Friday, January 25, 2013

Second Sunday after the Epiphany, John 2:1-11


Jan 20, 2013; Second Sunday after the Epiphany; Texts: Psalm 111; Exodus 33:12-23; Ephesians 5:21-33; John 2:1-11; Title: What Jesus Owed His Mother; Rev. Tim Beck
                                                                                                                                                                          
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;

Our text begins: On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”     
          You’ve been a guest at how many weddings?  Have you attended private weddings with immediate family? Were you out in the woods with bare feet in the 60’s or retro-hippie 10’s? Perhaps you’ve been to a Disneyland wedding setting somebody back 40 G’s.  I hope you left a big gift. I was at a Samoan wedding and on every table the groom put at least one chicken and a package of celery. Important guests got more (including grass mats). That was about reciprocity. The groom was expected to give gifts to all the guests, and according to social rank. 
          In Jesus’ day weddings had reciprocity too. After the groom came for the bride the celebration began. It went go on for a week, if the groom could afford it. In Jesus’ day, eating was as important as now. And drinking wine was more         important than the food. To be short on wine was more than an embarrassment. The culture expected the groom to give something for the gifts given. That is reciprocity. It was even possible to take legal action against a man who failed to provide the appropriate wedding gift exchange. Running out of wine was bad; so folks served the best first, with plenty of cheap wine when guests couldn’t tell the difference. 
          But for this new couple in Cana, the wine ran out; and a concerned mother goes looking for Jesus.  She only tells him what’s up. I suspect not unlike mothers who say to a responsible son, “the dog needs out, the car needs washed, the drain is plugged.”  “They have no wine.”  And Jesus answers, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”  He’s not saying “Don’t bother me.” Nor is Jesus rude to the mother of God. The expression, “Woman” is not disrespectful but kindly, even affectionate. Yet Jesus makes it clear they stand on different ground. They do not have the same reason a goal should be accomplished. How often does God say “My ways are not your ways? My ways are higher than your ways?” Is that why we are taught to pray, “not my will but Thine be done?” As the saying goes, “Father knows best” and our heavenly Father does indeed.
          Consider the difference between Mary’s and Jesus’ objectives. What does Mary see?  She sees they have no more wine. And it seems Mary, to remedy embarrassment, to fix what the culture required at a wedding, wants to help.  That’s a good thing isn’t it? Isn’t that Mary’s will for Jesus?  Protect the couple from humiliation. And that is God’s role toward His creatures, is it not, to protect us? God takes care of us. We can ask God to take care of us and He will; and that’s true enough, if we understand God’s will. God’s will is good, but is there something we haven’t considered? Might our Lord humble us, even let us bear humiliation for our good? Might our Lord have bigger plans for us than we do, plans that take a different road than the wide-easy path we prefer? And what if we have an attitude toward God, an attitude that God is supposed to supply all we need, that’s what He’s for - so we say “God, the dog needs walked, the car’s dirty and the sink’s plugged, we need some wine.”  It’s not that God doesn’t care even about small things. It is what we’ve done   with God in our hearts. We’ve reversed the way things should be. We’ve made the Living God our servant. Isn’t that idolatry?  He has a purpose and an end for us.
          His ways are higher than ours.  Did Mary see this? It is easy to excuse Mary… after all we do it so often for ourselves… as for an excuse, consider how familiar Mary was with the Son of God made man. For God’s sake, she changed his diapers. She and Joseph trained him up, even if they got a shock when he turned 12 and sat with the elders of Israel and talked about doing His Father’s will. But He subordinated himself to them for several years more. However, Jesus was recently baptized by John and announced as God’s sacrificial Son!  He’s gathered disciples and is teaching all Israel. He is on the road to the cross, to turn idolaters into worshippers.
          Is that what Mary saw as the purpose of Jesus’ mercy and power? What do you see? Is your vision just immediate need?  How near-sighted is our faith? For example, do we pray most when in trouble but least in smooth sailing? And when in trouble do we forget to give praise and thanks? Are we tempted to reduce the Lord of all to a bell-hop, expecting He will do our will, and if He doesn’t we’re unhappy? How earthbound is our faith, and how small of a God do we want?  Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus’ answer reveals something important.  He has a will, purposes and an end. His ways are higher and greater than Mary’s and ours.  Nor does He act on his own, but according to the Father’s will. As recorded in John chapter 8, Jesus said, “when you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him” As he spoke thus, many believe in him (Jn 8:28-30). Jesus knew He came from the Father. He loves the Father and does His will. His will is not idolatrous, to first please himself, or others, or mother, but the Father. And the Father wills that Jesus be lifted up for all to see, that all may believe. This is His hour.
