Water to Wine - Jeremy Duncan

[Music]

welcome to the commons cast we're glad

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something meaningful in our teaching

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we have just started this long journey

to easter

and last week we gathered on ash

wednesday to remind ourselves of or

mortality

to remember that resurrection begins

with a journey through death

and that's sort of a sober way to begin

the movement towards celebration but

it's also really important isn't it

to recognize

that the story of god encompasses all of

our experiences as human beings all of

our hurts

but also our deepest joys and so that's

the journey that's ahead of us that's

why i'm wearing purple today that's

where we are headed and that's why we're

starting a new series

so what's our path forward well every

year

as we lay out the journal we look at a

number of different priorities for the

year

but during lent each year we often try

to find a way to put our focus and our

attention

directly onto the story of jesus

last year for example we followed the

travel narratives in luke as he charts

jesus physical journey as he walks

toward jerusalem

this year we've done something similar

again but we're going to trace a

particular motif that runs through the

gospel of john

john is an interesting gospel among the

four that we have in our bible we have

matthew and mark and luke and we often

call these the synoptics

that's a greek compound word and it just

means that they see together

and we use that because these writers

often rely on each other for their

stories matthew and mark or matthew and

luke clearly are borrowing stories from

mark which is probably the earliest

gospel

john is just different though

we've talked about this before but it's

important

john is written much later than the

other gospels

probably near the end of the first

century

what means is that the fourth gospel is

not so much recounting the story of

jesus the way that mark does for example

but this gospel is reflecting back on

the story of jesus

i like to think of john as sort of a

second generation text someone who has

grown up in the community that's been

shaped by jesus now looking back on what

it all means

not as concerned with what happened

as much as what it all meant

and one of the really unique ways that

the author of john does this is through

a motif that we want to look at on our

way toward easter

a series of stories that he identifies

as signs of things to come

see throughout the gospel of john there

are these seven miracles that point

toward resurrection

hints of what the author imagines jesus

kingdom to be about

and markers of what the world could be

like transformed into this new

imagination of god

and so over the five sundays of lent

through palm sunday and good friday we

are going to look at those seven signs

in john

and then on easter of course we will

celebrate the new creation of

resurrection

today however we have the first sign one

of my favorites jesus turning water into

wine before that let's pray

god who is

always ahead of us

both in our pain and in our celebration

inviting us forward with courage and

with hope

we ask that you would be near to us

today

in whatever fragile state we have

entered this room

we ask that your spirit of comfort be

gentle and close

reminding us of your presence with us in

all of the moments of our lives

might we remember today both our

constant need of you but also the

implication that that brings our

dependence on each other as well

where we can might we become a source of

encouragement and strength for each

other

might we help each other to carry the

burden of this season together

and in that

might even our lives become a sign of

things to come

a world infused with peace

that encompasses more than just the

laying down of weapons but also the

healing of our wounds

the space to be honest

and the freedom to smile without

expectation but only with deep joy

may your peace that passes understanding

takes shape not just as extraordinary

calm today

but also as justice for all

may our lives be signs of this peace to

come

in the strong name

of the risen christ we pray

amen

okay

signs of things to come today we're

going to celebrate that first sign water

into wine but on the agenda today is

apothec red familial tale stone jars and

sacred celebrations but let's start by

diving straight in and we're going to

read this story from john 2 and i'm

going to start at verse 1 i'm going to

read all the way through to verse 11

where it says this

on the third day a wedding took place at

cana in galilee jesus mother was there

and jesus and his disciples had also

been invited to the wedding

when the wine was gone jesus mother said

to him they have no more wine

woman why do you involve me jesus

replied my hour has not yet come

but his mother said to the servants do

whatever he tells you

nearby stood six stone water jars the

kind used by the jews for ceremonial

washing

each holding from 20 to 30 gallons

jesus said to the servants fill the jars

with water so they filled them to the

brim

and then he told them now draw out some

water and take it to the master of the

banquet

they did so and the master tasted the

water that had been turned into wine

and he did not realize where it had come

from though the servants who had drawn

the water knew

so he called to the bridegroom and asked

everyone brings out the choice wine

first and then the cheaper wine after

the guests have had too much to drink

but you

you have saved the best until now

what jesus did here in cana of galilee

was the first sign through which he

revealed his glory

and the disciples believed

in him

all right great story right i mean who

doesn't love a jesus that one keeps the

party going and two does that using the

good stuff i mean no apothic red

nonsense here going on and by the way if

you really like apothec red that's fine

i am just snooty so that's on me

although i bet that jesus agrees with me

