A Sermon on Wine

Read: John 2:1-11

“A Sermon on Wine”

When you looked at the title of this sermon, you probably thought about the scripture written just above it. Even if you are not aware of the exact scripture the story came from or the details about it, you might have guessed that this message is about the miracle Jesus performed when he turned water into wine. Here’s the thing; that’s not where the title came from. The title, "A Sermon on Wine” was given to this message because the writer was drinking wine when he wrote it. That’s why it’s called, “A Sermon on Wine”. So, you will find that if you are patient, listen, and hang around for the whole experience, it gets better at the end.   

I think it’s safe to say that most of us know the story, we've heard many variations of it, we’ve heard some jokes about it, and I think I've even received a Hallmark card or two referencing the story. That’s right, Jesus turned water into wine. It’s no wonder these disciples wanted to follow this guy. You know, they were all somewhere around late teens/early twenties. They were the age of frat guys. You can imagine their enthusiasm. I am sure culture has changed a lot but I feel certain this performance still gained the attention of these guys. I mean, some of them were fishermen! We all know fishermen like to have a drank every now and then. 

Before we go any further, let’s have a little lesson on wine. Some people will argue that the beverage spoken about in the bible was not fermented and that it was simply grape juice. But the Greek word, "oinos", used in the Greek New Testament is unmistakably the fermented version of the juice. Also, juice didn’t become popular until later on because storing it requires refrigeration; wine does not. The beverage spoken about in the bible is wine. In many ancient cultures, beverages such as wine and various versions of fermented brew were consumed because it was safe to drink. Kind of ironic... Water was not safe because there were few methods to filter water unless it was taken from a flowing stream and, consumption was still a risk. Many of the cities had open sewage flowing to near water sources. Much of the water had to be boiled to remove it of bacteria. But wine, on the other hand, will keep. Bacteria cannot live or produce in wine because of the alcohol content. When people in ancient cultures traveled from city to city on long journeys, they did carry water but it was primarily used for cooking and other various purposes such as cleansing. It could be consumed but it had to be prepared and purified. But, they also carried wineskins, full of wine, to readily and safely consume on the journey. 

If you know anything about wine, you know there is a process to create it. You don’t just whip up a batch. It takes weeks, sometimes months, to make a cheap batch of wine. A good vintage requires years. It’s quite a process. I don’t know of anyone who has ever made a batch of wine in less than two weeks….except for one person during a particular event. And, we have that story right here in front of us. 

The very first miracle that Jesus performed was at a wedding party in a Galilean city called Cana. Cana was just a small village, easily accessible for travelers making the journey from the two great Roman cities in Galilee, Sepphoris and Tiberias. These two cities were two major metro centers. There was a lot of travel between them. With that said, there were many visitors stopping in Cana. So, we are at a wedding in Cana. Wedding parties in the Jewish culture are different from our Christian traditions. They are now and they were even more so then. They are huge and they draw a crowd. You wouldn’t simply attend a wedding; you would attend a wedding party. These wedding parties attract a lot of guests and they are political to some degree because they are a representation of the family. When a family hosted a wedding party, it was essential they put on a show because it proved who they were in the village. This was a shame/honor culture and that is what made it political. If people liked you, you had the people’s honor and a good way to gain it was through a good ol' shindig. 

Leading up to the wedding party the host has slaughtered the best sheep and calf, he has made the best wine, he is prepared to serve delicacies, and he has saved a lot of money to invest in this party. When the party happens, everything is going down. People are dancing, merrymaking (yes, I said merrymaking), they are having a good time, and eating and drinking. The host is observing and enjoying what he has created. But, thunder strikes. He gets word that the wine has ran out! 

Do you remember when you were in college? You are at a Saturday night, post-football game, keg party. Your team won and everybody is having a great time and enjoying the victory. You go for your next draught and notice the barrel is floating. What happens? You all leave.  

Word starts to spread around the party. This is an embarrassment for the poor host. Perhaps there were more guests than he anticipated. Perhaps they were just really thirsty. At any rate, there was a problem. This was so embarrassing. It’s like being at the grocery store with a line behind you and you can’t come up with the money to pay for your stuff. It’s humiliating. It’s almost shameful. That’s the feeling this host is having. He is sweating. People are already talking about his failure to adequately host the party. His failure was like an insult to the bride and his family. So, he starts looking for solutions before people start leaving.

