January 21, 2013

Sermon for the Second Sunday in Epiphany

Welcome to the Party: John 2:1-11
Sermon Delivered at the First United Methodist Church in Freehold, New Jersey
January 20, 2013
Introduction
 On Monday, the 21st of January the 57th Inaugural Ceremonies will take place, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and President Barack Obama will be sworn into a Second Term of Office as the President of the United States of America. This for some will be a day of great celebration and for others a day of sadness. Whatever you response is to this day, it is a historic occasion that will be met with great anticipation and be filled with enormous amounts of symbolism. The President will be sworn into office not only on President Abraham Lincoln's Bible but also on Dr. Martin Luther King's Bible. These symbolic actions are meant to transform this ceremony and give them even greater historical significance, they are meant to take us up into a larger historical narrative of the country and speak in ways that words cannot. I am sure that these actions in the future will be lauded by historians, saying that we have entered a New Age, or perhaps a New Dawn broke forth in American politics, or quite possibly the President himself will draw on the Lincoln/King narrative in his address and say that he is going to take a country that is broken and fractured and unite them once again as these great figures did. Whatever the language that will be used by either the President or Historians in the future I can assure you that these symbols are meant to invigorate the event with monumental meanings.

In today's text we find another such inauguration on the 2nd Sunday of Epiphany, the Inauguration of the ministry of Jesus. This story the writer proclaims is meant to show us and reveal something to us about his nature and his character.

What Does the Text Say
Written near the turn of the 1st century the Gospel according to John is one of the most beautiful attempts at a theological poetic prose. It attempts to dance between theology and history in artful way that invites the reader to transcend the historical perspective and see it from the divine. Furthermore, the author of this Gospel is extremely helpful because he gives us his interpretive key for the entire book in order to guide this transcendence. He writes, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ (that is the Messiah of the Jews), the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” The key to unlocking the theological nature of John's Gospel is understanding the signs that Jesus was performing, because they were recorded that we might believe, and the first of those signs is presented to us our text in John 2:1-11.

Our story begins by given us the setting, “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee...” Having just been married 3 months ago I understand how weddings can be and the craziness that involves the nature of these events. However, Jewish weddings culturally at this time where not just one day affairs, but were multiple day extravaganzas that could last up to one week. One scholar writes describing them, “The atmosphere of this joyous occasion consisted of a procession in which the bridegroom's friends brought the bride to the groom's house, and that was followed by a wedding supper that could have lasted as little as one day but as long as one week. Presents were given and the hosts were expected to supply plenty of food and wine for the guests.” So in some respects they are not unlike modern weddings.
Secondly, we are introduced to the characters and the problem of the story, “...The mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine'” Jewish weddings were a large family and friend affair, numbering around 100 guests, with prominent figures being invited. I believe that Jesus was a young Jewish Rabbi who was invited shortly afterward because his mother somehow knew the family. However, because disciples followed their Rabbi everywhere they also came along with Jesus. Quite possibly, some have suggested it was because they came with him that they ran out of wine and this is why Jesus' mother comes to him. Others have suggested that the wine would be stored near the brides chamber and thus Mary would have noticed and thought to tell Jesus in order to get him to help somehow.

Regardless of the reason why they ran out of wine this was a serious social problem, the couple and the bridegroom whose family was responsible for providing the food and drink, could have faced a law suit from the bride's family because of the shame that would have incurred on them due to the lapse in hospitality. However, before any else can find out Mary tells Jesus most likely because she wanted to avoid the embarrassment and social shame that would have incurred. Upon hearing of the issue Jesus replied, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” This exchange between Jesus and his mother has been met with difficulty among the commentators, and myself. If I talked to my mom like that she would have smacked me. And I say to all the youth and children here this is the one time not to follow Jesus' example by calling your mother Woman and say, “what does this have to do with me.”

Jesus' response of woman however, is more like saying, “Ma'am or Ms, but still no one, not even back then called their mother Ma'am and his follow up statement is the same thing that demons reply to Jesus, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth.” Clearly, there is something combative going on here between Jesus and his mother. However, Jesus' response must be coupled with his second thought, “My hour has not yet come.” The phrase my hour in John's Gospel relates directly to mission of the cross where his Glory and God's glory will be fully revealed when it culminates in his resurrection and so that time has not yet come, we are only in the 2nd chapter on the third day, yet you ask me for a foretaste of that, for what reason?

However, the text shows the great example of faith, “His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” She knew the character of her son and she knew that he somehow had the ability to deal with this situation, despite his apparent apprehension at first. So the text continues, “Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)...”
Certain Jews at the time of Jesus, believed in washing and cleansing rituals and they were probably there to aid in that process. Their size is enormous, if we take the pots being 25 gallons each then we have 150 gallons of water, that will become wine. If you want to know how much wine that is, it is 567.8 L or approximately 757 750mL bottles of wine, and not just any wine but the best wine. This means that a wedding that had most likely been going on for several days, lets' say 3 days, and the longest they would last is one week we shall say that there were 3 days left of partying, if they are breaking for the Sabbath. Therefore, Jesus produced if it was an average wedding of 100 people about 7.5 bottles of wine per person or 2.5 bottles of wine per person per day. That is the equivalent, given a 6 fl oz wine glass, of almost 11 glasses of wine per person per day, for the next three days. Jesus said, “Welcome to the Party!” It wasn't like a frat house party where the question is, “Who brought the keg, but this was who brought the beer truck!” It was a super abundance of wine, an over indulgence of wine.
Now some might protest, why would Jesus produce that much alcohol, or possibly he wouldn't have produced alcohol. The issue in the scripture isn't drinking it is drunkenness but at this party, Jesus gives the possibility for over indulgence, and it is up to us to decide what we will do with that, he is not going to violate our free will.

