Sermon: Do Whatever He Tells You...

Date Preached: Sunday January 17th 2010

Bible Reference: John  Chapter 2, verses 1-11

I wonder if you can think of someone you always love showing up at any get-together. When you hear that he or she might be going you think to yourself – well it’s not going to be that bad then – probably even worth the effort of going. Mind you, as I was thinking of this I also thought of words that might strike fear and consternation into the minds of some people and kill any occasion dead – how about this – “oh and the vicar’s going to be there!” (Ha!) 

Well I get a strong sense that wherever Jesus turned up – people – ordinary people - got really excited. With him on the invitation list it seems any occasion became special – and the wedding at Cana was certainly one.

This amazing story, so early in John’s gospel is the first recorded miracle that Jesus did. Let’s remember that because we’re in Epiphany this (again) is all about an event that reveals the light of Christ coming into the world. We’ve had the visit of the Magi - the wise men; and then God telling Jesus how very much he loved his Son at his baptism – and now here we get what John calls ‘the first of his signs’. But to get its significance we need to understand what was going on:

A Jewish wedding was (and still is) a major celebration – I remember going to the wedding of a social worker friend of mine when I was living in Philadelphia and it was an incredible experience. I’m told the tradition involved the bridegroom and his wedding party going to the father of the bride’s house during the evening. The groom and his friends would go inside. And they’d have the wedding ceremony right there inside the house. And then everyone would go outside, form a line, and march through the streets of the town or city toward the groom’s house; the grown-ups holding torches and candles; the kids following along eating nuts and berries; and they’d all be singing and celebrating at the tops of their voices so that everyone in town would be able to hear them: the groom and bride right at the front of the procession, and when they got to the bridegroom’s house, there’d be a wedding canopy right outside the front door. The bride and groom weren’t considered legally married until they walked through the canopy.
And then they’d enter the groom’s house, and they would eat tons of food and drink lots of wine – wine that was usually diluted with water, because Jewish wedding celebrations didn’t just last one evening like weddings do now. Sometimes, they could last a whole week! And in Jewish culture, it was the groom who was responsible for making sure that there was enough food and wine for everyone – and he paid for everything out of his own pocket, including paying off the bride’s father. So there are quite marked cultural difference from our marriage conventions!
And in his account John gives us important information: he tells us that ’Jesus’ mother was there; and that Jesus and his disciples had also been invited.’ Cana was a small village in the mountains of Galilee about 8 miles north of Nazareth, and a lot of people in that area were either related to each other or would have known each other, so it’s highly likely that Jesus knew the bridal couple.

So "when the wine was gone, Mary said to Jesus, ‘They have no more wine.” No this was a real pickle, not just a minor inconvenience, because under Jewish law, each family was socially and legally obliged to provide a feast of food and wine that met the social standards of the community. And to run out of wine halfway through the wedding party not only would have made you the laughingstock of the community, ostracized and marked down for the future – probably for ever in community folklore. It could even get you sued!

So when Mary said to Jesus, "They have no more wine," she wasn’t just saying that because she needed a stiff drink. She was genuinely concerned about the welfare of this young couple. She was saying in effect, "Jesus, this is serious! And I was hoping that you could do something to help.

But what did you make of Jesus’ reply? It’s an interesting one if you have a look. “Women what concern is that to you and me. My hour has not yet come.” In other words, he might be saying something like, ’Now listen, this is one area of our relationship where you don’t have any jurisdiction over me. I can’t go running around solving everyone’s problems just because you want me to. I have to be sensitive to what my Father wants me to do. And right now is not the time for me to make a full disclosure of who I am and why I came.’ He’s not saying to his mother that he won’t do anything. He’s gently reminding her that this isn’t the main point of his ministry. So well meaning though Mary might have been –Jesus demonstrates early that his obedience is to his Father’s purposes.

And that’s probably why Jesus addresses her as "Woman" or “ ‘Dear Woman’ instead of ’Mother.’ His relationship with his mother is changing. From now on, instead of approaching Jesus as her son, she (like all of us) needs to learn to approach him as Lord, as Saviour – as the child of promise who was now beginning to fulfil his destiny.

