In the gospel story of the wedding at Cana, the evangelist says, “The wine gave out.” (v. 3)
But I wonder if the guests even noticed.
Maybe among the servants there was a moment of panic. There weren’t corner stores where someone could pop over and replenish the supplies. There may have been anxiety and even shame at falling short, and not providing what was needed.
But my guess is that the guests whose cups were still full and who were enjoying the feast may not have even noticed the problem. At least not immediately.
Because we don’t often. When there aren’t enough of ____ fill in the blank ___ . A shortage of teachers or restaurant workers. Cereal boxes or drinks missing from the grocery aisles. We tend not to notice until it affects us directly. But at some point, the unmet needs go from being merely an inconvenience to being problems that need solutions.
In his gospel account, John doesn’t tell us who else knew the wine was
gone, but when Jesus’ mother notices the problem, she goes to Jesus, full of expectation.
And when he turns the water into wine, the servants are in on it. They fill all six stone water jars to the brim with water and watch as one of them takes a cup to the chief steward. They know it was water and now it’s wine, and they know that Jesus was the one to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary.
But the steward doesn’t thank Jesus; instead, he credits the bridegroom, saying, “You have kept the good wine until now.” (v. 11)
When a good thing happens to you, or you see a problem gets fixed, what is your first thought?
Do you think, “Oh, someone clever has worked this out.”?
Or do you think, “Thank you God for making a way forward.”?
Ok, maybe that’s a bit of a false dichotomy or comparison.
In the gospel story, each of the stone jars would have held between 20 to 30 gallons of water and all of that water had to be brought from a well. There were no garden hoses or faucets. So, filling the jars to the brim wouldn’t have been as quick or easy as the story makes it appear. It would have taken time and strength, energy and patience.
We don’t know what would have happened if the servants had just thrown up their hands and said, “We can’t help.” The servants did some hard work here.
AND God is at work behind the scenes.
I will name that Jesus’ initial reluctance to get involved makes me uncomfortable. I cherish the promise that God is with us in every circumstance – big and small – and I don’t like the feeling of distance Jesus creates here. I want Jesus to be compassionate about every need and he appears dismissive here. And sure, it’s wine at a wedding and not life or death, but it’s still awkward.
Jesus explains his reticence, saying, “My hour has not come” – a phrase he repeats two more times in chapters 7 and 8 when he was threatened with arrest on account of his teaching. With that phrase, he is referring to the hour when the Son of Man will be glorified and depart from this world to be with the Father – the hour of his crucifixion. (John 12)
But thankfully after the exchange with his mother, Jesus chooses to act, even now. He sees the need that is there and answers it. He is there - even for the small things.
It makes me curious about how we notice needs and how we could help each other see what we may not see on our own. There’s a saying that “You can’t unsee what you’ve seen.”
I’ve told you a little about Trailhead Resources – a local organization
that is meeting the neds of people experiencing homelessness here in Shelby. At
the end of the summer, I helped with the group’s day shelter over on Warren
Street that is open on Tuesdays. Everyone is welcome inside, off the street,
and there’s a food pantry and lunch. In December they expanded their services,
opening an emergency men’s shelter on Washington Street just across the street
from our church property.
At Trailhead, I got to know a woman here in Shelby who doesn’t have regular housing. A lot of the time, she spends her days at her storage unit and then sleeps on a loading dock at night. She sleeps there because it’s well-lit and nobody bothers her. The other place where she feels safe to sleep is on the benches on the court square. One time we helped her get a motel room so she could get out of the wet for a night. Later we got her a sleeping bag to help against the cold.
Knowing her has helped me be a little more curious about the stories of other people I meet and helped me notice when I see someone who looks like they’re carrying their belongings with them or have set up camp on the side of a building. I can’t unsee them or deceive myself that everyone has someplace dry or warm or even safe to live.
The wedding at Cana assures us that God wants good for us. The God who changes water into wine so that the people can continue to celebrate the couple’s new life together is the same God who notices us and the joys and celebrations – and suffering – that we experience too.
And this same God invites us to be attentive to the unmet needs that we
witness. Like Jesus’ mother we can name those needs aloud. That’s what we do
when we pray isn’t it?
“Dear God, This is happening. There’s this problem in the world.
Surely, you can do something about it.”
“Dear God, There are people this weekend whose only shelter is a tent.
Keep them safe.”
“Dear God, There are hospitals that are stretched thin because of staff outages from COVID. Equip the hospitals and provide the workers with all they need.”
This story reminds us that we know how to be part of God’s work in this way.
And it compels us to be thankful. When we notice how God intervenes, the way things fall into place or the good that happens, may we credit not only the people involved but God’s own agency. May we always be thankful and rejoice that God loves us and wants good for us.
Amen.
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