In the meantime, Mary, the mother of Jesus, has observed all of this. She goes to Jesus and his disciples to inform them of the problem. “The host is out of wine.” She says. It’s in that moment that we wonder what Mary was asking for. Jesus’ reply would suggest that she knew what he could do. It was as if she knew the potential. His reply, particularly the second part of it, would suggest that she not only knew the potential, but she knew the long-term outcome. He says, “My time hasn’t come yet.” It was as if Mary asked, “Are you going to save the party?” And Jesus replies, “Oh yes, I am going to save them, but not yet.” 

“My time hasn’t come yet.” I want you to think about that. Put that away for now and I am going to come back to it. I am going to make a point with it, but before I get there, it needs to be sharpened a little.

So, Jesus tells the servants, who would be like the waiters, to go and fill these big stones jars full of water. These jars likely already had a little water in them. Why? They were large thirty-gallon jars used for Jewish cleansing ritual. That’s a very religious way of saying, they used them to wash their hands and feet. Yes, that is right; these jars were used to wash the nasty from people’s hands and feet before they ate food. They weren’t completely full because people had been using them. Dirt. Bacteria. All the bad stuff people had on their hands and feet from doing what people do, along with the water already in the jars. Jesus says, “Fill them full. Then, take some to the headwaiter.” The servant did as Jesus asked and what happened in the distance from the jar to the head waiter? Dirty water became wine. 

Let’s think about this. What did Jesus do? He made water into wine. What happens to bacteria and impurities when alcohol is present? It kills it; it cannot exist. It was cleansing water, it had bacteria and Lord knows what in it. When Jesus made it wine, he made it clean; he made it pure. He made what was once impure, pure again. Do you feel me? So, why didn’t Jesus just make clean water? Why didn’t Jesus just make grape juice? Here is why, and the writer wants us to know this. You see, if he had just made water, what would happen? It would get dirty again. After a bit of time, it would just turn into dirty water. If he had made some kind of juice, in just short time, it would start to spoil. Instead, he made something that would not spoil. He made something that, upon his miracle, would remain clean. 

After Jesus performs the miracle, the product would be unsusceptible to impurities. You feeling me? Ok, hold on to that. Put that away with “My time hasn’t yet come.” We’re going to tie them together. 

The writer tells us that the waiter took the water-turned-wine to the headwaiter. The headwaiter says to the host, “Hey, why have you withheld the good stuff, the vintage? Everybody knows you serve the good stuff in the beginning. You served the second-rate wine first and saved the best for last.” You see, people were already leaving the party. They were like the people that leave the football game when they lose hope for their team’s situation. But, when they do this, they forfeit the whole experience. Some of the party guests already lost hope for the party and the host. Little did they know; a miracle was in the cards. There was not the time to make more wine. As we know, wine takes a while to make and there were no package stores around. So, they didn’t see this event getting any better. Had they had some hope, they would not have only received a reward, but they would have received the best reward. There was a special play in the playbook that had yet been used. They did not know that Jesus was about to give new life to the party. 

The true gift came at the end, at the right time, when it was needed the most. Now, put that away with “My time has yet to come” and, making pure out of what is impure. I am about to tie them up.  

Here we have a story of Jesus’ first miracle. It wasn’t the greatest miracle in terms of miraculous things. I mean, I can make wine. He just made it faster and better than I can. He did some other miracles that cast a shadow over this one. As we now know, there are many more great things to come from Jesus. But, you see, this miracle has some poetic significance. That is because it is an image and a guide to Jesus’ last miracle. What was the last miracle? It was his own resurrection, which was the saving grace and the atonement of the sins of the world. 

Let’s go in reverse. Point three: The true gift came at the end, at the right time, when it was needed the most. The people were giving up on the future of the party. There was nothing to have hope for. The wine wasn’t that good, to begin with. The people were starting to leave. Before the last miracle (after Jesus' death), Jesus’ followers had lost hope. They had almost given up. They wanted to hang around but they were afraid of what might happen. Things were not looking good anyway. His followers were starting to scatter. Then, the good wine shows up. Jesus appears to his followers showing them that he is alive, and affirming that he has given life to the whole party.

Point two: After Jesus performs the miracle, the product would be unsusceptible to impurities. He didn’t just make clean water that might become dirty again. He didn’t make juice that would spoil in time. No, he made wine. He made something that would never again be affected by contaminations or impurities. Jesus’ atonement didn’t simply remove us of our sins. He made something that would never again be contaminated by the sin of the world. He made something that could not be susceptible to bacteria of the world. Folks, we were once dirty water; we are now good wine. 

