This morning’s reading from the gospel of John details a very familiar story, the wedding at Cana. But as I have done in the past with many of our scripture readings, I ask you to travel back to this wedding feast to see exactly why it so important to us. But before we can put ourselves among the wedding guests that day we must remove any ideas we may have in our minds about what we understand about weddings in today’s culture. We need to understand that weddings in Jesus’ time were completely different. Not different with respect to the two people getting married but different with regard to the preparation, different with regard to the length of what we would call the reception and different with regard to how families and friends gathered and how long they stayed before venturing home again. Most of Jesus’ family and friends probably walked to the site of the ceremony. There were no quick ways to get anywhere in those times even if a person was lucky enough to have some beast to ride. Usually people only traveled in the daytime due to robbers and thieves found along many of the well-traveled routes, and even then it was a dangerous journey much of the time. And since families rarely had the opportunity to gather, when they did have the opportunity to assemble, they usually stretched the visit over a period of time before leaving.
Imagine a wedding today where the entire family of the bride and the groom decided to stay for a week or two before traveling back home. Not only would lodging be an issue but how do you feed all those people for that length of time. And in Jesus’ time the welcome mat of hospitality was always extended, especially to family members.
So here we are at the wedding at Cana. Jesus is there. The disciples are there. And Jesus’ mother is there. Scripture doesn’t tell us if a family member of Jesus is getting married or if Jesus and his family and friends were just guests. But everything is proceeding as planned until Jesus’ mother says to Jesus, they are out of wine.
Now Jesus’ mother Mary was concerned about the shortage of wine. Now a shortage of does not seem like a big deal but if you examine the culture of the time you will se that it was necessary for the groom to have adequate provisions at the wedding and it would be extremely embarrassing for him and his family to run out of food and wine. History also tells us a family guilty of this could actually be fined by the government. To run out of wine could be costly both financially and socially.
But Jesus answers the plea to help with the wine with an almost sarcastic tone, what business is that of yours. What do you want me to do about it? And we see Jesus’ mother almost ignore Jesus’ remark when she tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.
But things at the wedding are turned around or upside down aren’t they? We can see that by the wine steward’s statement when he asks the bridegroom why he has saved the best wine until now. Things are not as they are supposed to be. Things are not as they seem.
I will bet that almost everyone in this room can draw some type of parallel from this story to their own lives or situations. Things are not as they seem or things are turned upside down. Things are proceeding fine and then wham; you are going in a completely opposite direction. I know many of you have been there or are there now. You may have had that perfect job or perfect relationship and one day that idea of perfection is gone, alone with the job or relationship. Or you or someone you know is healthy one day and experiencing unexpected illness the next. We surely have had our share of illness in the past few months in our communities, as well as the deaths of many who are dear to us. Lives have been turned around and upside down. Things are not as they seem. Sometimes something you least expected becomes a reality.
A week ago I stopped to see one of my best friends and his wife, whom I had not seen for a few months due to conflicts in our schedules as well as the interruption of the holiday season. When I entered their house I could sense something was not right. Something in their speech and actions told me that I had entered an environment different than what I would normally expect. After exchanging our usual small talk about spouses and children, I was given the reason for the chill in the air I had felt when I first entered the house. My friend’s wife of twenty-five years had decided to leave their marriage and she was moving to another state in a few weeks. She was also leaving their two children and her mother, who is confined to a nursing facility due to poor health.
Things were certainly not as they seemed in this household. I always looked at my friend and his family as having it all. They seemed to be extremely happy and had a comfortable life with stable jobs. Their son had just started college last fall and their daughter is a senior in high school. I thought their marriage was rock solid. But as I said, things are not always as they seem.
As some of you know I spent the last two weeks intensively studying the Book of Genesis, particularly chapters 1-11. We looked at this small section of the Bible from all angles and uncovered things embedded in the text that I had not seen before. We were lucky to have students who were Hebrew and Greek scholars who could bring to the group the meaning of scripture as it was written. Many of us could probably recite the stories from this first section of the Bible from memory, the story of the creation, Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God in the garden, the tragedy of Cain and Abel, the destruction of creation by the great flood, Noah’s journey with God, and the scattering of humankind in the city of Babel. But even in this Holy Scripture, things are not as they seem. Things get turned upside down or occur out of order at times. But I will bring more of this topic to you in the future.
Today we need to look back at the wedding feast we are attending. We need to try to find the reason this story is included in the Bible at all. Certainly more important things must have occurred that day.
But I believe the reason we see this story in the Bible is that it has significance to us as Christians. You see the central act in the story of the wedding at Cana is the miraculous transformation of water into wine. Certainly the mere mention of turning ordinary water into the finest wine raises some doubts for many of us. Some will say that this is an impossible feat. But we cannot reduce the story to a discussion of fact or fiction because the story is classified as a miracle.
And the fact that this story is classified as a miracle is part of the problem with its believability. What exactly is a miracle? How do miracles interact with our lives?
When I was involved in an automobile accident in 1988 and trapped in the wreckage, it is a miracle that the full fuel tank did not rupture when the other vehicle hit ours directly where the fuel tank was located on our vehicle. When the rescue personnel arrived on the accident scene I overheard one of them say that it was a miracle anyone survived the crash.
Time and time again when I visit people in the hospital I hear of their thoughts about miracles in their lives, whether it is a miracle of healing or a miracle of survival of terrible circumstances.
As human beings we need to struggle with the idea of miracles in our lives. We need to ponder what exactly makes something a miracle. I have my own thoughts about miracles and I am sure you have yours. But my thoughts take me back to the wedding I began this message with. You see I believe there is a guiding force in our lives that cause miracles to become a reality. I believe that force is God; however you view God in your current circumstances. Your God may be the God of creation, God in the form of Jesus Christ, or God in the form of the Holy Spirit.
We need to look at what the miracle at the wedding says about Jesus Christ. Just as a wedding is the beginning of a new relationship between two individuals, this miracle is also a beginning. This miracle is the beginning of a long line of miracles attributed to Jesus Christ. In this miracle and in the miracles to come, Jesus changes the order of the world. Things are truly not as they seem.
The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary on John tells us, “The extravagance of Jesus’ act, the abundance of wine, suggests the unlimited gifts that Jesus makes available. Jesus’ ministry begins with an extraordinary act of grace, a first glimpse of the greater things to come. This story invites the reader to share in the wonder of this miracle, to enter into joyous celebration made possible by Jesus’ gift. The story invites the reader to see what the disciples see, that in the abundance and graciousness of Jesus’ gift, one catches a glimpse of the identity and character of God. It is no wonder that the early Christian community confessed “from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” There is strength in Jesus’ grace. There is strength in the messages we see portrayed in Jesus’ miracles.
Many times in our lives we feel so alone, especially when faced with problems or situations we do not understand. Our strength does not seem great enough to overcome what we are facing. But I would ask you, Are you using all your strength? Have you ask Jesus to help you?
Many times we don’t ask for help. Are there problems you face that you have not offered up to Jesus Christ? I encourage you to involve Jesus in all aspects of you life? We see in the gospel reading this morning that Mary went right to Jesus with her problem. Mary knew exactly where her help was to be found. And that is the message we need to take with us this morning. We need to turn to Jesus as well. AMEN
