Let the Party resume...

 

John 2:1-11 is the lectionary text for Epiphany II, Sunday, January 16.

 In John’s Gospel, on Day One John gave testimony to Jesus being the one chosen by God.  On Day Two, Jesus recruited His disciples.  On Day Three, they went to a family wedding.  Weddings lasted 8 days in that time.  We don’t know on what day of the festivities Jesus visited, but they were out of wine.  What a desperate situation that threatened their time of joy and celebration!

 Jesus’ mother directs Him to fix the problem.  Jesus claimed that He had no responsibility for helping in that way, at that time, but He complied.  The large jars of water for outward purification rituals were there, and Jesus turned them into wine – excellent wine.  It is said that in this act, Jesus revealed His glory.

Now, there are lots of jokes about Jesus here turning water into wine.  I have made some of them.  And some comments are regularly made about justifications for drinking wine because Jesus obviously knew good wine and provided between 120 and 180 gallons of it for the party.  I happen to like stout. That’s beside the point.

 I believe that this is all about God’s provision, not just of sustenance like bread or wine, but of joy in the lives of a people who have been beaten down and deprived of joy.  God provides life and all that sustains life, including the joyous gatherings of children of God to celebrate life together.

 Like the feeding of the five thousand, this provision is given to a people who have had anything beyond bare subsistence for living stripped from them.  Empire took everything they had to feed empire, and the occupation and oppression of Rome stripped away every semblance of hope for a good future and joy from God’s children.

 Weddings are a time of great joy in love, the gathering of people who love each other to celebrate the love of those choosing to join their lives and their families’ lives, and the looking with hopefulness at their future together.  Weddings are about promises and the determination to make one another’s lives better.  Under empire, those who are held down, back and out have sometimes ONLY THEIR HOPE that things will change, but they also have the determination to make life bearable for one another in the meantime. 

 Food was weaponized by Rome and is still weaponized under today’s iterations of empire.  Affording life is extremely difficult under Empire, because those few at the top take all that they can from the many at the bottom.  While the elites under empire live in luxury, those under them struggle to keep a roof over their heads, heat in their homes, food on their tables, medical care for their bodies and clothes on their backs.  Our own income inequality and wealth gaps are perfect examples of this truth.  Under the threat of not having enough for their loved ones, people will do whatever they are told to ensure that they at least have enough – they will work longer hours at lower pay, skip time off, work while they are sick and certainly not splurge on vacations or luxuries.  Under the threat of violent occupation and oppression or economic occupation and oppression, people have no choices.

 So, for a few days, after their meager supply of wine ran out, Jesus provided an abundance of excellent wine for a group of folks, weary from their lives under empire, to celebrate fully and pledge their devotion and speak hope about their future together.  The message was (and is) that God wants us to live well – to have enough and not have to kill ourselves to get it, to be able to celebrate life together, and to live in hope and joy.

 Though Empire takes and destroys, the Kingdom of God provides and builds up.

While Empire abuses and demoralizes, the Kingdom of God comforts and provides joy.

Jesus was, in the face of Empire, showing God’s people how life in the Kingdom, living by the Kingdom values of Agape Love and Grace, is different from life under Empire’s values of Greed, lust for Power over others and desire for Status above others.  Jesus was, in the face of the divisions created by Empire, celebrating people coming together and joining their lives with one another.  Jesus was, in the face of the bitter, cynical hatefulness of Empire, showing God’s people how life in the Kingdom, life in Agape Love and Grace, is intended to be the way of humanity, according to God’s Will.   We are meant to live in celebration of life together and in hopefulness.  Life in the Kingdom is all about that – Shalom Community – in which all have enough without fear or threat and can celebrate life together.  That is God’s Will.  That is the Good News of Jesus, in Cana of Galilea on Day Three and in Philadelphia today.

Pastor Jamie