Prayer
O God of salvation, the people in whom you delight hasten with joy to the wedding feast. Forsaken no more, we bear a new name; desolate no longer, we taste your new wine. Make us your faithful stewards, ready to do whatever Jesus tells us and eager to share with others the wine he provides. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
In like manner also is what the clouds pour forth changed into wine by the doing of the same Lord. But we do not wonder at the latter, because it happens every year: it has lost its marvellousness by its constant recurrence."
From Augustine's Tractates on John: Tractate VIII (2:1-4)
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| Wedding at Cana, Paul Veronese, Louvre, Paris |
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts on John 2:1-11
In like manner also is what the clouds pour forth changed into wine by the doing of the same Lord. But we do not wonder at the latter, because it happens every year: it has lost its marvellousness by its constant recurrence."
From Augustine's Tractates on John: Tractate VIII (2:1-4)
"As John himself says in John 20:31, his goal in writing down this sign is not that we should be amazed, or even that we should believe in Jesus. Rather his goal is that we should bond with Jesus / abide in Jesus - and receive for ourselves the life that is in Jesus."
Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, John 2:1-11, David Ewart, 2013.
"It is more than poignant that the mother of Jesus brackets his life, surrounds Jesus’ earthly ministry. She is at the beginning of his career and watches him die. She is the nurturing force when he is the Word made flesh, a shared parenthood with God, the father.
Commentary, John 2:1-11, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.
"And so it was also, we hope, with the bride and groom at Cana and with every bride and groom-that the love they bear one another and the joy they take in one another may help them grow in love for this whole troubled world where their final joy lies, and that the children we pray for them may open them to the knowledge that all men are their children even as we are their children and as they also are ours."
"The Wedding at Cana,""Marriage," Frederick Buechner, Buechner Blog.
Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text"It is more than poignant that the mother of Jesus brackets his life, surrounds Jesus’ earthly ministry. She is at the beginning of his career and watches him die. She is the nurturing force when he is the Word made flesh, a shared parenthood with God, the father.
Commentary, John 2:1-11, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.
"And so it was also, we hope, with the bride and groom at Cana and with every bride and groom-that the love they bear one another and the joy they take in one another may help them grow in love for this whole troubled world where their final joy lies, and that the children we pray for them may open them to the knowledge that all men are their children even as we are their children and as they also are ours."
"The Wedding at Cana,""Marriage," Frederick Buechner, Buechner Blog.
We continue in our season of the Epiphany, where light and life warm our harth, hearts, and home. We are invited to glorify God for the miraculous gift of the incarnation. This week, we hear the Gospel reading for today, John’s account of Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana. And that text reminds us not only of the miracles that Jesus will carry out but also of the greater things to come from his death and resurrection. Or as Jesus himself says to Nathanael in John 1:50, "You will see more things than these."’ And yet, if the Gospel of John exhibits these signs, its purpose is not simply to induce us to believe; it is to invite us to be more closely with Jesus, to love him, and to live in him.
‘It begins,’ writes the author, "On the third day..." (John 2:1). This little detail is full of meaning, theologically speaking. Christ, the second of three persons of the Trinity, is the Word who made all things. He incarnates the New Creation: that is what John uses in his Gospel. This third day is the third day after Jesus called his disciples Philip and Nathanael. Here, it seems, is the rest of the creation narrative – the redemption of the world in the calling of new believers and the miracles of Jesus.
This miracle occurs at a wedding – an imagery with a prophetic resonance. Weddings represent God’s promises, heaven and earth becoming one. In the Old Testament prophetic books, the wedding metaphor describes God’s covenantal relation to Israel (Isaiah 54:4; 62:4-5). The New Testament refers to the kingdom of God as a wedding banquet when Jesus talks about it (e.g., Matthew 22:2-14; 25:1ff). Heaven and earth are married in Christ, while divinity and humanity are married in his incarnation.
In this wedding in Cana, the wedding gets interrupted: the wine runs out. The problem is brought to his notice by Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her involvement has drawn controversies among theologians, and not least Jesus’ answer in verse 4: "Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My time is not yet." Others take this as bitterness, but the Greek for "woman" () was the polite address of Jesus’ day. This isn’t a rejection: Jesus’ reply is an extension of the Johannine message of God’s timing and Jesus’ calling to sanctify the Father.
