The First Sign Preached on January 20th, 2019 On the Wollaston Congregational Church Facebook Page Scripture: John 2:1-11 Today, we departed from the series of readings from Luke’s gospel for a passage from John. And so we have to reorient a little. John’s gospel does not begin with a birth story of Jesus. It has what is known as the prologue, instead. This is a well-known poetic introduction telling readers that John’s gospel is about the incarnation. It is about the Word of God (uppercase W) coming to live among humanity in the person of Jesus. Here is the way John puts it: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.” 1:14 John’s gospel is a gospel of signs: signs of what that incarnation of God’s living Word looks like. Signs that God is with us in Jesus. As we are now in the season of Epiphany - the season of revelation – paying attention to these signs is appropriate. The first sign that took place, in John’s gospel, is at a wedding in Cana. Jesus, his newly called disciples and Jesus’ mother are among the guests. And it seems that Jesus is content to be a guest. He has no expectation of showing a special sign. When his mother tells him the wine has run out, he replies “Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My hour has not yet come.” He is reluctant to begin showing signs of God’s glory, even though the disciples have been recruited and are ready to go. It takes just a little push from his mother to set things in motion. And so she simply ignores his objection, and prompts the servants to do whatever he tells them. To say that this is the first revelation of God’s glory by Jesus, it is done quietly. Mary, like women often do, has noticed something not yet known by the other guests. She has seen the servants scurrying back and forth from the wine storage area. She has overheard them whispering anxiously to the steward. She knows what an embarrassment this would be for the groom: a failure of hospitality. And, somehow, she knows that Jesus can do something about this. He may not think his time has come, but she knows that it has. This sign is not witnessed by the groom or bride, nor by the most distinguished guests at the party. The servants are the ones to fill the 6 huge jars with water. The water is not for drinking, it is for ritual cleansing – washing up before a meal. As instructed by Jesus, the servants draw a cup from one of the jars and take it to the steward. He takes the first sip of the finest wine he has ever tasted. The disciples see the whole thing. The confused steward calls the bridegroom, remarking on this strange etiquette. Usually the best wine would be served at the beginning of the feast and inferior wine for when the guests are drunk. Yet, it seems that this host has saved the best wine for last. The first sign. You may know that I spent a vacation, last week, in the beautiful walled city of Cartagena, Colombia. I learned that Cartagena declared independence from Spain and the rest of Colombia on November 11th, 1811. Spain resisted, of course, and over the next 10 years many residents of Cartagena lost their lives due to sieges and battles. Even so, Catagenans claim the 1811 date (100 years before Colombia’s independence) as the time when people of all races became equal citizens. Life in Cartagena is far from perfect. 27% of Cartagena lives in poverty and 4.1% in extreme poverty and 20% of births are from teenaged mothers. These statistics were shared with us by a social enterprise café we visited. What is wonderful about Cartagena is the night life. Once the sun sets over the Caribbean sea, people come out to walk in the streets. There are many tranquil city squares, often with their own neighborhood church, lush shade trees, gorgeous flowers and benches to sit. The late evening masses spill out onto the squares, which fill up with musicians and street vendors selling goods, food and drink. Older men play chess in the street. Children run and play. People of all ages sing and dance. You see people descended from African slaves, people from Indigenous groups, people who look western European and blends of all these. People are simply together, walking, talking, selling, singing and dancing. Beer and cocktails are available in the local bars and restaurants. But we met very few people who seemed drunk on alcohol. It’s a party every night. The coming together - the sights and sound, the aromas and flavors are enough to fill you. The Cartagena’s evening scene reminds me of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” and his ideal of a “Beloved Community.” Dr. King’s speeches did not claim a victory, in which his own people would be lifted up at the expense of others. Instead he perceived that the civil rights movement’s acts of nonviolent resistance would result in a wonderful day, when justice would “[roll] down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” [1] Dr. King went on “I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Dr. King dreamed of a day when the people of Alabama – the people of the United States – the people of the world - would come together in Beloved Community. It was a dream of a wedding feast of sorts, all the community gathered – in which everyone would belong. Everyone from the youngest to the oldest, of every skin color, every shape and size, every sexual orientation and gender identity, every socioeconomic group would feel safe. Both the evening scene in Cartagena and the Beloved Community of MLK’s dreams feel like the wedding feast in Cana. There is joy, and it is joy over coming together. In the case of a wedding feast, the bride and the bridegroom come together. In a 1st century wedding, and today, that means that two families also join together. A wedding feast is celebrated with the best food and wine the families can afford: all to celebrate the union. In the case of MLK’s Beloved Community, people come together on a grand scale. It is the union of people who had been separated before, by the sin of racism, the practice of segregation, the fear of the other. With the coming of that wonderful wedding day, I am sure, the fine wine of the presence of Jesus will flow in abundance. In Cartagena, the people we met were well aware that they have work to do to lift up the poor, to provide education for all children, and to address the pressing social issues. There was a sign in the reception area of the hotel where we stayed with a phone number for guests to call and report situations of sexual exploitation. And, yet, the Cartagenans seemed unable to resist the celebration of life, and coming together of all their people each evening. In these intoxicating celebrations, it’s easy to imagine the finest wine, the wine presence of Jesus, flowing in and amongst the party. Here in chilly Massachusetts, though, there is a snow and ice storm. There will be no partying in the streets for us today. There will not even be a worship service and coffee hour. But, I invite you to imagine the kind of wedding feasts we can plan for the future …. in our church sanctuary, in the social hall below, spilling out onto Winthrop and Lincoln Ave. Who will come together? What unions will we celebrate? Can you see the sign? The sign that the Jesus is among us? It will be a coming together of all peoples, a party in the streets and a wedding celebration, at which Jesus – the host, the bridegroom, the wedding guest all rolled into one – provides the finest wine we’ve ever tasted. Amen [1] http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1951-/martin-luther-kings-i-have-a-dream-speech-august-28-1963.php
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