and i can proof text that here in john 2

i bet he likes exactly the same wine

that i do however

this is still a pretty interesting story

particularly when john tells us that he

thinks

this right here all of this wine is the

first sign

of what is to come

so let's dig into this a bit and see

what we can find today

now intriguingly our story starts almost

like it's in the middle of a thought

doesn't it

on the third day a wedding took place at

cana in galilee

we have no context for this on the third

day of what we have no idea if you go

back to john 1 we get a story about john

the baptist

and then it says in verse 29 that the

next day john saw jesus coming toward

him

then in verse 35 it says the next day

john was there again with two of his

disciples and then in verse 43 it says

on the next day jesus decided to leave

for galilee and then in the start of

chapter two it says on the third day

there was a wedding

so it's possible we're just missing a

few days here in the narrative because

these days just don't really add up i

don't know what day we're on now six or

seven who knows

some scholars think that the three days

are symbolic

that because this is the first sign that

points to resurrection the three days

well maybe they point us to the three

days in the tomb maybe that seems a bit

of a stretch and it's certainly pretty

speculative though

there is however an interaction at the

end of john 1 that might shed some light

on this

a man named nathaniel comes to jesus and

declares his trust in jesus and jesus

says that's great but hold on to your

hat for you will see even greater things

than this

now we know from john 21

at the end of the gospel that nathaniel

was indeed from cana in galilee

and so maybe he was at this wedding and

maybe that's where the reference comes

from the wedding took place three days

after jesus promised to nathanael

of course we don't know for sure that's

both the beauty and sometimes the

frustration of biblical interpretation

sometimes there is just so much room for

speculation when we read

but i do like this as a possibility

because what it says to me

is that even something as important as a

sign of the resurrection started

as a personal encounter

it came about in response to a

conversation it was the result of an

expression of trust in jesus

in fact

maybe the only reason we have this story

maybe the only reason we know it is

because nathan recognized this for what

it was

a sign that his faith was not misplaced

and maybe he told this story far and

wide and maybe that story made its way

all the way to john

and over time that story

as it was passed and it was shared among

the community it became a sign for all

of us but first it was a sign for one

person nathaniel

and i think this kind of thing happens a

lot more than we realize

like i know

there are moments in my life

when small things remind me of why i

choose to trust in god

there are days when the truth is i don't

believe

it's lent it's okay to say that even if

you're a pastor

but it's those days when i don't believe

that i choose instead to trust

and those small moments those signs that

remind me that my trust is not misplaced

it's when i share those moments with

others delicately and appropriately

but it's when i invite you into my story

that my signs become your signs and vice

versa and maybe that's a bit of what's

happening here

which i just really love

the nathaniel story became john's story

becomes our story because that's how

faith and community work

even still though we don't have much

context here

we don't know who the lucky couple are

we don't know why jesus and his mom and

his disciples were invited to the party

but we do know however

that the party runs out of wine

and maybe this was just bad planning

maybe more guests showed up than

expected maybe jesus had more disciples

than they thought

maybe the crowd was just more ready to

celebrate than anyone had anticipated

either way the wine runs out and mary

finds out

and so she asks jesus to intervene

and he gives this sort of curt reply

woman why do you involve me

and that might sound harsh to our ears

if i was referred to my mom or my

partner as woman that would not go over

well i can tell you that

this is not however how this term gunai

implies tone here in greek now this was

a common term of endearment or actually

respect in greek

and actually i like the way that the

first nations version has translated

this section

it says so the mother of creator sets

free that's the name for jesus that this

translation uses the mother of creator

sets free said to him son they have no

more wine honored woman he said to her

why are you telling me this is this our

concern

it is not yet my time to show who i am

but his mother turned to the helpers and

said do whatever he needs

and i really like that

first

because it actually does a better job of

interpreting the scene

honored woman is not as technically

correct

but it is closer to the spirit of what's

actually happening here in the greek how

the term gunai would have been used

second though i love the way that this

captures the mother-son dynamic in the

scene

that jesus asks mary to intervene he

says mom don't get me involved in this

this isn't our issue but mary turns to

the helpers instead and says let's get

this done

i kind of picture mary here keeping eye

contact with jesus the whole time as she

beckons to the helpers and says help him

out

either way this sign reads kind of stiff

to me in english but in greek it just

feels a lot more playful than that maybe

more familial if that makes sense

and i think that might actually be

important

there are times

when it's really easy to start thinking

of jesus as a genie

we ask for things he grants them

and there are ways of praying that

presume upon jesus in a very

transactional unrelational kind of way

at this moment feels perhaps like a bit

of a counterpoint to all of that

sometimes we ask and sometimes jesus

says no and sometimes we ask again and

sometimes jesus relents

