Today's Gospel lesson from the second chapter of John is one of those passages that alternately delights and challenges me. Here is a picture of Jesus that is so compelling that I want to just go running after him to see if he'll let me follow him. And here is a picture of Jesus that confronts me with a challenge to re-direct my life.

I wonder if you're willing today to be both compelled and confronted by the Lord who more clearly reveals himself in this story about a wedding at Cana in Galilee?

Notice first, if you will, the interesting flow of our Scripture texts here in the aftermath of Christmas. Why, there is one epiphany after another - week after week, a new divine revelation of the truth about Jesus. First, we meet Jesus as a baby before whom the Wise Men bow, offering gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And in that familiar epiphany story, we know that Jesus is God's gift of love intended to reconcile the whole world. Everyone is invited into this new relationship with God. No one is excluded from God's love!

Next, we encounter Jesus at the time of his baptism in the river Jordan by his cousin John. The heavens open, and the Holy Spirit descends, and God's voice speaks, "This is my Son, the Beloved." And here is the wonderful news that a whole new universe has been opened to us, and a whole new power has been bestowed upon us, and that God loves us as his own beloved children!

Two fantastic epiphanies!

And now one more. One more revelation of the glory of God.

But it is a shockingly different kind of epiphany.

Its setting is not a worshipful meeting with royal visitors from the East, and certainly not a sacramentally sacred moment down by the riverside where people are being baptized.

This epiphany happens at a wedding reception of all places! Somewhere in between the dancing of the Macarena and the bride cutting the cake, a revelation of God occurs!

And it is so significant that John tells us that it causes the disciples to believe in Jesus!

Now, what in the world could happen at a wedding reception that would make people believe in Jesus?

Did he outwrestle the other single male guests to win the prize when the garter was tossed? Did he get to dance with the prettiest girl there? Did he meet a business contact who pointed him in the direction of a new career opportunity? Did he win the Limbo competition?

What in the world could happen at a wedding reception that would make people believe in Jesus?

Well, it all started when the wine ran out.

Now, if you are one of those people who, like my mother, grew up in a religious tradition that insists that the wine Jesus dealt with was non-alcoholic, you're not going to get to enjoy the full wonder of this passage. In fact, its amazing to me that, in our own hymnal, when we sing "Let Us Break Together On Our Knees", the publishers have insisted on changing the original words of the second verse. In our hymnal, we do not sing, "Let us drink wine together on our knees…" as originally penned, for someone has decided that is not what true Christians would do. And so we sing a manufactured verse that reads, "Let us drink the Cup together on our knees…" Its number 222. You can look it up for yourself. Later.

Now the problem with all this is that while some of us are so busy trying to get the wine out of our hymnal and out of Jesus' life, Jesus is actually just as busy trying to get some wine INTO this wedding reception where the wine has run out!

Oh my goodness, we don't know Jesus very well!

But remember. This story is an epiphany story in which God is revealed for who He really is. And, as I mentioned a moment ago, the result of this revelation is going to be that the disciples come to believe in Jesus.

Now you know how the story goes. In this joyful Middle Eastern wedding reception, the party goes on for days and days. The reception itself is almost a measure of the new couple's integrity and honor. Surely, it’s a fulfillment of their lifelong dream! They've been planning the event for months. Everyone is there. The whole village shares the celebration!

But the caterer doesn't bring enough wine.

In my last parish, a group of people put on a mystery dinner theatre. The play was called "Just Desserts" and it’s a really neat murder mystery in which the diners are drawn into the story and actually take part. Both performances were sold out, and opening night was a great success. The people enjoyed a delicious catered meal and a wonderful presentation of the play.

After the opening night performance, as the treasurer of the group was paying the caterer for that evening's meal, he thought he should note in the memo line what the check was for. So he wrote "Just Desserts".

And the next night, for the second performance, guess what the caterer brought?

Just desserts.

So the actors had to scramble out to the local pizza parlor and come up with a few dozen pepperoni pizzas to save the day!

Well, they were scrambling in Cana, too, although it was probably not the fault of the caterer. Far more likely that the little wine the couple could provide was all the wine they could afford. So how could the party be saved, along with the dignity of the young bride and groom?

Now Mary, the mother of Jesus, watches all this with an understanding look. Quietly, she goes to Jesus and whispers something.

Jesus looks about and sees six stone jars. He tells the disciples to fill them with water. They fill them to the brim. The Bible tells us it took about 180 gallons. Can you picture the bucket brigade?

Then Jesus tells them to draw some out and take it to the chief wine steward. There is no hocus-pocus - no words of institution - no prayer of transformation or consecration. Nothing.

But by the time the steward tastes the water, its become a very delightful wine!

