Date: 17th Jan 2010 (Ephiphany 2)
Preacher:
Richard Dingley
Churches:
Draycott & Rodney Stoke
Readings:
Isaiah 62,
1-5
1
Corinthians 12, 1-11
John 2, 1-11
Give us grace, O Lord, not only to hear your Word with
our ears, but also to receive it into our hearts and to show it forth in our
lives; for the glory of your great name.
Amen
When
I first looked at the readings set for today I was unsure as to which aspect I
should consider with you this morning.
After some prayerful thought I realized that had I never looked at the
actual characters involved in St. John’s story of Jesus’ First Sign of his
Messiahship given while attending a family friend’s wedding in Cana of
Galilee. I think we can learn a lot from
considering how we relate to them; how are we similar and where do we differ in
our approach to Jesus and how do we observe and obey the precepts shown to us
in this story.
But
before I go further let us just remind ourselves of what St. Paul was saying to
the Corinthians in today’s Epistle reading.
Spiritual Gifts are often viewed with suspicion these days; perhaps more
so in the established mainline churches!
They are often associated more with informal groups or sects but here we
are reminded that each and everyone of us has one or more of these gifts and
that they are provided not for our own benefit but so that each fellowship,
each church congregation, is provided with those gifts that it needs to present
and live out the Gospel. We are told
that gifts are for the common good and not for our own self-indulgence or
pride! The gifts vary and include gifts
of service to others in the church as well as the more esoteric gifts of
prophecy and the interpretation of prophecy or the gift of tongues and
languages. Those who meet and greet, serve coffee or visit the housebound are
indeed equally, if not sometimes more important to the well being of the
individual church fellowship than are those who preach and teach and administer
the PCC! It is as we meet together, and
hopefully pray together, worship together and serve the community together that
we become a real witness to the love and grace of Jesus Christ to the community
in which we live and work.
So back to Cana.
As
the story unfolds we see that Mary is a close friend of the family who are
holding the wedding feast. She is taken
into their confidence and is aware of the horror and acute embarrassment that
the family are about to experience when the wine runs out. Indeed could it be that the unexpected
arrival of Jesus and his disciples actually created the problem! The unexpected arrival of a group of strong
thirsty men could well upset the logistics! To run our of
wine would be a disaster; a family disgrace!
Mary knows that she can do nothing about the problem herself - except
the most important thing of all – take the problem to her son and leave it
there. We should note that she doesn’t
advise him what he should do or how he could save the day – she just leaves the
problem with him. But having done so,
and in spite of Jesus telling her that his time has not yet arrived for a
display of his god-given power, she confidently tells the worried waiters to do
exactly what he tells them to do. Here
is a model of prayer. As the hymn by Joseph Scriven puts it: What a friend we
have in Jesus – take it to the Lord in prayer!
But what of these waiters?
Jesus tells them to fill some jars with water, in all some 75 gallons!
Collecting that from the well was in itself quite an effort for men; after all
in their culture carrying water was women’s’ work. Then they are to take some of this water to
the master of ceremonies! Would you,
would I, have the courage to do that.
The stakes are high for their own reputation; if nothing has happened to
the water they will be in deep trouble.
Did they taste the water on the way to check if it was all right to
proceed? Most wine in Palestine is white
so there might be no major colour change to give them a clue. And then when was the change effected – In
the jars or on delivery? So often it is
only as we take Jesus at his word and trust him in action that the miracle we
seek happens and the answer to our prayer is not available in advance to check
out the outcome before we are committed.
Obedience led to the healing of 10 lepers – it was ‘as they went’ that
they were healed.
But
all is well when the Master of ceremonies tastes the newly made wine! He beams! Here is the best vintage of the
night – but why served so late on? He is puzzled by the unusual order of
providing the wine. Was it a mistake on the part of the waiters that they took
the wrong wineskins first? Why would anyone give the poorer wine when pallets
were clean and heads are clear and then bring out the best when heads are
already muzzy? It’s a policy that is totally unbelievable and
counter-cultural! But then so is the
Gospel. In this first of the seven signs
given by St. John we see that God is a God who means us to enjoy his
gifts. We are shown that Jesus makes a
very real difference to life. We are
meant to be different; we are meant to be followers of the Messiah who did
things differently! He was looking for faith, for trust, for obedience, for
action without argument and in the fulfilment of these aspects he shares his
joy and peace with us. He told his
disciples that if they love him they will obey his word not argue it out. Jesus does not look for rationalisation – he
looks for a trust that leads to loving obedience! How difficult! How challenging. To follow Jesus as those waiters did is to
put our reputation on the line – to put our heads over the parapet, to run the
risk of ridicule while at the same time remaining in fellowship with an
indwelling, loving Lord and Saviour.
John
presents us with role models with regard to our prayer life – are we confident
enough of God to leave our needs with him and let him decide how to respond and
answer our prayers? Are we obedient like
the waiters willing to obey even if the risks appear great – do we in fact
trust him enough? I found that this
reading has a real challenge to me – how about you?
Amen