John 2:1-12, Mark 14:3-9, Matthew
11:16-19, Luke 14:12-14
I’d like to ask
you to take a moment and think about what your primary image of Jesus might
be. I’d like to invite you to close your
eyes and see Jesus or the Christ or hear the scriptures that are most
meaningful to you in terms of describing for you who Jesus is for you.
My primary image
of Jesus tends to be the times he stands up for justice: he cares for those
rejected by society; talking to women, children, Samaritans, Syrophoenicians,
tax collectors, and sinners - those who were seen as marginal or who were
excluded from being “insiders” in the Jewish society of the time. Jesus touches
lepers, and allows himself to be touched by the bleeding - again something that
would be considered unclean, taboo, and that would have put Jesus himself at
risk for being seen as unclean. He challenges legalism (especially when it
hurts people) by picking wheat to eat and healing on the Sabbath, by stopping
the “lawful” stoning of the woman caught in adultery. He overthrows the money
changers in the temple who use and exploit people. My primary images of Jesus
are the times when he puts his own life at risk, and eventually loses his life in
his work to bring the realm of God among us, to offer new life, to change
people, to give voice to people, to confront the “righteous.” I see Jesus echoing
in his actions the Biblical prophets, condemning the hypocrisy of rich living while
others don’t have enough to survive, challenging those who “have”, comforting
those who have little and are oppressed, overturning the status quo to empower
the downtrodden and to bring down the mighty.
That is my primary
image of Jesus. But Jesus is infinitely more complex and deep than my primary
images will allow. Jesus is, God is,
thanks be to God, multifaceted, multi-layered, and beyond our limited
imaginings.
The three stories
that were read for today give a very different picture of Jesus.
Each of these
tells us many things, but there are a few things I specifically want to point
out. The first passage from Matthew
tells us, among other things, that Jesus ate and drank.
He did not abstain, he was not
ascetic, but instead he enjoyed, he celebrated, he appreciated and he partook
of the good things in life. He did not limit himself from enjoying what life
had to offer.
The passage in
Mark tells us that he saw value in spending money occasionally on expensive,
lavish ways to honor and celebrate God and what God has given us.
It is the third
passage that I want us to focus on most today.
Because the story of the wedding in Cana is an amazing story telling us
much that might seem surprising about Jesus.
The passage in John tells us that he honored and enjoyed rich ceremony
and celebration. He went to weddings and parties. At times he celebrated. He
partook of and even provided abundance.
More, he partook of and provided extravagance. The jars that Jesus used
to make the wine, we are told, were vessels for Jewish purification rites.
These were huge jars, which Jesus told the servants to fill to the brim. Each
of these jars held 20 to 30 gallons of water, all of which were then turned
into wine. Jesus did not make a few bottles of wine here, not a case of wine,
but gallons and gallons of wine!! Undoubtedly much more than could be drunk at
this one wedding. In addition, this
passage in John tells us that it was excellent quality. Jesus did not skimp
here on quantity or quality. And again, for what reason? Simply for a wedding,
for a party.
In the book of
John, this story of Jesus turning the water into wine is also put in a place of
prominence. This story marks Jesus’ first miracle, his first sign and his first
action in ministry. This tells us that
it is not just a fluke or an unimportant part of who he is that he celebrated,
helped others celebrate and did so with extravagance.
As Jesus shows us who
God is, we learn from this story that God is hugely over indulgent when it
comes to good things. God is a God of abundance, extravagance, transformation and
new possibility. God may enter the world as a helpless baby. But God’s ministry
is also overflowing, celebratory and without limit.
This is one of the
first things that Jesus’ life tells us about God in the book of John. And the
theme of God’s abundance does not end with this story. The feeding of the five
thousand is another example of God’s extravagance as demonstrated through
Jesus. Not only were five thousand men, plus more women and children fed off of
five small loaves of bread and two little fish, but there were twelve baskets
of food left over. Again, our image of God is one of huge abundance.
This celebratory
aspect of God is not in conflict with other images of Jesus. This information
about Jesus adds to our understanding of God. While Jesus does celebrate and
make wine for merry making, this is not in contrast to the Jesus that we know
to confront the rich man and tell him to give everything he has, the Jesus we
know who rejects the Pharisees’ legalisms, the Jesus who challenges the status
quo. For while Jesus does celebrate, for what purpose does he celebrate, and
with whom?
The woman Jesus
defended, who poured ointment on Jesus, was celebrating her God and celebrating
her Lord. She was also giving richly to one who was on his way to death, one
who had limited opportunities for celebration left to him. Also, Jesus says in
Luke 14: 12-13, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your
friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, in case they
may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.”
We are called to
celebrate God. And we are called to share and give extravagantly to those who
rarely have the gift of extravagance and over abundance, those who may not be
able to return the favor.
[1]Dorothy
Day founded, lived in and ran the Catholic Worker house. This was a place (now there are many of these
houses) that existed for the sole purpose of caring for the needy. It was a house that provided care for the
needy every day - daily meals for hungry people, shelter for homeless people, a
place to rest, an ear to listen. The workers who lived in the house lived in
intentional poverty, giving everything they had to care for those who came in
need.
