Vessels Transformed

Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys, Not my Problem

This last Christmas I overheard a grandmother speak a phrase that caught my attention. She was smiling at her grandchildren who were causing more than a little bit mayhem. Someone asked the grandmother, who at times was known to have a bit of a temper, what she thought of her grandkids getting into such mischief.

Her smile broadened and she said warmly, “I just remind myself… not my circus, not my monkeys, not my problem.”

She cared what was going on—but she had come to terms with letting the parents do the parenting... that she didn’t need to always step in and that was ok. She had given herself permission to just enjoy the grandkids. All of their mischief did not have to be her concern. And she was quite content about that.

But that phrase, “not my circus, not my monkeys, not my problem” comes to mind for me as I think about today’s text.

Just three days before this wedding scene, Jesus had been down at the River Jordan with John the Baptist. The Spirit had descended upon him, the divine announcement that Jesus was the Son of God had been declared. And for two days after that Jesus had walked around, collecting disciples:

Andrew,

Simon Peter,

Philip,

Nathanael…

all of these had started to follow Jesus. His ministry was beginning—and then they go to this wedding where the mother of Jesus warns him that the bar has run dry—there is no more wine.

And I can almost hear Jesus saying, “Not my circus, not my monkeys, not my problem.”

Jesus had just come from the Jordan River after having been baptized there and receiving those powerful words through the Holy Spirit that, “You are my son, the Beloved. With you am I well pleased!”

Story of Cana

After all, what concern was it to him? I mean, really. He had much grander things on his mind and on his schedule than whether or not this wedding feast had enough wine. The fact that the bride and groom hadn’t secured enough drink for the week long wedding party wasn’t his responsibility.

It was their responsibility, not his, to make sure that the drinks continued to flow as guests meandered in and out over those seven days. Perhaps they had invited too many guests, or miscalculated the wine usage, or ran out of money… it was either poor planning or else they were just too poor. But whatever the reason for running out, the embarrassment belonged to the newly wed couple, not to the newly named Son of God nor his mother.

So the answer that Jesus gives, while perhaps a bit snarky, was still a very valid response. “What concern is that to you and to me?” and then he adds this cryptic comment, that his “hour has not yet come.”

And the mother of Jesus, with unwavering confidence in her son, turns and declares to the servants to follow whatever instructions he might give them.

Now we don’t know if it is a matter of moments, hours, or even days before Jesus commits to the miracle of turning the water into wine. Time is not a focus in our text for today. But it likely would have taken considerable time once the order had been given for the stewards to fill those 6 enormous water jars for Jewish rites of purification.

And I would hazard guess that the servants were not too thrilled about this assignment from a guest. Whether the servants would have carried individual pitchers of water back and forth to slowly fill the large jars or moved the jars themselves which, when filled, the contents alone could have weighed well over 200 pounds—it would have been quite the chore.

And yet the servants follow the instructions, and the miracle occurs and everyone partakes in the newly arrived wine and no one seems to be the wiser.

As one theologian noted:

Neither the steward of the feast nor the bridegroom nor the guests note what has transpired. Nobody thanks the one who provided the wine. The provider himself disappears without a word. -Hermeneia

The Wedding of Cana story concludes with Jesus’ disciples having their belief in Christ reinforced before they crew begins to go down toward Capernaum.

The Wedding of Cana story concludes with Jesus’ disciples having their belief in Christ reinforced before they crew begins to go down toward Capernaum.

Digging Deeper

So what do we make of this miracle story?

St. Augustin, who was the Bishop of Hippo in the year 416, delivered a lengthy series of sermons on the Gospel of appreciated his beginning comments on today’s text:

The miracle of our Lord Jesus Christ, where He made the water into wine, is not marvellous to those who know that it was God’s doing. For He who made wine on that day at the marriage feast, in those six water-pots, which He commanded to be filled with water, the self-same does this every year in vines. For even as that which the servants put into the water-pots was turned into wine by the doing of the Lord, so in like manner also is what the clouds pour forth changed into wine by the doing of the same Lord. But we do not wonder at the latter, because it happens every year: it has lost its marvellousness by its constant recurrence.

In other words, this miracle of Jesus turning water into wine should not be surprising to us. Not when we realize who is doing it. God transforms water into wine every year as he sends forth rain over vineyards and makes grapes grow and ripen until finally they are ready to begin producing.

The miracle of Jesus turning water into wine should not be __________ to us. Not when we realize who is doing it. God transforms water into wine ________ __________.

While the circumstances of the miracle of wine from water is perhaps a bit different at the Wedding of Cana, it is helpful to recognize that such miracles are at work continuously all around us—we have grown so accustomed to them that we often fail to recognize them as miracles still.

So when we have communion in a few minutes, I encourage you to consider that you are partaking in a miracle of water turned to wine!

Augustin’s other point with this is that the miracle itself is nothing new. And so it is helpful for us to consider focusing less on the miracle itself and more on the circumstances surrounding the miracle. What is uniquely important about this particular instance of water turned to wine?