And Mary doesn’t give any indication that she was offended or took this the wrong way. She simply says to the servants "Do whatever He tells you." She has no idea if Jesus is going to get involved or not. But she does know that if he does get involved, your best bet is to listen to Him. And boy isn’t there’s a message there: if you and I do whatever Jesus tell us, something will happen in our lives for good; even if it makes us uncomfortable; even if it’s hard work, or inconvenient. Even if it’s something we’ve never done before and takes us out of what they call our ‘comfort zone.’

”Now standing there were six stone water-jars…and Jesus said to them fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take them to the chief steward - master of the banquet."

Now you really aren’t supposed to drink water from those jars! Those were set aside for ceremonial cleansing. You’d take a cup of water from the jar, and pour it over the top of your hand, letting the water run down your fingers. Then you’d take another cup and pour it over the other hand. So when Jesus instructed them to fill the jars with water, they were probably nudging each other in utter disbelief. And then when he said, "Now go and give some to the steward, they’d have been incredulous – “WHAT? – he wants us to serve WATER to the master of the banquet? He’s gotta be kidding! When the master finds out that we tried to give him water instead of wine – especially drawn from those jars, he’ll “have our guts for garters” (as we used to say – that’s my paraphrase)

"Do whatever he tells you, Mary said – however bizarre – and this certainly was!" I’ll bet their hearts were pounding in their chest when they took that water to the master of the banquet.
And we’re told he put the cup to his lips and tasted… vintage wine – nectar! So, not surpsringly he called out to the bridegroom and said, "Could you come over here for a minute?" "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 ‘til now! This wine is incredible!"

Now then, what’s going on? – are you getting a sense of something incredible here? Well for one thing, no one really knows how it all happened. As far as we know, Jesus never waved his arm over the water pots. He never said, "I command this water to become wine!" He simply willed it to happen, and it happened. And isn’t this the way Jesus still does his miraculous work today? – no hype, no fuss – he often acts in such a sublimely, low key, respectful way that many of us aren’t even aware that something supernatural might be going on – even when it is.
I guess another thing is that this miracle was not a ’necessity’, but a luxury. Think about this just for a minute: This isn’t like some of the other miracles Jesus performed, where someone had suffered for years, or where a child’s life hangs in the balance. This isn’t an emergency situation that demands immediate and dramatic action on our Lord’s part. Running out of wine was a problem – horrifically embarrassing. But it wasn’t a life and death issue.

The point is that God cares very much about our "non-critical" problems! He cares about the details of our lives that we might be tempted to think aren’t all that important in the scheme of things – he loves us!
Some people have the mistaken idea that prayer is like calling 999 (9/11 in the States); something that you only do if you have an emergency. But we are so, so wrong. God cares about everything that affects his children – just like any good parent.
And a final thing I want us to notice about Jesus’ first miracle is the quantity of the wine (did you do the math?). Jesus made anywhere from 120 to 180 gallons of wine. Why? – because he’s an extravagant, lavish giver! The abundance of the wine is a symbol of God’s love and grace. There’s always enough for everyone and there’s always some left over. You see the same thing when Jesus feeds 5000 people in John chapter 6. Remember how many baskets of bread and fish were left over? 12. Jesus gives us everything we need – and more!
And the quality?!! This wasn’t Thunderbird (T-Bird) – the cheap plonk that the hobos on the Philadelphia streets used to drink out of brown paper bags. And it wasn’t Lambrusco – this was the choicest first growth claret or burgundy. And he saved the best for last! The point is that those of us who invite Jesus into their situation find him saving the best things in life for last! We get this picture don’t we of the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven!

(There’s so much here!!) What’s this thing about the ceremonial jars? Well Jesus is sending a message right from the word go that he’s going to transform all the stuffy and restricted practices of Pharasaic Judaism that entrap people in feeling guilty into the new wine of the gospel of the Kingdom. This isn’t about doing church and being religious – it’s about the breaking in of something completely new – outrageously new!.

Note the end of the reading. Jesus did this, the first of his signs in Cana of Galilee, and? revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him – put their trust in him. It changed their lives. 

The challenge of Epiphany: to invite Jesus into our situations – our lives – as Lord and Master – and let’s do whatever he tells us – look what can happen…!