Sermon by Rev. Wayne Irwin
January 14, 2007
Text: John 2:1-11

I was but two steps from the door
of my high school.
When suddenly someone rushed me.
Knocked me off my feet. Seized my lunchbox.
Which instantly became the football
for a game on the front lawn.
I was in grade ten.

The experience was nothing new.
In all my years of school
I had always been my father's son.
A teacher's son.
And hence the brunt of many an attack.
Ongoing, relentless schoolyard routine
of taunts and mockery.
Dad's nickname among the schoolkids
was 'Baldy.'
Mine was "Little Baldy,"
even though I had more hair than most.
My years in school from a social point of view
were troublesome . . . miserable.
And because of it I learned a lot.
I learned to ignore
the lunchbox football games.
I learned I could take the fun away
by refraining from reacting.
By not 'biting.'
I would just walk on into school.
And the game would stop.
And I'd go and look for my lunchbox later.
Usually finding it in a flower bed.

I learned to make decisions independently,
on my own,
without reference to my peers.
My expectation was
that they would disapprove anyway,
simply as a matter of course.
I learned to treat their opinions
the opinions of the crowd around me
as worthy of suspicion,
as possibly rabble logic.

I learned to function in an environment
where my looks, my dress, my behaviour,
was the focus of constant scorn.
And thus I learned to seek elsewhere
the approval and the guidance for living
that I needed.

I lived in a household, in a family,
in an extended family,
wherein daily family worship
was the norm. The habit.
I was accustomed to prayer,
and to listening as I prayed.
And there I learned
that I could look to God in prayer
for my protection
and for my counsel.

And when the goodness of my life ran out --
when my life was filled with water
with the water of my tears
I learned to look to Jesus
my companion and my friend
I learned to look to Jesus for my help.
And what I experienced,
was that Jesus turned my water into wine.
And this morning I am here to tell you
that Jesus does it all the time.

An analogy is in the vineyard.
Every year we see nature use the grape vine
to take the essence
of mere rainwater, soil and sunlight,
and turn it into the juice
that under appropriate conditions
become the finest wine.

There is an analogy in the vineyard.
But the reality is in our lives.

Think of the water in your life
the water of your tears
and think of the joys
that have subsequently arisen
because of the presence and the influence
of love.
And therein lies the message and the meaning
of today's text in scripture
the story of being present
at the marriage feast in Cana.

They all were there
Jesus and his mother,
and all of the disciples.
They all were there.

And since it appears only in John's Gospel,
some scholars think it to be
a description of John's own wedding.
Why else would they all be there?
There are others who think
it is a description
of Jesus' wedding.
After all, if he were the groom,
in that culture,
he would indeed be the one responsible
for assuring that the wine not run out.

And the wine ran out!
What a way to begin
the description of a ministry
in a Gospel.
Remember, this is the beginning
of only the second chapter.

After Jesus' birth and development,
Matthew's Gospel describes Jesus' ministry beginning
with the Sermon on the Mount.
Mark's Gospel begins
with an exorcism,
with Jesus cast a demon out.
Luke's begins with Jesus in a synagogue.
But John's begins
with Jesus at a party a wedding party
where the wine runs out.

And John declares
that in what Jesus does
there is a sign.
His glory is revealed.

And John tells us
that because of that revelation
the disciples clearly see his glory
and because of it they believe.

What's really going on?

Look at the details of the story.
First of all, take note
of how much water Jesus uses
six water jars
each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
That's somewhere between
120 and 180 gallons of wine being produced.
What wedding needs that much?

Why that much wine?

The water is there present at the wedding
for the ritual of purification.
A ritual strictly regulated
by the Torah, by the Law of Moses.

Not water to be used for bathing,
but rather water to be used
as a sign of being prepared for worship,
for the worship of the wedding ceremony.
The Torah instructs
that ritual cleansing is a requirement.

As guest would arrive for the ceremony,
they would dip their hands into the water
as a symbol of their spiritual readiness
just like our Christian custom
of men removing their hat
or women putting on a shawl,
or of lighting a candle before service,
or upon entering the sanctuary
entering into silent prayer.

But that still doesn't require
120 to 180 gallons of water.
People are not each taking a shower.
A single cup of water present
was all that was needed
to cleanse a hundred people.
Clearly in this story
there is enough water
to cleanse the entire world.
Enough water to symbolically bring joy
to all the earth.
Joy to the world!

