WATER INTO WINE

1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11

2nd Sunday after Epiphany, January 19, 2025 

Pastor Ritva H Williams

Tomorrow is Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day. We remember Dr. King as a pastor, a renewer of society, and a martyr. In one of his sermons, Dr King described his calling this way: 

Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the Gospel. This was my first calling, and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually all that I do in civil rights I do because I consider it a part of my ministry. 

When Dr King accepted his Nobel Peace prize, he remarked: 

Deeply etched in the fiber of our religious tradition is the conviction that [humans] are made in the image of God and that they are souls of infinite metaphysical value, the heirs of a legacy of dignity and worth. If we feel this as a profound moral fact, we cannot be content to see [them] hungry, to see [them] victimized with starvation and ill health when we have the means to help [them]. 

This morning, we meet Jesus changing water into wine at a wedding at Cana. In the biblical world, wine was a divine gift that gladdens the human heart (Psalm 104:14-15). The gospel writer describes this as a sign, pointing to and revealing something about Jesus and his mission that is even deeper and more spiritual than the simple joy of a wedding.

A few years back, someone figured out that six stone jars, each holding 30 gallons would produce about 3,200 glasses of wine. That’s a lot of wine for a tiny village wedding! This extravagant amount of wine evokes prophetic images of God’s grace and salvation: of God preparing a feast of rich food and well-aged wines for all people (Isaiah 25:6); of mountains dripping with sweet wines, and hills flowing with wine (Amos 9:13). 

Let’s add a little historical context. Scarcity rather than abundance was the reality of village life in places like Cana of Galilee. The six stone jars indicate that six households pooled their resources to put on the wedding banquet, and yet they ran out of wine. Running out of wine would be a public humiliation for the groom’s family. Cana and its residents would be shamed because they couldn’t provide adequately for their own residents. There could be serious negative impacts socially, economically, and politically. Fear of humiliation and shame are features of societies where grinding poverty make self-worth and dignity hard to claim and maintain. 

Notice how the scenario is changed. The servants realize the wine is running out, they alert Mary who tells Jesus. His initial response is ambivalent — what’s that got to do with me? Mary ignores her son’s smart-aleck comment, simply tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says. He instructs them to re-fill the six stone jars, and they begin hauling water from the nearest well. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes. The wedding party remains unaware of the impending crisis. Only the servants, Mary, and the disciples know what’s really going on. 

Jesus changing water into wine reveals how scarcity can give way to abundance. Someone notices and speaks up. Someone turns to Jesus. People gather the resources they already have on hand, and work together to change the situation.  

Dr. King was a huge advocate of this approach to changing scarcity into abundance, saying;

... anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” (goodreads.com)

When we turn to the reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, we hear the apostle addressing a young congregation working out its mission and values. Its members have been raised in the ancient world of scarcity, where the privileged few lorded it over everyone else, offering access to limited resources as favors (quid pro quo patronage). This mindset even crept into the church and its worship. 

The community gathered as a “dinner church” with a  real meal at the center of worship. In typical Greco-Roman fashion the wealthy and powerful claimed the best places, reclining on padded couches and eating the best foods and wines. Everyone else had to scramble for seats and food, with the result some church members left the Lord’s Table hungry. The apostle condemns this practice as “showing  contempt for the church of God and humiliating those who have nothing” (1 Corinthians 11:17-22). 

In this morning’s excerpt from 1 Corinthians 12, Paul reminds them that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar or any other lordly patron. The Holy Spirit testifies in every time and place through the actions of God’s pe people that Christ, crucified and resurrected, is our only Lord and Savior. Humiliating people in need is not a witness of the Holy Spirit. Christ’s values were and still are counter-cultural. 

In fact, the one God who is the source of life and salvation creates and generates diversity both in creation and in human communities. As Paul writes 

there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but the same God who activates all of them in everyone.To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (12:4-7).

God gives gifts, inspires service, and energizes action in every single human being for the common good. All God-given, Spirit-inspired gifts, service, and action seek the common good — the best outcome for greatest number of people possible. Every person without exception has a God-given capacity to make a positive contribution to the common good. And furthermore, every gift, service, and action that contributes to the wellbeing of our neighbors deserves to be celebrated. 

This quote by Dr. King hammers home that point:

If a [person] is called to be a street sweeper, [they] should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. [They] should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did [their] job well.” (goodreads.com) 

As we remember the life and work of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, preacher of the gospel and martyr, let us give thanks for all who quietly and without fanfare work to make the world a better place for all, and commit ourselves to do likewise.

The Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Steve Garnaas-Holmes, unfoldinglight.org)

Between a president who recently died and one about to begin
we remember a man who was never president.

(We notice the harmonies, and the dissonances.)

See how our choices matter— 

not our position, 

nor our power, 

but our character.

We remember Martin, who was famous,
and in his name thousands more who were not,
but just as brave and merciful and mighty.

We remember all those who were peacemakers,
the nonviolent seekers of justice who have gone before,
and those who are now among us, without office.

We give thanks for those who stood against injustice,
who faced violence, hatred and anger with gentle courage,
and we pray for that spirit as well:

that we will not walk with the haughty and the cruel,

that we will be truthful and kind,
that we confront the power to exclude with the power to love.

With blessed leaders showing us the way, 
we pray that we will choose love over fear,
generosity over selfishness, service over supremacy.

We give thanks for the saints who have gone before,
link arms with the saints who risk even now,
and with their song in our throats, we carry on.