Whatever He Tells You

Sunday, January 14th, 2007
Epiphany 2
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
John 2:1-11

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the other of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Most of you have heard at least some part of the story of Leslie and Hannah’s trip to Hueyotlipan, Tlaxcala, Mexico at the end of November of last year to help out as well as to participate in the celebration of the 15th birthday of the daughter of one of the men we work with through the associational ministry to the Latino community here on the northern neck. Hueyotlipan is a small town; it sits on a hillside at a bend in the road in a rural part of the state. There are smaller hamlets around it, and further off, some larger towns and cities. Hueyotlipan itself has a population of about 5000 people, and ten percent – 500 of them – were invited to the celebration for Berenice, Mundo and Carmen’s daughter. Quinceañeras, the birthday celebration – it’s more than just a party – are a BIG deal in Mexican culture. This one was already in the planning stages when we first met Mundo back in 2003. Today, we are reading about an event that was even bigger than this Quinceañera. Marriages in first century Palestine were arranged years in advance, so there was plenty of time to work on the guest lists, arrange for the catering, order the flowers, reserve the halls … well, none of that probably factored in to the REAL weddings in Cana, but … you get the picture. They didn’t have television, or movies back then, few people could read, so there were precious few ways to really have a good time. The party that accompanied a marriage ceremony was a BIG deal, and this one was on the point of heading south quickly and catastrophically.

This past Wednesday evening, in our mid-week Bible study, we had as our text the transfiguration of Jesus from the Gospel according to Luke. It is found in the 9th chapter, beginning in verse 28 and continuing through verse 36. We find there a telling of the events that Peter, James and John witnessed on a mountain one night while Jesus was praying. Most of us are familiar with the story to some degree – Jesus is praying, he begins to change – his clothes turn brilliant white, his face shines, and he is suddenly accompanied by two other glorified beings – Moses and Elijah. It is a pivotal moment in the lives and faith of those disciples, in that what they have been slowly becoming aware of over the course of the public ministry of Jesus is made patently, physically clear to them – which is that Jesus is in fact God incarnate – the Son of God – come to the world to redeem us and draw us to God’s self in the ultimate act of self-giving.

The events we’ve read about this morning are somewhat on the other end of his public ministry. The transfiguration is linked to the week of Christ’s passion and death, THIS miracle, the turning of the water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana, is the inaugural sign of Christ’s ministry, following his ‘encounter’ with John the Baptist. I say ‘encounter’ for a reason; an interesting side item; John’s gospel is the only one that entirely omits a DIRECT reference to the actual baptism of Jesus, though it does have all the elements of the other Gospels included in the scene – John and his disciples out in the wilderness, people flocking to him to be baptized, and a meeting with Jesus, just no baptism per se. No dove descending, no voice from heaven declaring ‘this is my son, in whom I am well-pleased’. It presents an interesting question into how the author of the Gospel viewed and wanted to portray Jesus – he DOES have John the Baptist delivering the story himself – HE witnessed the dove descending from heaven, HE explains the reason for baptizing Jesus – “that he might be revealed to Israel” and John the Baptist twice testifies as to who Jesus really is – the son of God, and the Lamb of God (in chapter 1, verses 34 and 35).

There is a theme that is woven into the Gospel narrative of John – a juxtaposition of presentation and rejection – in other words – something happens, a miracle, a healing, a changed heart and life, a sign, a confrontation in which it is made clear (in hindsight) who Christ is and what his purpose is here on earth, followed by a rejection, a turning away of just the people to whom he has come – and it is present even here, at the wedding at Cana.

What’s interesting about the miracle of the water being turned into wine is that there is no big … what’s the theological term for it? … oh, yeah: no big HOO-HAH over the fact that Jesus turns about 180 gallons of plain old well water into the best wine the guests at the banquet had ever tasted. There is a logistical element to this – a lack of publicity, if you will. The mother of Jesus (did you notice she is never named in the story?) mentions that they are out of wine. Jesus turns to her (some would say ‘on her’, and says something that can be taken several different ways on several levels – he calls her ‘woman’, not ‘mother’ or ‘mo-om’ or ‘momma!’, but ‘woman’. It could be read with a cold inflection, or a distanced one, but the fact of the matter is, the word could be used with infinite tenderness, as Jesus himself uses it in chapter 19 verse 26, when he commended John to his mother and his mother to John as he was on his way to the cross. Just as he did then, he is also doing here – he’s redefining a relationship, but this time, it is a more personal one – one that is closer to home for him. He IS talking to his own mother, but in addressing her as ‘woman’, one commentator puts it, he is telling her that “in order to gain him as a savior, she would have to lose him as a son.” (William E. Hull, Commentary on John, Broadman Press, Nasvhille, 1970)

So Jesus rebuffs his mother’s efforts to get him to do something – pretty blatantly turns her down, tells her he doesn’t have anything to do with it.