So, the meaning in this story
is not that Jesus took
plain washing water
and turned it into Beaujolais.
The meaning is that Jesus
took one means of getting right with God
and changed it to another.
The meaning in this story
is the concept of what the Church calls
'justification and sanctification.'
How does one get right with God?
How does one get consciously close to God?
How does one enter into the joy
of the wedding feast -- the heavenly banquet?
No longer by washing oneself
in the tears of the travail of this world.
That's all been changed.

One enters into the joy
by drinking of the wine of Christ.

We've seen this before.
Remember Moses before his return to Egypt?
"Suppose they'll not believe," (Exo 4:9f)
Moses said to God.
"Suppose they'll not believe."
And God replied:
"If they'll not believe,
take some of the water of the Nile
and pour it on the ground.
And the water will turn to blood."

Or remember John's first letter (1 Joh 1:7)
"If we walk in the light
as he himself is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus
cleanses us from all sin."

Purification . . Justification . . Sanctification.

And John writes, as we heard read:
"Now, when the steward tasted the water
that had become wine,
he called the bridegroom
and he said to him,
'Everyone serves the good wine first,
and then the inferior,
but you have kept the good wine
until now."

John is saying:
'Throughout history
God has sent
the patriarchs and the prophets
to these Hebrew people,
but the best has been saved for last.
First God sent Moses, then Elijah.
Then there was John the Baptist.
And now Jesus.
The best has been saved for last.'
That's what John is saying.
And it is a vision
that is picked up and amplified
in the Book of the Revelation of John
where it speaks of a day
when we will all be united
in a community of love.
Where the spirit of authentic
and unconditional caring
rules,
where God's dwelling place
is no longer restricted
to the holy chamber in the Temple
but is rather within each person's heart.

And it is the experience of trouble in life . . .
travail . . . tribulation . . . calamity . . .
running out of wine . . .
that makes it possible for the glory of God
to be noticed . . . to be seen.

Without the danger if death
during a crisis
we would never see courage.
Without the desolation of heartbreak
we would never see compassion.
Never know the experience
of true sympathy . . . of empathy.
Never no the fulfilment
of participating in the ministry
of consolation.

The story of the wedding at Cana
informs us
it is the wine of kindness and consideration,
of benevolence,
the wine of charity and generosity
that connects us consciously
with the heart of God.

Whatever our need.

No matter how common our tale.
The joy of the party of life
is in the wine of compassion.


And do hold in your mind
that it is the Holy Spirit of Compassion,
the Divine Spirit
that births life and rebirth
that is incarnate in Jesus.
And incarnate in us.
Jesus is the first-fruit of the Spirit.
Not the only.

And look again at the story.
Jesus is not doing anything in particular.
Just giving instructions to the stewards.
Not waving his hand.
Not uttering 'abra cadabra.'
Not offering a pleading prayer.
"Fill the jars," he says,
"and then draw the liquid out."
It is the authority of his presence,
of he being the one to give the order
that's what initiates
and ultimately accomplishes
what is needed.

And we see here a representation
of Jesus addressing ordinary need,
Jesus tending the problems of the everyday.
We see here what can happen
in our ordinary lives
when the wine runs out.
When we, like Mary, turn to Jesus,
and ask for help
he changes things.

So do not allow yourself
to become diverted from the message
by focusing on questions
as to how Jesus could possibly do it.
This has nothing to do with
the theories of alchemy,
turning lead into gold.
For Christmas I gave my son some 'Screech'
that I bought in Newfoundland last summer.
Screech is made
by pouring water into empty rum barrels
and drawing it out again.
Turning water into rum.
Explanations are too easy.
Rather, let the story nourish your faith.
Remember the words of Ephesians (3:20)
"by the power at work with us,
[Jesus is able] to accomplish abundantly
far more than all we can ask
or imagine."

And let your gathering
here in community each week
be a symbolic attendance
at the wedding feast,
trusting
that whatever is empty in your experience,
God can replenish.
Whatever is spent,
God can restore.
Whatever is water for you,
God can transform.

Said Jesus, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and all these things
shall be added unto you."

And remember also
the words of Mary
to the servants:
"Whatever he tells you to do,
you do it."

Highshool lunchbox football?
Jesus can transform your torment
into a means of blessing someone else.
Can any trauma
as a means of experiencing the glory of God.
Trouble in your life? Travail? Tribulation?
Jesus can turn your water
into wine . . .
into life with glorious richness . . .
into life with sweetness,
or life that is tart
but with a wonderful, lingering aftertaste.

Be refilled even today
with the totally satisfying experience
of your marriage with the Spirit of Christ.
It is the elixer of life!
"I am come," says he,
"that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be complete.
Enter into my joy!"

Amen.