Community
Church Sermons
The Second Sunday
after Epiphany – January 18, 2004
“The
Messiah Challenge:
John 2:1 – 11
Our sermon series these days is about the great challenges before us in the coming of Christ. If Jesus really is the Messiah, then there are major ramifications for our lives and our world. “If Jesus is the Messiah, then…” certain things follow that are crucially important! Today, we continue the series by laying that statement across the story of water turned to wine.
Have you ever wondered how people knew Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah?
This is not something you can just tell someone. “Hello, my name is Jesus and I am the Messiah!” Some people have tried that approach, but they usually end up in institutions where they cannot harm themselves or others.
So how did people come to know that Jesus was the promised Messiah – the Savior of the world?
Well, the Gospel of John tells us there were signs – miraculous signs. Now, signs in the bible are sort of like windows through which God is revealed. And today’s reading is about just such a window!
Jesus’ mother has been invited to a wedding. I sort of imagine it like the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” where the Portokalos family turns their daughter’s wedding into something much larger than life. It could have been something like that! Only bigger! Jewish weddings of the period lasted for days on end. They were huge events treated like a local holiday. Everyone was invited. The whole community took part. If you are a mother whose daughter has been married, you can imagine the planning – the arrangements – the arguments – the stress! If you are a father whose daughter has been married, you can imagine the bill!
Well, Jesus’ mother has been
invited to this Big Fat Jewish Wedding, and I like to think she’s always
looking to hook up her single son with one of the bridesmaids. So she wrangles
an invitation for Jesus, and someone asks Mary, “Does your son have any
friends?”
“Well, he hangs around with these twelve disciples….”
And before you know it, Jesus and the twelve are picking out tuxedos.
It’s okay to let your imagination have its way when you read the bible!
Well, I won’t repeat the story because you know it already. The wedding was a wonderful affair until they ran out of wine. Major faux pas! So Mary asks Jesus to do something about it. He locates six big jars full of water. We don’t know if he passed his hand over them, or said a prayer, or took out a magic wand and said, “Abracadabra!”
All we know is that something happened to the water.
Then the bartender took a sample and sipped it. It was wine! And not just any wine! It was the best wine! It was, oh… a Montrachet 1978 from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti! You know a seven bottle case of this wine sold at Sotheby’s two years ago for $167,500! That’s $23,929 a bottle!
Well, not able to contain his excitement, this bartender ran to the bridegroom (in my mind played by John Corbett from the Big Fat Greek movie) and said, “WOW! Everyone else I’ve ever worked for brings out the good wine first and then – after a few rounds, when no one can tell the difference anymore – the cheap stuff! But you have saved the BEST wine until now!”
So the Montrachet 1978 starts flowing. At $23,929 a bottle! The wedding goes on! And everyone is amazed by the generosity of the young groom from whom they think the wine has come!
And John writes, “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana of Galilee…and his disciples believed in him!”
How did they know he is the Messiah? They knew through the sign. But the question I want to pose to you today is this: “What exactly do you think was THE SIGN?” What was the miracle in this story that convinced the disciples that Jesus is the real deal?
Do you think it was the transformation of the water into wine? Maybe - although winemaking isn’t really all that miraculous. We have some fine winemakers in our own church. They can make wine out of almost anything. Jerry Halkey makes his famous WineShine. Now that’s good stuff! Bob Puckett used to make wine, too. He called it Parson Puckett’s Private Pain Potion – A Natural Spirit of the Fruit - Taken Not In Excess Will Aid The Stomach And Cheer The Heart.
Well, I’m not sure that the production of the wine itself was the sign that made the disciples believe Jesus is the Messiah. Oh, make no mistake about it - turning water into wine in a few moments time is a great miracle indeed!
But maybe there’s something more.
You know, twice in this story, John feels the need to tell us where this great thing happened:
“On the third day, a wedding took place, at Cana of Galilee…” is how the story begins.
“This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana of Galilee…” is how the story ends.
And then it says, “…and his disciples believed in him.”
Have you ever considered that
maybe the miracle was not so much WHAT happened that day, as WHERE it
happened!
Cana! Cana of Galilee. If you’ve ever traveled to the Holy Land, you may have visited Cana. Or maybe not. You see, we’re not exactly sure where it is. There are at least three towns in Israel that bear some version of the name. They all lay claim to the title. They all have gift stores where you can buy Water Into Wine tee-shirts – 6 for ten dollars, thank you very much. But, even so, we’re not exactly sure where the real Cana is.
Evidently, it was such a small and insignificant place that no one even bothered to remember where it was! I guess Cana is sort of like that town you grew up in that was so small that the words “City Limits” are painted on both sides of the sign - so small, its McDonalds has only one arch – so small that, when you drive through town you don’t need to signal turns because everyone knows where you’re going – so small that the 7-11 store is a 3 ½ - 5 ½ store! Cana is like every other small, insignificant town in the world. Maybe even smaller and less significant!
Archaeologists tell us the best bet for the location of the wedding Jesus attended is a town called Kfar-Cana. It was one of the villages inhabited by the Canaanites, so it was called…Cana. The Canaanites, you know, were the descendants of Ham, that dastardly son of Noah who so dishonored his father that Noah cursed him. And not only did Noah curse Ham, but Ham’s son Canaan, too. “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers!” Noah declared.
And so they were. Noah’s side of the family grew up to become the Hebrews. Canaan’s side grew up to be the lowly, picked-on Canaanites. Today, we would call them Palestinians.
