2nd Sunday after the Epiphany
John 2:1-11
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Acres of Diamonds
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
12:1 ¶ Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed.
2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however you may have been moved.
3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
John 2:1-11
2:1 ¶ On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;
2 Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples.
3 When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."
4 And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6 Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.
8 He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast." So they took it.
9 When the steward 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), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom
10 and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Russell H. Conwell wrote a speech many years ago entitled "Acres of Diamonds" where he laid out that there were acres of diamonds of opportunities for people who were searching for jobs. He said there were acres of diamonds all around us for the grabbing if we would just open our eyes and see those opportunities.
I would like to use his analogy to say that there are indeed Acres of Diamonds all around us, not the diamonds of the earth, but sparkling stones, brilliant in color and radiance all around us. These stones light up the lives of people they come in contact with, they light up the lives of people.
For the Acres of Diamonds all around us are the opportunities for us to reach out a helping hand to others. We have acres of opportunity of service all round us. We have acres of diamonds, acres of service in our back yards, in our neighborhoods, in our churches, town and communities. For when a person helps another it is like lightening up a diamond in their lives. Our touch, our kindness lights up a life just as sparkling as a diamond lights up a hand or necklace.
Our gospel lesson this morning is about Jesus reaching out at a wedding to do a kind deed and our second lesson from 1 Corinthians speaks about the gifts of the Spirit which is used to help others.
Our gospel lesson speaks about Jesus reaching out to help at the request of his mother. Mary comes to Jesus and says, "They have no wine." A simple statement and in that statement is a request, "Do something" Jesus answers, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." In other words, Jesus is saying this is something he cannot be bothered with and that his mother does not really understand what Jesus is all about.
And then Mary says to the servants "Do whatever he tells you."
Mary believes that Jesus will do something.
It was something simple, they ran out of wine and Mary asks her son to do something about it.
But then notice what Jesus does. He tells the servants to fill the six stone jars with water and then tells the servants to draw some out and take it to the steward of the feast to taste. And the steward cannot believe what good tasting wine it is.
In the grand scheme of things this was just a little something that Jesus did for his mother, gave the wedding feast some more wine. But it was the first sign Jesus did that his disciples could tell that he was someone special.
Jesus responded to a simple need, the acres of diamonds, the water into wine was a sign for those to believe in him.
Our simple deeds, the acres of diamonds, are all around us. Some simple as in the following:
A little girl who was late coming home for supper. Her mother made the expected irate parent’s demand to know where she had been.
The little girl replied that she had stopped to help Janie, whose bicycle was broken in a fall.
"But you don’t know anything about fixing bicycles," her mother responded.
"I know that," the girl said. "I just stopped to help her cry."1
I just stopped to help her cry. What a statement! This gal saw an Acre of Diamonds in the fall of her friend and though she could not do anything to help fix the bike, she stayed and cried with her.
Are acts of kindness do not have to be grand expensive things, they can be as simple as being with one as they cry.
Paul says in our second lesson that each of us have gifts of the spirit.
He says: "
and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Paul begins by saying that one cannot even say Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit. We are filled with the Holy Spirit at our Baptism and that Spirit then works in us to allow us to use our gift in the Acres of Diamonds all around us.
We all have different gifts to be used, we all have a variety of service that can be done and it is God who inspires all these good works in us.
Our gifts maybe be as simple as that little crying with another, or they may be as grand as giving a large sum of money to help a person in need.
Our gifts vary, but the Acres of Diamonds around us need to be filled with our light of service responding to the needs of others.
But do we see the needs of others around us? Do we see those Acres of Diamonds that can be affected by our caring light?
Nearly 30 years a study was conducted at Princeton University, USA, designed to figure out the conditions under which good people would act for good, or at least be helpful.
Two psychologists asked a group of theology students to walk to another building on campus to give a short speech, either about their motives for studying theology or about the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. Meanwhile, the psychologists had arranged for an actor to be stationed on the path between the two buildings, slumped over, coughing and obviously in bad shape. The two experimenters had also led half the students to believe they were late for their speaking appointment, and half that they had ample time.
So, what do you think the responses were? Who was most likely to help: those with the story of the Good Samaritan uppermost in their mind or those thinking about the motives for studying theology?
There was a significance difference between groups, but it was not along the lines of speech content. Contrary to what we might expect, the content of the speech made no difference. About the same number of Good Samaritan speakers and theology motivation students stopped. What did mid make a difference was how rushed the students thought themselves to be. Only 10 percent of those led to believe they were running late stopped to help. Of those told that they had plenty of time, 60 percent stopped to help.2
Time or lack of time is a contributing Factor as we judge whether we can be involved in the Acres of Diamonds all around us.
Do you take the time to see the needs of others?
Paul says we are inspired by the Holy Spirit to see the needs of those around us and respond to them with the gifts God has given us.
We are to use our gifts to the common good. Jesus did a good deed at the wedding, a simple act of kindness which was for the common good.
We need to stop and smell the roses so to speak, so we can see those around us who are in need. We need to use our gifts to help others.
Our gifts are to be used for others, not ourselves.
The man in the following used his gift for the common good.
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods when his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and colour of the outside world.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every colour of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn’t hear the band, he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head:
Why should he have all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything ?
It didn’t seem fair. As the thought fermented the man felt ashamed at first. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and he found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window - that thought now controlled his life.
Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now there was only silence, deathly silence.
The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take it away -- no works, no fuss. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.
Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.
It faced a blank wall.3
The man next to the window used his gift of imagination to help relieve the boredom of his roommate. His roommate would not let whatever gift he had come to the surface, he was just an angry, selfish man and now he would have to live with the guilt that he had let someone die for his own selfish needs.
We hope and pray that the welfish man finds the Spirit in himself so that one day he might be able to look over the Acres of Diamonds and see where his light can shine.
Not mater who we are, no matter what our faults may be if we let the Spirit of God inspire us with the God given gifts which are inside each of us, we will be able to be lights to those Acres of Diamonds which are all around us.
A closing story sums this us well:
A water-bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pot full of water in his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water-bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts," the pot said. The water-bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."
Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots. Each of us has a gift to give. Aloow that gift to bring forth light in the Acres of Diamonds around you.
Amen
1 found at http://www.ozsermonillustrations.com/ ozsermon illustrations
2 found at http://www.ozsermonillustrations.com/ ozsermon illustrations
3 author unknown found at found at http://www.ozsermonillustrations.com/ ozsermon illustrations
