Water into wine
There are many wonderful things about the account we heard in the gospel (John 2:1-11) of Jesus turning water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana. The most important is that it showed an incredible power – the power of God enabling transformation of water into wine, and the same transformation that can lead to lives being changed completely. This was the first recorded miracle of Jesus, and it laid out a path for his ministry – of miraculous power and of the giving of abundant gifts.
But today I want to think about something else which I think is special from this account, and that is the fact that it reminds us that Jesus was happy to be at a party ! This morning I want to think of 3 kinds of parties which we share with each other and crucially, with God.
The first is the party of life. Sometimes life really doesn’t seem to be much of a party – individual problems and world problems can be witnessed all around us… But life is a party because life can be a celebration of a wonderful gift from God.
Like any party there needs to be organisers and those people can be us ! It’s really hard to make sense of some of the tragedy that occurs in the world today, and to say some people should party through those problems would be stupid – think of those in Haiti at this moment for example.
But the party is not necessarily one long burst of enjoyment, but a time of fellowship and a time of support – parties can be lots of different things but primarily they involve a group of people meeting together for a common cause and that can be the celebration of a birthday or a work party or a gathering of people committed to a particular political or social cause or lots of other things.
The party of life that we must live as Christian people is certainly to celebrate God’s love for us and for all people, but also to try and build the world he intended. The party of life doesn’t mean that we can dismiss the problems of Haiti, far from it, just as it doesn’t mean we can ignore conflicts throughout the world, or injustice that we see and hear of happening; and it doesn’t mean that we can close our eyes to the economic problems in our own country, to unemployment, homelessness or any of the many other social problems we have today.
In fact it means we should be having a party to work together to try and build that better world which is God’s hope and intention. We must be seeking to share God’s message of love with everyone with whom God intended it to be shared with – and that’s quite a tall order, because that means everybody !
The party of life must begin with prayer, and it must include listening to the call of God to stretch ourselves, and to live out his love.
And that leads on to a second type of party that we have, and that is a more exclusive party, but one that we are seeking to invite others to as well ! That is the party of the Church. Too often the words Church and party seem very far apart, but in our worship and in our fellowship spending time together is incredibly important, because completing the work we have to do outside the Church will be impossible if we do not support each other in doing it !
And so the celebration in the Church is two fold. First it comes in the worship – there are many people who think they have the exclusive rights to the best form of worship. In truth, there is no such thing – any worship that helps people to connect with God a little more closely is true worship.
Whether it be the wildest happiest clapping congregation alive or the most solemn and high service you could find doesn’t matter – what matters is our own hearts as we join in that worship. And worship is a party – it is a celebration again of God’s love, a time when we offer him praise and thanksgiving for the things he does, and a time when we perhaps take some time out from our daily routine to focus completely on God.
The party of the Church is crucial as well because it is a place where people gather together – rich, poor, young, old, happy and sad. We gather as a family, and as a family we support each other, and encourage one another, and simply stand by one another through good times and through sad times. We celebrate together and we cry together, and a Church that is doing that successfully will be a Church that is making a difference and a Church that will be noticed.
Jesus of course never had Church buildings, although he spent a lot of time in the synagogues, but he did have times which we would describe perhaps as services – times of teaching, times of prayer and times of encouragement.
As the Church of Jesus today we can seek to be the support and the encouragement, even the inspiration to draw people closer to him.
And finally we have the party that is to come. On the third day of the wedding feast at Cana people were probably a little bit tired. Some had probably drunk a little too much wine, but the party still had a long way to go – a week long party seemed to be about the norm for a wedding. Normally the best wine was served at the start and the rest when people didn’t have quite as much idea about what they were drinking !
But as Jesus turned the water into wine, he produced the best wine, and this reminds us that whenever we seek the help of God, he will be there, and will abundantly provide for our needs. With God’s grace and his gifts we can confidently live out a future boldly praising him, and offering to share his love all around us. God is the giver of all good gifts, and that is worth a party !
And whilst he wants us to enjoy fullness of life here on earth, whilst he wants us to enjoy the many gifts he has prepared for us here today, and whilst he wants us to work to show others those gifts, he promises that the best gift of all is kept to the last, that death will open the door to the greatest adventure of all – life lived closely in the presence of God and of all his saints and angels; a life when all the things that didn’t quite work out on earth don’t matter –a life where we celebrate without pain, without suffering and without tears…
God alone can give us this life, here now and in the future… And there is one more part of this story that is relevant as we consider that promise. In the story Jesus turned the water into wine, but the only ones that know it are the servants who drew the water. The Chief steward doesn’t know, the influential guests won’t know, and all through the gospel the people who know are the ones who are prepared to listen – the ones who are prepared to be as servants or as children…
May our hearts be humble enough to listen to God, to see the possibilities of celebration in the world today as we receive his gifts, and may we be courageous enough to make those gifts known everywhere. AMEN
But today I want to think about something else which I think is special from this account, and that is the fact that it reminds us that Jesus was happy to be at a party ! This morning I want to think of 3 kinds of parties which we share with each other and crucially, with God.
