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"Mawwiage! Mawwiage is what bwings us together today."
"Mawwiage! Mawwiage is what bwings us together today."
Well, maybe not us, but a wedding is the setting for today's reading, a reading which follows the trajectory we have been on since Christmas. You see, shortly after Christmas each year, much of the larger church celebrates Epiphany on January 6. Technically Epiphany is celebrated as a single day, but we count the Sundays following Epiphany until Lent begins as the Sundays after Epiphany (though some traditions do think of this as the season of Epiphany).
Throughout this season following Epiphany, we focus on much the same theme as the one introduced on Epiphany - the manifestation or revelation of Christ to the world. On Epiphany Sunday, we hear about the visit of the Magi. We hear how these wise ones from other lands to the east come to see the newly born king of the Jews. They are not Jewish themselves, they followed a completely different tradition. But they knew that the one foretold by the star would be one of great importance to the entire world.
And so Jesus was revealed to strangers from another land.
Last week, we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord, the day that Jesus was baptized. We heard how the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus and a voice from heaven claimed Jesus as the Beloved Son.
And so Jesus was revealed to those in the crowds that day.
Today we have a revelation of a different sort. Jesus is at a wedding with his mother and some of his disciples. While they are there, the host runs out of wine for the guests. Mary makes a point of telling Jesus.
Now I am trying to imagine being at a wedding and having my mother tell me they are out of wine. I imagine my response would not be too different from Jesus’ initial reaction - what does that have to do with me?
You see, in the Gospel of John we do not find the same sort of baptism story found in the other gospels. There is no public baptism, no public voice from heaven, no public vision of the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. We get the testimony of John the Baptist that those things happened. But it is not written as if this was something that others witnessed.
At this point in the Gospel of John, we have heard the mystical identification of Jesus with the Word of God - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We’ve heard the testimony of John the Baptist of the one from God that is to come. And we get a glimpse of Jesus beginning to gather his first disciples. But there is no public manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God in the first chapter of John.
It is interesting to consider that the other gospels have Jesus’ public ministry begin with baptism. Arising from the waters, the Holy Spirit descends and the voice comes from heaven to claim Jesus as God’s Son. This has the feel of an appropriate beginning to the ministry for which Jesus is known, his powerful teaching and healing. But here in the Gospel of John, Jesus’ first public manifestation takes the form of a miraculous act of power during a wedding celebration. And not just any wedding celebration, which by itself is not an insignificant part of many people’s lives, but a wedding celebration that ran out of wine. What could be more mundane than running out of wine at a party? And yet, this is precisely where the writer of this Gospel chooses to start Jesus’ public ministry.
Now to be clear, for many of us there is nothing strange about thinking of Jesus being present at a wedding. After all, many of us that get married do so in a church with a clergy person involved, recognizing God’s presence in our lives and our love for one another. And Jesus was certainly present there at the wedding itself. But what our text makes clear is that he was there for the party, too, hanging out with his mom and some of his disciples. Maybe this was one of Mary’s relatives getting married. Maybe the wedding was for one of the children of a well-known and well-connected local person who had spread the invitations far and wide. We actually know very little about who got married other than the fact that Mary and Jesus and his disciples had been invited and the host had run out of wine.
Mary’s mention and presence here is done very intentionally. As we consider the mother of Jesus in the other gospels, she is mostly relegated to the birth and death narratives. But here we find mention of her at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Her presence is an important part of the story. Not only is she mentioned, she is the one to push Jesus to act and thereby reveal himself as the Son of God. This story makes it very clear that Mary knew and understood exactly who her son is.
Jesus was content to this point to keep things quiet. Based on testimony from the other gospel writers and our tradition, we can guess Jesus is about 30 years old at this point. He is at a wedding with his followers and his mother, so we can guess that he is still very close to his mother even as he has begun gathering some like-minded followers around himself. But other than John the Baptist’s testimony, there is nothing public about who Jesus is.
So as all good mothers do, Mary gives Jesus a bit of a nudge. “They have no wine.” It isn’t much of a nudge, but, as all good sons do, Jesus didn’t need any more than that to understand what she was suggesting. His response suggests this probably isn’t the first time they have had this conversation. “What business is that to me? Stop nagging me; it isn’t time yet.” But this time, Mary doesn't take no for an answer. She turns to the host’s servants and tells them to do whatever Jesus tells them. Whether he thinks he is ready or not, Mary is ready. She forces his hand.
