“The First Sign” - I Corinthians 12: 1-12, John 2:1-11

January 17, 2010

Kay E. Huggins, New Life Presbyterian Church

Think for a minute: what was your favorite gift last year? Why was it your favorite? Now, think about a gift you received that you’ve yet to put to use? Something that is not “quite right” for you; something that might be a candidate for re-gifting?

Consider these two types of gifts...

The truth is that gifts fascinate us. We are intrigued by wrapping paper and ribbons; we are eager to open and see what’s inside; gifts are designed for delight -- both in the giving and the receiving. So, perhaps it is not accidental that when Paul wanted to talk, in a positive manner, about what binds a community together in Christ, he chose to talk about gifts, spiritual gifts. Realistically, he could have discussed personality traits or individual abilities or spiritual sensitivities or mutual responsibilities, but he did not. To hold the attention of the congregation, Paul wrote, “Now concerning spiritual gifts...” and the ears of all perked up.

Here is the sub-text that may have guided Paul’s instructions.

Some, for example, wondered: will there be gifts for all or just for some? Paul answered, “There’s plenty for all, a gift for each and every member of Christ’s community.”

Others pondered: will some gifts be insignificant while others gifts are really, really important? Paul answered, “Everyone’s gift is just right?”

Still others worried: what if I get a gift I don’t want? Paul explained, “The gift is given to be used? It’s not a personal gift, it’s a piece of a much larger gift?”

And, of course, there were the sideliners who wondered about the divine return policy on spiritual gifts! To them, Paul cautioned, “ All God’s gifts serve the common good -- and each gift is absolutely necessary.”

Oddly, Paul really meant what he wrote:

• God gives each believer a spiritual gift

• The gift makes a perfect connection between believer and community

• No gift is independent; all spiritual gifts work together for the common good

• Each individual and each gift is absolutely precious

In Paul’s description of spiritual gifts, there is no exchange policy, no opportunity for re-gifting, no sighing, no bragging, no disappointment, no over-elation.

There is simply the Spirit’s wisdom in bestowing a variety of gifts, all necessary, all designed as inroads into the community for God’s Spirit. Paul instructed the community to value each other and to respect -- and particularly, to use -- the spiritual significance of each individual within the community. I believe this particular desire of Paul is reflected in the New Life approach to community life. Here at New Life, we are bound together by a core value of acceptance. We say it like this:

New Life Presbyterian Church has received a spiritual heritage of extending

God’s gracious acceptance to all people as they are.

With Paul, we believe God not only accepts all individuals, but that each person, in whatever circumstance, situation or condition, is precious. Thus, we look for the twinkle of love in the eyes of each person; we expect to discover an angelic harmony in each story; and we seek out the promise of generosity that prompts individuals to draw near to this community. Our practice of extending God’s gracious acceptance to all people as they are is more than a core value: it is a celebration of God’s gifts among us...in the form of you and you and you and you!

In many ways, New Life is a living exposition of I Corinthians 12:1-11; the first sign of God among us is the rich variety and generous acceptance within this community. But, acceptance is prelude to service.

This is the significance of the “first sign” recorded in John’s description the wedding at Cana. First, we need to imagine the first century scene of a wedding celebration. In the scale of village life, weddings were huge events involving every member of the village and including relatives and friends who travelled some distance to attend. Unlike our modern wedding invitations that clearly state date, time and place, in first century Palestine, wedding festivities were expected to last a few days, perhaps as long as a week. The host had the responsibility of determining when all the guests had arrived (not an easy matter prior to the cellphone); then, the host dispatched a runner throughout the village with the message: ‘The feast is beginning! Come! All are invited!”

The invitation was literal: the feast was beginning....

• beginning with a lamb being slaughtered, dressed out and put on the spit;

• beginning with bread baking at the outdoor oven while dates and olives were passed around in the court yard;

• beginning with wine, music and dancing.

Thus, it might be hours before the wedding feast was served.

You can imagine how difficult it was to manage the waves of guests and the provisions of food, drink and entertainment. Often, the host family came close to running out of bread or meat or, as in this case, wine. This was, however, where the guests’ generosity mattered most. Each guest brought something to share in the festivities; particularly, the young men, who looked forward to their own wedding celebrations, came with extra provisions or were willing procure whatever the host might need.

No wonder, Mary turned to her son, with one of those mother-child exchanges: “They have no wine.” A code message: “Did you remember to bring your gift?”

(Imagine, asking Jesus: did you remember to bring your gift?)

Initially, Jesus (as any young man) objected to his mother’s reminder, and yet, when she told the servants to “do whatever he tells you,” he responded. The text takes a surprising twist here; instead of Jesus offering the customary well filled wineskins, he turned to six stone water jars -- the kind of jars that held, fifteen to twenty gallons each (that’s a nice bathtub full) of holy water for the family (and their guests) ritual washings before every meal and every prayer. Jesus instructed that these be filled (no slight task) and from these big, holy, brim-filled jars came the best-tasting wine served at the wedding.

Mary no longer needed to be concerned about a gift from her son. Jesus had done more than his part. Moreover, Jesus remained fairly anonymous, because the generosity of a guest was never mentioned as the wedding feast continued.

In John’s gospel, however, something more than generosity was in that wine. (It is important to remember that the guests at the wedding in Cana were, as all Jews of the day, steeped in the symbols of the prophets.) Thus, the wedding guests knew the prophets’ words. For example they knew Amos’ poetry:

The time is surely coming, says the Lord when....

the mountains shall drip sweet wine and the hills shall flow with it. (Amost 9:13)

And they knew the writings of Second Barach,

The earth shall yield its fruit ten thousandfold;

each vine shall have 1,000 branches,

each branch 1,000 clusters,

each cluster 1,000 grapes and

each grape about 120 gallons of wine.

The symbolism, especially the exaggerated quantity of wine, was obvious. The wedding guests knew in their heart of hearts, in their hope of hopes, in their very bones that abundant wine indicated God’s restoring presence! So when Jesus changed the water into wine he offered more than the something to meet the physical needs of the wedding party. His miracle has a marvelous twist. It reached to a deeper need, a more profound yearning. The fine wine created in those holy jars, by its sheer abundance, was a sign that God was present in an exceptional way in this man called Jesus.

The story ends, “His disciples believed.” And that, my friends is the key to the whole story.

The disciples’ belief indicated the depth of the miracle. At a wedding in Cana, the wedding guests thirst, not just for something to drink, but for God was satisfied.

Now when you think about it, that’s thirst for God is same circumstance prompting Paul to write tender words to the Corinthian congregation. Wasn’t his desire to reach the depths of spiritual desire among his congregation? Moreover, isn’t that what New Life really means by welcoming the stranger, the guest, the visitor, the passerby with God’s own gracious acceptance? Isn’t it the case that throughout the generations, everyday people, as you and I, thirst for God -- and amazingly, the refreshment of that thirst is discovered within the community of Jesus’ friends.

When people who long to be with God,

when people who seek to follow Jesus,

when people who personally experience the Spirit’s power

gather something marvelous happens: they recognize God in each other. And then, the ordinary become as fine wine and the smallest gestures of love swell to wrap the world with comfort, compassion and challenge. Then, those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to feel recognize

this is the Lord’s doing,

this is a miracle,

this is Immanuel, God with us.

May it ever be so in this place, among this community.

Amen and Amen.