Cana Wedding

John’s gospel and the wedding at Cana. Now the verses composing this Gospel are some of the richest in content that I have yet to examine. While there are layers upon layers and theme upon theme involved here, I had to keep asking myself what the most important point was that I wanted to make. Was it Mary’s position as a person of authority at the wedding? She obviously had something to do with the event because she gave orders to the workers to do whatever Jesus told them to do. And all through the season of Epiphany she is present in most of the gospels we hear. Was it about the first miracle he worked? I’ve wondered why it took around sixteen or seventeen years since we last heard of him. That was the story of how he was staying behind in the temple discussing scripture with the rabbis instead of departing with his parents as he was told. They had to retreat back and look for him. By the way, kids, punishment was a lot harder and harsher back then. Today if you would happen to get into trouble – and I know that just like me, you don’t – you might lose TV privileges for a night. So if things were tougher back then, we might have a clue as to one reason for Jesus’ long period of absence. After pulling a stunt like that, Mary and Joseph were so mad by the time they found him that – yes, it may have been that for all those years, Jesus was grounded!

What I did discover was more of how John’s gospel leaves no words without sincere intention, and no thoughts without an intentional meaning, and unlike the synoptic gospels which were each written as a focus on a particular group of people, John intends it’s use to send a message to a somewhat wider audience ... Jews, Greeks, Asians, and us! It shows us that not a minute, hour, or day goes by without Jesus displaying his love for everyone in some form or fashion, showering us with God’s grace in all situations. What we have to do is be open to it and recognize it. Mary already knew who her son, Jesus, was. Mary knew that he was capable of providing exactly what people needed to get them through any situation. So it was that he revealed this to the world, in public, at a celebration of marriage.

Epiphany is about God revealing himself in the world as Christ, and for me, it also begins to reveal the Trinity. Last week the Holy Spirit was brought forth during Jesus’ baptism and the announcing of Jesus as God’s son. Today we are given the insights as to God’s presence in the world as Jesus. We need to remember that this is NOT a story of a “once and done” ordeal as some may think, the first of a list of miracles that were to be told in Sunday school. It is a story of how God’s grace is abundant, bigger, and more intense than any of us could ever imagine. At the time, religion was defined by laws and commandments. We hear of how Jesus wanted to show that there is also a spirit behind these laws and how by NOT looking at the true spirit, we miss so much in our lives. And so it is with grace. This is a story of how this spirit of grace is given to us through Jesus, meant for humanity just as Jesus was human as well as divine. It is a story that opens us up to the revelation that God’s grace is meant for everyone no matter who they are, and not confined to laws, codes and commandments that might keep us blind from seeing greater things.

We see this story of God’s abundant grace revealed for the perhaps the first time in public at a wedding ceremony. Regardless whether you look at numbers or not, this is an incredible story. These six water pots combined now contained between 120 and 180 gallons of wine. That’s quite a supply for a small town wedding! It was not a wealthy family’s wedding, because if it had been, there would not have been the chance that the hosts would have run out of such a staple of celebration and hospitality, as wine was even in that day and age. It was not held in the grandeur of a large city. Cana was in Galilee, which was made up mostly of small, simple villages and homes, and it was in a small home that Jesus chose to show his glory. How often do we look for God outside of ourselves and our home, searching for something “out there” and forgetting that grace is abundant and flowing right within our own walls, within our own families, and within our own souls. It reveals to us that God is everywhere, in every place, at all times.

The events of the past several weeks can have the impact of bringing us closer to this revelation. We’ve had God’s grace and healing power of prayer for several of our own family members here at Nativity. We’ve had the generosity and love of Jesus shining through others as we dedicated the house for the homeless yesterday. And time after time we’ve seen the face of Jesus Christ in others who are present and at work in the events surrounding the disaster in Haiti. For all of the attention that was given to disparaging remarks by well known people falsely claiming God’s anger and punishment, there were hundreds of reports of God’s presence as this immense recovery operation began to unfold. We saw the tears of compassion and sympathy in the eyes of world news broadcasters and reporters - and we heard the helplessness and despair in the crackling of their voices. We were told of challenges being overcome by those involved with working out the logistics of receiving the personnel, medical supplies and other aid that were waiting to get in - on an airport runway that was itself partially destroyed from the quake. And we witnessed the heartbreaking cries of help from the victims as they called out in pain for a sip of water, each waiting for their turn to be freed from the rubble. In all of this, in each story, God is present.

One of several stories that touched me deeply came from a man who was pinned down under some beams, waiting to be cut loose, already in pain, while also having to bear the heat of a torch which was being used to cut the metal bars around him. When asked how he was bearing all of this he replied, “I am a Christian. So I just say, Jesus, my life is in your hands.” He did not say he was praying for God to save him. He did not say that he was certain he would be freed. He revealed that his faith in Jesus Christ would be sufficient to make the best of whatever the outcome was.

No matter where we are, no matter what the situation; whether we are in a metropolis with gilded palaces or a hamlet with bamboo walls and thatched roofs;, whether from the ages of earthen water pots or the age of plastic collapsible barrels; whether in the comfort of a modest home with more than we need or under a pile of bricks, wood and steel; there is a constant in this world. That constant is the unending, abundant grace that God gives us, poured out for us not by the imperfections of a law that tells us there are certain ways we must behave or risk severe punishment, but by the abundant grace and perfect love that is sufficient for all of us for all times, revealed to us in every part of the world by Jesus during every season of every year. Amen.