Reading today’s gospel text made me think of my own wedding. Some of you may know that Sara and I got married a bit differently. We followed the format Martin Luther often spoke of and this method is still used in most of Europe. We separated the civil union, the legal declaration of marriage, from the church blessing. So, on March 10, 2006, Sara and I said “I do” in her parents’ living room. With the help of a mayor; surrounded by a few family members; and in about 5 minutes, we were hitched! Two months later, we gathered with more family and friends in the chapel at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and had our marriage blessed. There were many reasons we chose to do this, but such a conversation is much too long to discuss in a sermon. However, one advantage was that, on the day of the blessing, we were relaxed and at ease and could throw a big party for our family and friends.

            Now our party only lasted about 5 hours, which made it quite different than the wedding celebration we hear about in today’s gospel. During the time of Jesus, it was not uncommon for a wedding party to last about a week. Instead of heading off to Bethlehem, Bath, and Beyond to see what couple registered for, most of the guests would bring food and drink, snacks and wine for the celebration. That way, there would be enough for everyone to eat, drink, and be merry.

            However, a problem comes to light. The wine runs out! Jesus’ mother tells him, and his first response seems to indicate that he will not act. Then, he tells the servants to fill the six jars used for Jewish purification rites, like cleansing pots, pans, and other utensils with water. These were huge jars which probably held twenty to thirty gallons of water. When they draw some out and the chief steward tastes it, it has turned to wine. I’m not talking about “Two Buck Chuck” either. This was amazing, wonderful wine. It is so good, in fact, that the chief steward approaches the groom and says, “What are you doing? You’re supposed to serve the best wine first, and then, when everyone is drunk, serve the worst. Instead, you have saved the best for last!”

            Now the wedding guests have 120-180 extra gallons of wine. Jesus’ divinity is revealed and his disciples believe.

            For the writer of John’s gospel, this is Jesus’ first miracle. What does this miracle have to do with you and me? Besides wishing Jesus would show up at some of our parties, it seems to me to reveal something about how God acts in our lives. We live in a world where we are led to believe that we can improve ourselves or that we can do things to make God love us. We believe we are water, but if we try hard enough, we can make ourselves exceptional. We embrace the concept of pulling ourselves up by our boot straps. We hear, “God helps those who help themselves”, which isn’t in the Bible!

            Yet, in today’s gospel text, it is God who is the primary actor. Jesus acts. Jesus is the one who changes water into wine. Jesus is the one who takes something ordinary and makes it extraordinary. Not only does Jesus make it extraordinary, but he exceeds expectations. He provides more than enough: an abundance. As we look at the rest of the gospel of John, we see Jesus continue these actions. He meets people where they are and surprises them with an abundance of mercy, grace, love. Further, Jesus exceeds expectations. He dies on a cross that we might live and is raised from the dead so that we might know we have eternal life. Through his life, death, and resurrection, we see repeatedly how Jesus’ actions bring the change.

            So, too, it is with our life of faith. God is the primary actor, the one who brings about the changes. God is the one who takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. Look at the waters of baptism. God takes ordinary water and words and transforms us into children, marks us with cross forever, and washes us clean. God takes ordinary bread and wine and makes it into most extraordinary food we ever eat, the body and blood of Christ, which nourishes us, strengthens us for work in world, and forgives us. God gives us more mercy and grace than we could ever need and turns us ordinary sinners into holy saints who God equips and empowers for ministry. God takes the gifts and talents we share and amazes us. God multiplies them and turns them into ministries and outreach. God takes the money we give and blesses it, so that daily service can and does take place in our church, community, synod, nation, and world. Every single one of our ministries, from the simplest to the most complex, is God working through us and doing amazing things.

            God tuned the simple idea for weekly meal into something that has served over 1200 dinners and hundreds of volunteers.  God took the seed for an idea of a garden for outreach and is growing it into a reality. God is shaping desires to reach out more to our neighbors into events like Trunk or Treat and Easter Egg Hunt. These are things we could not do on our own, any more so than the chief steward in today’s gospel could have change water into wine. No, these are things we are able to do because God richly and abundantly blesses us, giving us more than we need and daily enfolding us in a loving, forgiving embrace.

            Therefore, we become those who go into world, not proclaiming ourselves, but pointing to and proclaiming God, the one who gives us an abundance; the one who takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary; the one who transforms us and makes us children of God; the one who blesses us with more than we will ever need - just as Jesus blessed a wedding party with more wine than was needed.

            It is said that a student once asked the church father Jerome, who lived in mid fourth and early fifth century this question: “Did they drink all the wine at the wedding in Cana?” Jerome responded, “No. We are still drinking it today”.  Indeed. We are still drinking up God’s abundance, grace, and mercy; and indeed – it is the best we have ever had!

Amen.

© 2010, Rev. Todd A. Cutter. Please do not reproduce or distribute without permission.