Sermon, 2nd Sunday of Epiphany

It was a year ago that I stood before you all on the 2nd Sunday of Epiphany and basically said, come and see whom is Jesus is calling us to be. We were invited to join Nathanael to and his brother Philip to come and see Jesus and this new community he was forming. We heard Jesus showing Nathanael that He had always seen this Jews with no deceit, and had always been in relationship with him. And we heard Jesus promise that we would see amazing things.

It has been 365 days for us in our coming and seeing. But for Jesus, Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathanael, only one day has passed. Today they are at a wedding. In that part of the world then, couples didn't get married then drive to a nice bed and breakfast by the lake. Instead weddings were a seven day party at the groom's home. A new home was being created in a small village. So weddings were not isolated affairs. They marked a permanent change in the community and therefore the whole community had to rejoice in this new relationship.

The groom has done his best, out of his meager resources, to provide the best hospitality he could for the never ending stream of guests. But he is about to suffer a huge embarrassment. They have run out of wine. The party and the joy will have to be called off prematurely. And so Jesus's mother says to him, we have a crisis on our hands. They have no wine. Jesus's first response is to point out that from his viewpoint this isn't really a crisis. The crisis is still to come. "It is not yet my hour," to be lifted up on the cross for the salvation of the world.

Still, Jesus did bring himself and four out-of-town guests to crash this wedding. And maybe, he might be able to make a bigger point here. In John's Gospel, Jesus doesn't go around doing miracles wily nily. In fact there are only seven miracles described in John's Gospel. And each one is called a "sign." Each of the seven miracles in this Gospel point to a meaning other than, look what Jesus can do. Of course, let's look at what Jesus does here. Six stone jars of water become six stone jars full of the best wine that has ever been tasted. At 20-30 gallons a jar, that's 150 gallons of wine, enough to keep this wedding party going on forever.

Just to be clear, this sign of 150 gallons of wine is not pointing to a never ending orgy of drunkenness. There is a thin line between that intoxication which makes you feel more alive and that drunkenness that is just leading you to a hangover. But in this wedding, where a community of villagers joyfully made room for a new family and joyfully renewed their relationships each other, Jesus glimpsed the community of joy that he was forming. He wanted his first disciples to see the joy He had in store for them, and so he gave them a glimpse of that joy, symbolized by the wine and the party.

Has it been a yearlong party? Even the party in Cana could only last seven days at a time. But I assure you that God has shown us many occasions for joy in the past year. And I have no doubt whatsoever that this party is still going on. Thanks be to God.