When I was just starting out in ministry, Tom Sparks, one of my former pastors, gave me some advice. He said, “When it comes to preaching, just keep it simple.” He knew that the tendency for young preachers is to pack too much into their sermons. Like 7-year olds describing a movie they’ve seen, beginning preachers tell you every detail of their extensive biblical research into the passage for that Sunday. They preach as if they’ll never get a chance in the pulpit ever again. That is why my mentor said, “Keep it simple and remember: You get another chance in seven days.”
Today we heard a reading from John 2 describing the miracle of Jesus changing water into wine. It’s a well-known story. Lots of people who’ve never read the bible know about this event. I can’t tell you how many times at parties people thought it funny to ask me to replicate this miracle; and for the record: I can’t do it. But to heed Pastor Tom’s advice, let’s think about this story and for goodness sake, let’s keep it simple. A wedding feast was held in the city of Cana. This is a day’s journey from Jesus’ hometown, which explains why Jesus’ family was there. And since Jesus, this wandering rabbi, now had a group of followers with him, his disciples were also invited to the nuptial party. But something bad happened – or at least, something embarrassing. They ran out of wine. Wedding feasts were multi-day affairs, but somehow supply did not keep up with demand, particularly in the liquid refreshment department. Now, here’s where I could share my research about the nature of these festivities back in ancient Galilee, or I could ask you to think about times in your life when your plans did not work out quite right. But Pastor Tom says, “Keep it simple,” so we’re going to move on.
To the center stage of this drama enters Mary, the mother of Jesus. She pulls her son aside and says, “They have no wine.” Jesus is initially unmoved by this bit of information and in the formal language of John’s gospel, he replies to her, “My hour – my time of public action and glory – has not yet come.” But eventually he does do something about the lack of wine. And so a question is raised in our minds: Was Jesus really not going to do anything about the wine shortage until he was asked? If so, that raises the question: Do we always have to ask Jesus before he will come to our aid? Or the even bigger question: Does Mary have a special connection with Jesus, so that perhaps the words of the Catholic prayer are right: “Hail Mary, full of grace…pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death”? You can almost see the reference books piling up on my desk, as it appears that a big discussion about Roman Catholic theology and Mariology and intercessory prayer is about to begin. But Pastor Tom taps on the door, so I’ll only say this: Prayer is important, and we believe that intercessions (prayers for others) are worthwhile and beneficial. Why? Because it aligns our spirit with God’s spirit. In James 5 it says: The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. It is not as if we pray to someone else (like Mary, the saints or angels) or that a certain prayer formula will get guaranteed results. Rather our intercessory prayers pull us into the spiritual place where God is at work, where God’s love, our needs and the needs of others converge. Prayer opens our eyes and our hearts to the ways of Christ, and in that place, healing and grace are found in abundance.
Moving on, we come to the crux of the entire miracle story. After Mary speaks to Jesus, she turns to the servants and says, “Do whatever he tells you.” That phrase literally rings with importance – they are words we should keep ever before us and try to live out in our daily lives. We are to remember the example of Christ – follow the wisdom and teachings of Christ. Do whatever he tells you.After this highpoint, Mary leaves the stage and two other actions occur quickly one after the other. First, Jesus has the servants fill up six huge stone jars with water. Next, Jesus has them dip their ladles into the jars and take it to the chief steward of the banquet, who tastes it and says in amazement that someone has held back the good wine until now.
What is interesting to note is how Jesus himself does very little in this event. Mary comes with news about the shortage of wine and then tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says. The servants fill the 20 gallon jars with water. The servants carry the ladle to the chief steward, who tastes it and then presumably instructs them to share the wine with all the wedding guests. This was not an act done by Jesus alone – some secret, magical miracle where all the focus is on Christ. Actually, very little of the focus is on Jesus. But when he is in the midst of things, great things happen. Transformation happens because Jesus doesn’t work alone; instead he works with and through us.