One day a well
dressed woman visited the Catholic Worker house and gave Dorothy a diamond
ring. Dorothy thanked the visitor, slipped the ring in her pocket, and later in
the day gave it to an old woman who lived alone and often ate her meals at the
worker house. One of the staff protested that the ring could have been sold at
the Diamond Exchange and the money used to pay the woman’s rent for a year.
Dorothy replied that the woman had her dignity and could do as she liked with
the ring. She could sell it for rent money, or she could take a trip to the
Bahamas. Or she could enjoy having a diamond ring on her hand just like the
woman who had brought it to the Worker. “Do you suppose,” Dorothy asked, “that
God created diamonds only for the rich?”
I believe what
this says to us is that we are not let us off the hook for caring for the poor
and marginalized. We are still called primarily and foremost to love God and
our neighbors, ALL of our neighbors, as ourselves in our Christian living. But
these stories of Jesus tell us something more. They tell us that there are
times for parties and celebration amidst our work. And while we are to invite those who have
little, the party is also for us. We need that: for renewal, for replenishment,
simply as an offering of our gratitude for the abundant gifts of life that God
has given us.
World War I was a very bloody and aggressive war, a huge war,
a terrible war, a time of great death and tragedy and loss. At the Western Front it was bloody and
violent like everywhere else. But on
Christmas Eve, 1915, things changed for a moment. The German soldiers from Saxony made a brave
choice. Bringing food across the front,
and singing Christmas Carols, they came to the British soldiers they were
fighting in a Christmas spirit. The
British soldiers, shocked at first, were also moved and found themselves
responding by joining in the singing and offering up what they had to share in
the festivities as well. After a time of
singing and faith celebration, pictures
were shared, personal stories began to be told, sometimes only through hand
signs, between German and English people.
In one version of the story officers had to break up the comradery as
they realized fighting would soon become impossible between these two groups if
they continued to get to know, share and celebrate with one another. In another version of the story, the bonds
made that night were so great that those soldiers could not be compelled to
continue fighting those they had come to see as human brothers and
sisters. These soldiers, then, on both
sides, would no longer kill each other and had to be moved off the front. Celebration, especially celebration of God, is
not just joyous: with God’s help it can be powerful, an agent of true change.
This is a hard
time in the United States right now. We are dealing with ongoing mass
shootings. We are dealing with an extraordinary amount of fear, and hatred and
vengeance, at homophobia, islamophobia, xenophobia from many different places
and in many different ways. We are looking at the devastating effects of environmental
damage and wondering if we can stop it and reverse the damage in time. It is a
scary time, it is a difficult time. But it is in the midst of this difficult
time that God calls us to celebrate, to find those opportunities to see the
beauty in God’s world and to celebrate it together with one another.
Some might feel that
celebration at this time is audacious. But it is a sign of gratitude, it is a
sign of trust that God is with us no matter what we are going through, it is a
sign of the blessings that we are given every day. That is part of what church
is meant to be, what worship is to be. It is a time of celebration, of
expression of extravagance, and abundance.
As part of that
celebration we have to let go of outcomes. God works in surprising ways. As we
celebrate, as we invite others into our celebrations, God is in charge of who
might come through these doors, God is in charge of how our joy will affect
others, God is in charge of whether or not our celebrations will lead to
transformations. But with a spirit of gratitude and trust, we are called to
enjoy and celebrate God’s love for us in this place. Let us today in this place
be filled with joy, laughter and play. We have so much to be thankful for.
Thank you God, for another day with trees and a sky over our heads, thank you
for air and food and shelter. Thank you God for another day with children and
the elderly, the middle aged and young adults.
Thank you God that this church is here, that doors are open, that some
call this place home and others are here to worship searching for hope and
renewal. Thank you, God, for each other, for family, for fellowship. Thank you
God.
We don’t just
honor God with solemn prayers and faithful promises to care more, to love more,
to serve more. We don’t just please God by uplifting the downtrodden. We also
honor
God by finding and sharing joy and
beauty, fun and laughter in the life God has given us. Thanks be to God.
In the spirit of celebration
I’d like to finish my time by telling you a short story.
A friend of mine
told me that one day she had read to her not-quite-three-year old daughter the
story of Jesus’ miraculous turning of the water into wine. That night after she
put her to bed, she could hear the daughter recounting the story to her stuffed
animals as she often did before going to sleep. The little girl said, “Jesus
was at a wedding with his mother, but they ran out of drink. Jesus’ mother
said, ‘Do whatever he tells you to do.’ They took big jars and filled them with
water. Then Jesus turned the water
into...”
There was a long
pause; my friend wondered if her daughter would remember about “wine” which was
not something in her experience. After a few moments the little girl resumed:
“Then Jesus turned
the water into....chocolate milk! And it was the best chocolate milk they had
ever tasted!” Amen.
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