Loving God, you reveal the abundance of your love through your Son Jesus, as well as your concern for every person.  Grant us an awareness of your love and of the power of your Spirit as we gather together today, filling us with your endless life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            Long ago, the prophet Amos spoke about a time when the kingdom of David would be restored.  This would be the time of the Messiah – a time when there would be an abundance of bread and wine.  In fact, the image that Amos uses is almost overkill: “The mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it” (Am. 9:13).  Then along comes Jesus, whose very first sign involves gallons and gallons of wine.  Do you see how such a thing might have revealed Jesus’ glory?  Yet, we still have lots of questions about this story.

         One of the things that often grabs people’s attention is Jesus’ response to his mother.  We hear, “Woman, what concern is that you and to me?”, and it sounds to us to be disrespectful.  However, it seems that there is a Semitic idiom in use here that is not disrespectful at all.  Father Kamal, whom I met in Jerusalem, explains it this way:

         At this wedding, the men and the women would have been seated in separate areas, and Mary would have been helping to serve.  When Mary goes in to speak to Jesus, she is breaking protocol by entering the men’s area.  Thus, Jesus’ response is more like, “Mother, what are you doing here?”  He is concerned about his mother’s honour.  As for the other part of Jesus’ response (“My hour has not yet come”), Father Kamal interprets this as “let’s get started!”  However, others see this as an indication that Jesus is hesitating.  He is not sure if this is the right time and the right place to reveal his true identity.

         However, with his mother Mary, there is no hesitation.  She fully believes that Jesus can and will act, and she immediately tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.  She certainly has not taken any offense, and notice that she is not actually telling Jesus what to do.  She lets him know that they’ve run out of wine, and she leaves it in his hands.

         Now, to at least some of us, this is not going to sound like a particularly big problem - and in a way, it isn’t.  This is one family in a small town called Cana that’s going to be embarrassed and dishonoured because there isn’t enough wine for the seven-day wedding feast.  However, as it turns out, these people matter to Jesus just as much as every other person he encounters, and this becomes an opportunity for Jesus to reveal to his disciples and to others who he is and what he is all about.

         The thing about this miraculous turning of water into wine in Cana of Galilee is that Jesus does not simply solve their little problem with the wine.  Instead, he gives them an abundance of wine – and not just any wine – good wine!  As we hear Jesus say later in the gospel of John, he has come that we might “have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10).

         Truthfully, there are times in our lives when we feel just like the hosts who had run out of wine.  There are times when we look around us and see only scarcity.  Will we have enough money?  Will there be enough people?  Will we have enough to get us through the year?  Will it ever be warm again?  Will we ever be healthy again?  However, today’s gospel tells us that when Jesus is there with us, everything will be fine.

         Recently an email was circulating that includes the following: “You have enough time, energy and resources to do everything God wants you to do this year.” (RevGalblogpals.org).  Listen to that again: “You have enough time, energy and resources to do everything God wants you to do this year.”  Did you hear the key in there?... not everything you want to do, but everything God wants you to do.

         Too often we don’t stop long enough to ask what it is that God wants us to do.  There is discernment involved, and prayer, and sometimes even signs.  If you’re having trouble figuring out what God is asking you to do, ask for some signs – or even just one sign.  There is ample biblical precedent for doing this.

         I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with Gideon, but he asked God not once, but twice, for a sign that God really had called him to save Israel from the Midianites (Judges 6).  In his case, the angel of the Lord had already appeared to him, but Gideon still had doubts.  The first time, he lays out some fleece on the threshing floor and asks that God would put dew only on the fleece and not on the ground.  God obliges and does what Gideon asks.  Then Gideon asks God again for a sign.  He puts out fleece again and asks that the dew would fall on the ground but not on the fleece.  God obliges once again.  Then Gideon finally believes that God has called him.

         You have enough time, energy and resources to do everything God wants you to do this year.  This is true for us as individuals, and this is true for us as a congregation, and if something isn’t working or doesn’t seem to have enough resources, it is important to ask if this is really something that God wants us to do.

         As we will discover, the gospel of John is full of signs.  John the Baptist sees the Holy Spirit descending like a dove and remaining on Jesus, and that’s how he knows who Jesus is.  Turning water into wine is described as Jesus’ first sign (with more to follow) that reveals who he is and leads people to believe in him.  It is also a sign to us of the abundant life that Jesus brings.

         May we continue to pray and discern and seek out the presence of Jesus, not only to give us direction, but also to fill us with the power of Jesus’ endless life, now and forever.  Amen.

Epiphany 2 (NL 4)                                                                           John 2:1-11

January 14, 2018

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2018 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved