I didn’t just listen to someone tell me, “that’s the guy, that’s the messiah, the savior, the hope of humankind,” and jump on the bandwagon. The proclamations of others I pretty much tuned out or even pushed away. They turned me off, left me with a bad taste. The sermons on the other hand, intrigued me. As I listened to the bible readings and reflected on what they tell us about the life and message of Jesus, I wanted to know more. There is something there, I thought, some message that seems true and real and relevant. I began to believe, but it was still an intellectual exercise. I liked the messages of inclusion and healing and love.
And then in addition to the scripture and sermons, I heard people speak with depth of feeling about a relationship with Jesus, not just his politics and message, but about a real and current relationship, and I was envious. I wanted to feel such a connection, to love Jesus. I recalled how I moved my belief in God from a barely considered acceptance of something I’d grown up with to that sense of relationship. I did it with prayer and even testing. “God, if you are real, and really there for me, please make such and such happen.” And such and such almost always happened. At the same time I was reading lots of spiritual literature, and came across something about trusting God, a reflection that acknowledged that a time of testing is normal and appropriate, but at some point God wants us to REALLY trust by turning our lives over, by letting go of the idea that we know what is best for us, by doing God’s will instead of asking God to do our will. I stood convicted, but I also stood at a new level of faith and trust, one that opened up undreamed of possibilities.
So I’ve been thinking, what are the signs that help us believe, thinking about what it means to believe. I’m guessing that represented right here in this fairly small group, there is a wide range of beliefs about Jesus, from a source of conflict that has led to exclusion and oppression and wars; to a guy with a good message, but no more a son of God than anyone else; to the light and the truth and the way, the only way to God. There are likely those who believe that it doesn’t matter what you believe about Jesus, it matters only that you practice what he preached about love and peace. There are those who believe that belief in his divinity is the most important thing, far more important than any acts. After all, we can’t earn salvation by our works, can we? There are those who focus on having the right belief, or taking the right action, and those who focus on having a relationship with Jesus, feeling connected in a personal way. There are those who want to be sure Jesus will be there to vouch for them in the end times, and those who want Jesus as a companion for living today, right here and now.
Have you ever had a shift in how you understood Jesus, in what you thought was important? How did that come about? Was it something you heard, read, experienced? Was it something that happened in your everyday life, or was it a big event? What was the sign that there was more going, or something different going on, than you first thought?
So I’m thinking about Jesus who knew that his mission could not be fulfilled solo. He knew he needed people with him, and he gathered disciples. Again the “third day” notation isn’t literal, but we can guess that he hasn’t been with his people very long. He knows there is a process of understanding who he is and what he is about. He likely went through a process himself of figuring it out. Maybe even as he brings his friends to the wedding, he is thinking about how he can help them understand something about who he is. Maybe he is trying to come up with something big, some dramatic healings, feeding five thousand from two fish, exorcising demons, turning swords into ploughshares – things like that. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy some festivities, introduce the guys to my family. So when his mother comes to him noting that they have no wine, he brushes her off. I’ll bet she is coming to him on the q.t. It hasn’t been noticed yet by the revelers that there is no more wine. Maybe there is still some wine on the tables, but the reserves have run out. Maybe Mary came upon the host and hostess in distress, tense about what will happen next, and tells them not to worry.
This is not the sign that Jesus had in mind. People aren’t even thirsty yet! They don’t even know there is a need, other than a few people. And so he asks what concern it is to him. Mary doesn’t argue with him, just expresses quite clearly that she knows who he is, what he is, what he can do, and doesn’t need to persuade him that this is important enough. And Jesus does it. Perhaps he is inspired by his mother’s understanding, his mother’s faith, his mother’s knowledge that you can really get to know who Jesus is by living with him, by just going about the day to day events, big and small. He won’t wait for his big plans, he’ll take this opportunity, this time and place, to show something about himself. It certainly doesn’t conflict with his ideas about his ministry. He gives good things in surprising ways, his gifts are to be celebrated, he fills a need. The whole party doesn’t need to know it, just his new guys, his disciples. And they believed in him. Their faith increased. I would love to hear stories from you about how your faith increased, what you see as signs of Jesus with you in event ordinary and special. If you haven’t had such experiences, I’d love to hear what does feed your spirit, what questions you have, what matters to you. What puts you off or leaves a bad taste? What intrigues you about Jesus or church and draws you in? We’ve been having a great time in bible study reflecting on Paul’s assertions about Jesus, but there are lots of places to have such conversations. I’m thirsty for them, and would love to mix the purifying, life-giving water that is this caring community with the intoxicating wine of deep spiritual conversation and reflection. Will you help me quench this thirst?