And while there are many possibilities, there are three unique pieces in particular that I want to focus on for our time today:

Detail One

1)

The first unique detail about this particular instance of water turned to wine is the involvement of Christ himself—though, as St. Augustin might point out, God is involved in all instances of water turned to wine and so thus it is not a unique detail that Christ is involved in this particular instance. So we won’t dwell too much with that just yet.

Detail Two

The second unique detail in this particular miracle are the vessels through which the miracle takes place. In the traditional water-to-wine miracle that happens every day and that we are accustomed to seeing and yes, even tasting, what natural vessel is used to transform the water? Grapes, right.

But for this miracle at Cana, we see stone jars being used instead of grapes. And not just any jars, the text is quite specific about this, water jars for the Jewish rites of purification. There is a connection here to the Jewish law concerning clean and unclean. In the rites of purification, individuals would attempt to make themselves clean before God.

In the rites of purification, individuals would attempt to make themselves ________ before God.

These water jars had religious significance to the Jews. And, while it could be an easy detail to gloss over, it is important that Jesus chooses to make the miracle occur in these particular water jars which the author makes certain to mention.

Is it Jesus’ concern that the wedding couple is out of wine? It shouldn’t be. Why?

For the early Jewish convert into Christianity, this would have been a powerful reminder of our inability to remove our own impurity. As much as we attempt to scrub away our sin as law prescribes, we find that we simply can’t do it on our own. And so in this miracle transformation of water to wine within these particular stone jars, we see a more profound metaphorical meaning of the story coming out: The purity connected with the law disappears into the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The purity connected with the _______ disappears into the gift of the _______ ___________.

This very first miracle, this first sign that Jesus performs in his ministry in the Gospel of John points toward the final sign of Jesus’ work on the cross. The law is replaced with God’s generosity. God is revealed not as the one who demands the law—but actually as the one who takes the instruments of law and turns them into instruments of grace and forgiveness.

Here today we see jars, used as instruments of the law for purification, transformed into vessels of wine for celebration.

Later, we will see the cross, used as an instrument of punishment and condemnation within the law, transformed into a vessel of redemption and forgiveness of all through the work of Christ.

And it should not be lost on us that with both of these stories we hear the common thread of wine as a reminder of God’s generous, transforming power. Water, used to cleanse sins, transformed to wine. Wine to Blood. Blood for the forgiveness of sin.

Detail Three

The third unique detail about this particular miracle story is the colloquial phrase that Jesus makes use of at the beginning of this saga. “Woman,” he says… “Woman, what concern is it to you and to me?” It was a common phrase used by the Jews of that era that is very similar indeed to “Not my circus, not my monkeys, not my problem.” And the full expectation after hearing such a thing is that the person would wash their hands of the issue and walk away.

But that isn’t what Jesus does. And as much as I wish to give credit to the Mother of Jesus who, by the way is never actually mentioned by name in the Gospel of John… but as much as I wish to give her credit that she mothered Jesus into doing this good deed—I think there’s more to the story.

Jesus was showcasing a common mentality of the people—both then and now. “It’s not my problem… I didn’t cause it… I’m not getting involved.” And I believe Mary’s response to Jesus shows that she simply did not believe that he actually meant what he said. And truly, thank God for that.

The point that Jesus was making in front of his followers and perhaps in front of others as well, was that phrase was antiquated. His very first miracle with the disciples was also his first lesson for them. They could no longer look at the problems of the world and simply dismiss them. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, knew that he would respond to someone in need because she knew the character of who Jesus was and is.

The very reason that Christ had been born was because God refused to dismiss and ignore the issues of the world—the issues that we face.

The very reason that Christ had been born was because God refused to ________ and ________ the issues of the world—the issues that we face.

While it is not in the text, I suspect that Mary knew that Jesus would take action to help those who were struggling perhaps even before they realized it—because that’s the kind of person that he is—that’s the kind of God that he is.

Conclusion

As we consider the Wedding at Cana, let us be struck by how Jesus overturns expectations and declares just how important it is to BE concerned… to GET involved. As our own levels of supplies grow low, whether it’s our finances getting low, or our energy levels, or our health, or our morale, whatever it is—we can trust that Christ will respond. Maybe we won’t win the lottery, but we will know of a Savior who comes amongst us—who shares life with us—and who steps into the midst of our problems whatever they may be.

Like the miracle of water to wine that occured in Cana 2,000 years ago and the miracles that take place constantly each and every day, we can trust that we follow a God who is truly active and alive in this world. We can trust that we follow a God who overturns the law on our behalf—who takes the punishment for us—who transforms something that reminds us that we are condemned into something that we can celebrate.

The question for us today becomes not whether or not God has redeemed us or what do we need in order to be redeemed. But instead, how shall we respond to that which God has done? How shall we respond to the extreme generosity that God has provided us?

That is the question. Let us pray

Amen.