Second Sunday after Epiphany
John 2:1-11
"Signs of Abundance"
In 1990, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel and Egypt, seeing first-hand a number of the places that are central to our Christian faith: Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan, just to name a few. One place that we did not visit is Cana in Galilee, the setting for the wedding in today's Gospel lesson. There is a modern-day Cana, but it is not the same place where Jesus visited. The site of the original, Biblical village has been lost to history. In the modern Cana of Galilee we visited a church where there was an original first-century, stone water jar like one of those mentioned here in John's account. As you can imagine, it was a sizeable container, made of stone, and must have been incredibly heavy. That stone water jar made a real impression on me because it pointed to the sign of abundance that Jesus had done there at this wedding banquet, transforming the water into wine not just of one of these stone jar, but six of them! That must have made for some pretty happy wedding guests because that would have equated to a minimum of 120 gallons of wine, or all the way up to 180 gallons of wine. Either way, that's a lot of wine, and not just any old wine, but we are told it was "good wine" - that is, a full, rich wine. The account ends with this explanation: "Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believe in him" (John 2:11). This becomes the theme for today's message under the theme "Signs of Abundance." May God's rich blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word, for Jesus' sake.
We worship a God of abundance, a God who desires to pour out blessings upon his people - blessings so many, so numerous, so abundant they boggle the mind. Changing water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana is just the beginning. The Old Testament Scriptures foretold of that day when Messiah would come, and his kingdom would be known for its abundance (Isaiah 25:6-8, Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:19-20; Joel 3:18). In Jesus, that long-foretold kingdom has come, and this sign of more-than-enough wine points to such abundance. It begins with what could have been a very embarrassing situation. There's nothing worse than running out of food or drink at a special event like a wedding. Jesus' mother sees what's going to happen here, and tells her Son, "They have no wine" (John 2:3). It seems to us that Jesus rebuffs his mother rather sharply: "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come" (John 2:3-4). In truth, Jesus as the Son of God was distancing himself from familial obligations and expectations in order to accomplish his mission. Scripture does not record that Mary took offense at what her Son said to her; rather, she quietly instructs the servants to "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5). In John's Gospel, Jesus' "hour" is that time when his true glory is revealed, and that will be through his own death and resurrection (see John 4:21, 23; 5:25, 28; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1: 19:27). From our perspective, what happens to Jesus on the cross looks like anything but glory; it looks like terrible pain and suffering. In God's divine plan, it is at the cross where his true glory is revealed: in loving his Father, and us, his sinful brothers and sisters; loving us even unto death. Jesus' transforming water into wine is a sign that points ahead to the abundance of mercy and forgiveness that are freely given to us through his cleansing blood. John gives us a hint here: all of this took place on "the third day" (John 2:1). Chronologically, this was the third day after the events John records in chapter 1. Theologically, this points ahead to the "third day" when Jesus gives the ultimate sign by rising from the dead.
This all sounds good, you say. And it is good! There is a problem here, and that is we are often quite content and satisfied with meagerness. God desires to share his abundance with us, for that is God's nature. We, however, often prefer scarcity to abundance. We don't want to trouble God. We don't want to be presumptuous or greedy, and so we often settle for small portions when God's desire is to fill us to overflowing. In all of this, there is a sort of mousy timidness on our part. That mousy timidness prevents us from receiving, enjoying, and celebrating the rich abundance of God's gifts. That rich diversity of God's gifts is what Paul writes about in today's second lesson (1 Corinthians 12:1-11): wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, discernment of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. And there are many more gifts as well - this is just the beginning! Christ, who transformed water into wine, is more than able to transform us into disciples who are equipped and ready to serve his purpose. All of our gifts from God's abundance are activated by the Holy Spirit, as Paul says, "who allots to each on individually just as the Spirit chooses" (1 Cor. 12:11). Bottom line: we need each other here in the Body of Christ. Our individual Spirit-given gifts are designed to complement and support each other's gifts. Many of us are unclear or uncertain about our own gifts, or we don't know how to use them. That is why what we now call Ministry Support, one of our Church Council positions, is being transformed into a Ministry of Equipping, designed to help each one of us discern, claim, and use our gifts, so that God's people are equipped for effective ministry in the world. As we begin our next half-century of ministry and mission, this will be critically important for our congregation.
Jesus' first sign at Cana in Galilee, transforming water into wine, is not his last. The signs of abundance are all around us. Gathered here around the cross, we are formed and fueled by God's abundant grace, freely given to us in Word and Sacrament. And now we are sent out into the world to invite all people into a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. That's our mission on this Second Sunday after Epiphany, in the year of our Lord 2007. May God make it so for Jesus' sake. Amen.