Maybe she knew more in this instance than he did. After all, the Mary we actually meet in the gospel stories is a far cry from the sweet, submissive mother we tend to recall from our Nativity plays. Mary in the gospel stories is a woman who knew her history, who knew the Torah, and who knew what the Son of God coming into the world would mean. She sings a song about all of the things that God will do in the world through Jesus. And today, she tells God’s Son that it is time to stop hiding who he is.
Or maybe she was just ready for her older son and all his weird friends to get out of her house.
Whatever the case, here in the gospel of John we find Jesus becoming publicly known at a party that has run out of wine. Not in a story of miraculous healing. Not in a story of Jesus miraculously feeding the multitudes. Not in a story of a loud voice from heaven or a dove descending. But a story of Jesus miraculously turning water into wine at a party. It is a glimpse of Jesus in the midst of everyday life, a glimpse of Jesus in the midst of feasting and dancing and celebrating. It is a Jesus we do not often get to see.
Of course for a miraculous entry into public ministry, Jesus still keeps it as low-key as possible. He doesn’t turn this into a party trick. “Hey, guys! Anyone want to watch me turn this water into wine?” This is not a miracle done to astound or amaze people. The only ones that truly witness the miracle are the servants and most likely his disciples. Not the other party goers, not even the host. Only the handful of servants and disciples present would have seen what actually took place. Obviously the story would have spread later, but even here in the first of his attested acts of power, Jesus doesn’t do it to create a spectacle. This small act of power is about identifying him as the Son of God, not making him the center of attention.
Christ is present in the midst of the celebration, but he lets the focus remain on those being celebrated.
So why wine? Why this party? It is hard to say with any certainty. There are certainly some sacramental undertones to this story. First there is the fact that the jars used to hold the water were large basins used for purification rituals. These jars used for ritual cleansing suddenly being filled with wine alludes to our own rituals of Holy Communion, the wine that is Christ’s blood that offers us cleansing.
This is further suggested by the fact that this is a wedding celebration. In some of the Eastern traditions of the church that started in areas where this gospel was widely circulated, baptism is seen as our marriage to Christ. In this tradition Holy Communion, which always follows baptism, becomes a sort of wedding feast.
Seen through this lens, the identification of a wedding and the presence of Christ can take on a different meaning.
And while I love the sacraments themselves, while I could go on and on about the sacramental imagery here, I also love the simple sacramentality of looking for Christ’s presence in everyday life. With or without the sacramental undertones, I love the idea of Jesus hanging out at a party with his friends.
Yes, he heals the sick.
Yes, he feeds the hungry.
Yes, he takes time to kneel in prayer.
Yes, he preaches forgiveness and repentance and reconciliation.
But the incarnation tells us he also lives a very human life. As holy as Jesus is, he is also, at times, very ordinary.
What could be more ordinary than hanging out with your friends at a party and having your mother nag you about getting on with your life?
And so I invite you to be aware of the places where God breaks into our everyday, ordinary lives. God is there with us in our times of quiet and prayer, but God also nudges us at other times as well. Sometimes we see God in the beauty of creation around us. Sometimes we catch a spiritual message in a movie we are watching or in a song we hear. And sometimes a TV series might nudge a little something inside that makes us ask deeper questions that were totally unexpected given the context. And God is there in the midst of our relationships and our celebrations.
Of course, just in case I didn’t quite make it clear, I’m not saying we need to invite Jesus to our Super Bowl party in case we run out of beer. That is not quite the lesson we are going for here today. But what I am saying is that God wants to be there with us not just in our times of prayer, not just in our times of need, but also in our times of celebration and even in the most mundane, everyday occurrences of our lives. God is present for us in the midst of our struggles and in the midst of our parties. God is present when we take time apart to be in prayer, but God is also present while we are washing the dishes. God is there with us as we worship, and God is sitting there with us while we run our errands.
This is part of remembering that as Holy as Christ is, Jesus was also a fully human person that lived and grew and learned in our world. The good news of the story is not that God pointed a finger and changed the world. The good news of the story is that God came down to live among us, to see our world through human eyes, that God took the time to come down and understand exactly what it is to be human - with all that entails - and loves us just the same.
So I invite you to be aware of those places in your life where God is nudging you. Be aware of those moments that you may think of as small and even those moments you may think of as inappropriate to the presence of God, and remember that God is there with us even in the most ordinary, everyday occurrences of our lives.