This glorious and wonderful story is just replete with inspirational truths about the way in which the very presence of Jesus transforms our lives… if only we let Him!

The text is below the audio sermon.

Sermon Preached at Zion Church, Washington NC. Sunday January 16 2022. The Reverend Alan Neale

Our Gospel story for today (John 2, The Wedding at Cana of Galilee) has provided smiles and laughs, question marks and musings for generations.

There seems to be something almost comic in the engagement between the divine Son of God and the plaintive need to supply more wine.

It has, as you can imagine and maybe know, spawned a host of humorous commentaries such as the priest who was stopped by a traffic policeman for speeding. Looking into the car, the policeman noticed a bottle half-corked with wine still remaining. “Father, I need to charge you for the open bottle.” “What, what, it can’t be” remonstrated the priest, “it was only water when I left the church!”.

This is a truly glorious story on any level and there are many, many profound spiritual truths contained within the somewhat prosaic narrative.

Let no-one overlook the initial statement that “Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding.” Over the centuries, the Church has somehow managed to portray Jesus as a somber, sober, grave person; one that would appear last on anyone’s list of invited guests, one that would generally have to be put on a wedding table with other social misfits.But instead of an ecclesiastical party-pooper we discover a Jesus in the Gospels that is constantly invited to parties of all sorts, of all constituencies and for all reasons.

G.K. Chesterton, wit and satirist and creator of the lovable Father Brown, once wrote with pithy and scathing wit, “Jesus performed the great miracle of turning water into wine; alas the Church has performed the greater miracle of turning wine into water!” – alas and alack!

If transformation is, as I believe, a constant theme of this story then the transformation begins at the very onset as we allow Jesus to be “the man for all people”.

Transformation continues as we observe that rather terse and sharp exchange between Mary and her son Jesus. Mary acts as concerned guest when she learns of the imminent shortage of wine; she informs her son of the emergency and he dismisses her approach with a statement that truly appears harsh, insensitive and maybe even a little rude.

We are puzzled by this exchange, the image of Jesus is again transforming before our very eyes. Perhaps it is as simple as… he was enjoying the party and did not want to assume the role of Son of God, miracle worker. Perhaps it is that Jesus is constantly careful to protect his identity and wishes it only to be revealed in the Father’s good time.

Whatever the reasons for this stark exchange, the moment is transformed as Mary (undeterred, maybe like many a mother – maybe even empowered) turns to the servants and gives that most wise of counsel, “Do whatever he tells you.”

And then, right at the heart of the story, is the miraculous and largely anonymous production of wine and wine of such a quality that is altogether unknown and thoroughly unexpected.

To produce this wine Jesus transforms both the source and the carriers of the wine. He takes water, commonplace and rather bland… he takes water set aside for liturgical purposes and causes some (not all) to be transformed into vintage wine in abundance. And Jesus takes the lowly servants and entrusts them with the knowledge of the agent, the source and the event of the miracle.

Friends, do you get the sense of this pervasive, potent power to transform? I hope so… because it is this same power, this same process, this same pattern that is alive and available to you, to me, to us today.

Jesus, both Friend and Lord, asks for entrance into our lives (as individuals, as families, as churches, as communities) that He might take what is present and begin the magical, exciting process of transformation.

He begins “right where we are” and from that point creatively and skillfully works his miracles of transformation.

John 2:10 “But… you have kept the best until now”. Here transformation, I think, is expressed most perfectly and poignantly.

As you know, I marry many, many, many… couples. Some of these couples have been married before and they often approach their “new” wedding with a little caution. My beloved English language fails couples in this situation as all it can offer is “second marriage” (with connotation of second best) or “re-marriage” (jarringly familiar to a “tire re-tread”).

I think you will understand some of the joy that couples feel as I share with them the power of this verse (“you have kept the best until now”). Experiencing the transformative power of this verse is not to dismiss previous relationships but it affirms… that where we are now, what we can offer to each other… God blesses and transforms.

In the Old Testament (Isaiah 62) God transforms a barren land and a wastrel people into fertile land and blessed nation; in the Epistle (I Corinthians 12) God transforms a wild and lawless society riven by individualism into a gifted community caring for one another.

And in a few moments by means of prayer and faith God takes commonplace bread and wine and transforms them into living bread and vital wine.

May we seek to be open and ready to be transformed and also (most blessed) to be agents of transformation.

AMEN