Cana! What a sad and terrible place to be from!
So isn’t it pretty amazing that Jesus’ first miracle was performed not in the Holy City of Jerusalem, but in the cursed village of Cana? And not in a sacred synagogue, but at a secular wedding reception? And not among the religious insiders, but among outsiders who’d been thrown out of the family of God many generations ago!
Cana.
“On the third day, a wedding took place, at Cana of Galilee…” is how the story begins. “This, the first of his miraculous signs Jesus performed at Cana of Galilee…” is how the story ends.
What do you think God is trying to tell us here?
You see, from the very beginnings of our Faith, God promised the world a Messiah – a Savior who will save us from our sins, and from the sins of this fallen world – a physician who will heal those who are sick and broken – a champion who will lift and vindicate those who are down and out – a shepherd who will find and rescue God’s lost sheep – a father who will welcome home prodigal children – a Friend who will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves!
From the beginning, God promised a Messiah who will make the nobodies of this world somebodies, and who will usher in the Kingdom of God!
And there isn’t any place further removed from the Kingdom, or a people more accursed than the inhabitants of CANA!
So it is there – in the obscurity and shame and illegitimacy of Cana – that Jesus performs His first miracle. Among the Canaanites Jesus reveals who he really is! And the story challenges all who hear it!
Because, you see, if Jesus really is the Messiah, then this story tells us lost people are loved people, and that the purpose of the Gospel is to embody that love for the outsiders and broken people of our world.
These are tough days in the life of the Christian Church. In the Middle East, we find ourselves caught between Isaraelis and Palestinians, not always sure whose side we should be on. In Africa, we are in the middle of an AIDS epidemic that threatens to kill the whole next generation, and we’re not sure whether to treat it morally or medically. Here in America, we are caught between all sorts of social and political movements – women’s rights, gay rights, immigration, welfare, war/anti war – and hovering above it all is the threat of terrorism.
What an incredibly wonderful
time to be alive as a Christian! What an important moment in the life of
the Church! Perhaps never before in the history of our Faith have Christians
been in such close proximity to so many broken, battered, rejected, ostracized,
oppressed, misguided, bruised and lost human beings! And never before has the
call from God been louder: “If Jesus really is the Messiah…then lost people
are loved people, and you need to go and love them!”
The pastor of the church where Sandy and I grew up was eventually kicked out. What was his crime? Well, George Seale’s specialty was – to butcher a line in an old Country song - looking to love in all the wrong places - and with all the wrong people. If there was a down and out person, a rebellious kid, an incurable drunk, an unpopular group, an ostracized community, a broken down neighborhood, George was somewhere in the vicinity trying to make friends, trying to advocate for them, trying to help, and trying to love.
And that was his downfall. You see the church people back in “Jerusalem” weren’t so sure God wanted George – and through him, their church - to be involved with Canaanites.
That’s a mighty challenge facing the Church today, and all of us as Christians. We are called to love the lost and befriend the unpopular. And I dare say, wherever you find Christians doing that today, you’ll find other Christians calling then “unfaithful.”
You see, it’s not easy to be a Christian if you believe Jesus really is the Messiah!
Then, there’s a second challenge. If Jesus is the Messiah, then He has the power to transform human lives just like he transformed water into wine that day.
You know, if you are here today caught in the grip of some human predicament that’s chipping away at your life, I want you to know that there’s a way to the other side.
I was talking a while ago with someone who was deeply hurt by another family member. He said to me, “I am so full of rage over what happened, I can’t even think straight, let alone consider reconciliation!”
I know what he was saying, because I have that experience too. Don’t you? Something bad happens in life and it just consumes you! Takes over and robs you of life!
Grief can do that. Jealousy. Lust. Prejudice. Laziness. Worry. Perfectionism.
And sometimes, life beats us up so badly with these things that we come to believe that we can never be free.
But we can be free!
That’s why Jesus came! You see, Jesus is the kind of Messiah who has the power to transform your water into wine! And the first step toward healing is letting Him begin a relationship with you. In a sense, by inviting Him to your wedding!
Now, I don’t understand the power of God. I can’t explain it. I can’t prove it. All I know is that it’s REAL and I’ve experienced it in my own life, and seen it at work in other’s lives! And do you know what? Even in this very moment as we worship and the Spirit of God moves among us, that power can enter your life and start you on a journey of transformation toward happiness and peace and wholeness.
What a joyful challenge – to believe in the power of God to transform us and others!
And then a final challenge. If Jesus is the Messiah, then our job as believers is to help Jesus make contact with others. The story suggests that Jesus’ mother got him to come to the wedding! And the story tells us that Jesus’ mother got him to do something about the wine! The very hinge on the door between God and this poor humiliated bridegroom was Mary!
And that’s our job! That’s what Christians do! We try to broker deals between people and God! We run the biggest dating service in the world! We use love to take by the hand people who need the Lord, and we use our faith to hold God’s hand, and then – believing that Jesus really is the Messiah, we try to bring them together! And when it happens…miracles occur!
If Jesus is the Messiah, then lost people are loved people. If Jesus is the Messiah then there is a power that can transform people and the world! If Jesus is the Messiah, then our job is to go to weddings…and to places and cities no one else will – and to people no one else will love – and there, as we do the Chicken Dance, throw confetti, and sing “The Bride Cuts The Cake” to manifest the life of the Messiah.
“This, the first of his miraculous signs Jesus performed at Cana of Galilee…”
And the disciples believed in Him.
I hope you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, too!