Homily – Sunday, the 21st January 2024

Reading: John 2:1-11

Introduction

Signs, Glory and Crisis Points.

The Third Day…

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee!! So the story begins in John 2.

Well does this phrase strike a chord? The “three days” is used about 21 times in the gospels and what does that signify?

Today we remember the Australian missionary and his two boys who were burnt to death by fundamentalists.

It was not easy for the mother of the home and her daughter to take the death of the boys and their father.

Shattered and devasted as they were no one could console them and the mother shares about a message that she received. It read- Don’t lose hope. Its only the second day- the third day would come!

The third day…

Yes the Saturday people who thought everything was over realised that a new beginning is possible with the resurrection.

The third day, is therefore very symbolic.

We began this service singing

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now

So I will call upon Your Name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

This is how the passage ends, Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Here is a home with all the joy of a wedding and suddenly they fall short of the wine. Imagine the feeling of anxiety and fear of insult. They were devastated and lo and behold Jesus intervenes.

“Faith is unseen but felt, faith is strength when we feel we have none, faith is hope when all seems lost.” — Catherine Pulsifer. And seeing all the pain in the home the mother of Jesus puts her faith in her son and informs him- They have no wine.

No matter what has happened to you in the past or what is going on in your life right now, it has no power to keep you from having an amazingly good future (Joyce Meyer). Jesus’ mother tells the servants- whatever he tells you- Just Do It.

What then is faith during tough times. Robert Rogers once said- “My faith didn’t remove the pain, but it got me through the pain. Trusting God didn’t diminish or vanquish the anguish, but it enabled me to endure it.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase, said Martin Luther King, Jr.

Crisis points could sometimes be the best opportunities for the intervention of God being realised and for the glory of God becoming so real in our lives.

I would want to draw three insights from this text

The Presence of Jesus

When we go through tough times a natural question is where is God?

The text says- and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. And suddenly Jesus’ mother comes to her son and says- they have no wine.

Yes there was a crisis point but Jesus was there in the home amidst that crisis. Mary could see that he could find an answer to the crisis of the home and that exactly is something that we fail to see as we reel under pressures of circumstances

And the good news is- Jesus was present.

Let us also look at another verse. Where was Jesus when his mother told the servants- Do whatever he tells you!

He was near the servants, not very far from the place where the vessels for cleansing were.

He was in the edges, in the peripheries.

AsiaCMS has as its tagline- together in the edges of God’s mission. Where are we needed most- it is in the edges, the margins, the peripheries and the beauty of being in the vulnerability of the margins is that Jesus would be with us.

Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification. It was where the impurities were washed away and the fact that Jesus was there- conversing with the ordinary servants and not amidst the chosen guests tells us who Jesus was and where we could find him today.

In moments of our vulnerability, in spaces of our brokenness, Jesus comes by in unexpected ways telling us of his presence.

And sometimes the only message we might be needing amidst all our stress would be- Do not worry, Jesus is Present!!

The Words of Jesus

When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ 

Here is a mother very confident in her son. He performed no miracles and Mary would not have expected anything extra ordinary but she was confident in her mothering and in the way she guided his upbringing. She knew that once he heard about another person’s tears and agony- he would not walk away. He would do something.

But Jesus uses that moment as the Kairos moment- the starting point of the next phase of ministry. Time for signs that announces his hour!!

Sometime like the Psalmist we are forced to ask- How long O Lord, how long more must I endure. And the soft simple voice tells us- Do not lose hope my hour is not yet come. But do not worry it would not be too far away.

His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. 

Sometimes the words of Jesus looks simple but we don’t understand what is happening. They did not question him when he asked them to fill the water jars, instead they filled it to the brim. They did not ask questions when he said- now take it to the party- they just obeyed.

Remember what Charles Spurgeon said, “God is too good to be unkind. Too wise to be mistaken; and when you cannot trace his hand you can trust his heart.” 

Oswald Chambers reminds us “When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with doubt, just wait, just listen, just obey.”

Melony Carlson said, “Sometimes we have to let our dreams go in order to allow God to bring them back to us – in his way and his timing.”

It is worth remembering what Bonhoeffer said “I believe that God will give us all the strength we need to help us to resist in all times of distress. But he never gives it in advance, lest we should rely on ourselves and not on him alone.”

Crisis points and the interventions of Jesus are always signs that reveal the glory of God in our midst.

The Transformation that Jesus brought forth

When 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 and they did not brag about it), the steward called the bridegroom and 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.’ 

Water You turned into wine
Opened the eyes of the blind
There’s no one like You – None like You
Into the darkness You shine
Out of the ashes we rise
There’s no one like You – None like You

Look at the transformation that Jesus brought into that home

He turned

Emptiness into Fullness

Shame into Appreciation

Sadness into Joy

Anxiety into Comfort

Doubts into Faith

Today, do we go through anxiety and stress?

Emptiness and Shame?

Sadness and Doubt?

Trust and obey

Jesus can transform it

Conclusion

The passage thus concludes, Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Our prayer today could perhaps be

Lord, I am tired, and this is taking so long, so give me strength, so I don’t give up. I want to see the sign that you are about to do in my life.

Lord, when I am uncertain about what you are doing, help me remember that you have always been faithful and will do what you promised. Help me to trust you and sing

My chains are gone.
I‘ve been set free,
my God, my Saviour
has ransomed me.
And like a flood
His mercy reigns,
unending love, amazing grace.

Vinod Victor

January 21, 2024