When The Wine Runs Out
Rev Dr Mark Porizky
Have
you been to a wedding recently? Over the last seventeen years I've done perhaps
a hundred weddings or so. I’m told
by some of my older pastor friends that weddings have changed significantly
from, say, a half century ago.
Back
in my parent’s day, there was a rehearsal and then, after the rehearsal, often
a very simple get‑together of the families and folks in the wedding party.
This rehearsal dinner was primarily just hospitality, a courtesy to the folks
who had driven to the wedding because they were bridesmaid or groomsmen or
something. The next day was the wedding, generally followed by a reception in
the fellowship hall of the church where there was cake and punch.
I
have to admit that I've taken to urging couples not to let the tail wag the dog.
I become concerned if I sense that the party becomes more important than the
vows, the festivities more important than the meaning, and the purpose of why
they are together.
But,
as I think about the way weddings have gotten more and more extravagant, and
when I become a little concerned that the priorities are getting out of whack, I
have to remember that in Jesus’ time in the little villages of
Often
weddings were about all they had to celebrate. 1st Century Jews lived
a very meager existence in there little villages. In Cana, the one that was the
site of the story we are about to read, maybe a hundred people—a hundred and
fifty at the most—lived in this village in Jesus' lifetime. Life was hard and
there weren't several weddings a year like there are around this place. Maybe
there was a wedding some years, but not every year. A wedding was a time when
people could celebrate that their village had a future and often it wasn't
altogether clear whether the village had a future or not. When there was a
wedding they could celebrate the potential for tomorrow. It was much more than
the celebration of this man and this woman, it was the celebration of the whole
community's hope and the promise that was embodied in this wedding that there
would be a tomorrow.
So
it’s a very big deal if something goes wrong at the wedding.
Like the wine running out. Wine
and hope go together.
John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples.
When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no
wine."
And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has
not yet come."
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification,
each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
[Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them
up to the brim.
He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the
feast." So they took it.
When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know
where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the
steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man
serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine;
but you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his
signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples
believed in him.
This
scripture passage has never been very popular with the temperance movement.
Some have tried to argue that Jesus did not really turn the water into
wine, he turned it into unfermented grape juice—sort of a high grade
Welch’s. But it’s obvious that
when the steward says to the bridegroom, “You have kept the good wine until
now,” he wasn’t talking about grape juice.
This is a story about Jesus turning water into wine.
The question is why?
Actually
that is one of many questions about this story.
Why was Jesus’ mother worried about the lack of wine in the first
place? Why did she go to Jesus with
the problem? And why did Jesus
respond to her so negatively: “Woman,
what concern is that to you and to me? My
hour has not yet come?” What a way
for Jesus to address his mother! And
why does Jesus dismiss his mother’s concern, then turn around and make more
wine than the guests would ever need?
The
lack of answers to these questions has led to some bizarre interpretations.
I read one interpretation that said the wedding guest ran out of wine
because Jesus and his disciples were drinking too much.
So Mary tried to get Jesus to go home by telling him, “The wine has run
out. Go home.”
But Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come,” which means,”…I’m
not through partying!”
The
story can be very difficult if you stick only to the most literal
interpretations. Why did Jesus
perform this miracle? Healing
miracles? Sure.
Feeding miracles? Absolutely.
But getting them soused?
Like
many stories in John’s gospel, this story is greater than just facts alone.
This story is not just about the facts of wine.
It’s more a metaphor for life.
Let’s
start from the beginning. Verse
3: “When the wine gave out, the
mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’”
Why is this issue brought up here in the Bible?
Is God really concerned about whether people have enough alcohol in their
diet? I don’t think so.
Running out of wine is a symbol for a spiritual condition.
People are thirsting for something they have not yet found.
I
remember a story about Mother Theresa visiting the
Likewise,
I doubt that this scripture passage is about having enough booze at a party.
It’s about having a life worth living.
The usual ways to pursue such a life: make money, gain status, travel,
fill your life with possessions and adventure, find a soul mate—these are no
longer working. They no longer make
us feel worthwhile and fulfilled. They
may never have worked. Regardless,
the wine is running out.
Every
supermarket tries to appeal to shoppers who are looking for new wine.
Just yesterday, picking up ice cream I saw a magazine at the checkout
counter. The headline asks, "Is
Your Marriage Flavorless?" "Does
your marriage seem like all work--cleaning the house, taking care of the kids,
fixing the leaking roof, having the car repaired?" Sure it does, sometimes.
The wine runs out, even in the very best of marriages.
