John 2:1-11 The Wedding in Cana
Timing is everything. It's common knowledge.
For a comedian, timing is the difference between jeers and cheers.
For a man popping the question to his the woman he hopes to marry, timing can be...well the difference between jeers and cheers.
Timing is everything!
Which is what makes this scene at the wedding in Cana so fascinating. Because at first glance it would seem that the timing is all off. The wine ran out too early. Now, at first, that doesn’t sound all that surprising. After all, John tells us that it’s the third day of the wedding banquet. Three days of celebrating and you might expect the wine to run out. If it were us, we might just duck out and make a quick run to the local wine shop. But in this time and place running out of wine too early isn’t just a social embarrassment. Wine is a sign of God’s abundance, of joy and gladness and hospitality. And so when they run short on wine it is a sign of the marriage running short of God's blessing. Timing is everything. To the couple who just married, the wine running out before the celebration is finished is like a bad omen. It suggests that the marriage blessings will run out before the marriage. This is not just a social concern for the wedding party...this is a tragedy!
Unfortunately, far too many of us today know quite well what it's like when the blessings within a marriage run dry before the fulfillment of the marriage. It's a tragedy!
To make matters worse, Jesus’ mother doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of timing either. At least that’s what Jesus seems to think. “They have no wine,” she says to her son. She expected her son to do something about it. But Jesus seems to think this is another instance of bad timing: “Woman, what concern is that to you or me? My hour – my time – has not yet come.” But Mary knows better. Rather than raise an eyebrow at his tone or offer a counterpoint to his assertion, she turns to the servants and tells them simply and clearly, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now it could be that, like a good Jewish mother, Mary knew her son would come around. Protest he might, but eventually he’ll listen to his mother. Or it could be that she understood the necessity for good timing a little better than he thought. Mary recognized that whenever her son was on the scene, time itself was no longer ordinary. For, with God, timing is always perfect.
Well, you know the rest of the story.
Timing is everything!
For a comedian, timing is the difference between jeers and cheers.
For a man popping the question to his the woman he hopes to marry, timing can be...well the difference between jeers and cheers.
Timing is everything!
Which is what makes this scene at the wedding in Cana so fascinating. Because at first glance it would seem that the timing is all off. The wine ran out too early. Now, at first, that doesn’t sound all that surprising. After all, John tells us that it’s the third day of the wedding banquet. Three days of celebrating and you might expect the wine to run out. If it were us, we might just duck out and make a quick run to the local wine shop. But in this time and place running out of wine too early isn’t just a social embarrassment. Wine is a sign of God’s abundance, of joy and gladness and hospitality. And so when they run short on wine it is a sign of the marriage running short of God's blessing. Timing is everything. To the couple who just married, the wine running out before the celebration is finished is like a bad omen. It suggests that the marriage blessings will run out before the marriage. This is not just a social concern for the wedding party...this is a tragedy!
Unfortunately, far too many of us today know quite well what it's like when the blessings within a marriage run dry before the fulfillment of the marriage. It's a tragedy!
To make matters worse, Jesus’ mother doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of timing either. At least that’s what Jesus seems to think. “They have no wine,” she says to her son. She expected her son to do something about it. But Jesus seems to think this is another instance of bad timing: “Woman, what concern is that to you or me? My hour – my time – has not yet come.” But Mary knows better. Rather than raise an eyebrow at his tone or offer a counterpoint to his assertion, she turns to the servants and tells them simply and clearly, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now it could be that, like a good Jewish mother, Mary knew her son would come around. Protest he might, but eventually he’ll listen to his mother. Or it could be that she understood the necessity for good timing a little better than he thought. Mary recognized that whenever her son was on the scene, time itself was no longer ordinary. For, with God, timing is always perfect.
Well, you know the rest of the story.
Timing is everything!
In fact, there are two kinds of time at work in this gospel. One is the kind of time with which we count and track the everyday events of our lives. It is the time that is measured in minutes and seconds, hours and days. It is the time we spend standing in lines, or clocking in at work, or waiting at the stoplight. It is mundane, ordinary time and it beats on relentlessly without any care of how well we make us of it.
But there is another kind of time at play, as well. It is a kind of God's time, where the usual cadence of things that are predictable fade away and the experience of the moment transcends the ticking of the mundane clock of our lives. This is God’s time, and it breaks forth through the ordinary clock and pace of things in unexpected times and places and allows us to catch a glimpse of the divine. So when Jesus speaks of his “hour” he isn’t speaking of a time and date on his calendar, he’s talking about the time when God will reveal his glory through his cross, resurrection, and ascension, the time when God will be accessible to all, once and for all.
