John 2:1-11
“A Glorious Superabundance of Grace”
By: Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org.
As many of you know I’m taking a course at the VA hospital called Clinical Pastoral Education.
This past week we had kind of a neat experience.
We went over to the Hospice Unit and spoke to the head nurse there for an hour or so.
She has been working in the Hospice Unit for about 20 years.
So, as you can imagine, she’s been at the bedside of many a dying patient.
This woman has a very strong Christian faith, and faith plays a great role in the lives of many people on the Hospice Unit.
She told us about many conversions that she has witnessed, and also told us how some people continue to reject the grace of Christ right down to the very end.
I was interested in hearing some stories about some of the deaths she has witnessed.
As many of you have probably heard, when many people are just about ready to pass away, they will see a great Light.
She said that she and the other nurses will often ask the patient if they see the Light as they are taking their last breathes.
If the patient says yes they will tell the dying person, “Go toward the Light. Go toward the Light.”
This helps for a peaceful transition from this life into the next.
Remember that throughout Scripture Jesus is portrayed as the Light of the world.
And in the 1st chapter of the Gospel of John it is recorded, “In him [Jesus] was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness…”
It’s so neat, that so many persons see that Light at the end of their lives on earth.
In John chapter 11 Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
For those who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ death is just a passing from this life to the next…in a very real sense…there is no real death!
And the best is yet to come!
This is the way it is with God.
Just take a look at our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
The master of the banquet called the bridegroom aside and in verse 10 says: “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
This is the way it is with the Christian life.
If we remain in Christ, life just keeps getting better and better.
And then, at the point when we leave our bodies to go to be with Christ…well, the best is definitely yet to come…as we move toward the Light into God’s eternal glory prepared for you, for me.
How exciting is that?
Sadly, though, the Head Nurse at the Hospice Unit told us that those who hold-out and never accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior…not even at the very end…
…well, they don’t see that Light.
That experience just doesn’t seem to occur for them.
This just reinforces what we, as Christians, saved by grace are called to do…
…which is witness to as many people as possible about the salvation that only comes through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives…
…because we never know when it will be anyone’s time to take their last breath.
Now, some of us might be thinking: “How can I witness about Jesus?”
“My words are not eloquent enough. My life is not together enough.”
Well, my friends, if we all waited until we were ‘good enough’ to tell others about Jesus Christ…none of us would ever be able to say anything.
Because we are never good enough.
Remember, “it is by grace”…we… “have been saved, through faith—and this not from”…ourselves… “it is the gift of God.”
There is a lot of meat in this Gospel Lesson about Jesus and His disciples attending a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
Jesus and His mother and His disciples are invited to this wedding.
God made flesh, came and dwelt among us…He even went to parties.
And weddings, during this time in history were really big parties.
Oftentimes it would go on for a week, and for the family putting on the party to run out of wine…well…that was almost unthinkable.
It would be a terrible embarrassment.
A humiliation.
So when the wine was gone, Jesus noticed six stone water jars, “the kind used for ceremonial washing.”
Which means that these jars were probably used by the people to clean their hands and feet.
Not exactly what I’d want to drink out of…how about you?
Who would have thought that those dirty jars would become the receptacles for the finest wine?
But this is another way God works.
God is able to take the most dirty and vile things, fill them with His Holy Spirit, and turn them into vessels which carry the message of His great love.
Let’s turn in our Bibles to 2 Corinthians Chapter 4.
The apostle Paul is speaking to the Christians at Corinth.
He’s talking to them about being transformed into the likeness of Christ in order to reflect the Lord’s glory to those around them.
And here we are talking about Light again.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4 starting at verse 6.
There’s a popular Christian rock band called “Jars of Clay.”
What is Paul saying here?
Through God’s grace and mercy, He has made His Light shine in our hearts…
…He has made this treasure of salvation shine in our hearts…
…even though we are merely ‘jars of clay’.
None of us are perfect.
We are all far from it.