And the steward sends for the humiliated young groom and bride. And in front of the whole village, he announces, "Every other wedding I've ever done, they serve the good wine first, and once people get a little tipsy, they bring out something even cheaper than Ripple. But you have served a fine wine first, and saved the BEST wine for now!"

And the crowd cheers the couple!

And the party goes on!

And the disciples believe in Jesus.

What was it they saw in that experience, that made them believe?

I think it had to be the same thing Mary saw when she looked at the young couple in the throes of their problem.

I think Mary and the disciples must have seen themselves.

You see, Mary knew something about weddings that didn't come off right. She knew something about a bride's tears. She knew something about a groom's embarrassment. She knew something about dishonor.

There is not recorded anywhere in the Bible or elsewhere in history anything about a wedding reception for Mary and Joseph.

Because there wasn't one.

What would have been their shining moment to celebrate their love became unattainable the moment Mary was found to be with child. In that period, there was a certain marriage protocol. If the bride was a virgin, the wedding was held on Wednesday. If the bride was a widow, the wedding was on Thursday. But if the bride was neither a virgin nor a widow…well…society made no provision for that. And the swollen belly of a pregnant woman spoke quite loudly and clearly to the religious authorities who made the decisions about such things. Even in the face of explanations about visitations from God, and angelic announcements, and an immaculate conception.

Mary knew firsthand that life has a way of turning what ought to be our joy into sadness, what ought to be our hope into despair, what ought to be our dignity into dishonor.

Mary knew that life has a way of transforming what ought to be our wine into something even less than water.

I'm sure Mary could see her own wine-removing experience in the predicament of the young couple in Cana of Galilee. And, I dare say, the disciples could see themselves too.

For who among us has not been dishonored in life?

Rejected by someone we love. Turned away by the company we gave our lives too. Brokenhearted over the problem faced by our child. Physically diminished by some accident or illness. Enslaved by alcohol or drugs. Left alone after the death of a spouse.

Who among us has not been dishonored in life, and found our wine turned into water?

On this Sunday before the celebration of Dr. King's birthday, we can see in an even broader light the human impact of this kind of experience. A black woman named Rosa Parks ordered to the back of a bus in Birmingham, Alabama. A church firebombed, resulting in the death of innocent children. A leader assassinated for daring to dream about and work for freedom for those who are not free.

Not only in Cana of Galilee, but in Loudon of Tennessee, and Detroit of Michigan, and everywhere that human life is found, the power of sin is at work, stripping away the dignity of human beings, transforming what ought to be fine wine into something less than water.

But into this situation steps Jesus Christ who has the power to transform water into wine!

You see, this is the nature of God! This is the epiphany of the story!

And this divine devotion to redeeming human dignity is imprinted in the genetic code of every human being. Fred Craddock tells the story of being a young seminary graduate sent to work in what the government then called "pockets of poverty" in southern Appalachia. There, amidst families living in terrible poverty, often without enough food for a healthy diet, Fred took it as part of his ministry to tell these poor people how they ought to live, and how they ought to spend the little money they had. It just seemed so inappropriate to discover that a family barely subsisting in a tar paper shack would have spent their last few dollars to buy a bucket of petunias now growing by the tilted front door…or to feed a dog and a couple of cats…or to purchase the great big tv antenna that stood on the ramshackle roof.

Fred would try to tell them that they needed to get their priorities straight…that they needed to use their income for the necessities, and then, if there was surplus, they could buy all the amenities they wanted.

But the people would not listen to him. And for good reason.

Fred Craddock says he didn't know it then, but he knows it now.

He was wrong.

You see, what these poor people were doing with their seemingly extravagant behavior was what poor people have always done in every society and culture. They were standing up in the face of the indignity of their poverty and declaring, "I am not some government statistic…not some object to be ordered about…not some animal crossing a four-lane highway! I am a HUMAN BEING!"

Its always been this way, you know. This is why you can force a group of people to sit on a pile of sticks and tell them to stay there, and sooner or later, someone will take one of the sticks and make a flute and play a tune. This is why you can force people to live underground in caves but, sooner or later, they will take berries and begin to make art. This is why you can capture people and put them in shackles in the hold of a slave ship. But someone will discover they can make a sound with the chains. And then a cadence. And then, to go along with the beat of the chains, a song about freedom!

And why is this? Because GOD is at work among the poor, and the dishonored, and the ones whose dignity life has tried to strip away! God is at work transforming water into wine!

And when the disciples saw Jesus redeem the dignity of this young couple, they believed in him.

Do you?

Dear friends, the sign of a child of God is nothing less than having a heart that believes Jesus still goes to weddings and still transforms water into wine…

…and a life that makes a decision to go with him, to learn to do the same!

Amen.