Point one: I think this one is sharp enough now. Jesus said, “My time hasn’t come yet.” It was as if Mary said, “Jesus, save them.” And Jesus said, “It’s not time for me to save them. But, I’ll save the party.” I am convinced that Jesus could have saved the world right then. He might have been able to turn himself in for what he was going to do and they might have killed him. If he can eliminate the months or years it takes to make good wine, he can eliminate the time it takes to start a revolution. But, it wasn’t time. Why was it not time? Because, the people, his followers, the writers, they all needed to experience the whole journey. They needed to travel with him, witness the other miracles, make mistakes in his presence, question him, see him, hear him, touch him, walk with him…  In order to receive the gift, you have to accept the experience. 

Now, we have a sermon. 

As a culture, we are losing sight of journey and experience and the significance of it. Things are becoming more and more abbreviated. All things considered, experience takes time and, for many people, time is not cheap. But, with technology growing as it has been, we are finding ways to skip over the experience. The bad part of that is the loss of value for the final product. At the end of a journey or the end of an experience, there is a final product or result. If we skip the experience, the product or result is less valuable. If the disciples at the party never saw Jesus again after the party, then he turned up after his death, I am sure they would have been enamored but it wouldn’t have had the same effect. They might have been like, “Isn’t that the guy that made the wine at that party? I thought he was killed! That's weird.” No, they needed the entire experience. They needed to develop emotions, passions, loyalty, faith, and zeal to continue a legacy. That required the whole journey.   

I was reminded of this not long ago when I synced my iPhone up to a Bluetooth speaker and played the first Nirvana album, Nevermind. It came out when I was thirteen and it changed the way that I listened to music. I was blown away. It changed my feelings about music. It was the major transition between 80’s hair band rock to grunge rock. What I was thinking about when I was listening to this the other day was how different it would be if I had a smartphone when this album came out. I would have pulled it up on Apple Music or Spotify, listened to Smells Like Teen Spirit (The first song), listened to Smells Like Teen Spirit a few more times, skipped through some of the others, and moved on. But no, when I first purchased the album, it was on a cassette. I walked around with my yellow Sony Walkman on my belt and that tape playing for weeks. I didn’t dare hit fast forward and risk missing any part of that album; I just took it all in. We did that with cassettes; we listened to the whole thing. For me, with that album, I needed to take in the whole experience to appreciate what it was and what it would become. 

This is applicable with so many things in our lives. Experience and the journey are everything. That is not just with music. Books… sure, you can read the first few pages and put it down, then later read the last couple of pages. But, what good is it if you miss the whole experience. Movies… you can’t rush the experience; you have to make the journey with the characters to appreciate the outcome. What about vacation. In order for it to be beneficial, you need not rush it. What about rest or sabbath time? It’s not something that can just happen. Even though you are doing nothing, it is the experience with God that makes it beneficial. Here’s one of my favorites: food. We want it fast as soon as we can get it and eat it. But, we are losing the experience of cooking it. Sometimes it takes me over an hour to cook dinner for myself but I appreciate it so much more because I watched it happen. It was a journey. 

What about people? Ah, now we are making a little sense. You can’t just have an immediate relationship with someone. You can’t just give someone a friendship without, what? Experience. You have to take some journeys with them to build the ultimate result, a friendship. 

Here’s is another example, coming to know God. Building your faith and Spirit. It doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes experience. I don’t want people to tell me who God is, I want to have the experience from the miracle of birth to the finale miracle of life after death. From making wine to the resurrection and all of the miracles and experiences in between. Yes, I want the whole journey. “But, the Bible says…” Yes, I know what the Bible says. Knowing what the Bible says is like looking for corners in a round room; It leads to circles. All of the corners are on the outside of the room. I want to find the corners the doors and the spaces in between. What the Bible says is fascinating, but the experience happens and the journey begins when we start to dance with the blank spaces between each word. And, it is in those blank, white spaces that we find the experience with God. We take journeys with God. Not everybody takes these journeys because it takes too much time and we need immediate results. But, you cannot appreciate the results unless you have the experience and make the journey. You have to listen to the whole album, read the whole book, watch the whole movie, feel the sand in between your toes, rest in the Lord’s presence, cook the meal, laugh, cry and embrace people and you have to dance with the empty spaces. That’s the experience. That’s the journey. 

In order to have and appreciate the result, you must be patient until the end. You must take in the experience, the whole journey, from the beginning to the end. From the first miracle to the last. 

And that, my friends, is a sermon on wine. 

Cheers                                

Community Baptism

Acts 8:14-17 Common English Bible (CEB)

14 When word reached the apostles in Jerusalem that Samaria had accepted God’s word, they commissioned Peter and John to go to Samaria. 15 Peter and John went down to Samaria where they prayed that the new believers would receive the Holy Spirit. (16 This was because the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 So Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

“Community Baptism”

I lived in Memphis, TN for five years. During the last couple of years of living in Memphis, I was involved with Room in the Inn. RITI is a non-profit organization that assists individuals affected by homelessness find shelter during the winter months. The organization of Room in the Inn, Nashville, is much larger than Memphis. They have a larger budget and much larger facility. But, they too started with the same, much smaller, goal. 

