Epiphany 2C
January 16, 2022
Good Shepherd, Wells, MN
John 2.1-11
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2.11)
Before I went to seminary and became a pastor, I volunteered as an assisting minister at what was then our home congregation, Nativity Lutheran Church in Alexandria, VA. As such, I would help distribute Communion. At that time, it would be with either a pouring chalice or a common cup. After distribution, the presiding pastor would finish off whatever was left in the cups much as I do here. One Sunday, the presiding pastor started to do so, suddenly stopped, handed me the chalice, and said, “I can’t drink this; you have to finish it.”
An aside: other than Communion wine, I’d given up drinking alcohol several years earlier. I come from a family that has had significant problems with alcohol, some of them are in recovery. I could see myself heading down that road and so Cindy and I agreed it wouldn’t be part of our marriage. So, for those of you who are in a similar situation, I can understand how you might hear this text differently.
Back to the story: I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to drink the wine, but I didn’t want to contradict the pastor, so I finished the wine. When I did so I understood why he didn’t finish the wine. It was the most awful wine I have ever drank, and that’s saying a lot. At the risk of being blasphemous, if we are to “taste and see that the Lord is good” as Psalm 34 says, the Lord didn’t taste so good that day. Or, as someone else has noted, if as we sing in our Communion liturgy that Holy Communion is a foretaste of the heavenly feast to come, a stale wafer and bad wine hardly make heaven appealing.
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2.11)
During the Epiphany season we explore scripture texts that help us grow in our understanding of who this Jesus is. Last week in his baptism Jesus is revealed as God’s Beloved Son in whom God is well pleased. Today, as Jesus turns water into wine, not only abundantly but extravagantly, his glory is revealed in doing so. By the way, in John’s Gospel Jesus doesn’t do miracles, he does signs. We all know that signs point to something beyond themselves and also participate in the reality to which they point. In John, the goal of signs is for people believing in Jesus. Also, paradoxically, one needs to believe to appropriately interpret the sign, which then helps them believe all the more.
There is so much this text has to say to us, but I’ve been pondering the glory of Jesus revealed in this sign. I was having a hard time pinning down the meaning of glory and how it fit into this story until Pr. Mark Boorsma of Ascension Albert Lea helped me. Pr. Boorsma is more of a Hebrew and Old Testament scholar than I’ll ever hope to be. He explained that in the Old Testament, glory isn’t the big, shining effervescence we think about as glory. Rather, glory refers to weight, heft, substance, or presence. Glory is something that makes an impression or an impact upon us which, when we see it, we say, “Oh, my.”
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2.11)
In this sign, Jesus’ disciples were able to get a glimpse of who Jesus is as Word made flesh. I’m guessing that those nameless, faceless, servants realized something as well, if later when they had a chance to reflect on these events. That’s the way it is with Jesus’ glory, his presence as God with us, that we never see it all at once, even though the text hints otherwise. And quite often we miss it altogether, until we realize later that God’s glory was there. That’s because we tend to look for the big, splashy, shiny revelations of God, who rarely works like that.
At the beginning of the service, God’s glory was revealed and made manifest in a little water poured over Weston’s head. It didn’t look like much, but we know that it will do some amazing things just as we mentioned last week. Weston is now a beloved son of God who belongs to God and us in a whole new way, setting out on a new life. In a few minutes, God’s glory will be revealed and made manifest in that little bit of wafer and wine that I somewhat disparagingly referenced at the beginning of this sermon. Yet we also believe that it, too, will do amazing things as those elements contain the abundant life that God has for us, grace upon grace.
This is not a “Don’t worry, be happy” text or sermon of rainbows and unicorns that ignores the reality of suffering or pain. Rather, God’s glory in the person of Jesus means we have the abundance of grace to sustain us during those times. And it also means that in a world deeply troubled, God’s glory is manifested in, with, and through us. God’s glory is revealed where people who disagree can have peace-filled conversations. It is revealed when hungry children have their backpacks filled with food. God’s glory is manifest when cold and homeless families are wrapped in warm quilts. God’s glory breaks in where the brokenhearted are comforted.
May you glimpse the glory of Jesus, grow in believing, and sustained by God’s grace. Amen.
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