Mary doesn’t give up on the possibility of Jesus doing things; she just says to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you" (v. 5). This is where Mary’s example of discipleship is a shining example: placing your faith in Jesus and pointing people to him. This miracle of water becoming wine comes out unobtrusively but theologically significant, as the wine becomes the Symbol of Christ’s blood at the Last Supper. Not only does this act foreshadow the sacrificial love of Jesus, but it also points to the bounty of grace and renewal in salvation history. The sanctifying power of the Spirit is visible here and in the Eucharist, where we see God’s presence transform the mundane material of creation. The six stone jars, each containing twenty to thirty gallons, are then stoked with water, which somehow becomes wine. The jars – once part of Jewish purification ceremonies – represent a preparation for the gift of the Spirit. In the way that these vessels contained water distilled into wine, so they anticipate the same process of the mundane being made sacred in the celebration of the Eucharist, as the Spirit sanctifies the objects to refresh and rehydrate the saints. Historians have quarreled about what the jars and how much wine represented, but the lesson remains the same: Jesus gives us much of the finest wine, which represents God’s abundant mercy. This richness is also a mirror of the spiritual gift that Christ offers in the Eucharist: wine itself becomes the sacramental manifestation of Christ’s blood. That same picture is full of significance at the Last Supper, where the Spirit sanctifies the elements to give believers a taste of the immortal banquet of God’s kingdom.
The servant who never knew where the miracle came from boasts to the groom that the wine is superior and that the world has been turned upside down: ‘You have tithed the fine wine until now’ (v. 10). The wedding party sees the miracle, but it is the servants who collect the wine and see Jesus’ power at work. This is how the narrative prepares us for the great deeds of redemption and abundance that will be performed by Jesus' death and resurrection.
This first of Jesus’ miracles shows us his glory and causes his followers to trust him (v11). But it also foreshadows the feast of the Eucharist, in which wine is transformed into the sign of Christ’s blood spilled out for the world's redemption. For early church theologians Clement of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Cyprian, this miracle could not be removed from the sacraments, specifically baptism and the Eucharist. Water as wine anticipated the wine of the Eucharist at the Last Supper when Jesus enacted the sacrament of his blood, spilled for all people. In addition, the Spirit’s sanctifying power reveals how grace and God work in the Eucharist by connecting the faithful to Christ in the sacraments. As water and wine are at the center of this narrative, so are the emblems of God’s grace in the Church. However, the event at Cana not only exemplifies Christ’s divinity but also presages the Eucharist when the Spirit reconditions wine into Christ’s blood. This sacramental action shows the Spirit as interfering between the mundane and the divine, calling believers to share in God’s free gift.
As we look at this passage, there are a few themes:
Devotion of God In All Things: Our life in Jesus is a time to devote ourselves to God and through all things, both ordinary and miraculous. Jesus’ work, as we read it, is always to the praise of God.Responding to the Call to Serve: Like Mary, who puts everything in the hands of Jesus, and like the servants who do what Jesus says, we are invited to be a part of God’s world work.Waiting for the Miracle: This tale is about waiting on God’s hand and doing something. Jesus’ miracles show us a Creator who is present at the creation table and whose goodness pours forth.Taste & See God’s Goodness: We are invited to taste and see the Lord’s goodness by the steward’s testimony (Psalm 34:8). We are to share with others the bounty and bliss of God’s kingdom as an example of his grace.
For those who are drawn to Jesus and reminded of Christ’s birth, may we, like the disciples, be embraced on Epiphany. May we dwell in him, do good works for God, and witness the fullness of His grace in Christ.
Some Thoughts on I Corinthians 12:1-11
"In the midst of divisions, especially denominationally in my own church (ELCA), how do we talk about Christian unity?"
Commentary, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.
"Paul is suggesting that focus on spiritual gifts can amount to nothing more than being carried away and can achieve exactly the opposite of what Jesus stands for (in effect, cursing him, rather than acclaiming him)."
"First Thoughts on Passages on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"Epiphany 2, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
"This text provides a powerful opportunity to share the profound impact racism has had on the idea of diversity amidst unity, labeling it as something deviant or unachievable. Such thinking has undermined America?s ability to become the global salad bowl (not melting pot) it alleges to be."
Commentary, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Janet Floyd, Esq., The African American Lectionary, 2010.
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A number of scholars believe that this portion of Corinthians is in answer to a question about the spiritual gifts. It is perhaps a response to a group of people who believe they are special because they have been given specific gifts.
