Second Sunday after Epiphany

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Joy is a huge theme in the Bible. Again and again, God’s people are called to rejoice. Less than a month ago, we heard the Christmas gospel of angels proclaiming good news of great joy for all people.

And yet, the Christian tradition often has not known what to do with joy.  Time and again in the history of the church, people warned against too much joy, too much laughter, too much fun.

When Benedict of Nursia founded the monastic community of the Benedictines, his rule spoke sternly against laughter and frivolity.

During the Reformation, people spoke of the “Sad Danes”; their understanding of the Bible was that joy is not compatible with faith.

In our Monday morning class, we are looking at other religions and denominations. I just worked on the materials for the class on Puritans. They condemned the celebration of Christmas. They opposed card playing, dancing, theatre, Sunday recreation, and all kinds of entertainment. No wonder H. L. Mencken once quipped, “Puritans are always afraid someone somewhere is happy.”

And yet, making people happy seems to be exactly what Jesus is doing in our gospel reading today. He is blessing a wedding party with wine.

So many of Jesus’ miracles address very serious issues: illness, demon possession, hunger, death. But here there is no real crisis; the wine has run out. That’s a shame, and embarrassing for the hosts and the young couple, but not a matter of life and death. Certainly, one would expect Jesus to have more important things to be concerned about than a wine shortage in a small village in Gallilee.

And still, Jesus uses his power to prolong a celebration. Why?

Let’s unpack this a bit.

The image of a wedding has long been used by prophets and poets in Israel to describe God’s blessing: the restoration of Israel after war and exile, the deliverance of God’s people, the covenant between God and people as close and joyful and loving as that between husband and wife.

Likewise, wine in abundance is what the prophets imagine as part of God’s salvation. Amos describes a day when “the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills flow with it” (Amos 9:13). Isaiah promises a feast on God’s mountain where God will be with his people, wipe away their tears, swallow up death forever, and provide “a feast of well-aged wines, … of well-aged wines strained clear” (Isaiah 25:6). An abundance of wine is an abundance of joy and salvation.

And here is Jesus, at a wedding, producing an abundance of wine.

We are still in the very beginning of John’s gospel account. This is Jesus’ first miracle, or, as John calls it, sign. In Greek, the word “first” and the word “beginning” are the same. This is the gospel that starts with “In the beginning was the word, … and the word became flesh”. In Jesus, God is making a new beginning, a new creation, calling a new people.

Now we read about the first sign, the beginning sign, and it is all about joy and salvation and deliverance and God in Christ mingling with people. God in Christ is coming to regular folks in a small village to celebrate their love. Jesus cares about them and uses his power to make sure the party can continue. I love the mental picture of Jesus laughing and dancing with his friends, toasting the couple, and sharing their joy.

In the Gospel according to John, the word “grace” shows up only four times, all in the beginning prolog. We read that Jesus is “the glory of the father’s only Son, full of grace and truth”, that “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace”, that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”. Then we don’t hear the word grace anymore.

Instead, John shows us grace. Once Jesus has been revealed as the Word Made Flesh in chapter 1, the rest of the gospel shows us what grace tastes like, looks like, smells like, sounds like, feels like.

What does abundant grace taste like? Like the best wine when you were expecting the cheap stuff at the end of the party.

What does grace feel like? Like Jesus’ hand on your shoulder as you all dance at a wedding.

What does grace sound like? Like the laughter and shouts of joy at a celebration.

What does grace look like? Like abundance, like six huge jars filled to the brim, like 150 gallons of fine wine, enough wine that every single guest at the party can have all he or she wants.

The Sad Danes, the Benedictines, the Puritans – they all would have hated this exuberance of joy and grace. But I? – I love it. And I need it. I am hungry for it. I come here every week longing for this joy. I come to God’s table every Sunday where Jesus continues to provide us with abundant wine, free-flowing grace, reasons for joy.

Jesus says later in John’s Gospel, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11) Jesus wants us to feel joy. He is all about joy.

However, Jesus says these words on the night before he will die on the cross, and he knows it. Having joy does not mean having an easy, comfortable life. Even today’s gospel hints at what will happen to Jesus: The wedding is taking place on the “third day”, something that most Christians will recognize as a hint towards Jesus’ death and resurrection “on the third day”. Jesus has joy, Jesus can dance and celebrate, even knowing that there is a cross waiting for him. Jesus’ joy is rooted in his close relationship with his Father. Jesus abides in God and God abides in him, and this holy union is the source of Jesus’ strength and hope and joy.

We are invited into the same kind of union. In baptism, Jesus turns water into the means of grace that transforms us into children of God. Divine grace touches us and makes us God’s beloved forever. We are invited to the wedding. We are invited into abundant life and joy, because in Jesus, we have a source of grace that sustains us.

When we struggle and feel like we are running out of wine, Jesus always promises to fill us again with his abundant grace. As one author put it: “Abundant life means that in Christ, we are joined to the source of true life, life that is rich and full and eternal, life that neither sorrow nor suffering nor death itself can destroy.” That is why we can have joy even in the challenging times of life.

The other reason we can have joy at all times is the community of Christ that surrounds us. Jesus invites us to the wedding celebration. As I said earlier, the Bible often uses the wedding as an image for our covenant relationship with God. Baptism invites us into this covenant.

This covenant connects us with God and with God’s people. Among the people of God, we help each other grow in faith and feel that deep joy that Christ came to bring.

Notice that in the gospel story, very few people realize what just happened. The bride and groom, the guests, even the steward, have no clue where this wine comes from. Only the Jesus, Mary, and the servants know. They must have told; otherwise, this story would not have made it into the Bible. They helped the others understand where and how Jesus’ grace had touched them so they can come to faith and joy.

Additionally, the servants’ help was needed to fill the water jugs in the first place. It was a very odd request, but they did it anyway, encouraged by Mary and her faith in her son. Today, we are the servants of Christ. We get to help Jesus bless other people with abundant grace. And we get to witness how that grace can transform their lives. And that, in turn, gives us joy.

People in the Near East dance differently than we do. They dance in long rows or circles of people with arms on each other’s shoulders, joyfully and in sync moving to the music. That’s how Jesus and his friends probably danced that day at Cana.

I love this as an image for the community of faith: arms on each other’s shoulders, holding each other up, inviting each other into the dance, sharing the joy and the laughter, with Jesus among us, blessing us with abundance. Amen.