The Signs of God's Grace

The grace-filled bread and wine are found at this table each week,
where God meets us as a most gracious host.

The Rev. Kathi Johnson
Second Sunday After Epiphany, Year C – 17 January 2016
Text: John 2:1-11
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
 

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Steve and I are one week away from attending the largest wedding I have ever attended. A friend’s son is getting married next weekend in a huge event with hundreds of people. For this wedding - as you would expect - every detail is being considered, every possible scenario is being planned out, so that – for instance – they don’t have the kind of disaster happen as what happens in today’s gospel lesson, where the host runs out of wine.
 

Weddings in the time of Jesus were not simple affairs. They didn’t get together with a few friends and family for a ceremony that lasted a half an hour and a reception that lasted four hours. Weddings in the time of Jesus involved everyone because it was a matter of hospitality, and wedding celebrations went on for days and days - up to a full week of dinners and drinking and partying. It was not a simple celebration, but you did it because in the Ancient Near East, this kind of hospitality was not only expected, it was the societal norm.
 

So, the wedding at Cana is in full swing, several days into it, and they run out of wine. “No big deal,” you think. “Just run over to Tom Thumb (or wherever you buy wine) and get some more!” Except…this is two thousand years ago, and running out to grab more wine is a bit more involved than running to the grocery store and filling a cart.  The hosts of this party are out of wine, and there’s no quick fix. And running out of wine is more than just being out of wine. To them, wine is symbolic of an abundant harvest, so to run out of wine means that you’ve also run out of God’s blessings. OOPS.
 

Jesus’ mother is on it. She has a thought and shares her idea with her son, Jesus, who seems to shut her down kind of rudely by saying, “What is that to me? My hour hasn’t yet come.” In other words, Jesus is trying to tell his mother that – to him, anyway – the time isn’t right quite yet.


And yet, Mary persists, and maybe – just maybe – it is her persistence that changes his mind. She tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. Jesus, relenting, tells them to fill these huge jars with water. Six huge jars – 20 to 30 gallons each! – just filling them with water probably takes some time. They fill them to the brim and then Jesus tells them to take them over to the steward, who draws out wine from the jars (not knowing where it’s come from). And not just wine, but an abundance of wine that’s better than the wine served earlier in the party.
 

And then the gospel writer wraps up the story neatly by saying, “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
 

This story only appears in the gospel of John – not the other three gospels – and John has seven signs that he writes about throughout his gospel (so, this is the first of seven). This story appears on this Second After the Epiphany because Epiphany is all about the revealing of Jesus to the world, and these signs in John prompt us to ask the question: What does this sign reveal about Jesus?
 

The obvious answer is found right there in the text: Jesus reveals his glory and the disciples believe in him. But the water-to-wine story has more to it than just being a simple miracle meant to show everyone what a great magician Jesus is. Jesus doesn’t make a big deal about this sign, so only a few people know about it and see what has happened.


 But the end result of the sign performed by Jesus is an abundance of wine, and that is what the most people see – the abundance: the abundance of God’s blessing, the abundance of God’s grace. What does this sign reveal about Jesus? This sign reveals not only Jesus’ glory, but also the abundance of God’s grace.


 In this story, God’s grace is revealed through the changing of water into wine, but the signs of God’s grace are found all around us. There is an abundance of God’s grace for us, even if we don’t always see it. Sometimes, our view of God’s grace is clouded by our own sin or the sinfulness of others. Sometimes, we pass by the view of God’s grace without seeing it because we’re too busy or too distracted (or both).


 But God’s grace has a way of appearing, in spite of us. God’s grace is with us – it is in the grace-filled water of the font, in the waters of our baptism that stay with us throughout our lives. It is in the grace-filled bread and wine at this table each week, where God meets us as a most gracious host. These are the signs that are here.
 

But the witness of Scripture – in this story, and elsewhere – is that the signs of God’s grace are not limited to a church building or some other holy place, but are also found out there, in the world,  and in our daily lives. Where are these signs for you? And what do they reveal about God’s grace?


 For the world is also filled with a tremendous lack of grace, and as I said the other night at our Wednesday service, we’re more aware of others’ lack of grace than ever before in human history, thanks to the technology that seems to bring everyone’s anger and everyone’s fear directly into our homes and into the palms of our hands.


 The apostle Paul writes in Romans 12: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” So, put another way – where are you called to be a sign of God’s grace? Into what situations can you speak as the voice of grace, the voice of wisdom, the voice of love? Pay attention, for the opportunities are certainly there.


 Amen.
 

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