Paul says the Spirit gives many gifts. And, not everyone gets the same gifts. People get many different and various kinds of gifts. They all are to be at work in the kingdom of God doing a variety of services. Together these gifts make up the one body of Christ and act on his mission in the world. They are not something to be boasted in personally.
Somehow, though we have gotten into the place of believing perhaps we need the gifts our neighbor has. Perhaps we covet other's spiritual gifts. Perhaps we are rarely satisfied with the ones given to us. That is certainly our scenario. As Brené Brown says, "We steal worth from others."
Another part of the reality in which we live is that people feel they are not given gifts. Perhaps we feel left out of the gift giving Spirit's work. I believe people in our culture today more often feel worthless and powerless.
Let's face it: there are probably some communities that need to hear Paul's message directly - "don't brag about your gifts." However, in today's western culture I think most communities need to hear that God has gifted them for the purpose of kingdom building.
Paul reminds us, as he does elsewhere, God's grace is sufficient. His gifts are sufficient and they are particular and unique to us as individuals. We are sufficient with God's gifts and grace to do his work in the world.
So, perhaps today's lesson gives us the opportunity to "boast" in the gifts of others used for God's kingdom work; and to seek to better understand our own so that we might put them to good use for the sake of the Gospel proclamation - whether it be in word or deed.
Some Thoughts on Isaiah 62:1-5
So where are we in the story of Isaiah? It turns out that Persia has now overcome Babylon. In doing so they are allowing some of the people of Israel to return to the land around Jerusalem. This is not all the people and it is not all of Jerusalem. The people arrive and are confronted (we know from other texts) with the remnant left behind and a land depleted of resources. The people are probably more than a little disheartened because things have not turned out the way that they thought.
Now, this passage is attached to this lectionary because of its connection with the theme and metaphor of marriage. This is an interesting choice because the parallel is there. Certainly, John understood Jesus in the great paradigmatic revelation of bridegroom. This is an eschatological tradition linked to Isaiah chapter 25:6-8; chapters 40-55, the passage we have today. It is also present in the imagery of Hosea and Jeremiah chapters 2-4. Explicitly though the messianic and eschatological connection to Jesus as a bridegroom is believed to be rooted in his own teaching, storytelling, and the narrative of the Gospel authors.
However, of note is something quite different expressed by Richard Hays in his book Echos of the Scripture in the Gospels. Here we see a deeper connection with Matthew's Gospel. Matthew is picking up on the message of salvation for the people of Israel. God as savior in Zechariah 9:9 and in Isaiah 62 is the theme here linked to our passage. See Matthew 21:5...Jesus comes to the daughter of Zion in his triumphal entry. Hays suggests the revelation here is of Jesus as Israel's savior. A savior that comes not for violent victory (note that Matthew strikes the image from Zechariah and leaves out any suggestion of a man taking a woman which is implied in our passage). Matthew instead suggests that the groom undoes the stereotypical persona of might and instead comes humble and gentle. (See Hays, Echoes, 152-153. This archetype is new...a different bridegroom...a different taking of Israel. In this case the taking of Israel is one of service.
As Rowan Williams suggests this is a "reorganization of religious language." (Ibid, 187.)
Commentary, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Janet Floyd, Esq., The African American Lectionary, 2010.
Paul says the Spirit gives many gifts. And, not everyone gets the same gifts. People get many different and various kinds of gifts. They all are to be at work in the kingdom of God doing a variety of services. Together these gifts make up the one body of Christ and act on his mission in the world. They are not something to be boasted in personally.
Somehow, though we have gotten into the place of believing perhaps we need the gifts our neighbor has. Perhaps we covet other's spiritual gifts. Perhaps we are rarely satisfied with the ones given to us. That is certainly our scenario. As Brené Brown says, "We steal worth from others."
Another part of the reality in which we live is that people feel they are not given gifts. Perhaps we feel left out of the gift giving Spirit's work. I believe people in our culture today more often feel worthless and powerless.
Let's face it: there are probably some communities that need to hear Paul's message directly - "don't brag about your gifts." However, in today's western culture I think most communities need to hear that God has gifted them for the purpose of kingdom building.
Paul reminds us, as he does elsewhere, God's grace is sufficient. His gifts are sufficient and they are particular and unique to us as individuals. We are sufficient with God's gifts and grace to do his work in the world.
So, perhaps today's lesson gives us the opportunity to "boast" in the gifts of others used for God's kingdom work; and to seek to better understand our own so that we might put them to good use for the sake of the Gospel proclamation - whether it be in word or deed.