But God uses us…mere ‘jars of clay’ to offer to the world the greatest of treasures…
…the finest of wines…
… “the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Never let anyone think you can’t tell others about Jesus Christ as Lord…just because you aren’t good enough.
None of us are good enough.
That’s why it is by grace we are saved.
This is why Jesus had to go the Cross in order to purchase the Way for us to be reconciled to God.
Sadly, there are many who let these legalistic feelings of ‘I’m not good enough’ get in their way of experiencing the fullness of Life that Christ offers…
…and witnessing about that life to others.
For example, there is a man in the Hospice Unit who is dying of lung cancer.
He has a great ‘head knowledge’ of the Bible.
I was having a conversation with him this past week.
I asked him if he loves Jesus.
“Oh yes,” he replied, “Jesus is my constant companion.”
“I talk to Jesus all the time.”
I said, “Isn’t it wonderful to know that we will be together in heaven one day?”
“I don’t know about me,” he said sadly.
“See, I’m a sinner. I smoke cigarettes. It’s why I’m dying.”
How sad it is for a person to think that God’s grace is not big enough to cover their sins…
…especially as they lay in bed…
…in the Hospice Unit of a hospital…
…waiting to die.
Well, we got into a pretty heavy conversation at this point.
I talked to him about how we are all sinners and fall short of God’s glory…
…and that none of us are perfect…
…we all have sin in our lives…
…why, even in the book of 1st John it says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves…and… “If we claim to have not sinned, we make him [God] out to be a liar…”
Of course we are to confess our sins, and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…”
We talked about a lot of stuff.
Then, we talked about the thief on the Cross.
How that man said to Jesus: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”…
… and how “Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’”
If that’s all it took for the thief on the cross…
…that’s all it takes for us to enter heaven.
God’s grace is biggg!!!
Much bigger than any of us can even imagine.
I hope our talk did some good.
Do you believe that God’s grace is big enough for you?
Well, back to our Gospel Lesson in John.
It’s interesting that not everyone knew what had happened at this party.
The servants knew, they were the one’s who filled the jars with water.
They were the ones who took some of the wine to the master of the banquet in order for him to taste this best of wines.
Jesus often reveals Himself to the last, the least, the humble.
Quite often, those who have their eyes fixed on the things of this world miss the miraculous grace of Christ.
But those who are looking for God, seeking the Truth, the Way and the Life…
…they will find it.
The servants saw Jesus turn the water into wine.
The disciples saw Jesus turn the water into wine.
For everyone else, well, it was party time!
People often wonder why this miracle is included in John’s Gospel.
After-all, it is “the first of his miraculous signs.”
But it’s just a wedding.
It’s just water being turned into wine.
Or is it really a lot more than that?
The disciple John, makes it clear why he chose to record what he did in his Gospel.
In chapter 20, John writes: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
This is a story of the superabundance of God’s grace, of the extravagance of that grace, of the transformation power of that grace, and the new possibilities that God offers all who will put their trust in His grace.
Jesus’ ministry began with an extraordinary gift of grace, and we are to anticipate the even more extravagant gift of new life in Jesus Christ.
Jesus graced a wedding at Cana in Galillee.
“He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.”
And we are told by the same disciple who wrote the Gospel of John…
…in the Book of Revelation that those who follow Christ will be part of a wedding…a wedding between Christ and us—His Church.
When a person is going through the last stages of death, the nurses at the Hospice Unit tell them to go for the Light.
In revelation chapter 22, “The spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’
Whoever is thirsty, let him come; let him take the free gift…’”
“the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from…the he called the bridegroom aside and said, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
My friends, with God, the best is always yet to come!
Let us pray: Almighty God, we praise you this morning that you so love us that You have sent Your only Son into the world to save us—not condemn us. We praise You that His Light shines even through jars made of clay. And we thank you that Jesus, the Word made flesh, dwells among us and even serves the best wine at a wedding feast. And that the best is yet to come. In Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray. Amen.
