Re-work: a re-worked sermon

I re-worked my favorite sermon I have ever preached to preach it once more in our new context.
"On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him." - John 2:1-11



Jesus was a partier. At least that was the reputation he had. He went to parties thrown by anarchists and attended by prostitutes. When we think of Jesus, many of us think of a quiet reserved man, in a field silently tending sheep as David portrayed him two weeks ago. Someone who would fit in better in a library than a bar. But Jesus' enemies felt quiet differently about him. They lambasted him for his ways. They felt that his lifestyle choices were shameful.

And they weren't so far from the truth. Now we assume that because Jesus was without sin, that Jesus always drank in moderation. We would be wise to do likewise. But whether Jesus drank at all, he was still present and active at some wild parties. His friends were people that you probably wouldn't hang out with. But maybe you should.


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Life in Christ isn't about following the rules or trying to earn rewards or entrance to heaven. Life in Christ is a party - and you're invited.

This was the third day of the wedding. People had been drunk for three straight days, and Jesus felt it necessary to turn water into wine.

A lot of us were taught the rules of religion when we were growing up. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Don’t lie, don’t cheat. Throw salt over your left shoulder to knock the devil off. We were taught the rules.

Because it’s a lot easier to teach a toddler not to touch a hot stove, than it is to teach that same toddler how to use that stove to cook the most exquisite meals the world has ever tasted.

When I look at global Christianity, the thing that turns my stomach into knots- the truth that causes great anguish and pain- is that most Christians never move beyond the instruction of rules and regulations of the faith.

Sermon after sermon, book after book, angry grandmother after angry grandmother – they all point to the same thing: we are children and we are going to get burned by the stove.

We are not children anymore. It is time for our faith in Christ to move beyond the gentle instruction reserved for toddlers. We must move into a maturity of faith. We must no longer be afraid of the stove, and instead we must learn to cook delicious meals on it.

Because living in the fullness of Christ is a party. It’s a lavish affair that goes on and on and on. Jesus and his disciples show up while the party is in full swing. It has been going on for several days – and then they run out of wine. Not only does Jesus support the merits of having an occasional glass of wine for your health – he embraces the joy, delight, and merriment of a drunken party lasting well into next week.

Jesus tells the head servant to take a cup and fill it with water and take that cup of water to the man sitting at the head of the table. Now, if you or I were asked this request – we would go to the faucet. But, this was Cana 2000 years ago. They didn’t have faucets – they didn’t have running water. The water wasn’t safe to drink – so they didn’t keep “drinking water" around. They lived in the desert. This head servant dipped his cup into the only water supply in the house – the water that had been used in the ceremonial washing.

As guests arrived over the three day long party, the servants used the whole supply of water to wash the feet of the guests. The wedding party and the most important guests would have washed first – with clean water.  Women, children, servants, slaves, and late-comers would have washed with the dirty water that was left over.
It was this dirty water, this used-up source, that was available when Jesus asked the servant to take some water to the head of the household.

Now, these were harsh times for servants and slaves. If the servant brought you a cup of filthy, muddy water – you didn’t laugh it off as a good prank; you had his head cut off for insubordination.
If Dean Vokarchuk visited us today and suddenly started sneezing - and it became clear that he needed a tissue - if I picked up this rag and said, "Give this to the Dean of your University for he needs a tissue" would you give it to him?  Would you be disgusted and insulted by the very idea?

Although this man has never seen Jesus perform a miracle (remember, this was Jesus’ first public miracle), and has maybe never even heard him preach, he has had the privilege of interacting with Jesus. He and his fellow servants have washed the feet of Jesus and the disciples as they entered the party. What about that 20 minute interaction let the head-servant know that he could trust his job – his very life – to the words and actions of this wandering teacher and his twelve disciples? Maybe the servant knew Mary well and trusted her words intimately. We will never know for sure.

But we do know, he trusted Jesus enough to dip his chalice into dirty, used up water and walked to the front of the hall to deliver the most delicious wine ever created to the head of the party.

Jesus is asking the same of you. First, he’s asking you to trust him. You've known Jesus for longer than 20 minutes. Just as Mary says to the servant, I say to you this day, "Do whatever he tells you."

He’s asking you to take a real leap of faith and to really trust him. Jesus wants you to really trust him with not only your job and the respect that people show you, but He wants you to risk even your very life.

Second, he's asking you to dip into the dirty water of the world. Because if we want to see a miracle, we have to work with what we've got.

This world is dirty and filthy. People are mean and cruel. I could read you statistics about how many people are addicted to drugs, how many people get raped, how many children go to bed hungry at night, how many people are beat up in hate crimes because of the color of their skin or because of whom they love, or how many people are killed in violent crimes every year. I could read you these statistics, but I think that deep down you already know them. You know that we live in a fallen world.

So instead, I'll read you the hope and promise that Christ has given us. “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

Jesus Christ is the best wine the world has ever tasted. Jesus wants us to stand up and have the courage to dip into the filthy, dirty world and to know that from that we will pull out the finest wine. When we are ready and willing to get our hands dirty and to engage with the world - at that point we will experience the fullness of Jesus Christ as Savior who can move the mountains.

It is interesting that this is Jesus first public miracle.  Some scholars talk a bit about how it doesn't make sense.  It doesn't fit with his other miracles.  His other miracles are about healing the sick, giving sight to the blind - in short, they are about helping people.  Turning water into wine, it feels a bit like a magic trick, doesn't it?  This might be the only miracle recorded only once in the Gospels.  It doesn't fit as well into the ministry.  But, here's the beautiful part ... this is the exact miracle that all must experience first.  In our first encounter with Christ, we are dirty and used up and at Christ's direction someone picks us up and believe in us and in our value.
And we go out into this dirty and filthy word and we continue this miracle.  We lift up the dirty and broken and we listen to Christ's command to lift them up to become something so much greater than we could ever imagine.
Trust that the Holy Spirit will guide you. Don't just give a few coins to the old lady holding out a cup - ask her to share her story. Think about where you spend your free time and where people who don't know Jesus spend theirs.

There's this really beautiful miracle that Jesus wants to make happen, but he needs you to take the lead and dip into the dirty water and to risk your life to bring it to the world. I don't know what it is, but I think that you should "Do whatever he tells you."

This sermon might seem familiar to a few of you, I preached something quite similar almost two years ago on my last day in Ukraine before heading back to the states.  When I left, I really didn't think I would ever be able to come back - or at least not for years and years.  but I wasn't afraid, because over the year I had spent with you; I had learned the great truth that you are so very capable.  You trust God with so much and you love one another so radically.

If Christ were standing here, there would be so many of you who would trust him enough to dip into the dirty water and take the chalice to the head table - you do it day after day in your lives.  You show tremendous, radical faith every day.  You are an inspiritation.

These last six months have been so hard.  We have faced every kind of trial and pain.  We have sloshed around in the dirty water of the world, and on many days it felt like we might drown.   But, we survived and now we move forward to thrive.  We take the bad and the ugly that the world had to offer, and Christ makes it new and wonderful because of our faith in Him.

We  gladly dip our chalices into this dirty water - because we have the hope and the promise that Jesus Christ saves the best for last. The best is yet to come, and we are part of making that happen.
May you always have the freedom to live in the joy of Christ. May you have the courage to celebrate and party in the face of whatever challenges may arise. Amen.