Some Thoughts on Isaiah 62:1-5
"I think this text, along with many other prophetic texts of the Hebrew Bible, announce a central truth about what it means to be a believer in any age of history; we Christians (and Jews and Muslims) cannot finally be cynical about the world given to us by God. To be a Christian and to be a cynic is nothing less than an oxymoron."
"New Names for Us," John C. Holbert, Opening the Old Testament, 2013.
"The metaphor of marriage between Yahweh and his people is one of the central images used in Scripture to portray God's redemptive, atoning purpose in relating to humanity."
"The Politics of Marrying God," Timothy F. Simpson, Political Theology, 2013.
"For once the lectionary for the day lists four texts, all of which have something in common. All 4 are visionary texts, loaded with symbols for fragile souls, freighted with more meaning than meets the eye. Each of the 4 pictures makes its own emphasis: here our vision of God, there God's view of us, here the Church's vision of Jesus glorified, there our vision of "the common good." In every case it's theological imagination at work as if our very lives depend on it."
Environmental & earth-centered reflections, Rev. John Gibbs, from the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota Environmental Stewardship Commission.
"New Names for Us," John C. Holbert, Opening the Old Testament, 2013.
"The metaphor of marriage between Yahweh and his people is one of the central images used in Scripture to portray God's redemptive, atoning purpose in relating to humanity."
"The Politics of Marrying God," Timothy F. Simpson, Political Theology, 2013.
"For once the lectionary for the day lists four texts, all of which have something in common. All 4 are visionary texts, loaded with symbols for fragile souls, freighted with more meaning than meets the eye. Each of the 4 pictures makes its own emphasis: here our vision of God, there God's view of us, here the Church's vision of Jesus glorified, there our vision of "the common good." In every case it's theological imagination at work as if our very lives depend on it."
Environmental & earth-centered reflections, Rev. John Gibbs, from the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota Environmental Stewardship Commission.
So where are we in the story of Isaiah? It turns out that Persia has now overcome Babylon. In doing so they are allowing some of the people of Israel to return to the land around Jerusalem. This is not all the people and it is not all of Jerusalem. The people arrive and are confronted (we know from other texts) with the remnant left behind and a land depleted of resources. The people are probably more than a little disheartened because things have not turned out the way that they thought.
Here steps in the prophet to remind them that in this new world, context, and time the new Jerusalem is going to be a lot different than the old one! It will be be built up in stone and relationship by people outside the Jewish family - foreigners. And, yet, the people will find a new and renewed faith. They will in the end not keep silent but rejoice because the prophet and the people of Israel are people of the land.
They are married to it. They are one together. No matter what history comes, no matter who becomes part of the family, no matter what comes in the great sweep of conquering armies...the people are the people of Israel, the people of a land.
The image of marriage here is important for us to parse out. The prophet speaks of how a young man marries a young woman. God as the builder of people and creator of land is the bridegroom. And the people of Israel are to be married to the groom. The people of Israel are the bride. In the same way as a groom rejoices over a bride so too God rejoices over the people.
Now, this passage is attached to this lectionary because of its connection with the theme and metaphor of marriage. This is an interesting choice because the parallel is there. Certainly, John understood Jesus in the great paradigmatic revelation of bridegroom. This is an eschatological tradition linked to Isaiah chapter 25:6-8; chapters 40-55, the passage we have today. It is also present in the imagery of Hosea and Jeremiah chapters 2-4. Explicitly though the messianic and eschatological connection to Jesus as a bridegroom is believed to be rooted in his own teaching, storytelling, and the narrative of the Gospel authors.
However, of note is something quite different expressed by Richard Hays in his book Echos of the Scripture in the Gospels. Here we see a deeper connection with Matthew's Gospel. Matthew is picking up on the message of salvation for the people of Israel. God as savior in Zechariah 9:9 and in Isaiah 62 is the theme here linked to our passage. See Matthew 21:5...Jesus comes to the daughter of Zion in his triumphal entry. Hays suggests the revelation here is of Jesus as Israel's savior. A savior that comes not for violent victory (note that Matthew strikes the image from Zechariah and leaves out any suggestion of a man taking a woman which is implied in our passage). Matthew instead suggests that the groom undoes the stereotypical persona of might and instead comes humble and gentle. (See Hays, Echoes, 152-153. This archetype is new...a different bridegroom...a different taking of Israel. In this case the taking of Israel is one of service.
As Rowan Williams suggests this is a "reorganization of religious language." (Ibid, 187.)
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