Emmanuel Baptist Church 275 State St.  Albany, NY 12210 (518) 465-5161 Click here for directions
A Welcoming and Affirming Congregation

The Beginning:  According to John

Rev. Lois Wolff

1/17/2010

First Scripture Lesson:  Isaiah 62:1-5

Second Scripture Lesson:  John 2:1-11

“And for my first miracle …”

          Turning water into wine?

                   Sure, the Bible calls wine “the oil of gladness” –

                             but still!                

Couldn’t Jesus find a more serious miracle

          to launch his earthly ministry?

                   All those people suffering from illness,

                             all those demons, all those hungry people …

Apparently St. John thought this one was good enough.

          And so did Jesus’ mother Mary.

                   It seems to me that she expected him to do something

                             about the situation that had to be an embarrassment

                                      to the bride and groom, and to their families.

                                                And to the wine steward, who should have known

                                                          how much wine the guests would consume.

          Jesus’ answer to his mother sounds very much like a son,

                   basically, “What’s it to you and me?”

                             But then that “My hour has not yet come.”

                                      This wasn’t supposed to be his first miracle.

                                                This wasn’t on the divine schedule.

                                                          Or at least if it was, Jesus didn’t know it.

And then Mary assures the servants to

          “Do whatever he tells you to.”

                   No matter what Jesus has said to her,

she knows he’ll rise to the occasion.

          Still, this seems a frivolous occasion for a miracle!          

                                                So what’s the message here?

I think preacher Edward F. Markquart got it right.  He wrote

The message is not so much the water into wine.  The message of the sign is that Jesus took 180 gallons of Jewish laws, the rituals of purification, and transformed them.  Jesus took 180 gallons of guilt, 180 gallons of laws, laws and more laws, 180 gallons of don’t do this and don’t do that, 180 gallons of laws that then numbered more than 600 regulations, and he transformed them into a new religion, new meaning, new wine that would burst old wine skins.  Jesus transformed the old religion into the new religion.  The miracle was a sign.  The miracle had a message and you have to get the message.  You stop at the intersection outside of church and see red and white paint painted on metal, you better get the message.  Stop.  It is the message that is important.  And there is a grand message to Jesus’ first sign.  180 gallons of guilt are transformed into 180 gallons of grace.

180 gallons of guilt transformed into 180 gallons of grace.

          Somehow, that’s what Pat Robertson has missed

                   when he proclaims God’s judgment on the people of Haiti.

                             Whatever happened to the GOOD NEWS?

Guilt into grace is the transformation that my friend Fritz is endeavoring

          to absorb and to convey to others,

                   though some good friends are convinced

that he has forfeited his own salvation

by his conviction that God wills salvation for all,

          eventually.

Many of us have made the journey from all the “no’s” –

          no drinking, no smoking, no cards, no dancing, no gambling,

                   no sex without marriage, and even then no enjoying it!  --

                             from all those “no’s” to the overwhelming “YES!”

                                      God speaks in Jesus is a long journey indeed!

The transformation of the old wine of laws

          into the new wine of grace

                   could be the summation of Jesus’ entire mission among us.

The blessings to be obtained through the purification rituals

          were completely superseded – blown away! –

                   by the blessings offered by Jesus, the dawn of the new age.

The “good wine” wasn’t served at first,

          but the best was saved for last …

Perhaps your journey was different from mine.

          But I had to purge the early grounding I had,

                   the fear of eternal punishment in hell

                             and the conviction that I could never be “good enough”

                                      before I could begin to hear the Gospel,

                                                the Good News that God loves even me!         

I’d love to be able to turn water into wine.

          It would be a handy gift to have at parties.

                   It could make me a lot of money …

                             but I don’t have the power to do that.

Maybe Jesus didn’t realize he had the gift until he did it.

          Maybe that’s why he answered Mary the way he did.

                   And maybe rather than our turning water into wine,

                             we need to let Jesus turn us into wine –

                                      transform us into something that will make hearts glad.

Lutheran minister Linda Kraft declares

                   Each of us is water that Jesus changes to wine.  We are ordinary human beings,

            redeemed through Jesus’ blood, strengthened and blessed, and commissioned for service

            in his name.

                        Whether you are the sufferer or the consoler, you are still within God’s embrace. 

            You have hope.  You have courage.  You have joy.  You have bountiful blessings to

            share.  Hardship, crisis or challenge, there is nothing you cannot conquer through our

            Lord Jesus Christ.

Kraft suggests that perhaps we might need someone to nudge us,

          as Mary did Jesus.

                   Consider yourself nudged.

I spent some time this week trying to fit in something of Martin Luther King, Jr.

          into this sermon.

                   I kept trying to fit his passion for justice and peace

                             into this story John tells of the beginning

of Jesus’ public ministry.

And then it hit me:

          This story is about the transformation of the old into the new,

                   of laws into grace.

And that was exactly what motivated Martin –

          the Good News that God’s grace is for all,

                   regardless of color or race or station or nationality

                             or any number of other distinctions we human beings make

                                      in order to divide the world into us and them,

                                                haves and have nots, ins and outs,

                                                          masters and slaves.

180 gallons of guilt transformed into 180 gallons of grace.

          That’ll preach.                    

To God be the glory, for ever and ever.  Amen.