Water to Wine - Climbing to the Mountain Top

Epiphany 2C; John 2:1-11; St. Paul’s, 1/20/2019

Jim Melnyk “Water to Wine – Climbing to the Mountain Top”

To begin with, it wasn’t grape juice.  It was wine.  And by the time Jesus was done for the day, there was plenty of the stuff.  Good wine – the kind of wine that makes your heart glad if you’re someone who can partake of it without any problems, and the kind that you need to stay away from if you struggle at all with alcohol.  It wasn’t grape juice.  The steward wouldn’t talk about guests drinking too much and getting drunk if it was.

But why in the world would the author of John’s Gospel choose a wedding feast and a wine fest as the setting for Jesus to burst onto the stage – as the setting for Jesus to make, as it were, his first big splash?

Despite what some say, I don’t think Mary comes to Jesus because he and his friends may have shown up to the week-long wedding festival without bringing any wine.  The story isn’t a lesson about coming to a party with or without the proper libation. It’s not a story about the best way to share your wine with your guests – don’t get them drunk on the good stuff quickly, then switch over to the Three-Buck-Chuck. It’s not even a story meant to be a commentary on the sacredness of marriage, though the church has co-opted the story and made the water-to-wine miracle a reason for calling marriage a sacrament.

Rather, as the disciples seem to understand for once, this abundance of good wine is a sign of God’s presence among them.  Commentator Isabel Anders writes, “…with all the signs [offered by Jesus], there is realized a deeper sense that here is the one who came to bring salvation to the world.  The abundance of wine, 120-150 gallons [by the way], draws attention to the extravagance of the messianic age, [which we come across in the words of prophets like Isaiah and Amos, and] which we see again [later in the Gospels] in the feeding of the five thousand” (Synthesis). 

This story is about the inbreaking of God into human history – a sign that the conventional boundaries of life can be shattered – that God calls us into an abundance of life. “Jesus’ ministry begins with an extraordinary act of grace, a first glimpse of the ‘greater things’ to come... [and] the story invites [us] to see what the disciples see, that in the abundance and graciousness of Jesus’ gift, one catches a glimpse of the identity and character of God” (Gail R. O’Day, The New Interpreter’s Bible, page 540).

As we come to know the Jesus proclaimed in the Gospels, shouldn’t we strive toward a reality of abundance in our own lives and in the life of the world around us?  Shouldn’t we proclaim a hope and a promise that the extravagance of creation is something meant to be shared graciously by and with all? 

The lesson from Cana’s wedding feast teaches us something about making the love of God known to the world. The abundance of wine served as a symbol of God’s kingdom breaking upon those in first century Israel, and as a revelation of the power of God and the glory of Jesus. 

In this brief story from John we come to know Jesus as “the new wine who will bring God’s Kingdom to reality” (Synthesis).  The Jesus we come to know in the Scriptures is the very face of God who tells us there is enough: enough grace, enough peace, enough food, enough resources, enough money, enough forgiveness, enough love, for everyone – as long as we’re willing to live with enough, rather than as much as we can grab hold of and hold tight.  Trouble is, we don’t live in a world of “enough.”  We live in a world were too many people believe there just aren’t enough gifts from God to go around.

On the day before many in our nation remember the life and ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we recall how God’s abundance of grace kept King going – how God’s abundance was King’s experience – how it was a glimpse of that grace that allowed King to go on in the face of prison, violence, and threats of death. 

Shortly before his death King closed his final speech with these words: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land.  I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

And when we stop to think about it, we realize how extravagant a vision of God’s power to love and to heal one must have in order to face the possibility of death with such confidence.

Water-to-wine in Cana – King’s “Mountain Top” experience – both are glimpses of the inbreaking of God into a world desperately in need of God –  both glimpses of the dream of God that needs to be born in the hearts and souls of every human being – both glimpses of a God who loves us abundantly and with great extravagance.  Both events are moments in time that helped the people of God know Christ, and both events continue to be proclamations that let the people of God make Christ known to this world.

King believed that for good people to stand silent in the midst of the struggle for basic human rights was the greatest tragedy of all; and so he put himself in harm’s way to be a beacon of God’s grace – to be a beacon of God’s promise of abundance for all people. Jesus, who was King’s greatest teacher and strength, who was King’s Lord and Savior, believed that as well. And so Jesus put himself in harm’s way – to be a beacon of God’s grace – to be a beacon of God’s promise of abundance – to be a beacon of God’s redeeming love for all humanity.  And I give thanks that so many people today still honor King's dream – and in that, honor God's dream as well.            

We, too, must stand as beacons of God’s promise of abundance –as beacons of God’s promise of redeeming love for all humankind.  To be people who not only know Christ to be alive in our lives, but as people who make Christ’s transforming love known to the world.  It won’t always be easy. We look at the news this week and see stories about police officers shot in the street and a Native American Viet Nam Vet being accosted by hateful teenagers while he tries to pray. It won't always be easy, but it is worth the struggle.

Jesus could have done any number of things to catch people’s attention – any number of things to leap onto the stage, as it were.  Jesus chose to act out a parable of God’s extravagant love – a parable of God’s dream of a rich, wild, abundant festival, where all know the love of God and all feel themselves at home in the kingdom of God – where we know that God rejoices over every one of us.

I came across a news story the other day in my Facebook memory feed from six years ago. I would call it a modern day parable of God’s abundant grace.  Basque athlete Iván Fernández Anaya was competing in a cross-country race. He was running a distant second behind race leader Abel Mutai – a bronze medalist at the London Olympics.  As they entered the finishing straight, Anaya saw the Kenyan runner – the certain winner of the race – mistakenly pull up about 10 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line. 

Anaya quickly caught up with him, but instead of exploiting Mutai's mistake to speed past and claim an unlikely victory, he stayed behind and using gestures, guided the Kenyan to the line and let him cross first.  "I didn't deserve to win it” said Anaya.  “I did what I had to do. He was the rightful winner…. As soon as I saw he was stopping, I knew I wasn't going to pass him” (First portion of the story from Facebook, final quote from Huffington Post).

Water into wine?  No.  Standing before water cannons, snarling police dogs, and hateful mobs?  No.  Acting out the extravagant grace and love of God?  Most certainly. 

The dream lives on my friends–it lives on in our hearts – it lives on in our souls – it lives on through the presence of God’s spirit in our lives.  How have you come to know the abundance of Christ in your life?  How will you choose to make Christ known to the world around you?  How will you choose to share the dream?