March 9, 2021 John 2: 1-12
1On the
third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was
there. 2Jesus and his disciples had also been
invited to the wedding. 3When
the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ 4And
Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has
not yet come.’ 5His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells
you.’ 6Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish
rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus
said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the
brim. 8He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’
So they took it. 9When the steward tasted the
water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the
servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and
said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine
after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until
now.’ 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and
revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
12 After
this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his
disciples; and they remained there for a few days.
So this
is the third day. Day “Zero” was when
John was still answering the questions of the Jewish leadership-it was only John,
no presence of Jesus. Day One was in
Bethany-on-the-Jordan where John the baptizer pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of
God generally. Day Two was when John the
baptizer pointed out Jesus to his disciples, then Andrew and Peter came to join
him. Day Three was when Jesus moved on
to Galilee and picked up Philip and Nathanael as disciples. So we are on the third day. And on the third day there is a wedding.
Now,
there is an entire theology of numbers (as opposed to the Book of Numbers in the Torah), of numerology in Scripture. Numbers are very important. Numbers can also be overdone, to the
point of conspiracy-level theories. But
when something is pointed out in Scripture, it usually has a point (or it
always has a point but I miss it a lot).
This is three days and then a celebration. The first thing John the baptizer says on Day
One is “Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world…” Is this a kind of ‘meta’ reference to Jesus
in the tomb? Three days and a
celebration…I leave it to you to decide.
Because after this, the ‘day count’ loses its importance.
So
there is a wedding in Cana. The ‘mother
of Jesus’ is invited and present, Jesus and his disciples also have an invitation. Notice that MARY, her name is Mary, is not
listed by name, but rather by function, ‘the mother of Jesus’. Probably nothing, but there are a whole lot
of stories in the bible where the woman is present, even at the center of the
story, but never named. “Noah’s wife.” “Lot’s wife.” “The Woman at the Well.” “The
Woman to be Stoned.” Is that
important? Yes. The Bible is from a time where the value of
women in the popular culture was not that of men. The lesson for today is NOT that women have
no value and can remain nameless because the Bible says so. NOT NOT NOT, but explicitly and implicitly,
HUGE swathes of Christianity act this way.
Rather,
what the Bible, God’s revelation, is reflecting is the popular culture of the
time of its writing. But God’s
revelation is NOT static, it is progressive.
The hierarchy of men over women is embodied in the CURSE put upon Adam
and Eve in Genesis 3. The progress of
revelation, coming to a head in the person of Jesus, growing in strength and
power as the Body of Christ, the church, continues to grow from His moment in
time and place, is the UNDOING of that curse.
There is no place for inequality in the Kingdom of God. We are in a time and a place where that truth
can be spoken in the love of God to the community of saints.
Finally,
“Jesus and his disciples had been invited,” verse 2. In the context of the modern wedding, where
every seat at the reception is planned out, tied to the invitation received, that
runs contrary to what we read here. Yes,
Jesus’ mother was invited. Yes, Jesus
was invited. This could all have been
set in motion before Jesus went to Bethany-on-the-Jordan. But now Jesus shows up with at least four
disciples in tow. At the modern wedding reception,
there is the table with the place settings.
The closest thing to the ‘anonymous extra guest’ is when a single person
responds that they are exercising the privilege of the “plus one” but have not
named who their date is going to be.
If
Jesus showed up at my wedding with “plus four”…well, its Jesus, so we would set
up an extra table. Jesus could have MY
meal. But if someone else, not Jesus,
showed up with “plus four”, well, they could sit at the bar. If I were feeling generous, they could take
advantage of the ‘open bar’.
But this
is not my wedding. This is not a modern
wedding. This is an ancient
wedding. The customs and the
preparations are different. The
community is invited, so ‘bring your friends’ was an acceptable practice. The disciples came under the heading of “Jesus’
invitation”. The modern wedding is
planned down to the table setting for two reasons. The first is because weddings are SO
expensive, there is not money to throw away for the “maybe coming” types. But the second is to make sure there is
enough for everyone. A most embarrassing
situation would be if the food ran out. Even
more embarrassing would be if we had, for the reception, an open bar, but we had
to shut it down before the bride even danced with her father because the booze
ran out.
So
Jesus brought four extra grown men, including a couple of fishermen, sailors no
less… We do not know who else may have
taken advantage of the open invitation system, but the unthinkable DID
happen. The booze ran out.
More
tomorrow.
Pastor Pete
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