but the servants knew.......

It is a parenthetical phrase.  (that is, several words that are found within parentheses....like these.  Not considered central to the point being made.  An explanation or clarification.)

(but the servants knew).  That's how John writes it in his gospel (2.1ff)

No one else knew.  No one else, not the servant overseer, not the steward of the feast, not the groom nor his father.  Not the well turned out guests.

No one knew where the very fine wine - amazingly served towards the end of the wedding festivities even though everyone else serves the good first and then when everyone is drunk, the bad wine when no one will notice......came from.

(but the servants knew).

These hard working men and women who were strong from hauling jars of water and quick on their feet in order to meet their masters' needs....the servants, possibly even slaves....they knew.  They knew that a great embarrassment was about to take place as the wine disappeared down the throats of the guests.  They knew all about the scene between the bride and her mother and the groom and his father.  They knew that a few of the prettier daughters were kept out of the reach of Uncle George.  They knew everything about the underside of this family, this wedding, and probably the world in general.  They knew.

Now they get to know Jesus before anyone else.  The ones who were always at the end of the line to receive anything of worth, and at the front of the line to receive blame....they knew that this guy from Nazareth was responsible.  They didn't know HOW, but they knew WHO.

And in the end, isn't it the Who that is important?  Let's go ask a servant.*

*yes, of course, Mary knew as well, but in the end, she too is a servant of our God, no?

Running on empty.........

It was this picture that gave me this thought.  Perhaps the wondrous miracle at the wedding of Cana (turning water into wine) was more than just as announcement of who Jesus is.  Since it is this story which opens John's gospel, I have always engaged the story as a revelation of Jesus. But what if this story is equally a revelation of who we are?  Or, more accurately, how we are?

 Running on empty.  

Those Cana wedding guests were eating, and laughing, and, totally unaware, drinking up the very last of the wine.  Soon this party would be running on empty.  All that fun would come to a screeching halt.

What if this story is about the state of this world?  the state of us?  What if this world functions like a party going full blast totally unaware that, in just a moment, it was all coming to a screeching halt?

What if this story is about our great need, and God's gift of Jesus as Savior?  

Are you running on empty?  Let me introduce you to this Jesus.

A reading for today....

From Ted Loder, poet, spiritual guide, author.  In Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle

Sometimes It Just Seems to Be Too Much

Sometimes, Lord,
it just seems to be too much:
     too much violence, too much fear;
     too much of demands and problems;
     too much of broken dreams and broken lives;
     too much of war and slums and dying;
     too much of greed and squishy fatness
        and the sounds of people
            devouring each other
                and the earth;
     too much of stale routines and quarrels,
          unpaid bills and dead ends,
     too much of words lobbed in to explode
        and leaving shredded hearts and lacerated souls;
     too much of turned away backs and yellow silence,
        red rage and the bitter taste of ashes in my mouth.

Sometimes the very air seems scorched
     by threats and rejection and decay
        until there is nothing
            but to inhale pain
                and exhale confusion.
Too much of darkness, lord,
     too much of cruelty
           and selfishness
                and indifference....

Too much, Lord,
     too much,
         too bloody,
              bruising,
                  brain-washing much.

Or is it too little,
     too little of compassion,
too little of courage,
     of daring,
        of persistence,
             of sacrifice;
too little of music
     and laughter and celebration?

O God,
make of me some nourishment
     for these starved times,
some food for my brothers and sisters
     who are hungry for gladness and hope,
that, being bread for them,
     I may also be fed
          and be full.

Water into Wine..........

It's one of those expressions that American English speakers use (don't know about the British).....turning water into wine.  It's a wild example of an outrageous impossibility or a miraculous occurrence.  I've often wondered how many folk know its origin.....right there in the gospel of John, and a wedding at Cana.

It's the wedding story to top all others.  No wine in sight, a fact which will cause some serious embarrassment for the hosts.  12 jars ready for the purification rights.  A command from Jesus, 'Fill them with water.  Now draw out some and give it to the steward' (master of ceremonies). What do you know?  It has turned into wine.  Not any old wine, but a fine pinot noir from a good year.  In other words, a very fine wine indeed.

Since the writer of John uses this miracle to start off Jesus' public ministry it clearly has an important role in John's telling of the story, but I want to know what role this water into wine story has in your faith story, in your ministry, in your spiritual growth and in your faith life.

None of us are out there trying to turn water into wine, right?  ....except perhaps those who work daily with addicts, walking with them, confronting them, comforting them and occasionally seeing their transformation into recovery.

Or perhaps those devoted caregivers - often spouses and children - who repeat the same information again and again to their beloved ones who can no longer hold onto any memories.  "No Mom, I am Carol. Your daughter."  If you look closely you will see how the frustrating repetition of the mundane is now the fine wine of deep and abiding love.

