Sunday
01/17/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Jesus’ first miracle”
Old Testament
Lesson: Psalm 36:5-10
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Gospel Lesson:
John 2:1-11
My dear friends, my brothers and sisters, welcome again on
this the Second Sunday after Epiphany. Two Sundays after we celebrate those
Wise Men or Magi bringing Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh to Jesus. Their story
reminds us of the magnitude of who Jesus Christ was and is, and it also reminds
us that Jesus can call anyone to follow him, at any time. Jesus calls us all.
No matter who or what we are, Jesus Christ wishes to know us.
Today is also a special giving Sunday in the life of the
United Methodist Church. This special giving Sunday, is called Human Relations
Day. Let me tell you what our Conference “Bridge” Newsletter says about this
day. Human Relations Day, “is always celebrated the Sunday before the
observance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Human Relations
Day supports community developers, United Methodist voluntary service, and
youth offender rehabilitation programs. The goal of this Sunday is to
strengthen United Methodist outreach in the United States and Puerto Rico,
encouraging social justice and work with at-risk youth”.
With this said, if you would like to contribute to this
special ministry, please make your checks out and put “Human Relations Day” on
the memo line, or if your giving cash, put the money in an envelope and
indicate “Human Relations Day” on the envelope. You can put these in the
collection plates this morning. Also, if you cannot find an envelope, we can
get you one after this worship service. We will then make sure that these funds
get to our conference office in Syracuse, and then to the people who very much need
them.
With that said, today in our gospel of John reading, we
have the first ever miracle that was performed by Jesus Christ. Now in the
gospels, Jesus perform a multitude of miracles. Today however, is his earliest and
first miracle. This miracle was that of turning water to wine. We know that
this was the first miracle performed by Jesus Christ, as the last verse of the
reading from the gospel of John for this morning says, “This was the first
miraculous sign that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and
his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11, CEB). When Jesus performed a miracle
then, it was so that people would believe in him, and turn to God and his love
(John 2:11b, CEB).
It is interesting to me that of all the ways that Jesus
could have chosen how to show his disciples and us more of who he was, that he
would chose turning water into wine.
I
am going to preach this gospel lesson this morning, partially through a story.
Here is the story: I remember when I used to be a tutor and social worker in
Ithaca. During my time as a tutor for the Ithaca City School District, I had
the pleasure and honor of helping students graduate from high school, get
GED’s, do better in their classes, and etc.
Well
one day, I was tutoring a student in the public library in downtown Ithaca. We
were doing school work in one of the study rooms that is located in the back of
the library. Suddenly, this student had a friend of his burst into the study room.
This student that I was tutoring was a senior in high school, and his friend was
college student, who had a t-shirt on it, with Greek letters on it. It seemed
like from his friend’s shirt that he was in a fraternity. I had never met my
student’s friend before. Well, as this friend of my student talked some, he
mentioned that he was a student at Cornell University. He then said that he was
indeed in a fraternity there.
The friend curious about my role in friend’s life, then asked
me if I was a fulltime teacher? I said, “No, I am pretty much a fulltime tutor,
but I am just doing this job while I am in school”. The friend then said, “Well
what are you in school for Paul?” I responded, “I am in seminary school, as I
am training to be a pastor”. The friend then said, “being a pastor, that sounds
so boring!” I said, “really?” He responded, “Yes Paul, booooorrrrinnggg!”
I then said to this friend of my student, let’s call him
Bill, as I can’t really remember what his name was, “Bill, do you know what
Jesus Christ’s first ever performed miracle was?” He said sarcastically, “I
don’t Paul, did he raise someone from the dead? Or did he heal someone?” “Well
Bill” I said, “Jesus did do those things, but let me tell you about his first
miracle”. “By the way Bill, do you like party?” “Paul, I am in a fraternity, I
love to drink and party”. I then said, “Well good Bill, you’re going to like
this story!”
I then said to Bill, “So in ancient times, Jewish folks
often had week long parties or festivals.” Bill then said, “That’s awesome!
Most of parties only last the weekend!” I then said to Bill, “So Jesus and his
disciples are at week long wedding party in Cana of Galilee. Like many
weddings, they are drinking.” At this point, I have Bill’s full attention. I
then said, “then suddenly the wine that whole wedding party was enjoying ran
out. They had no more booze Bill”. Bill at this point looks sad.
Jesus’s mother then tells Jesus about this, and Jesus
pushes back a little against his mother and says, “Woman, what does that have
to do with me? My time hasn’t come yet” (John 2:3b, CEB). Bill then says, “Yeah
I can relate, no one in the fraternity likes to be the guy that has to do the
beer run when we run out during a party”. I am trying to just keep my composure
and not fall into laughter at this point.
I then said, so Jesus’ mother then “told the servants, “Do
whatever he tells you” (John 5:5 CEB). So then Jesus notices that nearby the
wedding party there “were six stoned water jars” (John 2:6a, CEB). I told Bill
that often these jars were filled with water, and that they were used for
Jewish cleanings rituals. “By the way Bill,” I said, “each one of these stone
jars held about 20-30 gallons of water” (John 2:6, CEB). I then take out my
handy dandy calculator and say, “So Bill, we are talking about 120-180 gallons
of water”. “You got it Bill?” “I got it Paul”.