The first is the party of life. Sometimes life really doesn’t seem to be much of a party – individual problems and world problems can be witnessed all around us… But life is a party because life can be a celebration of a wonderful gift from God.
Like any party there needs to be organisers and those people can be us ! It’s really hard to make sense of some of the tragedy that occurs in the world today, and to say some people should party through those problems would be stupid – think of those in Haiti at this moment for example.
But the party is not necessarily one long burst of enjoyment, but a time of fellowship and a time of support – parties can be lots of different things but primarily they involve a group of people meeting together for a common cause and that can be the celebration of a birthday or a work party or a gathering of people committed to a particular political or social cause or lots of other things.
The party of life that we must live as Christian people is certainly to celebrate God’s love for us and for all people, but also to try and build the world he intended. The party of life doesn’t mean that we can dismiss the problems of Haiti, far from it, just as it doesn’t mean we can ignore conflicts throughout the world, or injustice that we see and hear of happening; and it doesn’t mean that we can close our eyes to the economic problems in our own country, to unemployment, homelessness or any of the many other social problems we have today.
In fact it means we should be having a party to work together to try and build that better world which is God’s hope and intention. We must be seeking to share God’s message of love with everyone with whom God intended it to be shared with – and that’s quite a tall order, because that means everybody !
The party of life must begin with prayer, and it must include listening to the call of God to stretch ourselves, and to live out his love.
And that leads on to a second type of party that we have, and that is a more exclusive party, but one that we are seeking to invite others to as well ! That is the party of the Church. Too often the words Church and party seem very far apart, but in our worship and in our fellowship spending time together is incredibly important, because completing the work we have to do outside the Church will be impossible if we do not support each other in doing it !
And so the celebration in the Church is two fold. First it comes in the worship – there are many people who think they have the exclusive rights to the best form of worship. In truth, there is no such thing – any worship that helps people to connect with God a little more closely is true worship.
Whether it be the wildest happiest clapping congregation alive or the most solemn and high service you could find doesn’t matter – what matters is our own hearts as we join in that worship. And worship is a party – it is a celebration again of God’s love, a time when we offer him praise and thanksgiving for the things he does, and a time when we perhaps take some time out from our daily routine to focus completely on God.
The party of the Church is crucial as well because it is a place where people gather together – rich, poor, young, old, happy and sad. We gather as a family, and as a family we support each other, and encourage one another, and simply stand by one another through good times and through sad times. We celebrate together and we cry together, and a Church that is doing that successfully will be a Church that is making a difference and a Church that will be noticed.
Jesus of course never had Church buildings, although he spent a lot of time in the synagogues, but he did have times which we would describe perhaps as services – times of teaching, times of prayer and times of encouragement.
As the Church of Jesus today we can seek to be the support and the encouragement, even the inspiration to draw people closer to him.
And finally we have the party that is to come. On the third day of the wedding feast at Cana people were probably a little bit tired. Some had probably drunk a little too much wine, but the party still had a long way to go – a week long party seemed to be about the norm for a wedding. Normally the best wine was served at the start and the rest when people didn’t have quite as much idea about what they were drinking !
But as Jesus turned the water into wine, he produced the best wine, and this reminds us that whenever we seek the help of God, he will be there, and will abundantly provide for our needs. With God’s grace and his gifts we can confidently live out a future boldly praising him, and offering to share his love all around us. God is the giver of all good gifts, and that is worth a party !
And whilst he wants us to enjoy fullness of life here on earth, whilst he wants us to enjoy the many gifts he has prepared for us here today, and whilst he wants us to work to show others those gifts, he promises that the best gift of all is kept to the last, that death will open the door to the greatest adventure of all – life lived closely in the presence of God and of all his saints and angels; a life when all the things that didn’t quite work out on earth don’t matter –a life where we celebrate without pain, without suffering and without tears…
God alone can give us this life, here now and in the future… And there is one more part of this story that is relevant as we consider that promise. In the story Jesus turned the water into wine, but the only ones that know it are the servants who drew the water. The Chief steward doesn’t know, the influential guests won’t know, and all through the gospel the people who know are the ones who are prepared to listen – the ones who are prepared to be as servants or as children…
May our hearts be humble enough to listen to God, to see the possibilities of celebration in the world today as we receive his gifts, and may we be courageous enough to make those gifts known everywhere. AMEN
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