Have you ever noticed how much some
things are scripted? Think about it; when you watch television, every moment is
scripted. A person is supposed to act a particular way and say the right words.
You can tell that it is because when someone goes off their script then,
usually, the other actors get tripped up and bloopers can occur for us to laugh
at. It all comes down to the phrase that “timing is everything.”
In order to get the sense of timing,
we need to know about what is going on. Our Gospel reading has Jesus, his
mother, and the disciples at a wedding. Weddings were big celebrations. Our
weddings, today, are not like the weddings of Jesus time. Today, weddings and
the celebration occur in the same day. In Jesus time, the wedding and
celebration lasted for a whole week. Imagine that, the party would be going on
for days. Imagine the band having to play for seven days, the caterer would
have to be sticking around to provide food. Think about the couple as they
would have to be visible for those seven days. Let’s not forget the
photographer needing to make sure just the right pictures were taken. I know it
sounds extreme but it could be fun and frustrating to think about.
And of Course, we cannot forget
about the wine. Wine appears to be the central focus of our Gospel reading this
morning. Wine was important at wedding celebrations back in Jesus time. Wine
was a sign of the abundant harvest. If you had wine at the wedding, you
signaled to the guests that they were important, that the celebration was
important and, yes, you wanted to impress the people that were invited.
Remember this celebration lasts seven days and imagine how much you wanted to
or needed to impress while celebrating…that is a lot of wine!
Timing is everything. The host of
this celebration needs to have enough wine to last the seven days. So it was
understood that too much of “really good” wine would probably cost way too much
so it became the practice for the host to serve the best wine first and then
serve lesser quality wine later. The hope was that they guests would not be
able to tell the difference.
Timing is everything. Not only did
they run out of the Good Wine, but they ran out of ALL the wine. That’s not
going to impress anyone. In fact, this means that the party is going to be over
a lot quicker than anyone expected. This party is going to be over after just
three days. They didn’t do a very good job of planning when they run out of
wine after just three days.
Timing is everything; these parents
may not have realized just who was at the party. Sure they knew Jesus was there
but maybe they did not know exactly who Jesus was. Jesus mother knows the
consequence of running out of wine and she goes to Jesus to tell him that the
wine has run out. Jesus responds by stating “woman, what is it to you and me,”
and then he says, “my hour has not yet come.” That’s an interesting thing to
say to your mother. It sounds like it could be taken as Jesus being rude to his
own mother; the woman who held him as an infant, cared for him, and wiped away
his tears as a child. What a thing to say to the woman that loves you so much.
Timing; or it could be that Jesus
was talking about a different kind of timing. John’s Gospel is referred to as a
book of signs. Using the term signs does not mean miracles. It means that Jesus
is showing a sign and revealing who Jesus is…that Jesus is the Son of God. This
is the first sign that Jesus shows to the disciples. When all the wine had run
out, Jesus asked the servants to take those big jars and fill them full of
water. Each jar held 20-30 gallons of water, that’s a lot of water. And now
that water is wine; between 120-180 gallons of wine; which means that the
celebration continues on.
This question of timing brings a lot
of questions: What does this have to do with timing at all? Was one person’s
sense of timing better than the others? What did Jesus mean when he said my
time or hour has not yet come?
Timing has everything to do with this
story. Jesus had already been invited to the party. This celebration was
supposed to last seven days; yet, it seemed that the party was going to be over
in just three days. Mary had timing in that she knew who her Son was. She knew
that Jesus was not just a boy but the Son of God, Immanuel. She knew that Jesus
had the ability to do something about this problem that could have been
catastrophic to the family holding this celebration. She knew that Jesus was
going to be able to help the family so that they would not have to go through
the shame of running out of what was seen as abundance and hospitality. Mary
had the timing to know that it was time to reveal her Son’s…God’s sons true
identity.
Jesus says that his hour has not yet
come. What hour is that? What time of day? Which hour? Jesus timing is that
hour when he will be sent to the cross and raised. That is hour, for Jesus,
that has not yet come. So here we have two very different times…timing in two
very different directions. It is Mary’s, human time, to reveal the abundance of
God and the Grace of God making sure that we all know that God will not leave
us to the hurts and pains of this world,
but embraces us and shows us that we are loved. Then we have Jesus time, the
time when God calls him to the glory of the cross and the Kingdom of God will
be open to all.
So this sounds very nice and neat and
clean, but what does it mean for us in our world. It means that although we see
these two different times; they are both in the here and now. Just as Mary, we
celebrate that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is in the present and reveals himself
in this sign of abundance and hospitality. Jesus is in the present walking with
us to reveal himself as the Son of God through his words and his actions. It
also means that the Glory of God is with us in the here and now and Jesus
Christ has gone to the cross and been raised for the Glory of God and all God’s
goodness is available to us in this day and in the days to come. It means that
our celebration of ALL God’s glory does not have to end after Easter Sunday but
this celebration goes on forever.
There are so many ways that we can live
this out in our daily lives. We can think of today as the beginning of OUR week
long celebration. We come to hear the word of God and give thanks and praise to
God who loves us so much that he sacrificed his only Son for our sake, for the
forgiveness of our sin so that we are a loved, forgiven, and graced people. We
can live this out through our actions. God has given us all different gifts and
we share those gifts with the world in our professions. Would it make you feel
different if we looked at our jobs as not trying earn money to pay the bills
but God has given us a gift that enables us to do that job. OR maybe God is
calling you to a different job. We live this out in celebrating our abundance
with others in the church, in the community, and with God’s creation. This week
we will gather to celebrate with Community Partners on Thursday evening. After
reading this text, the atmosphere is almost like a party getting to know one
another, sharing stories and laughing together.
I am kinda feeling like saying a line
from one of many movies “let’s get this party started!” May we continue the
celebration of God’s love, through Jesus Christ, and carry on our celebration
of an abundant, loving, and grace-filled God throughout all our days: AMEN!
