When people plan a wedding they often have huge expectations of what a perfect day it will be. Most of the time things work out OK but sadly sometimes the wires get crossed and disasters happen. I’ve taken my fair share of weddings over the years and thankfully the church service has always gone to plan but I have had a couple of weddings when the arrangements after the church have not gone as well as the church service. On one occasion the police had to be called to the reception when someone took out a gun and began waving it around, and at another the caterers had failed to turn up so that when the bride and groom arrived at the hall they had hired, it was bare and empty.
There are two weddings in our readings today. The first is the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee at which the wine runs out. The second is the wedding feast at the end of the age when Jesus comes again to claim his bride, the church.
The story of the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee is told only in St. John’s Gospel. It is a familiar story. Like the stories with which I began the wedding was a disaster. A middle-Eastern wedding would last several days and the time would be spent feasting and drinking. It was a point of honour for families of the bride and groom that they should be able to provide for their guests. In the middle-east hospitality is an overwhelming priority and to fail in the provision was to be disgraced in the eyes of your neighbours. And such disgrace would adhere to the couple down through the years. When the wine ran out it was a disaster.
It has been suggested that those being married were members of Jesus’ extended family since Mary seems to be in the know about what is happening behind the scenes. She tells Jesus, “They have no wine”. Jesus seems reluctant to draw attention to himself but he acts. In the place where the wedding is being held there are six large jars of water each holding twenty to thirty gallons of water. Somehow, through Jesus’ action, the water is transformed into wine. I make that 150+ gallons of wine which works out at coming up to a thousand bottles. I think that would have lasted them a while.
I’ve said before that when you hear a story like this it is no use asking “What really happened?” That is a question we can never answer. What we can do is ask, “Why are we being told this story?” John seems to answer this question by filling the story with symbolic detail. It is a wedding feast because God is seen as being like a loving husband to his people. The water for rites of the law of Moses is transformed into the new wine of God’s Kingdom inaugurated in Jesus. The new wine of God’s grace is infinitly better than the old wine of legalism and fear.
All of this is important and commentators go to great lengths to draw out these and other details. But I want to lay that aside for a moment and focus on one thing. The difference that the presence of Jesus made.
Yesterday a number of us from this benefice attended a conference called together by Stephen our Bishop. It was an exercise in listening – listening to our Bishop, listening to one another, and above all listening to God. The conference was part of a process in our diocese entitled “Transforming Presence” in which the Bishop asks us to consider the priorities for the Church of England in Essex and East London over the next 10 to 15 years. Those priorities began with the fact that we are called to inhabit the world distinctively. It is no use us being Christians if that makes no difference to the way we live our lives and to the impact that we have on the society we inhabit.
Jesus’ presence at the wedding feast was a “transforming presence”. Things changed for the better because Jesus was there. The water was transformed into wine; and not just any wine but the best wine. The shame and humiliation of the family was transformed back into rejoicing as they were saved from the disaster which threatened to overwhelm them. The disciples were transformed by seeing Jesus’ action – he “revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
When Jesus is present nothing remains the same. His presence is a transforming presence.
In his opening words yesterday Bishop Stephen asked us to consider two questions.
- How can my life be a blessing to those amongst whom I live?
- How can my church be a blessing to the community in which it is set?
My heart rejoiced when I heard those questions. You see, I don’t believe that the church is meant to be a refuge from the world around it. I believe the church is meant be a Transforming Presence in the world. We are called to show through our presence the presence of Jesus. The challenge that has been set before us is to ask how we do that. The answer, I believe, is that we do it by doing the things that Jesus did; proclaiming the good news, reaching out to those in need, and confronting the evil powers which oppress.
The second marriage feast in our readings today is the marriage feast at the end the age when Jesus comes for his people. I believe that there will come a time when Jesus will return physically to this earth as Lord and King, and that we his church are called to live now in the light of that future coming. When he comes he will come for his bride the church – for those who have followed him in every place and time.
Now in all the weddings I’ve ever taken one of the most important features of the day was the dress worn by the bride, and Jesus’ bride is also clothed in a wonderful dress.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready; to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure'--for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
The saints – that’s us folks, you and me. At the coming of Jesus the things we do now will be the garb that we wear then.
We’ve got some exploring to do together but it’s clear that we need to look at every aspect of our life in this place so that we can do the righteous deeds that are needed for us to be a transforming presence in this place – living together the life to which Jesus calls us, and doing together the deeds he would have us do.
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