and i know that is not a very satisfying

theology of prayer

but maybe that's the

the point

is less a transaction where we say the

right words and we get the right

outcomes

and more like a family encounter with

sideways glances and inside jokes

and i think what i take from this is a

reminder to treat my prayer more like a

conversation with my mom and less like a

contract to employ

regardless

now we get to the heart of this scene

nearby stood six stone water jars the

kind used for ceremonial washing each

holding 20 to 30

gallons

so jesus said to the servants fill the

jars with water and they filled them to

the brim

now 20 to 30 gallons

times six stone jars

means we are talking about up to about

180 gallons or for us canadians 680

liters or perhaps a more useful

comparative here that's about 900

bottles of wine

and i have no idea how many guests were

at this party but this is shall we say a

lot to drink

especially considering

that this was already round two that the

guests had already finished off

everything the host had expected them to

drink

and in fact john goes out of his way to

mention that the helpers were asked to

fill the jars to their brims or

literally as far as their upward edge

so

this is wine

overflowing it probably sloshed about

and splashed on the ground even as they

tried to draw a sip for the hose to

taste

but not only that it was good wine the

best wine to boot

and john says this this massive

overflowing quantity of really good wine

meant to keep a party going long into

the night that this was the first sign

of things to come

except

i'm not actually sure the wine is the

point

now before the sommeliers storm the

stage let me explain

there's this really interesting motif in

john

water where it comes from is a really

big deal

in the next chapter

jesus will talk about needing to be

baptized in both water and spirit to

enter the kingdom

in chapter four jesus will meet a

samaritan woman at a well and talk to

her about the gift of living water

in chapter 5 jesus will heal a man at

the pool of bethesda a man who hopes

that the waters can heal him and in

chapter 6 jesus will walk on water you

get the idea

you would expect

that in a story about this much water

and this much wine that the source of

that water would have some kind of

attention

but instead it's actually the vessels

these six stone jars that seem to really

capture john's focus

so what's going on there jars used for

ceremonial washing is this for doing the

dishes well actually sort of but also

not really

these were used for cleansing dishes

but they were largely used for cleansing

your hands and maybe even sometimes for

cleansing your feet

and this idea of cleansing this is a

category that can be tough for us to get

our heads around sometimes

we've probably all heard about the idea

of something being clean and unclean in

judaism or perhaps in islam

this does not necessarily mean dirty or

bad

in english

we often associate a value judgment with

language like clean and unclean that's

not necessarily what's going on in

judaism

my son

has a really good friend who is muslim

and they were comparing diets one day at

school

my son is a vegetarian and he found out

that his friend also does not eat pig

and he was very excited about this

but he came home one day and he said to

me dad you know we're vegetarian well

it's a good thing we don't eat pigs

because my friend told me that they are

dirty

now i knew who he was talking about so i

clarified exactly what did your friend

say here

and then we had a conversation about

unclean in the religious sense and dirty

in the hygienic sense and now pigs are

actually quite clean animals we just

don't eat them in our house the same way

his friend doesn't for religious reasons

and by the way enjoy your bacon just

keep your memes to yourself i've already

seen them all i know what i'm missing

it's fine i'm kidding just send me

whatever you want

in judaism though

a lot of things could make you ritually

or ceremonially unclean

if you touch the grave for example or if

you had touched blood if you were a

woman who was menstruating if you had

even walked across certain lands these

things could render you ceremonially

unclean

that did not mean dirty or bad though

and there were rituals like a mikvah

that would rectify that and cleanse you

but unclean wasn't bad

it wasn't like unclean separated you

from god's love and cleansing brought

you back into god's good graces in fact

in judaism it was expected

that you would become unclean regularly

just by going about your daily business

and that you would then

cleanse yourself regularly to remind

yourself of your connection and your

commitment to god

that's what the rituals were meant for

not good and bad but rhythms of

commitment it's actually quite beautiful

and misunderstandings of these practices

have been caricatured in far too many

christian sermons and that's to our

shame because we haven't learned and

listened to our jewish neighbors

but along with

more elaborate ceremonies like a mikvah

or a baptism

jewish people would also often

ceremonially wash their hands after

something like coming home from the

market

or before enjoying a meal

now

that does seem to be a bit of practical

hygiene and religious observation

combined together

but that's what these six stone jars

would have been primarily used for at

the entrance to a party

a ceremonial religious ritual cleansing

that also had a very practical hygiene

element to it

in fact

john points out that they were made of

stone precisely because stone as a

non-porous material was protected from

becoming ceremonially unclean as part of

the jewish teaching

that's why you would use these types of

jars specifically

to wash your hands or to wash your

dishes no

as with any ritual

it was always possible for the meaning

to be swallowed up by the practice right

that jesus is quite critical of his

fellow pharisees that went through the

motions and lost sight of the purpose

in matthew 23 he says woe to you

