January 20, 2022

In Sunday’s gospel reading, John 2:1-12, Jesus performs his first sign, revealing the glory of God by extending the joyful celebration of the wedding in Cana, pointing to God’s presence with the people.

We know what it’s like to be out of something we used to have. 
So many of us are at our wit’s end, running empty in the midst of another surge from this pandemic and finally beginning to understand what it truly means that we aren’t going back to what was.  The people at the wedding no longer have what they once did – they’re out of wine.

Jesus shows up when everyone has run out, when they are feeling empty, keenly aware of their lack of what they once had, and then he gives them something better. It is at the point of their greatest need that they not only get a meager amount of the lesser wine, but get the best wine yet and plenty of it for everyone.

On Sunday, I shared a parable I heard from a Rabbi at a 2014 Interfaith Thanksgiving Service where, for a variety of reasons, the members of a community all bring water instead of wine to a wedding. 

One household brings water after taking stock of their wine and being embarrassed by the quality of what they have left – they used to have the best wine around, but now they only have the cheap stuff on the verge of going sour. Maybe you know what it’s like to not have what you once had and to yearn for days past. Perhaps you don’t feel like what you have is enough to bring forward to God for the sake of your neighbor.

As we all take stock of our stores, as we realize that in many ways we don’t have what we once had, and we are no longer who we were before this collective, global experience of the pandemic, I hope you hear the good news that Christ shows up when we no longer have what we once did and gives us the best.

I hope that you hear God’s call to bring your best, even if your best isn’t the same as it once was, knowing that it is enough because Jesus will transform what we give into something more than we can ask or imagine and use it to bless our neighbor, neighborhood, and ourselves. 
 

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Drew