Sermon for Epiphany 2.
1 Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
John 2: 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’
Despite its being 'Dry January', this morning we're confronted with an overwhelming abundance of wine.
When Jesus turned water into wine at the
wedding in Cana, the amount of wine produced was staggering. In fact I did some
maths on this, and discovered it far outstrips the amount of wine purchased,
even, for the ‘world’s 2nd most expensive wedding, between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (2006), which cost $2m ($2.2m
when adjusted for inflation).
Held at
the 15th century Odescalchi Castle outside Rome, this wedding featured a
five-tiered white chocolate cake decorated with marzipan roses. They were
joined by Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez and David Beckham, among others. Costs
included $900,000 for guest airfare and accommodations and $180,000 for 300 bottles of wine.’
According
to John’s account, the six stone water jars, which provided the water for the
wine, each held 20-30 gallons…
If 12 bottles = 2.378 gallons
720 bottles= approx. 120 gallons (assuming the stone water jars had 20 gallons in each).
100 guests need…. 50 bottles?
720 bottles therefore, would do for 1500 guests…
It
speaks to us of abundance. (‘I have come that they might have
life, and have it abundantly’).
HOLD THAT THOUGHT WHILE WE LOOK AT SOME
OTHER DETAILS.
First, four interesting details of the
story:
1. Jesus was invited to the wedding party (Are you the kind of person
people want at their parties?) What do we deduce from this? He was a fun person
to have around/he was someone who made warm friendships/he was connected in the
community and known/he hallowed the most ordinary of life events by his
presence (his presence at this wedding is alluded to in the Preface to the
Marriage Service).
2. Mary noticed the wine had run out and thought it noteworthy to mention
to Jesus. Why? Was she embarrassed for the couple? Maybe they were not that
well off and had not been able to afford enough wine. If you are welcomed
into a home and not offered a drink it is in some ways a failure of
hospitality. Other wedding failures one reads about have included various
mishaps ironically connected to drinking too much; wearing too little; behaving
embarrassingly at the post wedding dance and saying unforgivable things at the
wedding reception.
Why does she ask
Jesus? It shows she was used to him sorting things out – NB. she didn’t specify
what he should do. This is a trap we fall into in our prayers. She didn’t say:
‘they’ve run out of wine; it might be a good idea if you tried a miracle here –
you’re obviously gearing up for one; how about turning the water into wine?’ It
was probably a million miles from the imagination of Mary that Jesus would do
what he did, in fact. And that is how it is with how God moves by his Spirit today.
In church life, especially where gifts and calling are concerned, sometimes the
people who end up coming forward are not those you would have picked; sometimes
money comes in from unusual places; sometimes provision comes at the last minute
from unexpected sources. In fact when we’ve stopped being surprised by God, it
may be a sign that our faith is growing stale.
3. Jesus appears to be reluctant to respond. He says to her: woman, what
concern is that to you and to me?’ The Gr. literally says ‘what to me and to
you, woman?’ (the translators insert ‘concern’). The King James says ‘Woman,
what have I to do with thee?’ which makes it sound as though he doesn’t want
anything to do with his mother: it seems to me rather he is questioning whether
now is the appropriate time to reveal his glory. He says his hour is not yet
come. The Message renders it well: “Is that any of our
business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.” However, as
the other gospels show, Jesus often does respond to being pushed: he’s good at
planning but good at spontaneity as well: recall the Syrophonecian woman whose
daughter had a demon – even the dogs eat the crumbs under the table – for which
response Jesus heals outside of the house of Israel, in Gentile territory,
responding across religious, ethnic and gender boundaries in the process.
4. When he does agree to do a miracle (or sign, as John would have it) it
is not advertised with a loud shout. The Chief Steward makes the comment about
the good wine being brought out first, whereas in this wedding party the best
is left till last, but he does this without knowing how the good wine has
materialised. And Jesus makes no attempt to advertise the sign. Those who will
read the sign, understand it, as John makes clear when he writes 'Jesus did this, the first of his signs,
in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him'.
So what have we discovered?
1. Jesus is good company.
2. As soon as there’s an issue, Mary turns to Jesus but doesn’t dictate
what he should do.
3. Timing is important to Jesus but he can be opportuned. (this suggests an open
future that our prayers can affect).
4. And finally, some of the most amazing things spiritually, happen in secret.
We started with the abundance of God though, and
this is the image I want us to take away.
Focus your 5 senses on the first sign of
Jesus; the sheer overwhelming abundance of wine: the colour of it, the smell of
it; its power to make glad the heart, and even to intoxicate. But mostly its
overwhelming abundance.
We’ve said that the stone water jars
each held about 20-30 gallons and were used for ritual washing.
In turning them into wine, Jesus is
redefining religion to be one of celebratory abundance, to an almost
embarrassing degree.
The wine would be equivalent (at the
most conservative estimate) to 720 bottles.
Remember at the 2nd most
expensive wedding of all time, as recorded by the Telegraph, there were only
300 bottles of wine. This is more than double – enough for 1500 wedding guests.
What was Jesus even thinking of?
It’s almost as if, once you unleash the
abundance of God, you cannot really control it.
Interestingly this is what happened in
the early church in Corinth. We had our first reading from Corinthians and it
was about spiritual gifts...
God not only poured down his Spirit at
Pentecost, he sent gifts to his church as well. Do you know that if you’re born
of the Spirit, if you confess Jesus Christ as Lord, you are able to function in
the gifts of the Spirit? It’s a lovely thing to look round the family of God
and see them in action – we have amongst us prophets (they say the hard things
in love); teachers (they bring the Word of God alive for us); those with gifts
of healing, tongues, miraculous faith and discernment. All these and many other
gifts God showers on his people but the Corinthians got themselves into chaos
with the gifts. They had so many people displaying so many gifts, all
simultaneously; they couldn’t function properly during worship. Read on in the letter
to the Corinthians to find out what happened. And when we’re in danger of having
so many people volunteer to go on the PCC and use their gifts, that we’re in
chaos, I’ll let you know.
Of course, often we seem to suffer from the
opposite problem: and I suggest that it is one unfortunate characteristic of
rural English Anglicanism. Instead of perceiving abundance we appear to see
only scarcity. Not enough people, not enough money (apparently), not enough
interest in Church.
I leave you with the thought that if the
Lord we worship turned water into more than 720 bottles of the finest wine, and
didn’t even advertise the fact, we might have got it wrong when we complain of
scarcity in the Church.
As we gather round the Lord’s table and
fill ourselves up from the abundant grace of Christ, may we each take out of
this church the conviction that God is more than enough: for us, for our neighbours,
for our community and for our church.
And may we, like the first disciples who
recognised his glory, not miss the signs of God’s great abundance this Epiphany
tide and throughout the new year.
Amen.
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