Or the teacher searching for something (anything) which will open the pathways for the young minds in front of him....or the father who has no idea how to parent but takes his son fishing and his daughter to dance class and tucks each into bed at night with a prayer....or the clerk at the DMV (they always get a bad rap) who sorts out your confusion and puts you on the right path....or the medical technician who makes small talk while you nervously undergo yet again another test that has you frightened to your toes.

Or a thousand other possible examples of those who have been baptized into Jesus Christ stepping out into this world with mercy and grace and forgiveness and compassion and invitation and, in so doing, they turn the mundane that threatens to drown us into the wine of fellowship and belonging and being treated with dignity....and love.

What if Jesus was simply giving us a short lesson in faith walking?  It isn't about pulling some parlor trick or even accomplishing a true blue miracle.  What if this story is about a guy who shows up at a wedding with his mother, who steps into this' behind the scenes' dilemma and transforms that which would embarrass into that which brings enjoyment and sustains the fellowship?  What if we are supposed to do something similar?  Just step in and do what we can to ease the way.

Would you be able to see the miracle in that?  Would recognize God at work through you?  Would you be willing to name that moment (if only to yourself) as the kingdom of God breaking into our world?

I would.

Water into Wine....Who is this Jesus?

If you are familiar with the story of the Wedding at Cana in the Gospel of John, you have probably noticed the unusual conversation between Jesus and his mother (who BTW is not named).

Mary notices that the host has run out of wine.  More than an inconvenience, this would prove a major embarrassment to the entire family, and believe me, in the small towns of those days would be talked about not for months but for generations!

Mary tells Jesus who has tagged along to the wedding with her.  He has the strangest response, "Woman, what is that to me?" ...the first century equivalent of "none of my business" or the less polite "whatever."

We don't want Jesus to sound like this.  None of us and I am more than willing to think that his tone of voice would give it a different inflection, and possibly this phrase doesn't translate well across time and culture, but really....doesn't it sound a bit harsh to you?  Impolite?  Disrespectful?

Now Jesus follows this up by saying "My hour has not yet come" which in the gospel of John is shorthand for "I'm not on duty yet as the Messiah"  It is, in fact, a very important phrase; when Jesus was about to be arrested he announced that now his hour was upon him.

But it all gets even stranger because Mary does not argue with him.  Rather she tells the servants to do whatever he commands.  This whole episode feels like a text message sent in all those three letter abbreviations...a little cryptic to outsiders.

But that does it.  Jesus commands the jars be filled with water.  When it is drawn out again it is fine wine, better than anything the bride and groom planned on.  And no one knew where it had come from ......although the servants knew.  And thus completes the first miracle of Jesus according to the gospel of John.

Thus begins Jesus' public ministry, a revealing of who he is and whose he is.  John gives us a wonderful metaphor for the life of faith and the reality of a human being God incarnate and eventually the resurrection where death becomes the fine wine of new life.

Why did Jesus had to talk that way?  I'm not sure [and I've read any number of explanations]. Why did Mary simply ignore his response and prepare the servants for what was coming?  I don't know.  How did Mary know what was coming?  I don't know.

These things I do know.  In the gospel of John, these were Jesus' first steps as the bringer of life to those around him.  Mary chose to focus on the moment and to do her part in Jesus' work rather than dwell on an awkward exchange between mother and son. Those servants who followed Jesus' command were given unique insight into who he was. From Mary (who doesn't even get the honor of being named)  to those who were working the kitchen, it was the anonymous ones who receive the first invitation to faith.

That funny dialogue between Mary and Jesus trips me up every time. But if Mary could ignore it and simply support the work that God was about to do in Jesus, then I guess I can too.

Somewhere...

What  was it  like to be gathered with folk  who risked their lives  in order to be baptized?  People who knew that the life being offered by Jesus was  far more valuable than the one they now knew?  People who hungered and thirsted after a relationship with God? And who weren't  interested in 'guilt' but in joy?

What would it take to gather folks who wanted to push the boundaries of their spiritual life? To go deeper? To ask the hard questions?  To put their time and money  and talents (whatever  that might be) towards serving the neighbor? To be willing to give up what they think they believe in order to discover God more fully?

What would  it be like to belong  to a group where you knew there would always be a space for  you at the table no  matter how big a jackass you (regularly) tended to make of yourself?

What would it be  like to know forgiveness....from your neighbor?

Does this describe  a community you  know?  Does it describe a community you  want to build?

Jesus calls  us into just such a community.  Jesus calls us to be just  such a community. Let's  talk.

God's holy fire........

