Text: John 2: 1-11
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.” 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 twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him
Message
Jesus after his baptism goes to a Wedding at Cana. He starts his ministry by being part of a feast. It is said that Jewish weddings are a weeklong affair with all merriment and celebrations. Wine is very important part of the celebration. And guess what? The Wine ran out? How irresponsible of the host? What was he thinking of? What calculation did he do? But now the fact is “Wine has run out”. It has put the hosts in a fix. Their honor is at stake. Here is where Mary the mother of Jesus comes into the picture. She senses the discomfort and approaches Jesus to fix the problem. And Jesus responded. “My Hour has not yet come” What does the hour got to do with the problem? Why did Jesus say his “Hour” has not yet come? One needs to realize that Jesus is very reluctant in performing miracles. When the Satan tempted him to turn stone into bread, he refused. (Matthew 4: 3). Here too he felt that a problem of “wine running out” is not good enough for his intervention. Before we go further we have to find out what exactly did Jesus mean by the “Hour”. For that we have to read further. John 12: 20-25 says.
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
When the Greeks wanted to see Jesus, He says the “Hour has come….” Why so? We have to remember Jesus at this juncture was moving towards the Cross and was on his way to Jerusalem. Greeks love great teachers and posed an option to Jesus I presume to come to Athens, the seat of Knowledge. This was the urge of self-preservation. Here Jesus makes the choice of the Cross over the Seat of knowledge. Before he exemplified his sacrifice on the Cross he stated “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Jesus challenges our understanding of life where we feel securing ourselves and preserving our lives is the goal and objective of living. Jesus showed that life is understood in sharing, sacrificing and letting go of things that we cling to.” After saying this he immediately demonstrated what he meant
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (John 13: 3-5) For him power meant to share and to serve.
Now let us look at our lives. We are chasing our career. Good. We did the best course. Good. We got our dream Job. Good. But still we feel burnt out. We still dread Mondays. The most common complaint on facebook is the dread of Mondays. Why? Our wine has run dry.
We have married our dream partners. We have had a wonderful wedding and a great honeymoon. Life seems on a song. But still loving looks more of a work than play. There are tensions about children growing up. Tension in parent-child relationship. Our wine has run dry.
As a child we were taught to share. We laughed. We cried. When we became adults we have lost touch with all these factors. Obsessed with getting ahead in life we are on our own. We can’t share. We can’t laugh. We can’t cry. Our calculations have gone for a toss. We have hit the wall. Our Wine has run dry.
What does Mary do? She tells the servants “Do whatever he tells you?” Exactly. Do whatever Jesus tells us to do when the wine has run dry. And what does he say? “…, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” The ritual cleansing was so important that 6 jars were separated only for that. Jesus asks the servants to forget about ritual cleansing. These jars are used so that water is filled to the brim. It is this water that Jesus turns to wine for sharing and celebration. It is in giving up, sharing and celebration we find the true meaning of life. Human effort can gather water. That we must do. But it is the transformative touch of Jesus that turns water into wine. Our life is like the water. It is good enough. It serves the purpose. We can carry on. But that is not what God wants. He does not want good enough. He wants the best. But only by doing what Jesus asks us, by sharing, caring and celebrating, the water will be transformed into wine.
There is an old Nigerian folk tale...
The tale tells of how the tribal chief sent out his messengers to invite all of the people of the tribe to a great feast. “All of the food will be provided,” they announced, “but each family must bring one jug of palm wine.” One of the men of the tribe, Ezra, wanted to attend the great festival very much, but he had no wine. He paced the floor trying to think of a solution for his dilemma. Finally his wife suggested, “You could buy a jug of wine. It is not too expensive for such a great occasion.” “How foolish,” Ezra cried, “to spend money when there is a way to go free.” Once again he paced until he came upon a plan. “Rather than wine I will carry water in my jug. Several hundred men will attend the festival. What will it hurt to add one jug of water to the great pot of wine?” On the day of the feast the tribal drums began to beat early in the morning, reminding the people of the great festival. All of the people came dressed in their finest clothes, gathering by midmorning at the home of the chief. As each man entered the tribal ground, he poured his jug of wine into a large earthen pot. Ezra carefully poured the contents of his container into the pot, greeted the chief, and joined the dancers. When all of the guests had arrived, the chief commanded the music to cease and ordered the servants to fill everyone’s glass with wine. As the chief spoke the opening words of the festival, all of the guests raised their glasses and drank. Suddenly a cry of disbelief arose from the crowd, and they quickly drank again. What they tasted was not wine, but water. It seems each guest had decided that his one jug of water could not spoil the great pot of palm wine.
In our life of fellowship and community we need to serve, we need to share; we need to contribute, we need to sacrifice, and to give up. Or else the wine will run dry. In the society we live in, we like to condemn and blame the society. But we are not ready to invest or contribute to build the Kingdom of God.
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12: 25. Friends the Great Lent is the time to stop. To take a pause. To know why the wine has gone dry. It is a time to re-orient our lives. To do what Jesus says. To serve. To care. To share. This lent let us find out how we can share. How we can serve. How we can make a difference. How we can build relationships. May the Lord Bless us in our journey. Amen.
Rev Merin Mathew
Mar Thoma Syrian Church
Guwahati
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