That time, that hour, Jesus says, has not yet come.
Or has it?
Why do you think the apostle John goes to the effort of beginning this story about a wedding with the words, On the third day..."?
Could it be that the gospel writer is giving us a clue right up front, grabbing our attention, that this story isn't really about wine and a wedding, but about something more deeply interwoven with the gospel..., Jesus' resurrection?
Mary seems to think so.
And so do I.
The third day is the day in which Jesus was raised from the dead!
The third day is the day that hope was restored! At the moment when the disciples thought the blessings of Jesus' mission ran out before the fulfillment of the mission....on the third day, God restored the blessing...and the mission of Christ hasn't stopped since.
Knowing this makes all the difference. Instead of this being a story about water turned into wine, before its Jesus' time, this becomes a reminder that every moment lived near Jesus is a moment with the capacity to transcend beyond the mundane and into the divine. For Jesus, turning the water into wine was a relatively simple act...almost a parlor trick. But, for the wedding party, this simple act was the difference between joy and worry. For the disciples, this simple act was the difference between believing and not believing.
As it is for us as well.
Think back over the course of your life...and to those moments when your life was hanging in the balance between fear and faith, or scarcity and abundance, or destruction and salvation. Into those moments, what was it that made the positive difference? Was it not, a simple act of kindness, generosity, sacrifice from someone else? These are moments that may have been a simple act to the person offering them, but to you they were moments that caused time to stand still.
In the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, "The time is always right to do what is right!"
There is no such thing as bad timing with things that are eternal.
There is never a bad time for generosity
There is never a bad time for kindness...never a bad time for compassion...forgiveness.
But there is another kind of time at play, as well. It is a kind of God's time, where the usual cadence of things that are predictable fade away and the experience of the moment transcends the ticking of the mundane clock of our lives. This is God’s time, and it breaks forth through the ordinary clock and pace of things in unexpected times and places and allows us to catch a glimpse of the divine. So when Jesus speaks of his “hour” he isn’t speaking of a time and date on his calendar, he’s talking about the time when God will reveal his glory through his cross, resurrection, and ascension, the time when God will be accessible to all, once and for all.
That time, that hour, Jesus says, has not yet come.
Or has it?
Why do you think the apostle John goes to the effort of beginning this story about a wedding with the words, On the third day..."?
Could it be that the gospel writer is giving us a clue right up front, grabbing our attention, that this story isn't really about wine and a wedding, but about something more deeply interwoven with the gospel..., Jesus' resurrection?
Mary seems to think so.
And so do I.
The third day is the day in which Jesus was raised from the dead!
The third day is the day that hope was restored! At the moment when the disciples thought the blessings of Jesus' mission ran out before the fulfillment of the mission....on the third day, God restored the blessing...and the mission of Christ hasn't stopped since.
Knowing this makes all the difference. Instead of this being a story about water turned into wine, before its Jesus' time, this becomes a reminder that every moment lived near Jesus is a moment with the capacity to transcend beyond the mundane and into the divine. For Jesus, turning the water into wine was a relatively simple act...almost a parlor trick. But, for the wedding party, this simple act was the difference between joy and worry. For the disciples, this simple act was the difference between believing and not believing.
As it is for us as well.
Think back over the course of your life...and to those moments when your life was hanging in the balance between fear and faith, or scarcity and abundance, or destruction and salvation. Into those moments, what was it that made the positive difference? Was it not, a simple act of kindness, generosity, sacrifice from someone else? These are moments that may have been a simple act to the person offering them, but to you they were moments that caused time to stand still.
In the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, "The time is always right to do what is right!"
There is no such thing as bad timing with things that are eternal.
There is never a bad time for generosity
There is never a bad time for kindness...never a bad time for compassion...forgiveness.
An ordinary hug can convey unbounded love and blessing. The smallest donation of food or money can tip the balance between scarcity and abundance. A simple act of kindness can make all the difference in the world. A smile can shed light into the darkest of places.
You see, this sign of water turned into wine revealed something about Jesus. When he is on the scene, anything is possible. Because, when Jesus is on the scene, so also is God, accessible, adoring, available to all.
It may not seem like much, but when we offer ourselves in kindness, compassion, and generosity to others, to our kids, to our family...to the recipients of that moment of blessing, your timing is perfect!
You see, this sign of water turned into wine revealed something about Jesus. When he is on the scene, anything is possible. Because, when Jesus is on the scene, so also is God, accessible, adoring, available to all.
It may not seem like much, but when we offer ourselves in kindness, compassion, and generosity to others, to our kids, to our family...to the recipients of that moment of blessing, your timing is perfect!
Amen
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