Basically, RITI, Memphis, operates from October to March. Colonial CPC is the founding church for RITI Memphis. The first couple of years, RITI volunteers met people downtown and transported them to East Memphis (Colonial CPC). There, they served them a meal, let them shower, offered a change of clothes, and gave them a place to sleep. This is a great ministry for people in need, but one church can only do so much. The maximum number the church could accommodate was around fifteen. With that said, there were many being turned away to sleep outside in the elements. This was very difficult. The solution to this problem was to add more churches to the list. Finding more churches that would open their doors to homeless people, serve them a meal, offer a shower, fresh clothes, and a place to sleep was a difficult challenge. Many churches were not interested in helping. That has been about seven years ago. Now, due to many efforts by Colonial CPC and RITI, RITI Memphis has over forty churches partnered with them. During the winter months, people affected by homelessness are bused to churches all over the Memphis area. The number of churches increases yearly. 

RITI started with one small faith community and they quickly learned that it was going to take more than one church to accommodate their mission. Though, their heart was big enough to make the attempt, working as a single entity would only leave them heartbroken from having to turn people away. The solution was to join with others, to ask others to help carry the burden, to provide others with the same opportunity to serve, and most importantly, to strengthen the number of the serving community. It’s quite simple. One person can help a few; more people can help many.

There is an African proverb that has circulated for hundreds of years and it has been spoken in many languages. It was first spoken in tribes of West Africa. It says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” It basically means that the entire tribal village was responsible for looking after a child and taking part in its well-being. The child does not grow up in a single home. The community as a whole takes part in the child’s growth however it is necessary. It takes a village to make a difference. One person can help a few; more people can help many. Much of the time, community involvement is the key to success in making a difference. RITI continues to grow and find success because of community involvement. The village participates, so to speak.  

The fact that continues to irritate me is there are many churches that do not want to get involved. Why? Is it because those people smell bad? Is because some of them struggle with illnesses and it’s a liability? Is it because some of them have made bad choices to land them the position they are in? Is it the time and resources it requires to take on such a service? Or, perhaps it’s just that hard to care when people have their own problems? I don’t know? From what I have gathered by experience, a huge part of the reason why people don’t like to help the poor, homeless, addicted, ill, criminal, (I refer to them as "the least of these", as did Jesus in Mat 25:40) is because these people have made bad choices that they could have prevented. It is the idea that they put themselves in the undesirable position they are in. The idea that if they had only not made those decisions, they would not be in that position. That’s the common excuse. I have even heard people say, “They are being punished for the choices they have made.” My question for a person with that philosophy is, “Have you never made bad choices?” Of course, they have. We have all made bad choices. Some of them are more detrimental than others. 

Have you ever noticed how people like to tie a reason behind someone’s struggle? If a person has a heart attack or gets cancer, the first thing we ask is what did they do. They must have been unhealthy. Did they smoke? A person has a car accident; what do you ask? How fast were they going? Were they drinking? If I cut my finger with a knife, I must have been playing with a knife. If they are homeless it’s because they don’t want a job, which is far from the truth. If they are an addict it’s because they like doing drugs, also, far from the truth. People see through the single lens that says, if you play with fire, you’ll get burned. It’s true, but you’ll also get burned if you’re stuck in a house that’s on fire. Think about that. Sometimes there is no way out…unless someone helps. 

I know there are people just waiting on the first accident to my homeless ministry (delivering food to homeless people on bicycles.) I can hear it. “Well, that’s what you get.” 

I digress.

All is to say: we all make bad choices. Who can say they can look back on the life they lived thus far and never say, “I regret doing that.” I can’t. People make bad choices. If you know your bible stories, you know that the Holy Text is full of people making bad choices. From Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, the Hebrews, Moses, the Israelites, the Judges, King David and all of those after, the disciples, Paul, the apostles, the new churches, that’s just to name a few. And, all of the stories reflect their bad choices. But, here’s what you need to know through all of this, all of history, God was there, present with all people as they made bad choices. God loved them dearly before, during, and after their bad choices. God never loved them any less, regardless of the choices they made.   

