Second Sunday After Epiphany Year C 2010

02 Epiphany C 10
January 17, 2010

Isaiah 62:1-5
1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch.
2 The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.

Psalm 36:5-10
5 Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your judgments are like the great deep;
you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.
7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
10 O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your salvation to the upright of heart!

1 Corinthians 12:1-11
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." 4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Wine Changes Everything

During my vacation, I had the honor of presiding at the wedding of Jason Yeager and Amanda Harris. It was really quite a lovely event. The couple invited everyone to an oceanfront hotel in Virginia Beach. We gathered in one of the function rooms where chairs were neatly ordered and flowers festooned the walls. The service was of course stately and dignified. Everyone was wearing their best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes. The women were of course lovely in their gowns and their perfect make-up and high-heel shoes. The couple exchanged their vows in that choked and quiet way ordinary people often take such momentous actions.

Then the wall of the wedding room opened, and there was revealed a small ballroom with a dance floor and beautifully decorated tables. The guests quietly filed in and took their places at the table, while some lined up at the bar. We were served a delicious dinner, and while we were eating, more people lined up at the bar. Drinks were flowing all around.

And this stately, dignified and well-dressed crowd began to change. Minute by minute, as the alcohol flowed, ties were loosened, shoes came off, voices got louder, and before you knew it, people were shouting, people were dancing, people were singing.

Wine changes everything.

I have a friend, a dignified older man with several college degrees who most people might say was rather shy and reserved. But if you gather with him at a dinner party and he has a few drinks, there usually comes a moment when he changes. His reserve disappears, he becomes deeply emotional, and usually he makes speeches about how wonderful everyone at the party is and how deeply he loves them all.

It’s the wine, you know. Wine changes everything.

But then, of course, we know, don’t we, that it isn’t so much that the wine changes anything, as it is that the wine reveals what is already there but hidden? We know of plenty of quiet, polite people who suddenly become angry and violent when they take a little alcohol. And if you know anything about the effects of the drug, you know that this is because the person is in fact an angry and violent person who usually hides his anger and violence. The alcohol removes his inhibition and before you know it he’s picking a fight.

The wedding guests, while they were sitting there primly in rows during the wedding ceremony, were actually filled with excitement and joy. But this was a religious service, you know, and they had to hide their excitement. Pour a little wine into them, and the excitement and joy comes spilling out.

Of course, we know that alcohol like any other mood-changing drug can also become dangerous. Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, believed that addicts were people who actually had a profound spiritual sensitivity, a longing and a restlessness for a spiritual life, but who somehow find their drug of choice before they find their spiritual path. And most recovering addicts will tell you that they never felt at home until they found God. It may not be an accident that alcohol is often referred to as a spirit.

Both the wedding and the wine are metaphors, powerful metaphors that are used throughout the bible. We know that Jesus often used metaphor in his teaching, particularly in his parables, but Jesus also enacted metaphors in his life, made his life, as it were, into a living parable.
Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets often used marriage as a metaphor for the relationship between God and his people. We hear it today in Isaiah.

5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.

Jesus himself often used the metaphor of weddings and marriage in his parables, and even referred to himself as the bridegroom, and the kingdom of God as a wedding feast. The abundance of wine, the overflowing cup, is often used as a sign of God’s salvation. Paul uses wine as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit, as in the fifth chapter of Ephesians:

18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit…

Jesus uses the wine served at the end of the Passover meal as a metaphor for his shed blood, which he compares also to the blood of a sacrifice used to seal a covenant between God and God’s people.

And of course, we Disciples use the cup as the primary symbol of our fellowship.

I know a man who was lost in a big city, homeless and alone, and someone invited him to the wedding feast. He drank the wine, and everything changed. Now he serves the wine to others.
I know a man who was always in trouble with the law. And someone invited him to the wedding feast, and he drank the wine and everything changed. Now he comes every week to give thanks, he’s working hard and he’s soon to be married.

I know a woman who lost her husband to a terrible disease. Someone invited her to the wedding feast, and she drank that crazy wine, and now she sings praises to God every week.

I know a people who worshiped gods who could not speak, and their world was a terrible place full of darkness and violence. But Jesus invited them to a wedding feast, and they drank the wine, and they did all kinds of marvelous things. About forty years ago, right here in America, a bunch of them rose up and changed the world without firing a shot. They were led by a man named Martin.

And right now, more of those people are in Haiti, yes, they were there even before the ground shook, and these people dug themselves out of the rubble and are already saving thousands. They drank that wine, and everything changed for them. They were set loose.

It’s this wine, the wine of the Holy Spirit, that makes us the church of Jesus Christ. Without it, we’re just another social club in Deltaville. But with it, we see with new eyes, hear with new ears, love with new hearts.

Amen.