St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
The Second Sunday after the Epiphany/Year C: January 16, 2022
Gospel: John 2:1-11
I speak to you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Anyone who has ever been in, or attended, a wedding reception can form an image in their mind about what Jesus and his disciples had walked into as guests. There is generally a lot of activity amongst the guests—talking, dancing, gift-giving, lots of eating and potentially lots of drinking. The newly-married couple, their family and friends, openly share this celebratory event as intimate memories are being created.
There is also another event happening just behind the scenes. This event is the well-timed dance of the caterer and their staff, the bartenders and even the entertainers. These participants of the reception are busy coordinating their efforts just out of plain view.
If that dance of coordination is done well, the happy couple and guests will remain oblivious to any glitches—and events always have glitches. Professional event planners, however, anticipate glitches and often have a contingency plan at the ready.
In our Gospel in the second chapter of John, we are drawn into a narrative about a wedding in Cana, most likely for Jesus’ relatives, where Jesus attends, along with his disciples. Weddings were a big deal for the families involved and for the community, and traditionally lasted for a week. Wine at the wedding was so important that families would begin to store up wine when a daughter was born in anticipation of the future wedding festivities. Not only would it be poor hospitality to run out of wine; it would be a major embarrassment for the family, and did not bode well for a successful marriage. Running out of wine would be the equivalent of modern-day poor event planning, and the only contingency plan that could fix such a glitch was a miracle.
The mother of Jesus was already at the wedding when Jesus arrived. And when the worst thing that could happen during such a celebratory event happened—Jesus’ mother brought the crisis to his attention. Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.” Despite Jesus’ initial push back, the crisis of scarcity provided the opportunity for Jesus to perform what is known as the first of the seven signs that reveal his glory through this extraordinary, act of transforming water into an abundance of wine.
Through this sign we witness much more than the launch of Jesus’ public ministry; we witness the start of a sustained movement—the Jesus Movement—of which our presiding bishop, Michael Curry so passionately speaks. These signs seed the foundation of our faith—a faith that proclaims Jesus as the way, the truth and the life, in times of peace and in times of crisis—not as a contingency plan in times of crisis.
Jesus’ mother saw an opportunity to leverage the, behind-the-scenes wine crisis, as a means to create early witnesses who would influence others to believe in Jesus’ divinity. She was aware of how important it was for people to see Jesus’ signs in order for them to believe. In the mobilization of the servants to assist Jesus, his mother surrounded him with eye-witnesses who could share their precious word-of-mouth testimonies with the people in Cana. Involving the servants as witnesses to the sign was strategic and purposeful.
Jesus’ miracle enlisted the participation of the servants through a three-part call-to-action command. Jesus said, “Fill the jars with water; Draw some out; take it to the chief steward.” A considerable amount of physical effort would be required by the servants in order to go out to draw and bring back 20 or 30 gallons of water back to the site of the six purification jars. Obediently responding to Jesus’ commands, positioned the servants as active participants in the sign to come.
And when the servants drew the water to take to the chief steward, they saw that the water had been transformed into wine. The chief steward, oblivious to what had taken place, knew only that there was an abundance of wine that tasted distinctively better than the “good” wine he had been previously consuming. But the servants knew. Jesus had engaged them to participate in, and to witness, an Epiphany—the revelation of his glory. After the wedding, Jesus and his disciples would move on, but the vibrant testimony of the servants left behind would take root and spread so that others might come to believe.
It is interesting that in this text, we are not told what Jesus DID to transform the water into wine. He did not say words over the full jars. He didn’t dip his hands into the jars. From the time Jesus gave the servants the commands to fill the jars with water, to the point when they gave the wine to the chief steward, the scripture says nothing about what Jesus DID to the water—because what he DID is not the point. Who Jesus IS—his divine “otherness”—is the point. In the real presence of Jesus, the water was transformed. In the real presence of Jesus, the lives of the witnesses to this sign, were forever changed. God is in the business of transformation!
When I served as a hospital chaplain, I practiced a ministry of presence; not showing up with the intention of doing anything or fixing a situation—but actively being. Often the patient care team did not really understand what the chaplain actually did until they witnessed it. But, the nurses and doctors, who were in the intimate space of a hospital room at the times when spiritual support was provided for patients and their families—got it. They felt the presence of God in those shared encounters, and they witnessed me being a chaplain, not doing chaplaincy.
It was a gift for me to be able to witness the nurses and doctors when they realized that the spiritual support served them, too. That through the spiritual support, there was a real presence actively moving behind the scenes ensuring that all souls present could be transformed by the shared experience of being in the room, while companioning another soul through their journey of suffering, or dying, or healing.
Through our baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we like the water collected in the Jewish purification jars, are transformed. And, that transformation continues each time we encounter the real presence of Christ as we receive the sacraments of Christ’s body and blood in the Holy Eucharist. The risen Christ comes amongst us, and moves through us, to transform us into vibrant, living signs of His Church’s mission: To restore all people to God and to each other in Christ.
In this season of Epiphany and beyond, may we all be signs that point to the transforming power of Jesus’ real presence in us, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit through us, to bring about God’s Kingdom on earth. To God be the Glory! Amen.
