Sermon January 17, 2010

Year C - The Year of Luke - Epiphany 2

I have a long history with today's Gospel. I heard a fine sermon on this reading during my first year of seminary. It explained the miracle as one of transformation. Years later, my supervisor and I were vesting minutes before a wedding was to begin. He asked me about this Gospel reading of the wedding at Cana because it was to be read in the service. I gave him some of my thoughts, and he said, "That is good because you are going to preach at the wedding today."

As I was preparing for this Sunday, I read one writer who was discussing the miracle in today's Gospel. He said that the changing of water into wine was, "more magic than miracle. It doesn’t heal anyone, or stop a storm, or even feed five thousand people who are hungry." Then, the writers continued, "I put turning water into wine in the “messing around” category of miracle." It’s a miracle ministers get tired of hearing about."

Looking beyond the poor grammar of this pastor, I said to myself, "With things like this coming from a pulpit, no wonder the Church is in trouble in so many ways.” The changing of water to wine is not a magic trick, nor is it "messing" around. St. John describes Jesus' miracles as signs given to show us who Christ was, and what he was doing as the Son of God.

How did we go from a miracle that is a sign of Christ's divinity to seeing the miracle not as a sign, but as magic trick?

When reading individual accounts of the faith in the time of the Reformation and middle Ages, there is power and passion for Christ and his Church that seems unknown in our modern world. We are all children of the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. The Enlightenment was a wonderful thing for it brought us scientific thought. It set the world into orderly categories that we can understand. It allowed us to see the world not in terms of superstition, but in concrete reality.

However, the Age of Reason could be blinded by its own success. It often dismissed miracles as magical thinking or a trick. The Enlightenment reduced all mystery in life to principles, elements, and laws of nature.

Although Enlightenment thinking is good at describing the things around us, it is inadequate in describing what it is actually like to experience something. An experience is internal. One cannot take a ruler and measure it. Although experiences can transform our lives, we cannot put them under a microscope and dissect then.

The miracle of Jesus changing water to wine was a miracle to be experienced. I did not fully realize that until I had been to the place where the miracle occurred. When I saw the place, and how small it was, and how big the stone jars were that held the water, I realized that everyone at the wedding would have experienced the miracle. Everyone would have seen the sign. I could see vividly why it was that such large crowds followed Jesus; they experienced something wonderful and miraculous in his presence. In that wedding hall, I could see that the miracle was unavoidable.

The water to wine was not a magic trick, nor was it "messing around." The miracle revealed who Jesus was. He was the Son of the living God. In John's Gospel, this was Jesus' first miracle. In the miracle, he was showing the entire world that the ordinary had been transformed into something extraordinary. In Jesus, the relationship between God and humans had forever changed. In Jesus, ordinary human flesh and blood will save us from our sins, death, and the devil. Through Jesus, what seems ordinary will bring something extraordinary. His body becomes a temple, and his cross will become a throne.

The story of the wedding at Cana is not about the bride and groom; it is about Jesus. It is important to realize that the first time Jesus made himself known, he did so in response to real and important human need.

Running out of wine at a wedding was not a minor social inconvenience. This was a major breach of the demands of hospitality; it was a disgrace and it would be devastating for the couple. Everywhere they went, for the rest of their married life, they would be known, ridiculed, and objects of gossip. (After all, there was not that much to talk about in Cana of Galilee.)

Think about it. Jesus' first manifestation of his glory, the first of his signs, was not about his ego. He did not throw a great big "Jesus of Nazareth Epiphany and First Miracle" party, invite everyone in the neighborhood, and then do a miracle. Instead, the signs of his calling and of his identity were drawn out of him by the needs of those around him. What it means for Jesus to be the Son of God is expressed in his response to the realities of human life and need.

Jesus as the Son of God was not something that Jesus held for his own sake, satisfaction, or fulfillment. Jesus revealed himself for the sake of others. His divinity was not for his own welfare; it was always and only for others, from the very beginning.

He came to experience life with us. This is something that cannot be quantified, measured, or computed. The miracle of his presence is an experience that not only defines who we are, but reveals to us who Jesus is. He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Savior of all who call upon his name. He comes to us in bread and wine, prayer and petition so that we do not experience this life alone. He is Emanuel or "God with us," who transforms our ordinary lives into the extraordinary vessels of God's presence for others as he rejoices over us in his love. Amen.