Through the lens of the first century Jews, the Samaritans made a lot of bad choices. There were a lot of enemies for the Jews during this time but the Samaritans had been the enemy for a long time. They were separate from the Judean Jews and they all wanted to keep it that way. The Samaritans were the bad people that the people of Judea told their children not to associate with. They were considered impure and racially inferior to the other Jews even though they celebrated Jewish holidays and observed Moses’ Law. But, that did not keep the Jews from looking down on the Samaritans. In John, chapter 8, Jesus’ critics insult him by calling him a Samaritan. In Luke, chapter 9, Jesus has trouble in Samaritan villages. And, later Jesus instructs his disciples not to go to Samaria in Matthew, chapter 10. However, Jesus used Samaritans in his stories and parables. In some cases, he uses them as characters to escalate the plot a little more. The woman at the well was a Samaritan. It was culturally unacceptable for this rabbi to converse with a Samaritan woman. Of course, we know the story of the good Samaritan. This story was bizarre because to the Jews, there was no such as a “good” Samaritan. 

The reason the Samaritans were of such dislike was that of their reputation. Despite their inclination to worship the God of Israel and obey Law, they were neither Jew nor Gentile. However, they were charged with working both sides to their advantage. They take their side according to the circumstances. Basically, if the Jews were prospering, the Samaritans would call themselves Jews. But, if they noticed a decline for some reason, they would say they have nothing in common. They were somewhat hypocritical and not loyal. It’s like those football fans that only cheer for the team that’s winning. They don’t claim to be a fan when they are losing. You know those people. The Samaritans had a reputation of choosing the winning side, even if their faith was involved. 

In Acts, chapter 8, Philip is commissioned to go to Samaria to develop a group of Christ followers and to baptize them. After some time in this region, he converted many. And he baptized many. These Samaritans needed to cling on to something. They had faith but they were not accepted by the people of their faith. I believe this made their faith unstable. When a person came to town offering allegiance to a salvific deity, they were ready to listen and subscribe. That’s why people were ready to listen to Philip when he arrived. However, Philip struggled with his mission. The mission became difficult when some of these Samaritans wanted to believe and be baptized for the sake of gaining power. It was hard for them to understand the selflessness of Christ. They wanted the power of Christ for their own recognition. And, they assumed that with this power they could perform and be compensated. This suited their reputation. 

Word got back to the disciples in Jerusalem that people in Samaria were listening to Philip preach and they were accepting Christ. Knowing the difficulty and the reputation of the Samaritans and the struggle Jesus had with them, Peter and John went to aid Philip in his mission in Samaria. When Peter and John arrived, they met with Philip and the new Christ followers. The story tells us that Peter and John laid hands on them and the people received the Holy Spirit.  

Philip had a mission into the unknown. He was commissioned to travel to a place to mingle with people not similar to his own circles. He went to spread the news to people he was told many times to not associate with. Let me remind you, these folks were known as bad people. They were criminals, liars, cheaters, and they were people that made bad choices and they paid for their decisions. Despite, worshiping God, the Jews believed that God did not accept them because of their hypocritical nature. But, Philip goes to introduce them to God in a way they had never heard, a way that they could all be part of God’s kingdom just as Jews were. But, despite his efforts and loyalty to Christ, Philip was having a hard time. They were being baptized and they were hearing Philip, but they were not receiving him. The truth is, despite his zeal, faith, compassion, and determination, Philip could not fulfill the mission on his own. It required more than just Philip. When Peter and John arrived and assisted Philip, the mission was fulfilled.

Do you notice something here? It took more than just Philip to fulfill Philip’s mission. Now, let’s look at this through the lens that says, “Well, if God wanted these people to receive the Spirit, God would have made it happen with Philip alone.” But, that is not the way God wanted it to happen. God wanted it to take more people. Why? Because that means more would be involved for God’s glory. God wanted the whole village to be involved. When more of God’s servants are present, more people see God. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Sometimes it takes a village. When the whole village gets involved, more is accomplished. Have you ever seen a barn raised on an Amish farm? One person doesn’t do it. The whole community gets involved. Far more is accomplished when we do it together.         

We recently celebrated the liturgical occasion, The Baptism of our Lord. It is the day that we remember what baptism is for us. Yes, baptism is personal and it represents the personal relationship you have with God for eternity. It represents the acceptance of the Spirit that lives in you. However, it is also interpersonal. Our baptisms are a representation of being part of a community of believers. We are for each other. We support each other. We hold each other accountable. We server each other. And together, when we join together, despite our differences and biases, we make an impact. As individuals we are strong; together as a community, we are much stronger.   

How is God calling you to be part of the community, the church, a group, (religious, secular, civic, family, friends, etc.)? How can you make a difference for people that need you? Yes, God can do anything through any one person, but God had rather use many people. When more of God’s servants are present, more people see God.