GOD IS NOT DULL

(Preached on Sunday, January 14, 2007)

Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.                                   -John 2:6

 

Every conscientious host dreads it happening. 

What could be worse than running out of food and drink? 

Something like that happened to Dianne and I early in our marriage and our time here among you.  Every year we host a Christmas party for the Church staff, office volunteers, and their significant others.  This is one way we try to say AThank You@ for their good work throughout the year.  When we first did this we hired a caterer to prepare and deliver the food.  One year, he forgot the date.  We grew concerned when 30 minutes before the party he had not arrived with the food.  We grew more concerned when guests began arriving and still, no food.  We did have some appetizers, so our guests did not realize there was a problem.  By thirty minutes into the party, with still no food and no answer at any of the telephone numbers we had for the caterer, we realized we had a problem.  We had about 30 people waiting for dinner; were running out of appetizers; did have enough wine and soft drinks.  It would have been nice to have Jesus present to bring the problem to him!  We did solve the problem thanks to the staff at Pollo Tropical and everyone had a good time. 

 

As embarrassed as we were, the bride and groom in Cana would have been totally shamed had the wine run out. Weddings in those days were very extravagant affairs involving everyone in the village, sometimes even, as Jesus, his mother and disciples were, people from neighboring villages.  They went on for several days, often an entire week.  And wine was not just a lubricant to keep everyone having a good time.  It was also symbolic of joy, of prosperity, of the good life, of blessings.  To run out of wine would not only be a major faux pas, but also taken as a bad sign for the success and blessing of the marriage.

 

The writer of John=s gospel had this thing about Asigns.@ 

Everything Jesus did was a sign of God=s presence in his life, God=s blessing of his actions, God=s work being done through him.  Everything Jesus did was pointing to a greater truth, a deeper reality, than what appeared on the surface.

So this first of Jesus= Asigns@ takes place AOn the third day,@ another Asign@ C a clear reference to the resurrection of Jesus, which took place three days after his death.  Here, at the very beginning of John=s story about Jesus he is already hinting at the reality of Easter.

This is also evident in the extravagance of what Jesus does.

The quantity of wine mentioned is 500-600 liters.  That is about 500 bottles of wine!  Either it was a huge party with hundreds of guests, or this is going overboard just a bit much.  Not only is it an enormous quantity of wine, but as the steward attests, it is of the finest quality.

This is not cheap table wine, but some of the finest ever tasted! 

 

John wants to be clear, from the very beginning of his gospel, that when Jesus showed up, things broke forth, broke out, and overflowed.  Easter didn=t just happen after Jesus= death on the cross.  New life and a transformed creation are there from the beginning of his ministry.  From the beginning God was doing a new thing in Jesus, holding nothing back, going over the top, and pouring out blessings more than we could ever hope to use up.  That is the way of our God. God is not dull!

 

I think the real reason we modern folk have trouble with this story is not because we are so sophisticated and scientific, but because we are so careful, cautious, and restrained.  We don=t make big moves in life.  We don=t ask big things of God.  We keep our faith to ourselves, safely tucked away in the confines of our church.  We keep our prayers chastened, cautious, and careful.

 

Perhaps its because we think of our relationship with God as a matter of what we feel, what we believe, what we do.  And we all know how limited, how frail and finite are our resources.  We have our limits.

Many times over the years I have had people come to me and confess, AI fear I=m losing my faith.@  Perhaps they are going through a rough time in their lives, their faith is being tested by present circumstances, and they fear that they are about to lose the little faith they have.  What can I do to hold on to my faith?  They wonder.

 

But what if our faith, our belief, our love for God is a gift of God and not our achievement?  What if God is there, wanting to give us even more faith, more love, more energy to meet the demands of discipleship?  In short, what if this Sunday=s Gospel is true?  Not in the literal sense, but in the spiritual sense, in the more important sense of being a Asign.@  Jesus comes to a party in Cana, out in Galilee.  When the wine gives out, he tells them to fill up the large stone jars with water.  When they do, the water is turned to wine, lots and lots of wine, more wine than anybody could possibly need to have a good party!  What if this story from John=s Gospel is a sort of parable of abundance, a promise that God will give you what you need to be a faithful, resourceful disciple?  What would that mean for your life?  What would that mean for our church?  What would our lives look like if that were true?

 

Episcopal priest, Robert Capon, believes they would look a lot different.  AWe are in a war between dullness and astonishment.  The most critical issue facing Christians is not abortion, pornography, the disintegration of the family, moral absolutes, MTV, drugs, racism, sexuality, or school prayer.  The critical issue today is dullness.  We have lost our astonishment.  The good news is no longer good news, it is okay news.  Christianity is no longer life-changing, it is life-enhancing.  Jesus doesn=t change people into wild-eyed radicals anymore, he changes them into nice people!  If Christianity is simply about being nice, I=m not interested.@

 

Too often around here we live with an attitude of scarcity.  We live in the belief we don=t have enough people, we don=t have enough volunteers, we don=t have enough time, we don=t have enough money, we don=t have enough energy, we don=t have enough creativity, we don=t have enough joy, we don=t have enough enthusiasm, we don=t have enough commitment, we don=t have enough!

And we don=t seem to believe that God is ready, wants to, desires to, provide us with all we need!  We live without a readiness to be astonished, without a sense of expectation of what abundance God is going to provide.

 

You may or may not know the story of John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Church in California, which has not spread throughout the world.  John had lived a rather dissolute life as a rock musician, dabbling in drugs.  In a dramatic conversion, his life was changed by Jesus.  He went to church one Sunday and on the way out he asked the preacher, AWhen do you do the healings, the exorcism, and stuff?@  He had read about these things in the Bible and was eager to see them done for himself.  The pastor replied, AOh, we believe in those things, but we don=t do them.@  John replied in amazement, AI gave up drugs for this?@

 

Our world is desperate for God, in the face of escalating despair and chaos, the escalating gap between rich and poor, the intensifying violence and global political and economic confusions, our world desperately needs people who have encountered God in an amazing way and who are excited and filled with astonishment at God=s extravagant love and outpouring of blessings.