Then,
Jesus told the servants to take some of the water out from one of the stone
jars and give some to the “headwaiter” to drink (John 2:8b, CEB). I then said,
now when “The headwaiter tasted the water” it “had become wine. He didn’t know
where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew” (John
2:9, CEB).
I then told Bill that the gospel then says, “The headwaiter
called the groom and said, “Everyone serves the good wine first. They bring out
the second-rate wine only when the guests are drinking freely. You kept the
good wine until now” (John 2:9b-10, CEB). I then said, “so Bill, let’s review:
you said that being a pastor is boring right?” “Paul, yes I did.” Then I said,
“Well look at the facts, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, was at a week-long
wedding party, and they ran out of booze. So he took about 120-180 gallons of
water, and turned into wine, so that party could keep going for another
4-days”. I then said, “Bill can you turn water into wine?” Bill says, “It would
be awesome if I could”!
I then say to Bill, so the seminary that I am in, that is
training me to be a Christian minister, is built around a savior who’s first
miracle is turning 120-180 gallons of water into wine, so that a party could
keep going for 4-more days. Bill then says, “Paul, that’s awesome, I never
thought about like that before.”
I then said, “So Bill, do you have a picture of Jesus
Christ in your fraternity house?” He said, “No, why?” I said, “But Bill, Jesus
Christ can turn water into booze. I would think his picture would be in your
fraternity house in the main room and every room. For that matter, I would
think that every fraternity and sorority house would have a picture of Jesus
Christ”. “So Bill,” I then said a little sarcastically, “that is the boring
Lord and Savior I serve”.
Now a minor confession, this is probably not the most
conventional way to lead someone to Jesus Christ. Yet, this might be the best
evangelistic technique that exists for fraternities and sororities. After the
conversation, I also thanked Bill for his visit, I encouraged him, and he
seemed uplifted by his visit. I also think that before leaving that study room
in the Ithaca Public Library, he something about having to get ready for a big
“blow out party” that night, as it was Friday. Yet, I think that he got the
message that I was conveying.
Sisters and brothers, Jesus Christ, often took ordinary
things like water and jars, and with them, did extraordinary things. Not only is
this, the miracle that Jesus performs at the Wedding of Cana, is a miracle for
all of us. While the headwaiter and groom taste this great wine first, which
there was a lot of by the way, it was for everyone. In the same way, the gift,
the grace, the love, and the salvation that Jesus Christ offers us, is for
everyone. Jesus came to show everyone, excluding no one, who he was, and why he
came.
As a church, we have the honor and the privilege then of
being Jesus Christ’s representatives on earth. This means that when we
encounter people, when people visit the church, we have the honor and privilege
of sharing the “Good News” of the gospel with them. We have the honor and the privilege
of working as a family to grow bigger and stronger, to feed the hungry, and to
clothe the naked.
Brothers and sisters, we do this best when the wine from
the wedding is wine that is wine for everyone. It is not all our wine, it is
not all my wine, but it is our wine. While Jesus is our Jesus, he is everyone’s
Jesus. I can only imagine how many broken and hurting people there are in this
town and nearby towns. I pray for them, I do my best to reach out them. All of
God’s people then, are part of the miracle and the hope that is Jesus Christ.
When we have worship on Sunday mornings, and new people
come into our church to visit, they might be hurting or in pain. In this moment
we have an opportunity to say to them, “We would like to invite you into the
fellowship of Jesus Christ”. “We would like to welcome you into the family that
serves the living God, and follows Christ”. While we don’t drink in the church,
and while I don’t myself drink really much at all, we then symbolically as
Jesus did offer them some of the miracle that Jesus performed.
You see, we all have hurts, we all have pains. Yet the
mission of our United Methodist Church, is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ
for the transformation of the world”. If we are really hurting on a given day,
or on a given Sunday, that is fine, we can pray with you, but we have to share
the miracle that is Jesus Christ. This is why the church exists. For it is not
about us, or what we can do, it is about God, and what God is doing in us and
through us. When we put the focus of God, and on his son Jesus Christ, and when
call upon the Holy Spirit, we then will have a church that as scripture says,
“Can shake the gates of hell”.
In this New Year, we have much to celebrate in this church.
We are more financially stable than we have been in years. We have a new roof.
We are blessed to have endowed church funds. As we continue to share the
miracle that Jesus, as we continue to symbolically share the wine from the
Wedding at Cana, lives can and will continue to be changed. Hurting and broken
hearts will come to Jesus Christ, we will grow stronger, more unified, and more
into the image of Jesus Christ.
So in this day sisters and brothers, Jesus Christ performs
his first miracle of turning water into wine. A miracle so powerful that it even
caught the attention of frat kid. May we share the miracle of Jesus Christ on
this day, and all always. In Christ’s name. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment