HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

14 JANUARY 2007
THE CATHEDAL OF ST. PHILIP, ATLANTA
THE REV. CANON TODD D. SMELSER, HOMILIST

Most clergy feel some ambivalence about weddings.  When the couples are active members of the congregation, the ceremony can be a wonderful occasion of faithful celebration.  But often times, a when we start the premarital process we may have never seen this couple before, and then after the wedding they often disappear, at least until they have a child to baptized.  And we have all read the news items that the average wedding now costs more than my first house did! One does wonder about priorities. But over the years I have officiated at weddings that seemed to be true worship services, in which God was truly a third party. One of my favorites was actually in the context of a Sunday morning Eucharist, and it was truly a destination wedding filled with beauty and grace.

In early times, a young man would capture a young woman from a neighboring tribe and claim her as his wife.  He was accompanied by another young man whose job was to distract or fight off the relatives during the abduction.  He became known as the “best man.”  As time went on, fathers purchased wives for their sons, since women had no legal or property rights.  In the Greco-roman world in which Christianity was born, marriage was a family affair.  Women and children were considered property, and the father of the groom gave a dowry to the father of the bride to compensate for a “property loss.” 

In those days the betrothal of the couple took place at a family meal in the grooms’ home, and a ring was given as a sign of possession by the man.  Sometime later, the marriage took place in the bride’s home.  Wearing a yellow dress with a veil and crown of myrtle, the marriage contract was read and signed, and then the couple joined hands to finalize the relationship, and then the wedding feast began.

Unlike the weddings of today, in which the service begins at 6, with the reception beginning at 7, and the last guest needs to be out the door by 11, weddings in biblical times would often stretch out for days.  Since guests walked miles to get there, the festivities would go on until, presumably, they ran out of food and drink.  Hosting such a party was always a challenge.

This is the dilemma in today’s wedding in Cana: the wine gave out.  So Mary tells her son Jesus, “They have no wine.”  But this gentle hint fell on deaf ears. “What concern is that to you and to me?” he replies.  But Mary, being a persistent Jewish mother, won’t let it alone.  To the servants she says, do whatever he tells you.”  Since Jesus had not performed any miracles in John’s Gospel, one can presume that his mother was simply doing the mothering thing on whether her son brought his wedding gift of wine or bread, and if not, asking him to do his part to replenish the supply.

Finally Jesus responds. “Now standing there were six stone water jars” John tells us.  But these were jars with a religious, holy purpose, use in the Jewish rite of purification.  They were big jars, each holding 15-25 gallons.  They were special, big and filled to the brim.  And from them came the best-tasting wine served at the wedding.  Jesus did his part.

Biblical writers often use the image of abundant wine as a sign of God’s goodness.  Actually wine is part of a trilogy of food images that revealed God’s generosity: abundant wine, abundant grain and abundant oil.  These are signs of a golden age.  The guests of the party would have recognized these scriptural prophecies, for they speak of the new messianic age when God’s Anointed will enter history to restore Israel. 

The miracle of Jesus in the story does not simply meet the physical needs of the party-goers, but it has a marvelous twist.  It reaches to a deeper need, and more profound yearning.  The wine is created in holy jars and in abundance, a sign that God is doing sacred work in this man Jesus.  The story ends, “his disciples believed.”  This is the key to the whole story.  The people are thirsty not just for wine but for God—thirsty for faith, for a living relationship with their Creator.

There are churches that preach a prosperity Gospel, which suggests that God wants us to have abundant possessions—more stuff.  But this passage points to a different reality.  God’s blessings extend to us so that we might believe, so that we might know full measure of God’s love for us.  Unlike the unwanted Christmas present that has already made it’s way back to Macy’s, these gifts of God’s love and mercy and truly what the Christ Child brought to humankind.  Abundant life does not come from abundant possessions, but from an abundant life in service to God and to God’s church in the world. 

Those who follow Jesus are called to offer up their lives, to die as “grain of wheat” in order to “bear much fruit.”  This is not a “prosperity Gospel” but a radical call to empty ourselves for the sake of God’s witness.

In the Gospel story we never learn who the bride and groom are, for of course this is really a story about Jesus.    But the Church does believe that marriage which is rooted in the life and service in God’s grace and love, and is centered in the active life of a parish community, can be nurtured by the spiritual life of the couple.  Like our faith, marriage is a journey over time.  And when life’s inevitable roadblocks come, hopefully the church will be there to offer counsel and prayer and support. 

I like the fact that Jesus seemed to enjoy life and wanted others to enjoy it to the fullest also.  His joy is contagious, and he tells us in fact, this is who I am and I want you to follow me.  There is goodness in life and in the meaningful occasions of our lives.  As we move from this past season of companionship with family and friends, and move into this New Year, let us remember that the Lord of life contributed to the joy of a wedding feast, blessing it with his presence and blessing us all with his gift of abundance. 

Alleluia. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:

Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia.

Comments? Contact The Rev. Todd Smelser: tsmelser@stphilipscathedral.org

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