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"The Wedding"

Sermon by Dr. Greg Knox Jones
on John 2:1-11
given January 14, 2007

One of the blessings of being a pastor is sharing the joyous occasions in people’s lives.

A baptism is one of those marvelous moments. Seeing that tiny bundle of potential recognized as a child who belongs to God is always a thrill.

Another joyful occasion that pastors get to share is a wedding. It is wonderful to be a part of the celebration that unites two people in the bond of love. Weddings are usually high-spirited affairs where two people and their families come together to embark on a life-long adventure.

One thing that adds zest to weddings is the element of surprise. The bride’s favorite aunt surprises her with a special sentimental gift. Or, the groomsmen surprise the couple by sabotaging their getaway car. Sometimes the surprise comes in the form of a toast to the couple. I remember a rehearsal dinner in which a close friend of the groom stood up and offered the following toast: "May you always be as happy as my mother-in-law tells me I am!"

Sometimes the surprise is clever, planned in advance and well executed; other times the surprise is spontaneous. A friend of mine officiated a wedding where the five year-old ring bearer carried in the actual rings of the bride and groom. He swears he will never make that mistake again. When they reached the point in the service where the couple was to exchange rings, they turned to the little boy who was to lift the pillow up to the best man, who would untie the bow and remove the rings. But the little boy thought he would be helpful and so he decided to untie the rings himself. As he did, the groom’s ring hit the floor and began to roll. It rolled all the way across the chancel, until it rolled underneath the pulpit. One of the ushers retrieved a hanger from the coat closet and handed it to the best man who crawled on his knees and fished out the ring from beneath the pulpit while all the guests watched in amusement.

I will always remember a wedding I performed a few years ago. The maid of honor was 23 years-old. She had attended three or four weddings in her lifetime and this qualified her as an authority on how all services were to be conducted. Throughout the rehearsal, the day before the wedding, she kept interrupting me and implied that I did not really know too much about these sorts of things, but that she would straighten me out.

Eventually we made it through the rehearsal, but by the time it was over the maid of honor was exasperated with me for not enthusiastically embracing her wise counsel. Then, the day of the wedding, the service went smoothly. That is, until it came time for the maid of honor - Miss Know-It-All - to hand the groom’s ring to the bride. She was unable to do that, because she had forgotten to bring the groom’s ring to the wedding. First she turned pale white, then she turned beet red, and for a moment I thought she might just crawl out the side door of the sanctuary. I must confess; I really enjoyed that wedding!

I had another wedding where it was actually the bride who unintentionally provided the surprise. Rhonda had more jitters than the average bride, and since the wedding was not until seven o’clock in the evening, she had the entire day to heighten her anxiety. During the service, she was rigid and had a glazed look. Other than that, I thought we were going to make it through the service without a hitch. Then, when we had almost reached the end of the service, I asked the congregation to bow in prayer. I had only prayed one sentence when suddenly there was a loud thud. I opened my eyes, and there was the bride, on the floor, out like a light. Eventually we revived her, sat the couple on the first row, and completed the service.

Today’s passage from the Gospel of John tells of a wedding in which there is quite a surprise. It begins like any wedding. The families of the bride and groom are all there. The parents of these two are proud of their children and pleased with the match. The extended family is also present for this festive occasion. The rich uncles as well as the poor ones; the successful cousins as well as those down on their luck.

Since it is a small community and most of the family lives nearby, most of the guests know each other. The children play with one another and the adults do business with each other. All of them worship together in the temple.

First century Jewish weddings were grand celebrations in which everyone ate and drank and danced and laughed. However, this particular wedding feast almost ends with a thud. The bride does not collapse, but someone miscalculates the amount of wine that will be needed.

It seemed like an ample supply when the party began, but suddenly a disaster looms. The festivities are in full swing, everyone is having a fabulous time, and then someone heads for another glass of wine and discovers that all the jars are dry. Not only will this bring the wedding feast to a sudden halt, but it will be a major embarrassment for the bridal couple.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, gets wind of what has happened, and tells Jesus that they have run out of wine. Nearby are six large water jars. The servants gather, and Jesus instructs them to fill the jars with water. After they have all been filled, Jesus tells them to draw out some of the water and take it to the chief steward so that he may taste it. And when the steward takes a sip, his eyes begin to sparkle and he shouts to the groom, "Sensational! Most people serve the best wine at the beginning, and then after everyone has had a few drinks, they cart out the cheap brands. But you have kept the best until now. What a miracle!" An embarrassing moment is averted, and the unique impact of Jesus is felt for the first time.

Did you catch the detail that John includes in his story about the amount of wine Jesus provides? The storyteller says there are six jars, each holding 20 to 30 gallons. So after this celebration has been going on for some time and the guests have had plenty to drink, Jesus creates between 120 and 180 gallons of wine. What is going on here? And why would John highlight this as the first miracle of Jesus?

