"Little Things"

John 2:1-11

It seems that almost everyone has something that goes amiss with their wedding plans - that something unexpected occurs somewhere along the line. Usually, and hopefully, it's something small. I remember ours - I had just graduated from college. We were traveling from Columbus, Ohio to Pittsburgh, where the wedding was to take place. We got as far as Zanesville when our car died. Eleanore's folks came and picked us up, but it had been sleeting and snowing all day and, by the time they were able to come, the big hill going down into Wheeling, West Virginia was already impassable to traffic going west. Luckily, we were going east. We finally got to Pittsburgh, where we found that all of the attendants dresses were the wrong sizes and had to be remade the day before the wedding by some of the women in the church. After that, most things smoothed out a bit. My best man just about passed out during the wedding, the pastor was late, as was my mother, and a drunken Santa Claus crashed the reception, but that was about all.

Well, that's the stuff memories are made of. What is surprising, is to find something so trivial as a potentially embarrassing moment at a wedding, mentioned in the Gospels. And it seems even more surprising that John uses this minor event as a springboard to launch Jesus' ministry. John says, at the end of his Gospel, that Jesus did so many things that not all the books in the world could contain them. There are so many important matters to contend with, so many important questions with which to deal - but John singles out this event to begin the story of Jesus' ministry - a marriage in Cana, where the party runs out of wine! Who cares?!

Yet, that's one point of the story - Jesus cares! Not just about the big matters in life - wars, famine, and the rise and fall of nations. He also cares about the little things that matter so much to us. Paul says that God knows every shadow that passes over our heart, and brings to His throne of grace the silent, unspeakable petitions of our hearts. God is not only a powerful God - he also has a tender heart. And this event made such a powerful impact on the early church that, reflecting on it, they saw this event as a kind of summary statement of his whole ministry - a eucharistic sign: Jesus, the Bread of Life, involves himself in ordinary events, taking ordinary water, ordinary means, and doing extraordinary things with it. He responds to human need on every level; every event, no matter how familiar, how trivial, can be an occasion for his kingdom to break into the world.

Jesus is invited to a wedding - an occasion of rejoicing. Usually Jewish weddings started on a Wednesday and lasted an entire week, with people constantly coming and going. Some ancient commentaries say that John, himself, was the groom, that Salome was his mother and Mary his aunt. That would make sense, because Mary was given the task of making sure there were ample provisions for the occasion. Perhaps things were going well, until Jesus showed up with his disciples - all of those hungry, hard-drinking fishermen! At any rate, the wine ran out. For a Jewish wedding, that was a disaster - like running out of beer at an Octoberfest! It really threatened to put a damper on things and become a major embarrassment for the bride and groom. So Mary goes to Jesus to see what could be done.

One other thing we should realize, when we delve into John's gospel, is that, for him, Mary is the sign of the faithful church. So this conversation between her and Jesus is also, for him, a statement about the relationship between Jesus and his church. Mary shares her concern with Jesus, and Jesus answers in an odd way, literally, "Woman, what to me and you. My hour has not yet come." He uses a word for his mother that both indicates tenderness and familiarity, but which also puts some distance between the two of them. The rest is a kind of colloquialism. He was saying, in effect. "What does this have to do with us. This is an inopportune moment."

That's the way we often feel about our needs, isn't it? "Maybe God's not interested in my little problems; maybe the timing's not right." Yet even as he says these things to her, he invites her to leave the situation in his hands. It's not a rebuke, but an invitation. Yet he also makes her aware that God doesn't perform on request. With that, Mary is satisfied. She tells the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." He could have told them to sit on their hands and do nothing. Or to go get some more wine. At any rate, now it is out of Mary's hands, and in Jesus'.

Mary couldn't do a thing about the wine shortage. So Jesus tells her to go and take care of those things that she could do, and leave this matter in his hands, assured that he cares, and that it will be alright in the end.

That is the hardest part for us, isn't it? Trusting him to take care of things? We're all born meddlers. We're so afraid that, if we don't keep on top of things, God is going to mess it all up. We try to step in and control things, where we have neither the wisdom nor the resources to handle the situation. And, as a result, we get things all fouled up. We think we can change the world, we think we can change people and situations, we think we can bring in the kingdom, we think that we can save people. But the truth is - we can't save anyone - not even ourselves. That's God's job. All we can do is be as faithful as possible, and trust in his love and mercy. But the good news is that's all we need to do.

In fact, that is the great promise that Paul speaks to us about in our epistle text from 1 Corinthians. He is talking about how God works in us, "through our being faithful in our ministries: to those who tell his words, by telling them; by exercising our gifts as administrators, as teachers, whatever gifts we have been given." If you look at the list of gifts, they all look quite ordinary. Where they become "charismata," gifts of the Spirit, is in His filling them with His presence and with His power.

That is what happened at Cana. Mary left the situation in Jesus' hands, and walked away. She has done what she can do - she brought the problem to Jesus. Now Jesus does what he can do - he takes the ordinary - six large jars of water, and has the servants take them to the host of the meal - who receives them as much more than ordinary. No longer water, but wine. And not just wine, but the very best wine!

That is God's promise for us this morning, as well. We are to do what we can do - nothing more and nothing less. We are to be faithful in our ministries, in the tasks God has given us to do. As we do that, we take each situation in life, big or small, to him, leaving them in his hands. Then we go back to our tasks, assured that he is in the situation, trusting that he can take care of it. When we do that, he becomes present to the situation, he brings his power and life to bear on it, and he uses them to bring in his kingdom, making such situations occasions for redemption, salvation, and joy.

That is a eucharistic statement - it is what we say about what happens in communion, isn't it? The bread is just bread. The wine is just wine. Week after week we come and receive it, and it appears that nothing much happens. The world seems to go on as usual. We still engage in the same struggles. Yet, because of the promise God has made, "this is my body, this is my blood," we know that there is more present than just bread and wine. Jesus is present, "in with and under" the elements, as Luther said, and we receive his very real presence. It is not just bread and wine, but bread and wine with the Word, that redeems and saves us, and we believe that he is accomplishing his redemptive work in us, and through us, as his earthly body, in the world as well.

That is what life in the Spirit is all about. Jesus is present "in, with and under" all of life - in everything we are, and in everything we do.

The miracle isn't in the water that Jesus changes. The miracle isn't in the wine that we drink. Augustine once said, "He made the wine that day in six water-pots who every year makes it in the vines." What he did was a sign - a wake-up call, a road sign that points us toward Jesus. It tells us that, if he cares so much about the little things in life, he certainly cares about the big things too, and can do even more amazing things with them. If he cares that a wedding not be spoiled, then he certainly also cares about a broken heart, or a broken life. He can carry both your joys and your sorrows, and can supply far abundantly beyond your greatest need.

Many times, his grace and glory are shrouded in mystery in this life. It was still a mystery to Mary at that point in her life. She didn't know - she couldn't understand what he was saying. It wasn't until she stood on the other side of the resurrection that his words here took on meaning. The cross and resurrection are the only place where all ambiguity ends and clear-sightedness begins. There we discover the true length and breadth and height and depth of his love. But we can also be sure that the one who would not forsake us in death will not forsake us in life.

He cares for you. He cares about all your needs this morning, whatever they may be. And he promises that, if you will trust him, if you will place your needs in his hands, if you will leave them there - he will fill them with his presence and his power. And that is when miracles begin to happen!