teachers of the law and pharisees you

act like hypocrites

you clean the outside of the cup and

dish but inside you are still full of

greed and self-indulgence blind teacher

first clean the inside then the outside

will be clean as well

basically he's saying the ritual

is meant to help us remind us to keep

our hearts pure

but if we don't do that what's the point

of the ritual

this right here is just good old

pharisaical teaching that any teacher of

the law would have agreed with

jesus is just calling out his

contemporaries for not following through

on the intent of the law

all this to say

when jesus arrived at this party

he would have in all likelihood drawn

water from these same six stone jars

washed his hands and then entered the

celebration just like any other jewish

guest

except

that when jesus is asked with some help

with the wine he chooses these same six

stone jars and that's not just a

coincidence

remember

the whole reason

that mary has approached jesus is

because all the wine has run out in the

first place that means there are

literally empty wineskins lying all over

the place just waiting for their miracle

if he had wanted to he could have kept

the party going in a far less

conspicuous manner

instead he chooses intentionally these

jars of this symbol as the sign through

which he would make himself known

and think about that

jesus takes a symbol of our personal

piety

how those who knew god reminded

themselves of god's quiet presence with

them daily

how they set themselves apart in

connection to the vine trusting that it

would help them become better persons in

their lives and jesus transforms that

ritual

into a ruckus party that shook the

neighborhood late into the night

and for john i think

the symbolism of that moment the sign

was quite stark no longer are we

reminding ourselves of god's presence

with us

but now god is declaring divine goodness

among us

god is celebrating divine generosity

around us god is taking it upon god's

self to turn

our piety

into god's party

and at this moment

this was no longer just the celebration

of a random wedding in cana of galilee

this was no longer just a promise to

nathanael that he would see greater

things this was now the reminder that

every wedding

and every party and every the top moment

of unadulterated unconstrained joy all

of these are now signs of everything

that is to come

because jesus is saying

that family is united

and neighbors invited outsiders welcome

with more than enough to go around for

anyone who happens by

that itself is the story of god and

every time we enact that we point toward

what is to come

one of my favorite quotes

from one of my favorite authors one that

i have read here before it comes from

robert ferrara capone who writes this

what we are watching for is a party

but that party is not just down the

street making up its mind when it's

going to come to us it is already hiding

in our basement banging on the steam

pipes and laughing its way up the cellar

stairs

the unknown day and hour of its final

bursting into the kitchen and roystering

through the whole house is not dreadful

it is all part of the divine lark of

grace

because god is not our stuffy relative

come to see whether the wedding present

china is chipped

god is the funny old neighbor with a

salami under one arm and a bottle of

wine under the other and we do in need

need to watch for god's arrival

but only because

it would be such a pity to miss out on

this much fun

that's what the sign is about

this is jesus reassuring all of us that

our rituals are not a waste

that our attempts to be kind are not

overlooked that every time we commit

ourselves to the good trusting that god

will bring that story to completion that

in itself

is an image of the world made right

in joyful celebration

and perhaps

right now

at this moment in history just as it was

in jesus day that hope feels very far

off

but the point of the sign

especially as we begin our movement

toward the cross is not to deny all of

that hurt or to ignore what is happening

in the world or even in your life right

now

the point of a sign is to remind us to

hold tight to the ritual of celebration

and joy

to trust that even in the moments where

we struggle to believe celebration is

blessed and gladness is holy and that

when we make sacred our parties

we can find the strength to return from

them

committed even more to the work of

justice that the world so deeply needs

and so as we begin

our movement together toward both the

darkness of the cross

and the light and joy of the

resurrection

might we all remember somehow that every

moment of joy

that breaks in anywhere in our life this

is a sign of things to come

and that when we

learn how to dance and celebrate and

drink late into the night we can be

strengthened for the work of healing the

world around us

let's pray

god

for all the ways that you show up in all

of our lives

reminding us that you are present and

near comforting and guiding but also

knitting back your world together

we thank you for those signs

but also we thank you for this sign

the story that started at a party as a

response to a conversation and became a

story that was included in our gospels

that has

founded and grounded the church for two

thousand years now

to remind us that our movement towards

your kingdom starts with joy

that all of the work that we do in the

world both internal work

to become the people you imagine us to

be and the work we do for peace and

justice around us in our relationships

all of that work is grounded in

celebration

trusting that the world has a

destination

and that destination is your love and

embrace your kingdom that transforms

everything

might we trust in the renewal of all

things

believing that you are already at work

and we are part of that story

as we begin this movement toward easter

help us to prepare our hearts well

for the depth of good friday

and the celebration of resurrection

in the strong name

of the risen christ we pray

amen