Introduction to the Scripture Readings
The colours in the chancel have changed from white to green. That indicates that we are moving from the feast days of Christmas and Epiphany to what is usually termed, “Ordinary Time”. There are several weeks of “Ordinary Time” now until we reach Lent and then a lot more “Ordinary Time” after Pentecost.
In the readings from the gospel, we are moving into a series of passages that talk about Jesus’ early ministry. Although in this year we will follow the story of Jesus primarily from the gospel of Luke, today we have a reading from the gospel of John. In part at least, it is because this story about the wedding feast in Cana in Galilee is found only in the gospel of John and it is understood to be the first miracle performed in Jesus’ ministry. As often occurs in the gospel of John, there is an explanation of a Jewish custom, the large jars needed to hold water for the rites of purification, which suggests that the gospel was written to a community that was largely Gentile and needed that explanation.
The reading from the Hebrew scriptures is from the book of Isaiah – a very long book of prophecy which most scholars think can be divided into at least three sections addressing different time periods and with different authors. We are in the last section of Isaiah here, probably in the period when the people of Judah had returned from exile in Babylon. Although they rejoiced in being back in their land, they were in a difficult time of re-building and re-imagining who they were as God’s chosen people. The prophet here holds out the hope and vision of a different time when they will once again be recognized as the crowning glory of God’s work in the world.
The Psalm, as many Psalms do, reflects on God’s love and faithfulness and righteousness and is available to all and never ends.
Finally, we begin a series of readings from Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, an important city and crossroads in the Roman world that could have had Toronto’s motto as its own, “Diversity is our strength”. On the other hand, that diversity led to many problems for that early community and got them into all kinds of fights about who was better than whom and which gifts were more important and blessed. Of course that never happens in churches in Toronto.
Sermon – “Gifts in abundance”
On Friday, many of us gathered in this sanctuary to mourn the death of our friend Grant Farrow and to celebrate his quite incredible life. At Grant’s request, the table was set with bread and wine, lots of bread and wine, so that all could gather and share and remember God’s abundant love and mercy, shown so powerfully and wonderfully in his life. The wine, of course, could not be our usual communion wine. It was a wine chosen by Grant who knew a thing or two about the fruit of the vine. At the end of the time of communion, we said a prayer together which Grant had composed and which he himself had carved and placed around the walls of his dining room and which seemed so appropriate to use at the end of our sacred meal. One line in particular stuck out for me while we read it, that we offer joyful thanksgiving “for so many blessings spilled on us by Your grace”.
We often say that communion is a sign or a symbol, a reminder to us of the great banquet in which we will share in the kingdom of God. It is like some small portion of that great feast has spilled on to our table and can open our minds and hearts and spirits to the incredible thing that God is doing in creation. Perhaps we cannot really fathom the greatness of all of that, but we can taste and see that God is good, and like the Psalmist know that God’s love and faithfulness and righteousness are ours in abundance like a table piled high with food or a cup running over with the very finest of wine.
It is that abundance of God’s grace that is pointed to in Jesus’ first miracle in Cana in Galilee. Cana is not very far from Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown. He and his mother and his disciples had been invited to a wedding there. Unlike in our communion service, the wine ran out. There just was not enough. That’s embarrassing for the bride and groom and their families. Now for many Presbyterians who may have grown up in the more temperance minded stream of our denomination, this may actually have been seen as a good thing. But in Jesus’ world and culture, wine was important to the wedding celebration and this was heading to be the wedding that would be remembered as the one where the wine ran out. Not a good thing. Jesus seems a little reluctant to do anything about it when his mother first tells him about the situation. But she seems to know that her son will do something and says to the others to do what Jesus tells them. He tells them to fill up the six thirty gallon jars used in the purification rites with water. Plain, everyday water. That’s one hundred and eighty gallons of water. Assuming that they used imperial measures in Cana, that is about 818 litres of water. That became 818 litres of the most exquisite wine. The kind you serve first before people get a bit tipsy. The kind Grant would have chosen for a meal with his friends. The steward was amazed. Everyone was amazed. Jars filled to the brim, ready to overflow. It would be some wedding feast and would not be remembered for the wine running out.
Caroline Lewis in some comments on this passage says that it is important to remember that in John, abundance is a sign that Jesus is present. Jars filled to the brim, bread and fish enough to feed five thousand. Enough fish in the net to make it split. It is what we heard in the first chapter of John’s gospel, “from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace”. When Jesus is present, there is more than enough to go around. We don’t have to be worried about running out, about not having enough, about having to hoard for ourselves. The jars are brimming, we are picking up baskets full of scraps after the meal, we have more fish than we know what to do with. It’s not our usual way of looking at the world. In most cases we look and see scarcity. We worry about not having enough. We doubt that anyone will be willing to share.
But then you go to a potluck dinner. Do you remember our Epiphany lunch? As always there was concern that there would not be enough to go around. As we lined up at the table, we were faced with a stunning array of casseroles, and salads, and cold meat, and curry, and noodles, and pastas, and rolls, and of course cookies, and cakes, and rice balls and squares and fruit as far as the eye could see. There was enough for all of us and there was enough for the volunteers who came to do the prep for the Out of the Cold dinner to have their lunch. And there were even a few things that appeared at the dinner itself on Monday evening. Abundance. More than enough for all when we shared our resources and asked for God’s blessing.
Today is our consecration Sunday – when we think about what we can offer and bring into this community of God’s love and grace. We are thinking particularly about our stewardship of money and what is on our givings card but in fact we are thinking about the stewardship of our gifts, what we will bring from the abundance of God’s grace poured out into our lives. When we think about all that God has given us, individually and as a community, we can only think of abundance. Like that early community of the followers of Jesus in Corinth, we have a variety of gifts, all born of the Spirit. They may be different. Some people and gifts may seem to be more important. But no, every gift that God has given is important, is valuable, is a sign and a symbol of that overflowing abundance of God’s reign. It’s easy to get caught up in assessing each other and positioning ourselves and our gifts within the community, just as the believers in Corinth did. But what use is it? All we are called to do is to share from that which God has given us. And when Jesus is present, the jars are full. Just when we thought the party was over, we are amazed to taste the most amazing wine and we don’t have to worry about it running out. It’s not like it used to be. We have tasted the goodness spilling from the heavenly banquet. That can cut through all of our stubbornness, and cynicism, and being stuck in our ways of doing things to the new thing that God is doing and the breaking in of God’s reign among us. We offer joyful thanksgiving for so many blessings spilled on us by your grace. Thanks be to God. Amen
