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There’s an old story about a man
who is driving drunk one night. The police stopped him. “Have
you been drinking?” said the policeman. “No sir,” came the
reply. “Not a drop.”
“Then what’s that bottle on the
floor beside you?” The man looked down and saw the wine bottle
there. “Oh, that,” he said. “It’s just some water I drink as I
drive.”
“Let me see the bottle,” said
the policeman. The man handed the policeman the bottle. The
policeman sniffed it, and then said, “This is not water. This
is wine.”
Whereupon the man looked up and
said, “Oh Lord, don’t tell me you’ve done it again!”
Did Jesus really change 150
gallons of water into vintage wine? Have you ever asked
yourself that question? Have you ever thought about asking it?
Our modern age wants answers like that.
There’s a story about a
teetotaling mother who was trying to convince her 16-year-old
daughter never to take a drink. “Never, never, never have a
drink of anything with alcohol in it!” she exclaimed. “But
Mother,” said the daughter, “Didn’t Jesus himself change water
into wine in a story in the Bible?” With fire in her eyes, the
mother shot back, “Yes, I suppose he did. But he
shouldn’t have done it either!”
Did Jesus change water into
wine? The writer of the fourth Gospel chooses a somewhat
unusual way to introduce the public ministry of Jesus. In
Matthew and Mark, Jesus’ public ministry begins with healing
miracles. In Luke, his ministry begins with a sermon preached
in his hometown of Nazareth. But in John, the public ministry
of Jesus begins with his presence at a wedding banquet. There
he changes six large jars of water into some very good wine.
There’s a line in the liturgy
for the wedding service in the United Methodist Church that
goes something like this: “Marriage is an honorable estate,
which Jesus himself adorned and beautified by his presence at
Cana of Galilee.” This is a direct reference to the story.
I suggest to you this morning
that the deepest meaning of this story does not lie in the
details of what happened. The facts of the story are not the
point for John. The meaning of this story does not depend upon
the exact details.
Let me share some background
with you. We need to know some of this background in order to
understand the power of the story. Weddings were festive
occasions in peasant life in Palestine. Cana was definitely a
peasant town. In such instances the wedding lasted about 7
days. The bride and groom never left town. There was no
honeymoon. They were like a king and queen in the town for a
week. They held a weeklong open house.
There was lots of food and drink
and dancing. The food went far beyond the ordinary. In most
simple homes, the best people could hope for was a little bit
of fish and some grain. But at the time of a wedding, the food
was an all-out production.
And wine was the drink of
choice. The wine flowed freely. Wine was consumed because
there wasn’t much safe water to drink. I visited the Holy Land
early in my young adult life. At the time I believed that even
a small sip of alcohol was somehow an evil thing to do. I
visited in a home of some friends in Jerusalem. Wine was on
the table. I insisted on having ice water instead. I was sick
for three days. Wine was common and valued at weddings. It was
the fluid intake of choice.
You also need to know that there
were plenty of similar images in Scripture. Scripture points
frequently to something called the Messianic Banquet. Jesus is
referred to as the Groom, and his followers are the Bride.
There are many images of a great celebration feast, including
some of the parables of Jesus. The Book of Revelation speaks
of “the marriage supper of the Lamb.” So the image of a
wedding banquet would not be at all unusual.
To this wedding, Jesus is
invited. It could be said that the preacher is the last person
you want to invite to a really good party. Years ago I had an
auto repairman friend who owned a shop called “The Route 30
Auto Repair” near Irwin. One afternoon I took my car up to see
if it could be serviced. I parked the car and walked up to the
garage. Inside I heard a lot of loud, raucous laughter. A
radio was blaring loudly in the background. The owner of the
store saw me coming. Suddenly he shouted, “Well, good
afternoon, R-e-v-e-r-e-n-d!”
Immediately all of the laughter
and conversation came to a standstill. Someone even reached up
and turned down the radio. A preacher is the last person you
invite to a good party.
We had friends in the North
Hills who had a Scandinavian Christmas party. It was called a
“glug” party. The center of the party was some flaming alcohol
in a dish that started the festivities. I remember them
telling us later they were not sure if they should have
invited us or not. Preachers sometimes tend to threaten or
thwart a good party.
But Jesus was invited. He was
there. And a curious thing happened—the wine began to run out
after only a few days. We need to understand what that means.
Basically it meant poor
hospitality. You don’t run out of wine at weddings. It’s a
social disaster. Perhaps it was because more people came than
were expected. Maybe it’s because the disciples drank more
than expected.
We took our two teenage
grandsons on an Alaskan cruise this past summer. I don’t think
the Carnival Cruise Line will ever recover on the food loss
for that week! Those boys ate 4 meals a day and made 35 trips
to the pizza counter during 7 days.
The host (or the bride and
groom) in this Biblical wedding story were about to run out of
wine.
Elaine and I attended a wedding
reception once where half of the guests were delayed their
food for an hour. Apparently one bank of ovens in the kitchen
went down and the chef didn’t know it until it was time to
serve the meal. It was total embarrassment for the host
family. This story gives us an indication of what that might
be like.
Mary says to Jesus, “Son, they
are about to run out of wine.” Jesus sees the large jars
standing against the wall. He calls over the wedding
coordinator, hands him a ladle and says, “Here, try some of
this.” The wedding coordinator takes a sip and a broad smile
comes across his face. He runs over to the host and says,
“Here, taste this wine.” The result is not only wine, but an
excellent wine.
The party takes off again in
high fashion. There is a story about a preacher who was
preaching one day against the evils of alcohol. He said, “I
want to take all the beer in this town and toss it in the
river. I want to take all the liquor in this town and throw it
in the river. I want to take all the wine in this town and
throw it in the river.” When they announced the closing hymn,
the hymn was entitled; “Shall We Gather at the River.”