I asked Pastor Tom if I could tell a story here and he said I could if it wasn’t too long. With the Academy Awards coming up, a lot of attention has been given to the movie Lincoln. One of the pleasures of the movie is seeing the contrasting styles of Abraham Lincoln, the quiet storyteller, and Thaddeus Stevens, the abrasive congressman from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In real life, Stevens limped from a club foot and an earlier illness left him bald, forcing him to wear a disheveled black wig. As a lawyer and abolitionist, he defended runaway slaves and fought tirelessly for racial equality. Stevens, Frederick Douglass and others routinely criticized President Lincoln for not taking more decisive action to eradicate slavery. Douglass bemoaned the fact that when Lincoln addressed Congress in July 1861, shortly after the firing upon Fort Sumter, no mention at all was made of slavery.1 In November 1861, Stevens introduced a bill calling for total emancipation of all slaves, thirteen months prior to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Though Stevens’ bill was defeated, Stevens and Lincoln needed each other. Stevens cleared the underbrush and prepared the soil for change, so Lincoln could plant the seeds that would grow into justice for all. Righteousness does not happen when we act alone. The example of Jesus’ miracle reminds us that even he worked with others. One gives the command, another fills the jar, another tastes the wine, and all benefit from the host’s supply of good wine. Christ works through us, among us, for the healing and salvation of all of us.
There truly is a simple message wrapped up in this miracle story from John’s gospel. It can be found in the words spoken by Mary to the servants and to you and me: Do whatever Jesus tells you.Take that to heart. Now, you may justifiably ask, “How do we do this? Do we become bible scholars and study every red-letter pronouncement Jesus makes in the gospels? Will we literally hear Jesus speak to us, answering our prayers and giving us advice?” Those are legitimate questions, but they only complicate things. Pastor Tom’s advice wasn’t just for me, the preacher; it was for all of us. Keep it simple. Look at what happened in Cana. At a lovely wedding gathering, a problem emerged when the wine ran out. Jesus responded quietly, not seeking to get the credit. Jesus respondedcollegially, involving and empowering others in the solution. And Jesus responded generously. A shortfall of a case of Chianti was answered with over 120 gallons of the best wine imaginable. It was a simple three-part response that we can take to heart and seek to follow in our own lives.
Two final illustrations: Monday of this past week was the 50th anniversary of George Wallace’s famous Inaugural Address, when he was elected Governor and declared from the steps of the capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama: I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny. Segregation now; segregation tomorrow; segregation forever. Back in 1963, in the heart and heat of the Civil Rights movement, a problem existed. What Wallace offered was, in effect, to build a barricade behind a wall of empty stone jars – to stand behind empty fears, old prejudices, and hollow words of defiance. Whatever may have been the truth in George Wallace’s heart, his words were a rallying cry for a spirit of hatred, lynching, oppression and injustice whose legacy we are still struggling to overcome. Imagine if he’d followed Christ’s example and taken those empty jars of prejudice, washed them out and re-filled them with fresh water of a new beginning, inviting all to freely dip their ladles into them and be refreshed, allowing a spirit of generosity to pour down those capitol steps like gallons of wine set out in a banquet hall where all are welcome and fed and made whole.
And going back almost 150 years: Thaddeus Stevens lived to see Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and later the passage of the 13th amendment, an event well documented in the recent movie. Stevens’ biracial housekeeper and intimate companion was named Lydia Hamilton Smith, who managed his home and businesses and lived with him for over 25 years. When Stevens died, he was buried in a simple cemetery outside Lancaster, intentionally chosen because it was not segregated by race. On his gravestone were carved these words:
I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not for any natural preference for solitude, but finding other cemeteries limited by charter rules as to race, I have chosen it that I might be enabled to illustrate in my death the principles which I have advocated through a long life – equality of man before his Creator.
So listen to what Jesus says. Respond humbly, collegially, generously. It’s quite simple after all.
AMEN