The story continues, “The master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Wine would be diluted by people in the Mediterranean Culture by mixing as much as 1 part wine to 20 parts water, especially for children but also in order to stretch it. The exact ratio that was used typically is unknown. However, a wedding would start with the strong wine and then move to the more diluted wine. It seems that the Master of the Feast, who was responsible to control the quality of the wine and its distribution, was allowing free drinking to go on and they had run out. So when he received this new he was surprised because he did not know where it came from and then he congratulates this young man because as it reads in the Greek, “Everyone serves the good wine, and when people have become drunk, then the poor wine.” However, in this case you have kept the undiluted stuff until now! Welcome to the PARTY!

The author goes on to note, “This is the first of his sign, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”

What Does it Mean
This passage invites us to ask the question, “How does this reveal that Jesus is the promised Messiah to Israel and therefore to the World?”
First, it reveals to us the compassion of God towards his people. This would have been a huge social embarrassment and would have brought tremendous life long shame to their marriage. People would have forever remembered them as the couple who ran out of wine, and not only them but their families because they were supposed to have provided for this. However, Jesus saw their need and despite his initial apprehension, he comes to their aid, he comes to their rescue, when they didn't even realize they needed it and freed them from their shame. Shame, was the initial feeling that Adam and Eve felt in the garden when they ate the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. However, just as God covered them in the garden Jesus covers this couples shame, but this covering exceeds the first covering in that it is not just merely a blanketing over of the problem. Rather, Jesus brings a super abundance of the very thing they lacked so that now their shame would be turned into honor, so that the celebration of their marriage would be remembered as a great party. So it wasn't before kings or priests that the first miracle was performed but at a poor village wedding ceremony.

Secondly, this is the wine of God's New Age. Jesus places this miracle on a time table, by saying, “His hour had not yet come.” Jesus knew that as the Messiah of God his responsibility was to bring into the present the promised Age to Come. If you remember I have talked about this in the past. During the time of Jesus Jews thought of time in terms of two distinct ages, there was the Age and the Age to Come. Currently they were living in the Age which was a time of Evil, Death, Destruction, Sickness, when the Law was not Obeyed and God was not known, essentially they believed that they were in a time of exile from God. However, they also believed there would come a time when God would fulfill his promises to Israel which he made to them while they were in exile in Babylon and liberate them completely from their enemies at their repentance, thus ending the exile. This meant that God would defeat the powers that were holding them in bondage and thereby establish himself as King and Lord. This was the Promised Age to Come a time of Wholeness and Peace where the Shalom of God rested over the land, it was a time of life where death would be defeated, that which was laid to waste would be built up again and become like the Garden of Eden, Sickness would loose its hold over humanity, the Law would be obeyed because he would write it on our hearts and God would be known for he would dwell in their midst. When Jesus preached that this world was breaking into their present, he said, “The Kingdom of God was at hand.” Because that metaphor doesn't make a lot of sense for us in our contemporary context, I say, “This is the World that God imagines coming into our present.”

One of the controlling images that spoke of this inauguration of the World that God Imagines was wine, and not just a little wine but wine in super abundance. One of the central acts of Jesus' ministry was that he was celebrating this inauguration by eating and drinking with sinners and tax collectors, which caused the religious elite to say that he was a drunkard and a glutton. However, they were missing the point, Jesus was giving a sign in the present that was anticipating the day when he would as it says in Isaiah, On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." It would be on this day, that mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will flow with it.” Therefore, Jesus, out of the old system of ritual purification takes water and transforms it into the wine of the New Age, he makes the wine of the Kingdom of God, which shows to the people who have eyes to see and ears to hear that he is the Messiah of God, and the one who is going to ushering in this promised World that God Imagines.

What Does it Mean to Us
So what does this all mean for us? I want to invite you to think about two things in closing:
1. God cares about the little things and the big things. His first miracle wasn't to raise someone from the dead or regrow a limb but to reveal his glory in removing the shame of a young couple who didn't even know they were in danger of it. He came to their rescue when they didn't even ask. I tell you that God wants to and is willing to come to our rescue, and he is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever dare to ask or hope for. He has things dreamed for us that we haven't even thought of, which he is waiting to fulfill.

2. God is looking for us to be the people who celebrate the inauguration of his promised Age to Come. He is looking for us to be a people who can come together and share feasts that will be a foretaste of the great meal that we will share with him in the Age to Come. Anything less than a joyous celebration of his inauguration of the Kingdom is not living up to the potential that he desired for us. The earliest Christian Gatherings were called Agape Feasts, and people literally thought they were having wild parties, but it was only because they were celebrating the Resurrection, they were celebrating New Life and we should be celebrating this New Life in Jesus together. I invite you, to celebrate this inauguration wherever you go whenever you go in whatever you do, and invite people to celebrate it with you. I say to you, Welcome to the Party!

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