Growing up, my grandmother loved to gift me etiquette books (looking back, those were some lame gifts…). By the time I went off to college here at Wellesley, my bookshelf contained the classic Etiquette by Emily Post, the new age Modern Manners, and the stylish Power Dressing: First Ladies, Women Politicians and Fashion. After becoming ensconced in the world of Army Officership, I then found myself purchasing the essential manners book for all military personnel – Service Etiquette. Though each with their own spin, each of these books contained at least one chapter on hosting.
Invitations and RSVPs; nameplates and table arrangements; appropriate attire and how to address whom; and, of course, commentary on food and drink and how to replenish it. Having been to events with you all, I know there are some amazing hosts here at St. Andrew’s. Which means I know most of you can relate to these teachings and I know that you can understand that potential embarrassment that would occur if wine – or the beverage of choice – were to run out at a party. Well, this awkward situation is our theme for today. Last week in the first week of Epiphany, we partook in Jesus’s baptism – the public start to his earthly ministry. This week, we experience Jesus’s first miracle – the execution of his public ministry. In our Gospel lesson from John, we read that Jesus, Mary, and the disciples were invited to a wedding. As the story progresses, we learn that the wedding hosts commit a hosting faux pas – they run out of wine during the party. Mary, always observant and always helpful, brings this scandal to Jesus’s attention in what seems to be an attempt to help the hosts. After some deliberation, Jesus tells the hosts’ servants to fill jugs with water, turns the water into wine, and there we have it – the first miracle. True to form, Jesus is the hero, everyone is amazed and, presumably, the wedding fun continues. Thus, on its surface, the story of the Wedding at Cana seems to be a straightforward account of Jesus’s first miracle amid a social scandal. However, this story transforms into many smaller miracles – or smaller epiphanies – when we look at the interpersonal dynamics embedded within the larger narrative. Particularly, Mary’s role. Through her involvement in Jesus’s first miracle, Mary empowered Jesus to demonstrate his divinity, thereby allowing the disciples to believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Thus, we all need a Mary in our lives to show us our potential and help us realize when we, like the empty jars of wine, are spiritually empty. Emily Post’s Etiquette was most definitely not in circulation at the time of this Biblical wedding party. However, it is safe to say that Mary was knowledgeable of social norms. More than this, Mary was knowledgeable that her son was not an ordinary man – rather, that he was the Son of God, fully human and fully Divine; and that the world needed to bear witness to this Truth. She trusted what we read in our Psalm that God’s love transcends all, reaches over all, that we can “feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.” Mary had such great faith in her Son, her God, that she challenged him to make his divinity known. As was mentioned and as we read, we know from John that Jesus’s disciples had been invited to this wedding. After this initial mention of their attendance at the party in verse 2, the story shifts to focus on Mary, Jesus, and the wedding hosts. Because not much else is said about the disciples in this narrative, it is easy to assume that they were strong in their faith. They were already following Jesus, after all. However, verse 11 clues us in to an interesting twist. John 2:11 tell us, “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11). And his disciples believed in him… To me, this suggests the disciples had weak faith, if any, until this miracle – seems like they were just there for the party or as friends accompanying Jesus. It took witnessing Jesus perform a public miracle for them to actually believe in Jesus – a public miracle encouraged by Mary. Mary’s faith, therefore, inspired the faith of the disciples. By challenging Jesus to respond to the empty wine, Mary demonstrated to the others action-oriented faith. She made it so the disciples, too, could believe. Yet, the disciples wouldn’t have had the opportunity to grow in their faith had it not been first for Mary’s interaction with her Son. Jesus’s lackadaisical attitude in response to Mary’s statement that “They have no wine” (2:3) suggests that had Mary not said anything, Jesus would not have intended to aid the wedding party in their social distress. However, even when met with her son’s reply that the lack of wine is of no concern to them (2:4), Mary does not rebut by egging Jesus on to replenish the wine. Rather, she trusts that her initial alert was enough and that Jesus would provide. Thus, she tells the servants to “Do whatever he tells you,” (2:5) though she herself could not have been confident as to what would happen. This is faith. Asking God for help, then trusting that the Lord will respond as God knows is right for each of us in our unique time and place. The wedding at Cana shows us that Mary understood this. Her request for wine, therefore, was not for her – it was so others could see and come to believe in Christ. Jesus needed to be encouraged to execute his ministry on earth and not wait until his “hour has come,” as he argued was the case in verse 4. Rather, Mary’s faith, therefore, encouraged Jesus to publicly demonstrate his Divinely-gifted power by a miracle which represented so much more than what Mary ever could have envisioned. Adding to the significance of all of this is that Jesus’s first miracle – turning water into wine – parallels his last act with his disciples – presiding over the last supper, offering wine as a symbol of his blood, shed for them. Christ may have literally given the wedding guests something to drink; yet, he symbolically gave them so much more. Through this miracle, he connected his beginning with his end. He encapsulated every miracle, every word, every prayer between the bookends of a wine which represents the blood that Christ would and did shed for all of Creation. Though saving the wedding hosts from the social faux pas of running out of wine, Jesus was really signaling to humanity that he would save all of us from a living a dry life without him. We now are able to participate in Jesus’s first and last miracles on earth as we gather for the Eucharist each week. We are constantly invited in to critically asses our faith as we drink the wine from the chalice, just as the disciples had their faith challenged when they witnessed Jesus turn the water into wine at Cana. It is through Jesus’s sacrifice that we have access to the “fountain of life” and the “good wine” given by the Creator; and it is because of Mary that we gain the insight into this when she tells Jesus that the wine is empty. Some Sundays, we may be Mary – strong in our faith, asking God to perform a miracle on our behalf or the behalf of others. Some Sundays, we may be the disciples – present at the party, but not yet fully convinced in the saving power of Christ. Wherever we are in the spectrum that is faith, may the Eucharist wine serve as a constant reminder that Christ was sacrificed for us, and that God is always working within and around us. Mary is our guide to spiritual fulfillment at the wedding at Cana. She encourages Jesus to demonstrate his potential which enables the disciples to believe that Jesus was, and is, the Christ. The faith of Mary, therefore, is the only etiquette guide that we need because she brings us to a life with Christ. May we all find ourselves a Mary to show us our potential when otherwise unconcerned and help us realize when we are spiritually lacking when our jars our empty. Amen. |