Water into Wine

Epiphany 2, Year C
​For in you, O Lord, is the well of life, and in your light we see light… Amen…     
​Martin Luther once said ‘beer is made by men, wine by God’… 
    In a June 16th, 2016 edition of the Wine Spectator magazine, the publication carried a story about one of Pope Francis’s weekly public addresses in St. Peter’s Square.  
    At the time it was reported that Vatican City, one of the smallest nations in the world by size and population, consumed more wine per-capita than any other country in the world. 
    As if the world needed another reason to like the pope, Francis gave a ‘public benediction of sorts to wine drinking at wedding celebrations…’. 
    He said ‘wine expresses the abundance of the banquet and the joy of the feast’. 
    ‘He didn’t advocate for a modest one-glass-per-person situation, either; he made clear that any decent wedding will include wine that lasts, at a minimum, all reception long’. 
    ‘“Imagine finishing the wedding feast drinking tea,” he scoffed.  ‘It would be an embarrassment!”’. 
    To that I think many of us can say ‘amen!’. 
    Indeed, wine has had a central place not just at wedding banquets down the millennia, but in ordinary human life ever since people first learned how to make it. 
    Louis Pasteur, famous for the method of pasteurisation, even said ‘wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages’… 
    Look out dairy farmers, your man may be changing sides… 
    In all seriousness, wine has a central place in the story of mankind, and that is especially true in the story of Jesus and of the Church. 
    It may seem an odd thing, in this season of Epiphany, this time of revealing who Jesus is, that the wedding feast at Cana comes up in our lectionary cycle. 
    But this is no coincidence at all. 
    The wedding at Cana is where Jesus’s first recorded miracle takes place. 
    I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but read and hear this story without getting a touch of humour. 
    If you’ve been to a wedding banquet surely you know there’s a lot that happens there.
    There’s a lot for the bride and groom and the family to do, but also a lot of the guests to see. 
    Anywhere where wine is served people’s tongues tend to loosen, and I can just see Jesus sitting there with His mother, and His disciples, and processing all that is going on around Him. 
    Some of the best dialogue in this passage is between Jesus and His mother, the blessed virgin Mary. 
    When the wine ran out Mary says to Jesus ‘They have no wine’ - I imagine with that motherly tone that says - you better do something about it… 
    Jesus replies, with I think a bit of attitude, ‘woman, what concern is that to you and to me?  My hour has not yet come’…. 
    I love what follows… 
    Mary, completely ignoring her son, turns to the servants and says ‘do whatever He tells you’. 
    This back and forth, though ever so brief, I think gives a fantastic insight into that very human relationship between Jesus and Mary, son and mother. 
    I imagine Jesus in this moment just sighs, because now He feels He has to do something, now that His mother put Him on the spot. 
    And so the story unfolds. 
    The servants, at Jesus’s command, fill the jars with water, and when they are poured, the water is revealed to be wine of the finest quality…. Now that really is a miracle. 
    Jesus produces, if you do the math, about 175 gallons of wine in this first miracle of His. 
    Now that’s a wedding banquet! 
    It may appear odd, at first thought, that this is the first miracle that Jesus chooses to perform, even if it is only because of Mary’s pestering. 
    But when we take a step back and consider that, especially in the Gospel of John, everything has symbolic meaning, we can begin to better understand why the wedding at Cana, and the wine itself, is so important and central to understanding that Jesus is the messiah. 
    Wine - because no great story ever started with a salad… 
    It’s important to know that in the ancient near-eastern culture in which Jesus lived, wine and weddings went hand in hand. 
    But unlike many of our wedding traditions today, weddings in ancient Israel would last for a full week, for seven days. 
    The embarrassment for the couple in this story isn’t that they ran out of wine at 10PM when the party would be over at midnight, no, they ran out of wine with potentially days of celebration left. 
    Wine, and ability to provide it for a week of partying with guests, was a sign of prestige.  Today, guests who like to have a glass on days that end in ‘y’ would be in luck… 
    So to run out of wine early is a communal embarrassment, and in the small villages that dotted the landscapes, where everyone knew each other and their neighbours business, this was a scandalous thing. 
    The fact that Jesus chooses to act in this moment is generous.  His miracle is an act of charity, saving the happy couple from embarrassment. 
    But that isn’t all this does. 
    This first miracle instills belief on the part of the disciples in the divine nature of Christ.  Jesus isn’t simply a rabbi (a teacher), nor is He just a prophet, but He is capable of doing things that bend reality… 
    In other words… He can create and bring forth abundance… because He Himself is God… 
    There’s much more to say here, John’s Gospel, after all, is full of divine mystery and rich symbolism that deserves much more time to be examined. 
    But what I want to focus on, as we consider what this story means for us, is this idea of abundance. 
    So often, and almost inevitably in our lives, we each will run up against the threat of scarcity. 
    Scarcity of money may lead to anxieties about food, clothing, and housing. 
    Maybe we don’t face that kind of scarcity, but the scarcity of time and energy for the things that bring us joy. 
    It can be embarrassing, as it was for the couple who ran out of wine, to admit and face a need.
    In any ordinary circumstance we’re led to believe that scarcity and anxiety is just the way things are, and that there is no escape, and no hope of a future abundance. 
    Whether we face these things ourselves or not, this reality is blatant in the world around us. 
    So many folks are told, here in the richest nation on earth, that there just isn’t enough for them. 
    There’s not enough work, not enough homes, not enough opportunity, you name it… 
    This narrative is allowed to thrive because it is one through which people can seek advantage. 
    ‘I have mine, who cares if you have yours’.
    While it’s good to be grateful for what one has, it is also entirely valid to look at the obscene wealth of those who assume power in this country and to feel spurned. 
    And it’s okay to feel that way because, in a country that claims a Christian heritage, where many of its leaders claim to hold Christian values, the reality could not be any more different. 
    Sharing abundance is a Christian value - hoarding wealth is not. 
    Letting folks drink water, while others drink wine, is not an example of Christian living. 
    One of the many messages shared with us in this Gospel passage is that the will of God for all people is not scarcity, but abundance…. 
    When the wedding party realised that the water had turned into wine, the steward comes to the bridegroom and says ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk.  But you have kept the good wine until now’.  
    Jesus isn’t interested in appearances. 
    Jesus isn’t interested in holding back on what is good, or only providing the best when it is convenient to do so. 
    No, all that Jesus does, all that He gives, is good, and it flows from the throne of God abundantly. 
    We too are invited to experience the abundance of this miracle at Cana’s wedding feast. 
    As we gather at the table of our Lord and celebrate Holy Communion, Christ is reenacting this very miracle - turning our ordinary offerings into extraordinary gifts. 
    When we are fed with the bread of life and cup of salvation, we do so not for our own benefit alone, but as part of an even greater banquet where all of God’s children are invited guests. 
    The Eucharist, our Holy Communion, is as much an invitation to come and receive as it is a command to go and share. 
    Share the good news of Jesus Christ. 
    Share the miracle of water turned to wine. 
    Share that in holy Church, the very bride of Christ, there is a seat for all at the great wedding feast… For in Christ all are welcome, and all shall receive the very best gifts of our Lord… 
    In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… Amen…