Symbolically, the crowd at Cana
probably sang, “Shall We Gather at the River.” The party
resumed. No more hitches. No more glitches. A crisis had been
averted.
So this is a memorable wedding
party. I remember a story about a hotel that housed a
convention for both a group of salespersons and a group of
clergy. They served a banquet to the two groups in the same
hotel at the same time. The salespersons were to have spiked
watermelon for dessert. But the waiters inadvertently served
the watermelon to the clergy group instead.
When the chef discovered what
had happened, he was alarmed. He sent the headwaiter out to
see if any of the watermelon could be retrieved to be served
to the salespersons’ group. The headwaiter returned, shaking
his head. “It’s too late,” he said. “It’s almost all gone.”
“Well,” said the chef, “did they
like it?”
Replied the waiter, “I’m not
really sure, sir. All I can tell you is that they were taking
the seeds and putting them in their pockets.”
That was a banquet to be talked
about for years to come. People have some wonderful wedding
stories to tell. There was a woman who owned a 7-11 store, who
decided to get married. She decided they would be married in
the parking lot. She carried her flowers in a “Big Gulp” cup.
The reception consisted of hot dogs and slurpees at reduced
prices. Or in Maine, a couple met at the town transfer
station, affectionately called “The Dump.” They decided to get
married there. They got married standing in the bucket loader.
Townspeople donated returnable bottles for the honeymoon. The
headline said, “The couple couldn’t wait to say ‘I do’ at the
Dump.”
I’m quite sure that Ruth Sanford
or Mary Ann Weber, who have been our wedding hostesses here,
have stories to tell as well. But this is more than a
memorable wedding. This is more than a wedding story to tell
to your grandchildren. This is more than a miracle story.
What is this story about? Beyond
the transformation, beyond the miracle? Let me suggest some
possible answers.
THE CENTRAL SIGNIFICANCE OF
JESUS
It may simply be about the
central significance of Jesus. Prior to Jesus’ coming, the
wine was only so-so. It was an average quality, a cheap
burgundy. But in Jesus, the very best has come. The steward
says to the host, “You have saved the very best wine for
last.”
John may be saying to us that in
Jesus, life will be different. It will be noticeably better.
Earlier in John the writer has said, “The law came through
Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus.” The meaning for
this story may be as simple as that.
AN ADDITIONAL POSSIBILITY
But there is an additional real
possibility. Notice how the story begins. Notice the first
words: “Now on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of
Galilee.” Do you think those are casual words? Do you think
they are accidental? Maybe even trivial? I don’t think so. No
word is casual in John’s gospel. Each is chosen with care.
What else happened on the third
day in the New Testament story? Easter! Is this not a story
about the Easter people? The symbolism here may be very clear.
Life with the risen Jesus is like a really good wedding party.
There are lots of people. There’s lots of singing and dancing.
There’s good food and good wine. It may be reminiscent of an
Easter hymn that we sing during the Easter season.
Easter people, raise your
voices,
Sounds of heaven in earth
should ring.
Christ has brought us
heavenly choices;
Heavenly music, let it ring.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Easter
people, let us sing! (UM Hymnal 304)
SO THE EASTER LIFE IS LIKE A
GREAT PARTY
John is telling us that the
Easter life is like a great party. John is reminding us that
life after Easter is a grand and glorious banquet. The food is
plentiful and the wine never runs out. Or again, the Easter
wine is really good, and there is plenty of it. John is not an
advocate for heavy use of wine here. I don’t want to see
everybody down at the now-open-on-Sunday state liquor store
after the service is over today! But this is not a
“temperance” story. Such thoughts never occurred to first
century writers.
Abundant wine is a symbol for
real joy. Jesus brings joy to life in you. There is more than
enough. 150 to 180 gallons of wine is a lot of wine. This is
more than just a friendly bottle brought by a guest to thank
the host for inviting him. I am reminded of the text in a
Psalm that says, “You have put more joy in my heart than
others have when the wine and grain abound.”
WE ARE INVITED TO LIVE JOY
John invites us to live in that
kind of joy. Remember the movie called “City Slickers”
(starring Billy Crystal) in 1991? Billy Crystal plays a man
who is floundering for purpose in his life. He’s going through
a kind of mid-life crisis. The joy of life seems elusive. He
and a friend try a variety of activities to try to stimulate
their lives again. Finally they go off to a dude ranch. It
will become a new adventure. The final words of his wife to
the Billy Crystal character are these: “Go. Go and find your
smile.”
Jesus came to make you and me
smile—deep down, and forever. Even in the midst of
mind-numbing tragedy, even in the midst of an endless barrage
of hurricanes and flooding, even in the midst of sickness or
human discomfort, we can live with a deep, sturdy joy. St.
Teresa of Avila writes about Christians being “happy-hearted
people.” The Christian life is a great banquet of
happy-hearted people.
ONE MORE POSSIBILITY
There is one more possibility in
this story. If Jesus can change water into wine, he can change
you and me as well. This is a story about transformation.
Someone once wrote, “I have
seen the miracle of water changed to wine. But I have seen
beer changed into furniture. I have seen anger changed into
gentleness, sourness into sweetness, bitterness into peace.”
The wedding in Cana is a metaphor for new,
transformational beginnings.
John has the richest symbolic
language in the New Testament. This story is majestic in its
meaning. It’s the story of how central Jesus is to us. It’s
the story of the Easter life of faith. It’s the story of a new
birth of joy in Jesus. It’s the story of personal
transformational possibilities.
I hope you will never read this
story again in the same way: “And on the third day, there was
a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and Jesus was there.” |
