January 16, 2022: In Vino Veritas
John 2:1-11
Rev. Rhonda Blevins
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
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Today our lectionary brings us to a favorite miracle story of Jesus—what the Gospel of John calls “signs”—the story of the wedding at Cana in which Jesus turns water into wine. Famous TikToker, Adrian Bliss, does a hilarious take on this story, dressing up in biblical costume and playing first Jesus, and then some of the disciples. His 41-second sketch begins with Jesus saying:
“And lo, I have turned water into wine.”
One of the disciples takes a sip of the wine Jesus has made and spits it immediately back into the glass.
“What’s wrong?” another disciple asks him.
“He’s done a Merlot again,” replies the finicky disciple.
“What’s wrong with Merlot?” asks his friend
“What’s right with Merlot?” he quips. He turns to Jesus: “Jesus?”
Jesus casually replies, “Yeah?”
“Can you do me something else . . . a Pinot Noir or something?”
Its ridiculousness is what makes the sketch so funny—watched over 8 million times in the first four days after landing on TikTok.
But is it really that ridiculous? I think maybe, we’re all at least a little bit like the finicky disciple, unimpressed with the miraculous—believing that our personal preference is paramount. The wine-snob disciple sketch might just reveal some truth about us to us.
In Vino Veritas I suppose! Let’s see what other truth we might discover in this ancient story about Jesus turning water into wine—truth about Jesus, maybe even truth about ourselves. Let’s go!
Let’s begin with thinking about why there was a problem at the wedding in the first place.
Weddings in that culture were week-long events, hosted by the groom’s family. And when the wine ran out before even the half-way point, there were some seriously disappointed guests! Maybe you’ve been to a dinner in which they ran out of food, or a party where they ran out of wine. You’re hungry, you’re thirsty, you’re looking forward to good food and good drink—how do you feel when the host tells you, “I’m sorry, we’re out.” Disappointed at the least, maybe even irritated or even angry if you pre-paid for the affair.
On the flip side, have you ever hosted or helped to host an event and ran out of food? Is there anything more embarrassing? Party planners will tell you to round up your estimates, never down—better to have too much than too little.
Why did the hosts run out of wine at the wedding in Cana? We don’t know the answer to this, but my guess is that the groom’s family was trying to save a buck or two.
I’ve planned one wedding in my lifetime—my own. Weddings are crazy expensive, so I totally get trying to save a buck or two!
When Terry and I were engaged and planning a wedding, I was a Baptist. You know about Baptists and alcohol, right? When you go fishing, don’t take a Baptist with you—they’ll drink all your beer! Take two Baptists with you—they won’t drink any beer. Here’s another one: What's the difference between a Baptist and a Methodist? The Methodist will say hello to you in the liquor store.
So Baptists are known for their stance on alcohol. The advantage to that is when you’re a Baptist planning a wedding, you can save a buck or two or a thousand because you don’t have to buy wine! So at our wedding, all of my Baptist friends showed up for the reception, but knowing it was a “Baptist” wedding, Terry’s friends found better places to be!
Back in Cana, when the hosts ran out of wine before the halfway point, Jesus’ mother wants to help, so she reported the news to her son. Jesus’ response to her is at first off-putting: “So? Not my problem and my time has not yet come.” Undaunted, Mary simply turned to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Then it seems she slips away leaving Jesus with the problem.
There’s a lesson—a truth for us in how Mary handled her request of Jesus. Too often when we go to God with a request, we don’t truly leave the request with God. We continue to fret, to worry, to interject our own solutions, to micromanage—how often do we simply leave our concerns with God and walk away undaunted, confident that God will do the right thing? The lie we tell ourselves is that we know better than God how to handle the situation. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Truth #1: when we have a request of God: take it, drop it, leave it.
At this point in the story, John tells us about six stone water jars that held water for the Jewish rites of purification. Now, I’ve read this story hundreds of times, even preached it a few times, and I’ve usually kind of glossed over this detail. This time, however, it caught my attention.
The Jewish purification laws were over the top rigid and demanding, required around daily human activities like waking up, eating, using the restroom, and other normal human functions we don’t talk much about at church dealing with women’s bodies, men’s bodies, and bodies coming together. (How’s that for keeping the talk rated PG?)
I never spent much time thinking about Jesus using up all the water for this excessive ritual cleansing rites—as if declaring these rites unnecessary. “Who needs this water! Let them drink wine!” This is a fun-loving Messiah, aware that, yes, his “time will come” but in the meantime there’s joy and celebration.
Like the poet says in Ecclesiastes 3: “There is a time for every purpose under heaven . . . a time to mourn and a time to dance.” This was a time to dance! The lie we’ve been told and continue to tell ourselves is that God, that faith, that religion is the ultimate killjoy. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Truth #2: when we’re told religion should be joyless: ignore it, deplore it, don’t fall for it.
For Truth #3 I want to circle back around to thinking about why the groom’s family ran out of wine, perhaps trying to save some money, or simply not having enough money for the party they were trying to throw.
That’s the reality for the vast majority of people on the planet historically speaking. And when we think back to ancient Galilee, the reality is that roughly 90% of the population lived at or below subsistence level. Bare necessities and no more was all most people knew. The idea of plenty—of abundance—was beyond the experience of people in First Century Galilee.
So when we find Jesus at a wedding in Cana, performing this extravagant miracle, we might wonder, “Why perform this miracle as his first sign in the book of John? It’s wasteful, it’s extravagant. Aren’t there more important problems in the world, Jesus?” And when we do that, we miss the point entirely.
You see, the extravagance is precisely the point. The lie we’re fed and constantly feed ourselves can be summed up with one word: scarcity. There’s not enough to go around. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Truth #3: when we’re tempted to give into scarcity thinking: stop it, drop it, knock it off!
Our God wants good things for us. Not judging us for coming up short, but extending grace beyond our wildest dreams. May we not be found turning up our noses at the miracles all around, but always mindful of what the Apostle Paul tells in in the letter to the church at Ephesus: God is able to accomplish abundantly more than anything we can ask or even imagine. (Eph. 3:20)