Sermon for Epiphany 3: the wedding at Cana
I wonder if anyone here can remember a wedding reception that has gone disastrously wrong? Embarrassing speeches by the best man or father perhaps? The surfacing of long suppressed family arguments? Guests who’ve had a little too much to drink?
It’s comforting perhaps to think that Jesus got himself embroiled in a wedding reception that was going pear shaped.
Interestingly, the writer of John’s gospel fails to tell us whose wedding it was that Jesus and his disciples attended. What is clear is that Jesus and his followers were far less important guests than Jesus’ mother, Mary. And so when the wine runs out it is Mary that grasps the initiative and draws Jesus – a little unwillingly perhaps – into the centre of events. Mary’s host risks humiliation and she senses that Jesus can do something about it. The familiar miracle then unfolds, the wedding is a success after all, and Jesus’ disciples believed.
The miracle at Cana is the first of the seven signs of Jesus recorded in John’s gospel through which Christ’s glory is made manifest. Seven is a very significant number in scripture and is always associated with perfection – God rested on the 7th day; Jacob bowed down seven times before his brother as a sign of perfect submission; God ordered the lampstand for the tabernacle to have seven branches and there are seven trumpeting angels in the book of Revelation.
And so it is through the seven signs in John’s gospel that we come to have a fully rounded understanding of the significance and truth of Jesus, both perfectly human and divine.
The story of the wedding at Cana overflows with insights into the nature of the transformed life that is available to us through faith in Jesus.
First, is the sheer abundance of joy that is on offer. Jesus didn’t provide sufficient wine of adequate quality but a quite staggering volume of the very best wine available. There was no way the wedding guests could consume all that Jesus provided; it was a gracious outpouring of excess.
There is a church in a plush part of west London that, in place of tea and coffee, serves wine after every Sunday morning service.
Now I’m not advocating that at St John’s, but in a way such a practice does speak powerfully of the fun and joy that Jesus wants us to know. There is nothing gloomy about being a Christian. Jesus wants us to enjoy our faith.
Secondly, the miracle at Cana shows us that Jesus is interested in the ordinary dramas of which our lives are made. Compared with living under Roman occupation, this family crisis was trivial in the extreme. It was socially embarrassing but was hardly earth shattering. Yet Jesus took it seriously. Families in crisis are a concern to Jesus.
And it is this point that I want to focus on this morning.
Our life as a Christian community can often feel dominated by the pressures of keeping the show on the road – building repairs, church cleaning, fundraising, hall bookings, garden maintenance, paying our parish share. The list of things we have to do is quite long.
Yet if all the energy expended to do this is to be worthwhile, it must be for a purpose greater than ensuring that St John’s continues.
And for me, that purpose is all about serving the community around us; sharing our faith through words and deeds with those who live in this part of Hucknall.
To do that successfully, means being as committed to the issues and concerns that dominate the households that surround us here, as Jesus was committed to resolving the family crisis at the wedding at Cana.
Another way of looking at this is to say that what we do here at church on Sunday is only worthwhile, if it helps each one of us, to be better equipped to serve God in all those relationship encounters we have from Monday to Saturday, wherever we are and whoever we are with.
There was a crisis in the story of the wedding at Cana and Jesus got stuck in and did something about it.
What are the crises in our own community that we might be called – as a church or as individuals – to get involved with?
The two very local issues that keep recurring to me and are mentioned to me by others are the need to support parents both through parenting skills and pre-school clubs. Supporting parents in those vital early years is surely something that can transform lives for generations.
But you may have your own sense of needs we are called to meet too. So please do share those amongst us so we can pray for them too.
At the same time, let us also celebrate all that we currently do, and remember that it is God that strengthens, resources and equips us to do His work.
Let us pray:
Loving God, as your Son showed commitment to the ordinarily dilemmas and tensions of life; help us to bring your light and Word to the many challenges that face our community;
and as we do so grant us the peace of knowing you are with us,
So that we might offer your peace to others in troubled times. Amen.