Some say the story is told to showcase the amazing power of Jesus and to prompt belief among his followers. That is, from the outset, John wants to tag Jesus as a miracle-worker. But, if that is the case, why tell a story of him changing water into wine? Why not lead off with a story of Jesus giving sight to someone who is blind? Why not tell of Jesus feeding the 5,000? Why would he tell a story that sounds more like a magician’s trick than a worthy use of extraordinary power?

We find a clue in the way John identifies his own story. He does not say that it is a miracle. Instead, he says it is a sign. That is, it is something that is pointing to something else.

And even a casual reading of the four gospels reveals the extensive use of symbols and metaphors in the Gospel of John. It is in John that Jesus says a person must be born again, and Nicodemus does not understand because he takes Jesus literally. Something similar happens when Jesus tells the woman at the well that those who drink from the water he provides will never be thirsty again. It is only in John’s gospel that Jesus is known as the Bread of Life, the living water, the light of the world, the true vine. John constantly employs signs and symbols to point to deeper realities.

If John is using this story to tell us something grander than water being changed into wine, what is he telling us? Some say the key to understanding this story is to recognize in the water and the wine, symbols of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. I can see where that might be possible, however, I think the main message is something else. I think the primary point of the story is to remind us that life is a precious gift from God and that we are to genuinely enjoy its rich blessings. Without pleasure and play, without humor and happy times, life would be unbearable. This story reminds us that God wants us to relish the delightful occasions in life. And I suspect that the reason Jesus did not provide a more conservative quantity of wine is because he intended for his gesture to be a visual representation of what he declares later in this gospel, when he says: "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

Abundant joy. That’s what this story is about and John places it at the beginning of his gospel to underscore the fact that joy is to be a fundamental element of every Christian’s life. But is that what we see in most Christians today? When outsiders size us up, is their first thought: These people are certainly a joyful lot!"? Doubtful.

What prevents us from believing that the primary task of Christians is to be bearers of joy to our world?

Alexander Schmemann, an Orthodox priest, notes that our world is suspicious of joy. He asks, "How can one be joyful when so many people suffer?" And he concludes that Christians have come to believe that the only way to be taken seriously is to be serious and to reduce to a minimum what used to be central in the life of the Church – a spirit of joy. He goes on to write, "Joy is not one of the components of Christianity, it is the tonality of Christianity that penetrates everything ... Where there is no joy, Christianity becomes ... torture." (1)

In my mind, we are stuck on Good Friday and cannot seem to move beyond it. The darkness in our world – the ongoing war in Iraq, widespread poverty, the AIDS epidemic, extensive drug abuse, the threat of terrorism, rampant racism, the destruction of God’s creation - reads like an endless list. This darkness is real and powerful and must be taken seriously. However, it seems to have overwhelmed us to the point that we are mired in the cynicism and despair of Good Friday.

The solution offered by our culture is escapism: mindless entertainment and round the clock sports events to distract us from the ugliness in our world. And the result is that our fear of the darkness intensifies and we try even harder to avoid it. The alternative we discover in the gospel is very different. Our faith calls on us to take the darkness seriously, but to engage it with a deep sense of joy that is based on the confidence that we are not only on the right side - the just side - but that we are on the side that will one day overcome the darkness.

This story of Jesus changing water into wine does not present this joyful wedding celebration as an escape from the darkness or a diversion from the mundane, but rather uses it as a metaphor that points to a way of living that is constantly aware of the presence and power of God. Such a life maintains a spirit of joy through good times and bad because it is founded on hope. And not a sentimental hope based on a contrived attitude of optimism, but a hope founded on our conviction that God is always with us and tirelessly working to transform the world.

The wedding celebration is the metaphor that extracts us from having both feet solidly planted in Good Friday and stretches us so that we have one foot in Good Friday and the other in Easter morning. The wedding celebration represents the joy that is based on a deep down belief that God does not leave us to our own devices, and even the wreckage of the past and the disasters of the present can be the material from which God can forge a better future.

Tomorrow is the day set aside to observe the life of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was a Christian minister who championed civil rights and helped this nation in its struggle with integration. He sought to eliminate injustices and to liberate us from racism, and his dream of a better world built on justice, respect and peace brought him terrible suffering.

He was slandered, threatened, arrested, jailed and finally assassinated, but even at the end of his life, when he sensed the dark forces closing in on him, he remained joyful and hopeful; because he knew that although evil will win many temporary victories, God will triumph in the end. And his faith swept him up to the mountaintop where he could gaze over into the Promised Land and genuinely rejoice because his eyes had seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Life is a precious gift from God and God wants each of us to experience lives that are not only rich and full, but are overflowing with joy.

NOTES

1. Thomas W. Currie quotes Schemann in "Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts," in Journal for Preachers, Lent 2006, p. 22

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