The Strange Beginning at Cana

[LONG post. This comes from a sermon delivered at Rochester today, 7/16/06, and available online at www.rochestercoc.org. What follows is a heavily edited version for those who would rather read it here]

It might seem very strange to have Jesus start his ministry at a party... but not really. Look around. Jesus is the creator of all things (John 1, remember?). That would include otters, dancing bees, wild and crazy parrots, chimps, and your crazy aunt nobody wants to talk about. Take time to read John 2:1-11 and see that there is MUCH more going on here than just a water to wine miracle.

Verses 1&2: A very human moment. Jesus' mother is THERE, but Jesus and the disciples were just invited. Like most of us, the woman really wanted to be at that wedding and the men were just there because... well... the woman really wanted to be at that wedding!

Verses 3-5: I LOVE this passage. It, too, is so human. Mary informs Jesus of the lack of wine. she THINKS she has told him to do something about it, but she hasn't. She, like women everywhere, assume we can read their verbal shorthand. Most men would have heard the news "they're out of wine" and thought, "Bummer! Tell Habib to bring the camel around. We're outta here," but this was Jesus and he is God so he knew what she meant. He tries to get her to understand that he wanted to wait another until time to begin his ministry. In other words, he says "no," but she thinks he REALLY means "yes" and tells the servants to be ready to do whatever he tells them to do! Any men out there with similar experiences, where you told your wife one thing but she assumed you really meant something else and then counted on it? You can almost see Jesus' shoulders slump and hear him say, "Well, okay, but this is gonna cause all kinds of trouble in churches from now on..."

Verse 6: WHAT?!?!? Why did he go to those jars? This was the washing water where each guest would wash their hands and say ritual prayers required by religious tradition. Jesus' followers would be criticized by Pharisees for not keeping this tradition in another passage. Why didn't Jesus just go to the wine sacks, the huge leather bags or -- less often -- jars filled with wine? He could have produced wine there, no problem (since he's God and all), but he didn't. He went over to the 120-180 gallons of bathwater. What is going on here???

Verse 7: When Jesus told them to fill the jars, they filled them to the brim. It makes me think Mary was a formidable woman for them to jump to Jesus' direction so quickly and thoroughly. I would guess she would HAVE to have been strong to live through the rumors about Jesus' parentage and her morality; the rumors would have dogged her throughout her life.

Verse 8: In every Jesus Story there comes a point where I ask "Would I have done that?" Here is that point in this story. Would you have dipped a cup in the bathwater jugs -- which you just filled with water -- and take it to the master of the banquet? Not me. I am amazed at the faith these people had... or how much fear Mary inspired!

Verse 9-10: The miracle is mentioned in passing. No "Lo!" or "Behold!" here, just a simple mention that, oh, by the way, the water was just turned to wine. Wow. Then the master of the banquet asks why this wine -- better than the other wine served already -- was saved to last when people had drunk so much they couldn't appreciate it as much! (so much for this being grape juice by the way. I'm only saying....)

Verse 11: Critical stuff here. The Scripture says this was "the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory." So... this wasn't just a simple thing. This was a gunshot across the bows of the Good Ship SS Tradition and Religious Law. Jesus had exchanged the religious bathwater for 120-180 gallons of wine.

And the chains came off in a thunderclap heard only in the heavenlies (and in retrospect). Jesus ended the Old Covenant's call on us, the burden of hundreds of laws, boundaries, and its tribal nature. The long distance between us and God was closed when Jesus turned -- not to the wine bags -- but to the bathwater and changed everything.

Sound irreverent to think of Jesus this way? As a party guy who threw out the old and brought in joy? I understand. The Pharisees, scribes, etc. all thought Jesus hadn't a clue how to act like a rabbi/preacher/teacher. In Luke 7:30ff Jesus said they were children who wanted a God they could control, who would dance or cry when they wanted him to, and who would eat or drink only what they thought was proper.

And THAT, my friend, is what most of us want and many of us claim we have -- a controlled, predictable, safe God. Don't think so? What do you think or feel when something unplanned or unexpected happens in worship? Keep reading in Luke 7 and you see Jesus goes home with some Pharisees for a meal (I wouldn't have done that, either) and a woman breaks loose and comes over to him. She is a sinner -- everybody in the whole town knows that! -- and she touches him and cries at his feet. Ask yourself this question: if that happened next Sunday at your church, if a broken, nasty, dirty woman came up and pulled the shoes and socks off your preacher's feet (unless the pulpit was being filled by the youth minister in which it would be just the sandals, no socks) what would you do? What would you think? Would you say "Praise God! Someone who needs God has come here to look for Him?" Probably not.

We have raised the Idol of Predictability and placed him on the highest shelf in our hearts. It is the god in your pocket, the one the people in Luke 7 were crying for and Jesus berated them.

Jesus didn't try to get people to come to the temple or synagogue. He went to them. The Pharisees were a restoration movement, a religious purity movement, and Jesus wanted nothing to do with them. He went out, instead, and worked with the publicans, sinners, broken, and thrown away. He never okayed their sins, but he never deserted them, either. The only harsh words out of Jesus' mouth are directed towards the demons and the religiously smug. Think about that one and shiver awhile, if you will.

A party is going on! Some people -- most people -- didn't get their invitation yet. They see only bathwater when they drive by our buildings. They don't want a drink of that. Their invitations have gotten held up for we reserve them for people who might come to our buildings. We don't waste time on the rest of them. But Jesus did.

Have you ever heard of a party that occured and you wondered why you weren't invited? What if you found out that you HAD been but someone else failed to bring you the invitation? How would that make you feel?

Others hear about the party but assume it isn't for them. I got an invitation once and it specified "Evening Dress, White Tie and Tails." That's all I needed to see: that wasn't for me. I wouldn't fit in there. My clothes, my car, and my manners wouldn't pass muster there. And many, many people think that about the church, too. What if we don't know how to behave? When do they stand, sit, speak, shut up.... ?

Jesus turned out the religious bathwater and rigid rules that kept people out and he filled the jars with wine, knowing full well that that would upset and scandalize us. As Luke 7 indicates... he isn't under our control and we had better learn to live with it. He reached out to people who aren't on the religious party invitation mail route. He sought them out, loved them, taught them, healed them, and felt comfortable with them.

And the church will never BE the church until we step away from Bathwater Central and realize that Jesus has changed everything. It's a party, God's party, and you're invited. And so is everyone else. If they won't come to us, let's go to them and tell them that life has changed. The bathwater of religious rules and regs has been tossed out by none other than the Messiah. Let us never again put a lamb in the arms of a Pharisee, surround him with traditions, call them laws, and claim it is a photo of Jesus.

Jesus is who he is. And he has called us to follow him into the wild and tell everyone: come to the party.