Second Sunday after Epiphany

John 2:1-11

I feel like I should be using a stage whisper to read this gospel. The scene we have in John’s gospel feels like it takes place backstage, behind the scenes or at least downstairs if it had happened in the days of Victorian England. Certainly, only a handful of people even know what has taken place. The rest of the wedding guests, the bride and even the bridegroom and his closest friends never suspect anything unusual has occurred.

We’ve probably all attended at least one wedding; the most intimate one I remember is my mother’s wedding to my stepfather, with family gathered around, while the most grand would be one of the royal weddings broadcast around the world. Our memories and experiences shape how we hear the biblical story and provide a starting place for understanding what was happening, but paying attention to the local context is important, too. Jewish wedding customs in the first century would have included a procession from the bride’s house to the groom’s, and a wedding feast that could have lasted seven days.[i]  It would have been raucous, and the entire village would have been invited. And it is in the midst of that boisterous cacophony of music and voices joined in celebration and conversation that John records a side conversation between Jesus and his mother, his instructions to the servants, and the steward’s conversation with the bridegroom that follows.

It’s easy to dismiss Mary as a busybody when she tells Jesus, “They have no wine.” Especially when we hear his unsympathetic reply, “What concern is that to you or me?”

But the story doesn’t end with his refusal to get involved.

I’ve wondered if, like in his encounter with the Syrophoenician woman who asked for her daughter to be healed, Jesus was persuaded by his mother’s pleading, but it’s more likely that John includes their exchange to emphasize the sovereignty or authority of God in Jesus. For the Evangelist John, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise of the Messiah.

When the story continues we hear his instructions to the servants and watch as the chief steward, the person put in charge of all the details of the festivities, tastes the drawn cup and then addresses the bridegroom. It is only then that we hear about the very good wine that has come from the jars that had held water.

Throughout Scripture, “the joys of a feast are gift from God” and wine often is a symbol of joy, given in abundance by God. [ii] Spiritual joy is not simply happiness though ; it is a fruit of the Spirit of God made evident in a disciple’s life.

There’s a story about Saint Francis where he tells his brotherd at the monastery about the nature of true joy. Francis describes returning to the friary on a bitterly cold winter night, the kind of night where icicles had formed on the muddy hem of his habit and cut at his legs. Francis approaches the gate and knocks for a long time. One of his brothers eventually comes to the door and angrily demands that he identify himself. Francis gives his name and begs for entrance for the love of Christ. But the gatekeeper refuses him admission, curses him and then begins to beat Francis around the head and shoulders. Francis says to the brother hearing the story for the first time, “I tell you that if I kept patience and was not upset- that is true joy and true virtue and the salvation of the soul.”[iii]

David Rensberger writes about this story in his article “True and Perfect Joy” saying Francis’ joy arises from remaining intent on Christ through pain and difficulty and betrayal.”[iv]

Joy is found in the vision of Jesus’ perfect love for each of us.

When you substitute the word “joy” for wine in the gospel, the meaning of Mary’s words changes. She’s no longer preoccupied with avoiding the scandal of a poorly prepared feast or intruding where she doesn’t belong. She has seen the poverty of joy all around her and she knows Jesus can intercede.

The purification jars become what one preacher called “vessels of transformation” as Jesus provides an overflowing abundance of joy to the wedding guests. Some of them won’t ever notice that Jesus was even there or know that he changed their circumstances. Others will be skeptical, even after having seen his miracle and question what happened and why. But John tells us that at least the disciples believed in him.

But, what would have happened if Mary had stayed silent?

What if she had just watched quietly from the back of the room while the wine ran out and the celebration faded as people grew more and more unsettled?

Haven’t we faced circumstances when we’d rather stay silent?
When we don’t want to trouble the waters or rock the boat?

The wedding at Cana reminds us that we, too, know Jesus is the Messiah, and we know the sovereignty of God — that God is God, and we are not.

We know what we cannot do — we cannot turn water into wine or perform miracles.

But we can and must speak up and name the places where we see God at work in our midst;
we must name the sin that infects our own lives and confess our self-centeredness and selfishness;
we must name the brokenness that fragments our community and ask God to intervene.

With the psalmist whose words from Psalm 51we sing at the offertory, we can call out,

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.[v]

With God’s Spirit renewing us and strengthening us, we disciples, like the ones who accompanied Jesus in Cana, are called to witness to the abundant joy that God supplies.

Let us pray…
Loving God,
Thank you for the gift of Your Son who comes into our lives unexpectedly and often unnoticed;
You grant us the joy of salvation and ask us not to be silent about the abundant life we have in Your grace.
Give us courage to speak up so that others can share in the abundance you give us all.
We pray in the name of Jesus,
Amen.

[i] Raymond Brown. The Gospel According to John I-XII.  Yale: Anchor Press. 97-98.

[ii] Gail Ramshaw. Treasures Old and New: Images in the Lectionary. Kindle Edition. 183.

[iii] Lisa Cressman Backstory Preaching. 95.

[iv] As quoted by Lisa Cressman, 96.

[v] Psalm 51:10-12 (NRS)