“The Wedding at Cana” – Bradi Barth
Today we find ourselves in the small village of Cana at a wedding celebration. In this familiar story in the gospel according to John, Jesus changes water into wine when the supply comes up short– the first sign that Jesus does that allows us to see into his unique relationship to God. As the gospel tells us, “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” The disciples were the first of an ever growing group of people who would come to believe, a group that has stretched across the centuries to include us too.
That’s why we have this story today, here on the second Sunday after the Epiphany, the season in the church year where we, along with those who were with Jesus, get to see and experience for ourselves the various ways in which we have come to know that Jesus is indeed the Son of God.
Since the lectionary passages for the season after Epiphany are about how we experience the glory of Jesus, accept his divinity, and come to act on that knowledge in our own lives, the end of this wedding story stands out.
The chief steward, after tasting this wine, says to the bridegroom, “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.”
Think of all the ways that God has revealed God’s love and care for us through time, like good wine.
We can see God’s love in creation itself. In today’s psalm, for instance, the psalmist describes the immensity of God’s love by calling on images from nature. God’s love reaches to the heavens and God’s faithfulness to the clouds. God’s righteousness is like the strong mountains, and God’s justice like the great deep. God’s people feast upon God’s abundance, and God provides drink from God’s river of delights. Like good wine, indeed!
Scripture also gives us a history of God’s love, the stories of God leading the Israelites from slavery into freedom, bringing the people back from exile into the promised land, and the promise of the reign of God bringing a new heaven and a new earth at the end of time, also like good wine.
And then, at last, like the best wine in today’s gospel, comes Jesus himself. We Christians believe that Jesus is the best way that we come to know God and God’s love for us, the best way we see God’s glory alive, active and growing in this world.
As this story unfolds, we learn a lot about who Jesus is. Jesus is part of a family. In John’s gospel, the first time we hear about the mother of Jesus is at this wedding. Their conversation indicates that the two have respect and trust for one another. In the story, when she realizes that the wine is gone, Mary tells Jesus. “They have no wine,” Mary says. That’s all she says. Mary does not tell Jesus what to do. She simply makes an observation. Jesus is honest with his mother about his hesitation, but he takes the time to consider her statement, and he decides to act.
Jesus also has a community of friends. Jesus is part of the community in this village, for the people have invited Jesus to join in the celebration. Not just Jesus, but also his disciples have been invited to the wedding. They are all there together, celebrating.
Weddings gave people in the community the opportunity to lay down their work for a few days and to celebrate. To run out of wine at a wedding would have been a disaster for the bridegroom. So Jesus changes the water into wine, sparing the bride groom and his family shame and embarrassment. Jesus and his friends must have been enjoying this wedding, since Jesus made sure that the celebration could continue by changing lots of water into wine. Jesus had the servants fill not one, but six stone water jars that held twenty or thirty gallons each. One hundred and eighty gallons of wine! That party must have gone on for quite a while!
Maybe Jesus thought back on this first miracle of his at the wedding celebration, the miracle that set his whole ministry in motion, when he is having his last long conversation with his friends before his death. In that conversation he uses the image from a vineyard as he says to the disciples, “I am the vine, and you are the branches,” as he explains to them what it means to abide with one another in love. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” Love for God and for one another is the mark of Christian community.
Maybe Jesus was remembering the joy he had felt at that wedding celebration in Cana when he went on to explain to his disciples, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”
Another thing we learn about Jesus is that he is willing to act on behalf of the well being of someone else, even though the consequences of that action will shape the rest of his life. As the Dalai Lama has said, “Once committed, actions will never lose their potentiality.” This first sign that Jesus does sets his whole ministry on behalf of others in motion, his ministry that will lead all the way to the cross.
Martin Luther King, Jr., who we remember tomorrow in this nation, is one who followed Jesus. During his life as a leader in this country, King followed Jesus as a disciple, and acted on behalf of others, regardless of the consequences. He took action, as Jesus did, for the betterment of this world.
Yesterday, I was at the Caroline County NAACP observance of Martin Luther King Day. Near the beginning of our time there together, we heard a clip from Martin Luther King’s “Drum Major” sermon, a sermon that King preached exactly two months before his death.
In his sermon, King talks about what he hopes people will say at his funeral. In these words, King sums up the actions he has taken in his life and his ministry as a follower of Jesus.
“I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. (Yes) I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen) I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes) And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes) I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord) I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness … Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.”
So today, as we have witnessed the first of the signs Jesus did in his life time that revealed God’s glory, we can remember these things to guide us in our life together in this new year ahead, a year that will no doubt challenge us in unexpected ways.
Community is essential–not just any community, but a community of welcome, one in which we love one another so that we can reach out to our neighbors in love. They will know we are Christians by our love. And we are called to be a community that uses the abundant resources with which we are blessed to act on behalf of others.
If Mary were here today, she might look around at our world and say to us, “They have no love.” And maybe we’d be like Jesus and hesitate to act, because maybe we think our time hasn’t yet come.
But I am here to say, “Now is our time.”
Now is our time to follow Jesus as his disciples, and do his work in this world.
Now is this church’s time, St Peter’s time, to make a difference in this world through our love for God and for one another, and for our neighbors.
Now is our time to show God’s glory in the world. Now is our time to act, even if our actions on God’s behalf lead us to the cross, which they certainly will if we are serious.
And now is our time to celebrate, for even though we have never seen God, God’s only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, has made God known to us, so that we can make God known in this world by filling it with God’s love.