The Rev. Joseph Farnes
Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C
All Saints, Boise
In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ public ministry doesn’t begin with healing the sick, casting out unclean spirits, or feeding the multitudes; it begins with wine at a wedding. John’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus in a very different way than the other three Gospels.
And it’s not even the “right” time. Jesus’ mother turns to her son at the wedding to tell him that the wine has run out. The married couple will be starting off their married life on the wrong foot; running out of food or wine at the party is a bad omen indeed! But Jesus asks, “So what? What does that mean to you or to me? My hour has not yet come.”
But Jesus’ mother doesn’t even respond to that. She turns to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.” It is a comedic moment! It’s not the “right” time. Jesus’ mother doesn’t even argue back with him. She just puts him in an awkward spot. Just as the hosts are under social pressure to provide food and wine to their guests, now Jesus is under social pressure driven by his mother to do something to fix it.
And so he does something. Much like the feeding miracles, there’s no show, no hocus pocus or alakazam. He just tells the servants to fill the water jars, then take some to the steward, and its wine. Not just wine, but really good wine.
Jesus does this wonderful miracle, an almost silly miracle. Wine for a party? That’s the first miracle, according to John.
But notice how the miracle happens: it’s the work of a community. Jesus’ mom brings his attention to the problem, and she tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to. The servants fill up the water jars, and take some to the steward. The steward tastes it and evaluates the quality of the wine. Jesus is involved at each step: listening to his mom, even if not excited about it; directing the servants in what to do; turning the water into wine. Other people are part of the miracle.
Our lives as Christians are like the miracle at the wedding of Cana. We’re coworkers with Jesus, and we’re coworkers with one another.
We bring the needs of the world to Jesus. We pray for those in pain, for the oppressed, for the marginalized, for all God’s creatures, for the church and the nations of Earth. And instead of arguing with Jesus about doing something, then we start the ball rolling. Like Jesus’ mother, we tell Jesus and then we start working. We start organizing a solution even if we don’t have it all planned out. Jesus’ mother wasn’t exactly sure what would happen or how it would happen, but that Jesus would help make something happen was sure, and the servants needed to be ready.
And this miracle at the wedding in Cana is a miracle we keep living out. We take turns – praying, getting things organized, doing the work – and along the way the miracle happens.
We know that people need to be fed – and our monthly Community Meal and Food Truck do that, and our ongoing collection for the St Vincent de Paul food pantry does that, too. We don’t wait around for Jesus to make it happen. We do what we can. And then we turn to our elected leaders to ask why people are hungry when we live in a land of abundance.
We know that people are longing for wisdom for living – and we have spiritual formation for all ages. Our young’uns go off to Sunday School, some of our youth help teach (and learn), we gather for Bible study, we engage in deep questions, we reflect on the words of the Bible. And then we keep the conversation going. We’re not waiting for the right person to tell us what it all means so we never have to think again – it’s a living relationship with Jesus that we’re after. Might you be called to help lead a conversation to help us grow in the love of God?
We know that people are longing for community and friendship. We gather for worship, and we have snacks afterward. The coffee hour hosts set up coffee and snacks, and we’re grateful for a reason to hang out together. Might you be called to make coffee and bring in some snacks for our fellowship, might you be called to sit with someone and make sure they’re included in the conversation? We pray for a vibrant, inclusive community – but we also have our role in making that happen, a very important role in inviting, serving, hosting, including others. What might you be called to do to make that happen?
Everyone in the Gospel story has a different part to play at any given moment. Hence why St Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians about all the different gifts. There are a variety of gifts and callings that we are called into for any given moment. Gifts of wisdom, gifts of encouragement, gifts of teaching, gifts of fellowship and the gifts of being able to make a pot of coffee. We bring something to the ongoing miracle-work of Jesus Christ in this world. We aren’t called to do everything. The Gospel story we hear today isn’t Jesus noticing the wine’s run out, drawing all the water, getting everything set up, taking the new wine to the steward. Jesus’ first miracle isn’t a “one-man show” – nor is it a one-person show for us. We can work toward meeting the needs of the world our little part at a time.
We know that the needs of the world are immense. At the global scale, we have the disparity of wealth that keeps growing and the ongoing destruction of our planet’s ecological balance. At the national scale, we have that deepening divide between those who hoard up wealth and those who don’t have enough to thrive in this land of plenty, and we have a growing, gnawing sense of despair about whether anything good will happen for everyone again. And at our state and local levels, we see the ongoing crises of underemployment, under compensation, and underfunded education…and the crisis that leaders seem to want to do anything BUT deal with those.
We pray for all these needs, day in and day out. We bring them to Christ for his healing power, his generous heart, his miracle-working love. And then we get the ball rolling. We get it moving. What are you called to do to get the ball rolling for the next miracle of Christ? What are you called to do to get the miracle moving along? What will you do to be part of the miracle? Amen.