Not talking about guns here (at least not at first), but holy fire.  That purifying fire that Luke tells us comes with baptism. Hmmmm.  I can assure you that there is nothing like that in the Lutheran Rite of Baptism.  To be more precise, there is no mention of fire, but there is mention of renouncing all that separates us from God.

The three great renunciations in the baptism rite ask us to renounce (that, my friends, is a pretty intense word) all that drives us away from God, all that lures us away from God and everything that we manage to think up on our own....that pulls us away from God.

 In the old rite, (found in the Lutheran Book of Worship)  the wording was such  "Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways?"  Rumor has it that this simple renunciation was expanded to three separate renunciations in the ELW rite in order to parallel the three sections of the Apostle's Creed (the creed by which we baptize).

One might want to ask, Why even bring the Devil into the conversation at all?  Because we need to recognize that the Devil represents all that opposes God's work of transformation and reconciliation throughout God's creation.  The renunciations are intended to banish the Devil from all participation in the baptism; it is, in fact, an exorcism.

God and the Devil (Satan) play on opposite teams.  One is about life; one death.  One is about love; the other power.  One is about unity; the other victory.  A clip from the movie, The Godfather, makes this distinction clear.  The ancient Latin of the Roman Catholic baptismal rite is juxtapositioned with the violent slaughter of the Corleone enemies.  Here is a link.....WARNING...it is violent.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CDlBLvc3YE

This scene offends us with the fire of this world. God's fire burns off this propensity to violence (word and deed) which lies within us because it keeps us from living out the life that God intends for us.  We watch as Michael Corleone compartmentalizes the life he lives, separating it from the promises he makes at the font. We see that it is possible to pretend to live in God and yet continue to seek the power of this world.

Few of us participate in violence of that degree, and so it would be easy to pretend that baptism is not about power at all.  That would be a mistake.  Each day we choose to trust in God's power in this world, or we choose to use Satan's approach.  The makers of The Godfather have given us a memorable view of the battle being waged.....with the souls of God's beloved children at stake.

Water, fire, spirit.  There is something very important happening at that baptismal font.

Spirit Week......

If you've attended school in the last 45+ years you have probably experienced a Spirit Week- that week, often before the 'big game' (pick your sport) where everyone dons the school colors, and possibly a whole variety of other creative pieces of clothing/headgear, and everyone is 'filled with the spirit".....school spirit that is.

Lots of fun.  Big pep rally.  Cheerleaders looking especially smiley.  Athletic types looking especially athletic.  Probably helps a little with attention in class.  Probably also detracts a little too.

Sooooo, if we, the People Born of the Spirit were to wear our colors, what would they be?  Baptismal color is white...but that is so very dull.  Red is the color of the Holy Spirit in our ecclesiastical life so Red might be a good color.

Then we would have to develop some Spirit Cheers....Alleluia would have a prominent part.  Some Praise God!  Holy Jesus might work.  I suppose our clergy could be the cheerleaders...but folks, that is taking the metaphor just too far.

Because, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, we are all cheerleaders.  All who have experienced new birth through the water of baptism are now anointed with the Holy Spirit.....and it is for just one purpose.  So We. Might.Tell.Others.About. Jesus.

In our baptism, we asked God to pour out the Holy Spirit on us.  The same Spirit that was poured out on Jesus at his baptism.  The same Spirit that anointed the heads of the Old Testament prophets.  The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.  The same Spirit that came on tongues of fire at Pentecost and unleased a multi-lingual declaration of Jesus as Savior and Lord.  That is the Spirit that powers our witness in the world.  Powers it.  Empowers us.

Oh I have heard all the excuses....this is because I have made all the excuses.  That changes nothing.  The Holy Spirit is upon you so you might tell others the Good News of new life found in Jesus the Christ.

How do you do that?  Try practicing sentences like this.  "I have found that talking to God helps me when I am overwhelmed."  "Church is a place where I meet the God who loves me.  That's why I go."  "I support the food pantry because Jesus was always feeding people.  They can't listen for God when their stomach is rumbling."  "I do understand.  I know that I make mistakes.  God knows that I make mistakes.  Jesus loves me still."

Oh my friends.  It has never been just about a little water sprinkled over the head of an infant.  It has always been about taking a massive leap of faith and, one more time, for the sake of this fragile new life, trusting in God's way of living in this world.

It has always been about being born again into Jesus Christ.  Holding tight to the promises that Jesus made to us.  Following Jesus as closely as we can, and turning around and catching up to Jesus when we have fallen behind.  It has always been about the story of Jesus' love - the story we tell with words and with our deeds and with our daily habits.

The Spirit gives us the power to do just all those things.  The fire is there to burn off all the undergrowth that is slowing our growth.  The water was the fun part.

Let this week be the first of a thousand Spirit Weeks in your future.