Or
that job that once seemed so exciting, now it feels as if the wine is running
out. All my Pfizer friends tell me
that the whole company is on pins and needles waiting for the January 22nd
announcements about for whom the wine has run out.
My
best friend, Jeff, called me very frightened on Friday.
There is something wrong with his kidneys, and the doctors are quickly
bringing him in for more tests. Jeff
is scared. What happened to that
deal we all had with God for long, long life?
Sometimes it feels like the wine is running out.
No.
If you think that the story is just about wine, I would suggest that you
are missing the point.
But
now we come to the next verse—verse 4. Jesus
says to his mother, “Woman, what concern is that to you and me?
My hour has not yet come.” What
does Jesus mean: “My hour
has not yet come?”
That
expression is used several more times in the gospel of John.
In chapter 7 Jesus gets into a controversy with the religious leaders of
In
John
So
what does Jesus mean when he says to his mother, “Don’t worry about the
wine, my hour has not yet come?” He
means that our real need cannot be met by more wine.
Your real need cannot be met my more money, more possessions, more
travel, more parties, more relationships, more recognition.
It can only be met when Jesus’ hour comes, when Jesus’ body is broken
for us and his blood is shed for us on a cross.
If
that is the case, however, then why does Jesus turn around and produce more wine
for the party? Not just a little
wine, either. A detail in verse 6
states, “Now standing there were six stone water jars. . . each holding
twenty or thirty gallons. And
Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’”
That is the water Jesus turned into wine:
120-180 gallons worth of high quality stuff according to the steward.
It looks like this party has just gotten started!
But if wine will not ultimately satisfy us, why does Jesus make so much
of it?
Because
wine in this story is a symbol. This
story is not about alcohol consumption. It
is about Jesus meeting our needs, and meeting them abundantly.
This
story will be replayed over and over in John’s gospel.
In chapter 6 a crowd will come to Jesus looking for a limitless supply of
bread. Jesus will give them more
bread than they ever imagined. He
will turn five loaves into enough bread to feed 5000 people, just like water
into wine. But he will do it as a
sign; a sign that he himself is the true bread of life.
In
chapter 9 a blind man will have his sight restored.
Jesus will give it to him, just as he gave the wine at the wedding feast.
But he will do it as a sign: a sign that he himself is the light of the
world.
Jesus
produces wine here in this story, not because wine is what we need most but
because HE is what we need most. The
wine is meant to be a sign pointing us to him. Jesus
takes what we bring to him and transforms it into something wonderful.
Friends,
in the end, Jesus wants to transform the wine that has run out, the bread that
no longer feeds, the sight that is occluded, Jesus wants to transform all this
into something abundant and wonderful. But
first, says Jesus, we have to recognize that what we have is running out, and we
have to take what we have and bring it to him.
Our
work with Habitat…Habitat’s founder, Millard Fuller
By
1964, before he reached the age of thirty, Millard had made his first million.
When his secretary asked him, "What is your next goal?" he replied,
"Why, ten million! Why not?"
Shortly thereafter, everything
began coming apart. Millard was so tense that he had trouble breathing properly,
sometimes gasping for breath. Also a big sore on his ankle would not heal and
was diagnosed as caused by nervousness. He could no longer ignore his physical
problems. Then, in Nov.1965, Linda,his wife, left him and went to
Millard was devastated. The
first hint of his transformation came during the desperation he felt at this
time. As he thought about his situation, Millard imagined himself appearing
before God at the last Judgment. When God asked what he had done, he could only
squeak out, "Lord, I sold a hell of a lot of cookbooks." He had to
admit, "In the presence of God that sounded so ridiculous, I could only
cringe."
In spite of this first insight,
he resisted examining his life but tried to escape his thoughts, by flipping on
the TV. He was presented by a new challenge from God as an old Chinese village
leader appeared on the screen saying, "A planned life can only be
endured." Those words penetrated his very being for he realized he planned
only to get richer and richer and would therefore have to endure the
consequences of this choice--health and emotional problems that were already
bringing him pain.
This time he did not resist the
touch of God. He called his wife and went to meet her in
That
challenge became Habitat for Humanity. When
the wine ran out, Millard trusted in Jesus.
Jesus filled the jars that Millard and his wife had, and the wine was
more abundant than ever.
That
is what happens when the wine runs out of our own making, as it will, as it
must.
But
that’s where the good news of Jesus’ hour, our salvation, starts.
Will you pray with me now?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church,
Web Site: WWW.SAPC-CT.ORG
Office Email: OFFICE@SAPC-CT.ORG
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