There are weddings and wine in today’s texts. In Isaiah, God is portrayed as the One who marries us. We are God’s beloved. God rejoices over us like a bridegroom and the bride rejoices over each other. And our gospel is the joyful story of a wedding in Cana. Sometimes Christ is portrayed as the bridegroom, and the church as the bride. But there can be a problem with the marriage metaphor. Particularly if you are not married, and wish you were. Or you are married and wish you weren’t. Either way, more reasons to cry at a wedding.
And wine. They run out of wine at a wedding feast and Jesus turns water into wine. It is Jesus’ first miracle, according to John. Wine can be a symbol of the Spirit. A sign of the meal at the end of time in which well-aged wine and rich food are served. One hymn calls Christ “the sweetest wine of heaven.” We have wine in the eucharist. We think of wine tastings, wine pairings, and wine cellars. But the symbol of wine can be complicated if you are an alcoholic. The stronger the metaphor, the more the limits of it.
The story of the wedding at Cana is full of symbolism. It happens on the third day—a sign of fulfillment, reminding us of the three days of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The six jars of water could represent the number before seven which suggests completeness in John’s Gospel, a holy number. Water in John will be the spring of eternal life. The vessels filled to the brim could symbolize extravagance and abundance. A wedding, the union of human and divine, is a sign of joy. And the fact that they have no wine. What could that mean for us? What has run out in our spiritual lives? What is incomplete? What are we in need of?
One often assumes the better the wine, the more it costs. But I will go with the assertion that a good wine is one that you like. Add yeast to grape juice and it can ferment in only a few days, Yet wine is a living thing. It changes over time. The slow chemical reactions cause it to evolve. A bottle of wine will taste different after five years than it does after one.
Water and wine. Sometimes our lives are like water. We’ve lost the wonder of life. No flavor. No fizz. No fermentation. Life can seem boring, drab, dull, and routine. Maybe especially in January. How quickly we lose our zest for something we love. For many things in life, the thrill fades quickly. The first bite of chocolate, the first kiss, the new coat, the new home. All too soon initial excitement wears off.
Howard Thurman speaks of the “glad surprise.” He writes, “When we have exhausted our store of endurance, . . . When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, Our Father’s full giving is only begun.” The wedding Jesus attends has a “glad surprise,” of 175 gallons of extra wine or about one thousand extra bottles and God’s giving has only begun in the Gospel of John. For Thurman, the “glad surprise” contains within it the foundation of hope. How might life surprise you in a good way?
There is some tension in the Gospel account. Tension with the wedding guests and host when the wine has run out. There is tension between Jesus and Mary, his mother. And where we often try to avoid tension, Martin Luther pointed to “tentative” or “tension” in Latin as a spiritual practice to see God at work. We learn about ourselves and others at the points of tension and resistance.
Tension also impacts communal growth. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom we celebrate tomorrow, believed that a healthy tension is necessary for societal change. In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, he writes, “…I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.” The struggle for civil rights and racial reconciliation came through tension, resistance and struggle.
Instead of believing that we will continue to evolve, like wine, we get stuck into thinking we cannot change. It becomes hard to imagine a different future. In general, when often look back and tell complex stories about the past, yet when looking to the future we can too often underestimate the great potential the future will bring in our lives.
The wedding at Cana spurs Jesus on a path of world-changing ministry that includes tension, rejection, and crucifixion.
It’s hard to imagine the best is yet to be. Or even could be. They saved the best wine until the last in the story. What is a good wine for us? Is it seeing our ordinary lives through the lens of God’s extravagant and extraordinary grace? Living life with a sense of wonder? Is the good wine the ability to savor the sweetness of life and the strength to bear the bitter cup as well?
Weddings, wine, wonder.We gather around Jesus’ table looking for that glad surprise. Christians use the Wedding at Cana as a backdrop to weekly communion of the millions of believers who together drink the good wine of Jesus Christ. One commentary encourages preachers that this be a good idea on this Sunday to encourage communicants to drink two swallows of wine or double dip in the chalice this week — it’s okay, you can! Our eyes are opened. Our taste buds enlivened. Our lives are united with Christ — grace upon grace. An epiphany. A miracle. A glad surprise.