And then does exactly what was probably in her mind to begin with. It does seem odd. But if you think about it, it’s not a singular event. At the beginning of chapter 7, Jesus’ brothers suggest he go to Jerusalem. He rejects the proposal, but then goes. At the beginning of chapter 11, Mary and Martha the sisters of Lazarus send for Jesus to come before Lazarus dies, and he doesn’t, but then a couple of days later he DOES. What is going on? Is Jesus being wishy-washy?

The correct answer is, of course, no.

Jesus is working on a threefold determination in responding to these situations: first, he is not to be guided SOLELY by human pressures, even when based on genuine need, he has to relate the problem to his understanding of the will of God in a given situation, and deal with the situations and the issues at hand on a MUCH deeper level than those who are IN trouble can imagine. He wasn’t indifferent to even the most common or even misguided requests. He was quick to discover creative ways by which to set those concerns being expressed in a redemptive context – that would, if you will, bring out the lesson of his being there in the first place – of what God is doing and is WILLING to do.

So what deeper purpose would be served in providing wine for a wedding party in Cana, once all the other stuff had been finished off?

There are three words at the beginning of verse 2 that can clue us in to the reason. It says Jesus had also been invited to the wedding, but not by himself – Jesus AND HIS DISCIPLES are there.

This was as much a lesson for them as it was a pleasant surprise for the other wedding guests.

Wine, in the Hebrew tradition, is closely associated with Joy. It was a good gift of God to gladden the heart in Genesis 27:28 and Psalm 104:15. When the land was devastated and the vineyards destroyed in Hosea 14, Jeremiah 31, and Zechariah 10, the joy that wine brings became a future hope. In the new age spoken of in Isaiah 25, the Lord was expected to make a feast of wine on his holy mountain.

This is why Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a banquet or a wedding feast in Matthew chapters 8, 22, 25 and 26, or refers to his followers as friends of the bridegroom in Mark 2:19 or just a little bit later, in John 3:29. To the consternation of the religious establishment, he openly celebrated the joy of God’s salvation with tax collectors and sinners in Matthew 11. At Cana, the disciples saw that when Christ intervenes, humanity is surprised by Joy.

Closely connected to this joy, in fact, linked to the image is the idea of abundant joy. The prophet Joel wrote repeatedly about wine being sent as a divine gift, one which would be present in large quantities, to the degree that the mountains themselves would drip sweet wine (2:19, 2:24, 3:8, respectively).

But it is also true that wine was not only associated with abundant joy, but with sorrow and suffering as well. Its color suggests blood; in its production, grapes are crushed in a winepress, and according to Psalm 60:3 and 75:8, drinking the dregs of the wine of suffering was a form of divine punishment. Jeremiah combines this image with the kindred concept of the cup, so we end up in Jeremiah 25:15 with the phrase ‘cup of the wine of wrath.’

Even here, at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus is signaling what the other end of his ministry would entail; his suffering and ultimately his death.

The joy that was experienced at Cana was short-lived. It was the anticipation – a brief glimpse into the enduring joy which we will know only when we ‘drink new in the kingdom of God’ (Mark 14:25).

Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. She didn’t put words in his mouth, she didn’t presume to. She simply trusted that he would fulfill his purpose. And the servants responded as she asked them to. They did exactly what Jesus told them to do. Senseless as it may have seemed, there was no hocus-pocus wand waving performed over the jars. Jesus simply told them to fill them up with water, and then told one of them to take a ladle and draw from one of them and take it to the steward, who drank of it and tasted the riches of the kingdom without even realizing it.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

The wedding guests didn’t realize what they were in for when they showed up for the celebration. Do we? And are we willing to do what Jesus asks us to do, no matter how unusual it might seem? Are we willing to do the unexpected for the celebration to really kick into gear?

(Communion)

Let’s pray.