How we are like the jars at Cana

Sermon

Text:

Sermon in a sentence: We are like the servants at the wedding at Cana.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my

heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

The story of the wedding at Cana can sometimes seem a little strange, particularly to Methodists of a certain generation. I remember a Methodist friend, a few years older than me, many years ago expressing wonderment that Jesus first miracle had been to turn water into wine. It would have made much more sense to him, theologically, for Jesus to have done the opposite; turned wine into water.

I laughed at the time, and I’ve remembered the incident over the years whenever the topic of Methodism and teetotalism has come up. They don’t make Methodists like they used to. But I still think that this miracle seems unusual and atypical. At first glance it seems to fall into a different category than Jesus other miracles.

We can begin to understand, at least in part, why Jesus healed the sick, why he fed crowds of thousands, and why he raised the dead. Those stories makes sense because that was what Jesus miracles most often were, what we know about the character of Jesus comes from the kind of miracles we see him do. And those miracles also seem normal because we can see the link between the acute human need and the power and mercy of God responding to that need.

In comparison, the miracle at the wedding at Cana can almost seem like a party trick. It’s not even particularly visible, compared say, to raising the dead and feeding 5000 people. It wasn’t even visible to the people whom it most effected, the bridegroom and the master of the wedding banquet, who would have been shamed if the wine had run out.

It’s not immediately obvious to us either why the miracle needed doing, because we don’t always understand the context of a first century middle eastern wedding. From the text it’s not even obvious to us why Jesus thought it was worth doing; “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replies to his mother when she tells him the wine has just run out.

So, it can leave us asking ourselves, “Why is this story here? What is it about? What does it say to us today?

So, we need to look at the background a bit,

This story comes right at the beginning of Jesus ministry. The passage starts “On the third day’. The third day after what? Well, the third day after Jesus had called the first of his disciples; Andrew, Peter, Nathanael and Philip, which he had done immediately after he was baptised by John. Not only is the story right at the beginning of John’s gospel; It’s in the first week of Jesus ministry and the disciples few days with Jesus.

The story is first of seven miracles, seven signs that John uses in his gospel to illustrate who Jesus is. “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory;”[1] says John. Just a few verses earlier John tells us that the word, through which all things have been created, became flesh; “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”[2] The story of this miracle is the story of that word made flesh revealing himself, revealing his glory, for the first time.

Weddings can be funny things.

I remember going to a wedding when I was a young man. It was the wedding of a friend and I can’t remember much about it other than the best man’s speech after the meal. I remember it because it was so awful. The jokes weren’t funny. He told stories about the groom which were inappropriate or didn’t make sense. You could barely hear what he said, either because talking too softly or because he was laughing at his own unfunny jokes. And the speech went on far, far too long. In fact, it was so bad it was funny. It did teach me that if you can’t be good you can at least be brief. You may notice that this is a slightly shorter than usual sermon.

In contrast, it’s easy to miss how serious the story of the wedding at Cana is, and what a disaster Jesus miracle averted. Jewish weddings traditionally lasted a week. They were major social events involving the entire community. This one appears to have run out of wine well before the end and this was serious. This wasn’t merely embarrassment it was potentially a life changing social disaster for the family.

This was a society where honour was almost everything; running out of wine would have shamed and insulted every guest there as well as the hosts. The more important the guest, the greater the insult.

So, this miracle was just the same as Jesus other miracles: it revealed the glory that Jesus was the word among us, that he had real power and that he cared absolutely about the needs of those he came into contact.

And, while it may not have been a public miracle, but it was witnessed by Mary and most importantly the disciples, the new disciples, who had known Jesus less than a week and whose lives would be shaped by him for ever.

But there was another group of people whose lives were touched by Jesus that day, and I want us to have a brief look at them.

Jesus mother; John never uses her name, anywhere in the gospel, says to the servants; “Do whatever Jesus tells you.”[3]

We don’t know much at all about the servants. We don’t know if it was the servants who had told Mary about the wine running out, or whether she had overheard them talking. But Mary tells them to do what Jesus tells them.

Jesus says to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so, they fill them. To the brim. Then he says to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” And they do so,[4]’

The master of the banquet tastes the wine and is amazed at its quality. He doesn’t know where it has come from. He calls the bridegroom aside and says; “Everyone brings out the best wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” [5]

Neither the master of the banquet, nor the bridegroom, ever know how close they have come to disaster or ruin. Neither of them knows the shame the public shame that they might have received if the wine had run out at the wedding.

But the servants know. The servants know the miracle that Jesus has performed, and they have played a small part in it, but a part big enough for John to record when he writes his gospel account.

It was Jesus who did the miracle, but it was the servants who filled the water jars to the brim.

Now Jesus didn’t need the servants to do it this. A person with the power to turn water into wine could as easily have filled an empty jar with wine. A person who could feed more than five thousand people, with a handful of loaves and fishes could have created jar-fulls of wine from whatever was in them, or from nothing.

We don’t know how enthusiastically the servants filled the jars, whether they were just humouring Jesus or obeying him with gusto. But there’s no mention of any argument and we know that they filled them to the brim, which seems to indicate a level of enthusiasm.

What is clear is that whereas the groom and the master of the banquet had no idea what had happened, the servants who had drawn the water did know. And they knew they hadn’t done it. They were both participants and witnesses of Jesus first sign, Jesus first recorded miracle.

And I think this is relevant for us today. Its relevant as we welcome new members into the church and remember the vows we once made, and its relevant as we continue with our year of invitation as Barry wants, It’s relevant as we attempt to grow God’s kingdom here in Sedgley. It’s relevant for all of us as we struggle to pursue the mission of the church as the church gets smaller, and as society seems to get further and further away from God.

Its relevant, because it’s easy to assume that we have to do it all, that evangelism and mission are entirely up to us, and we lack so much faith in our ability that we don’t believe we can possibly change anything.

But actually, we are like the servants in this story. It’s Jesus who commands and we who need to obey, to listen for the voice of our master and do what we’re told. Its Jesus who has the power; the power to turn water into wine, to turn a handful of loaves and fishes into a feast, the power to melt the hardest human heart, the power to turn a society which is lost, and angry, and turning away from God and bring it home.

We, we don’t have any power. We don’t need it because we know one who does.

Many years ago, I spoke to an Englishman who had moved to the USA. He lived in the north where it got very cold in winter. So cold the lakes froze. Being English, he never really had the faith that the frozen lakes would hold his weight, so he never went out on them. Despite the fact they could easily have held his weight.

Meanwhile locals had so much faith in the thickness of the ice that they’d even drive on it. And every year, despite their faith that the ice was think enough, somebody would crash through it and possibly drown.

We talk as if faith is important and it is. But having faith is less significant than who, or what, we have faith in. You can’t separate faith from the object of faith, from the thing we have faith in. Millions of Germans during the Second World War had absolute faith that Hitler would make Germany great again. That faith was utterly misplaced.

In contrast, faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, if that faith is in something as trust worthy as Jesus Christ. Too often we are like my English friend; too timid to step out and trust someone who would easily support us if only we but trusted.

It’s Jesus Christ whom we trust. Not our own strength, or wisdom. The Jesus whom this story tells us has both the power and the love to change human lives. The more we realize how weak and lost we are; The more we look to Jesus rather than our own weakness. The more we stick to what Jesus asks of us; that we be his hands and feet, that we bear witness to what he has done, the closer we will come to God, and the more difference he will make through us.

Let’s hold on to this as we continue with the year of invitation.

[1] The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[2] The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[3] The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[4] The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[5] The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.