Sermon for Second Sunday after Epiphany
Fine Wine and Unconditional Love
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Depending on how you count them, there are nearly 40 stories in the Gospels of miracles by Jesus! Some of them are very well known – the feeding of the 5,000, the calming of the storm, walking on water, raising Lazarus from the dead, healing the ten lepers, and the healing of the woman who just touched the hem of Jesus’ robe. And that is just a few from the list – there are many more others, mostly involving miraculous healing.
And then there is today’s gospel from St. John, Jesus first miracle! Is it a miraculous healing? No. Is it a mass feeding of hungry people? Not so much.
No, Jesus’ first miracle is changing water into wine at a wedding, at his Mother’s request, even her insistence. Is this miracle of a lesser importance, with less life-changing implications, than others?
Well, perhaps, but Jesus’ first miracle is a miracle of grace, of abundance, of celebration. And this miracle moves beyond the gift and generosity sense of grace – it moves to an unbelievable more-than-you-can-possibly imagine sense of abundance.
Think, for a moment, of this gospel scene: Jesus and his disciples are at a wedding and the hosts run out of wine. Inconvenient, we will probably acknowledge, perhaps embarrassing, but is it really such a big deal? Yes. Because in Jesus’ time and place, running out of wine too early is not just a social faux pas, it is a disaster. People traveled by foot and by donkey many miles and stayed many days. The wedding itself lasted three days or more. Think of a huge multi-day family reunion with family members traveling long distances to be part of the celebration.
For such an event, wine is not merely a social lubricant, it is a sign of the harvest, of God’s abundance, of joy and gladness and hospitality. And so, when they run short on wine, they run short on blessing. And that is a tragedy.
And, just at that moment of possible social tragedy, Jesus, prompted by his mother, Jesus steps in and provides not just more wine, but more wine than the whole crowd could have drunk not only during the three days of the wedding feast, but probably across three weeks. In changing the water of those six large basins of water, water normally set aside for the temple rite of purification, Jesus is providing close to an additional thousand bottles of wine. And not only that, but as the surprised steward discovered, it is not just a cheap bottle of Chianti, but the best wine yet served in all of the three wedding celebration days.
And that, according to John, is what grace is like: an overflowing of joy, celebration, blessing, and the presence of God.
As we regularly see in the Gospels, first things matter. Mark describes the exorcising of a demon as the first thing Jesus does. And Luke – as we will see over the next two weeks – Luke reports the first thing Jesus did is preach a sermon of release and freedom and healing. And each of these things matters, as they set the tone and even theological agenda for those gospels. Which is why it is significant that in the Fourth Gospel John describes the first thing that Jesus does as providing more wine, joy, and blessings than this couple – or any couple – could possibly have imagined or deserved.
Because, that is what God’s grace looks like.
Just think of how counter-cultural this sort of Grace is today. And, so timely. So much of what we hear in the public realm – from politicians and marketers especially, so much of what we hear is about fear and scarcity. That we do not have enough money or food or security or power or privilege. Think of all the fear the President has tried to stir up about our southern border and the so-called caravan of mostly poor women and children.
Now, the reason politicians and others do this is simple: we are disposed by evolution to pay attention to scarcity and fear. Think about it: if you miss opportunity, it might be a bummer, but if you miss acknowledging a real threat – including running out of something essential – well, that might be deadly. We are hard-wired to pay attention to scarcity and lack and fear. And so, everyone from marketers to politicians focus their energy and creativity on creating in us a sense of lack in order to promise us they can fill it.
And, all too often, it seems to me, we define the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, in the same, limited ways: Jesus lived, preached, taught, fed, cured, eventually was crucified, and was raised again by God, all in order that God would overlook our misdeeds.
Now of course the forgiveness of sins is a central and important element of our faith. But too often we have spoken of it as the only element of faith, as if Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were a kind of divine eraser for the check marks against us on St. Peter’s ledger.
Which is why I am grateful that John reminds us that grace is not only about making up for something we lack – grace is also about providing more than we would have ever imagined or deserved. Think of it, Jesus easily could have provided just enough wine for the party to go on, and, given that people have already been drinking a few days, even ordinary wine would have been gratefully received. But Jesus went way, way beyond expectations to provide more and better wine than they ever could have expected.
Why? Because that is what God’s grace looks like. That is what God’s unconditional love for us looks like – way beyond anything we could hope for or expect, way beyond our expectations.
And, if God loves us so much more than we could ever expect or deserve, why wouldn’t we want to respond in kind, so to speak.
Please take a moment and think of your blessings and how abundant they are – your home or apartment, your car, your job or retirement or school, your family and friends, this wonderful congregation, and living here in this amazing climate where a cold day is in the 50’s! And that list can and should go on and on. Think for a moment of all that you can add to such a list of blessings.
And, then, think of how we, you and I, can respond to such love by God with love and care for others. Think of all the opportunities we have to serve others through our congregation and community or just through simple acts of everyday kindness. Think for a moment of what more each of us could do for our family and friends and neighbors and for the poor and homeless in our community. And then think of all the ways we can reach out beyond our community through our church and the countless ways we Lutherans are helping people around the USA and around the world.
And it all begins with simple acts of everyday kindness. Seems to me that is the least God can and should expect from us in response to God’s overwhelming grace and love.
Grace - like fine wine. Lots of it. Overflowing. Like God’s love for us all.
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Dr. David Lose).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, January 19 & 20, 2019