          Woman, what does this have to do with me includes another implication. Jesus doesn’t owe anything to Mary because she is His mother. It is quite the reverse. Mary was blessed to carry in her womb, true God. So the early church called Mary the mother of God not to praise Mary, but to praise God for becoming God with us, Immanuel. Over the centuries that got twisted around. Mary is blessed, but not by having something on God that obligates Him to an exchange, to reciprocity. Jesus doesn’t have to do her will because she changed his diapers. Rather, she is blessed because she was chosen to do God’s will, even to change Jesus’ diapers. She is blessed because the Saviour who speaks to her does the Father’s will. Jesus’ goal is to be lifted up so that Mary receives the fullness of the Father’s blessings, that she rejoice in the will of God the Father. So Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come.”  That’s the exchange Jesus wills to accomplish.
          He did not come to be everybody’s buddy, the favorite guest at every party. He came to make an exchange. He came to exchange your sins for His righteousness, as John the Baptist declared by the Holy Spirit: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Then the Father’s voice said “This is my beloved Son, hear Him.” Hear Him who did the Father’s will without demanding reciprocity. Jesus fulfilled the law in our place, bore our sorrows and died in our stead, exchanging His righteousness for our sins. Then He did more: He rose from the dead, ascended, sent the Holy Spirit upon the church, directed the Apostles, and keeps us in the faith until His second coming. He continues to do His will, redeeming us in water and the Word, justifying, regenerating, and sanctifying, even blessing us with the meal of His body and blood. Those in whom He creates faith He delivers from bondage to the devil. He will deliver us from death when we die.  He gives us victory over sin. He did and does all this so that His ways become our ways, so that we might be lifted up to do His will. This is the liberty of the Christian. Liberty is not to fall under the condemnation of the law, but as those justified, to rejoice in the fellowship we share with the Son, the Father, and the Spirit, one God.
          Until Jesus’ work was done, Mary did not understand all this. So He reminded her whose he was and for what reason he came.  He came to fulfill the Father’s will. He came to be cursed so that the Father declares you pardoned. He did no miracles to cover over embarrassment, to earn a good public opinion, or to be made an earthly king.  He came so that we might believe in Him, and receive the will that is higher than ours, that lifts us to eternal life. All the same, His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.  When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom  and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”  This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
          God’s Son, Jesus, chooses to serve us, to meet our needs, even to make a wedding happy with wine. The mystified groom receives commendation for what Jesus did. If that’s not a picture of grace, what is? And Jesus’ didn’t skimp on the quality or the quantity of the wine. And the reason Jesus did it? He accomplished the Father’s will. The result of this miracle, hidden from all but the servants, Mary, and the disciples is, as our text says, his disciples believed in him.   This is the message of Epiphany, Jesus lifted up by the will of the Father, so that we may see God-with-us, believe in Him, and in believing receive His will for us.  The will of the Father is we believe that great exchange through Jesus, declaring you righteous so that you receive all the benefits of grace.
          And Jesus doesn’t skimp on grace. Indeed, His ways are higher than our ways. He lifts you up to heaven. What about reciprocity? Is there no other exchange between Christ and us? Remember where these events take place… at a wedding. Christ is the groom of the Church. He cleansed her by water and the word. And what is she to do? (Do you remember today’s text from Ephesians?) She is to receive His love. She is to receive His love. And in receiving, she loves.  In receiving she delights to do the Father’s will, to give thanks by serving her neighbor and sharing the message of grace.  Given this exchange what joy to pray “Our Father who art in heaven… thy will be done.” Let us call upon Him in all our needs.

The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen)

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