Isaiah 62:1-5
John 2: 1‑12

Today's text from John’s Gospel says Mary, Jesus, and his disciples were invited guests to a wedding.  A wedding in Israel was a happening.  Plans were made months in advance and the festivities lasted for days.  Following the wedding ceremony the couple led the parade of their guests the longest and most circuitous route possible from the place of the wedding to their home.  For a week the couple was treated like a king and queen and actually addressed as king and queen.  Their house was open for guests to visit them throughout that week. 
           
In the context of this wedding celebration Jesus performed what popularly has been identified as his first miracle.  Let’s explore the meaning, nature, and purpose of miracle to better comprehend not only this event in Jesus' ministry but various other actions that Jesus took in his care and love for people and are relevant to us in our time.
           
Several words are synonyms with miracle that could and have been used in translating the Bible.  Sign and wonder are two of these words, but they are used less often and are less desirable to many people. They do not have the sensational ring to them that miracle connotes.   
           
A person who believes in God will believe in the possibility of a variety of events in and through which a person sees an act or revelation of God.  Although belief in such signs and wonders presupposes a belief in God, a person's trust in God is not contingent upon these signs or "miraculous" events. 
           
A variety of events around us serve as signs or miracles for some of us while they are not seen in the same light by others.  The creation is one example.  Many marvel at the beauty, organization, and workability of the universe and conclude that it is a sign, evidence for us of what God is like and thus serves to reveal God.  Others do not look at creation that way at all.  A sign or miracle always is open to other interpretations.  The plagues described in Exodus were seen by the Israelites as signs of God's desire that they be freed from slavery.  The Egyptians interpreted the plagues as tragic events that caused pain, hurt, and destruction. 
           
It’s a good thing that signs or events are open to other interpretations. Like you, I was overwhelmed by devastation in Haiti.  And I was angered that some Christians would interpret this horrific devastation caused by an earthquake as God’s judgment on the Haitian people.  What kind of God is that? What kind of God is portrayed by that interpretation of events?  I’m glad there is another interpretation of earthquake in Haiti.
           
There are those who understand God to be intimately involved in individuals’ lives.  Others understand God to be distant, aloof, having created the world and then left it on its own.  Descartes concluded centuries before us that "The Lord performed three miracles:  creation, freedom of will, and Incarnation." 
           
Whenever an event occurs that someone identifies as a sign or miracle, there always is another possible interpretation.  Generally, the signs we see confirm what we already believe or the decision we already have made. Too often our relying on signs to make or confirm decisions is a way of avoiding responsibility and accountability for our decisions and actions.
           
God has equipped us to deal with difficulties.  In response to problems, God expects us to draw from that which is within us.  Many of the difficulties in life are our problems to solve.  The God who is with us is looking to us for solutions.  We have the resources to make a difference for good.  Don Pabblo stated the matter from a secular perspective:  "Each man has inside him a basic decency and goodness.  If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most.  It is not complicated but it takes courage."  We have what is needed.  To phrase it religiously, when our resources are accompanied by God's power, we can become the instruments of signs and wonders.  All of us have the resources to serve as miracle workers.  For example, when penicillin was discovered, it became know as the “miracle” drug. We become miracle workers when we place our resources at the disposal of God's power.  This is occurring now as people respond to the great need in Haiti? Like you I have been numbed by the thousands upon thousands of people who were killed by the earthquake.  But I have also been equally encouraged by the immediate, rapid, positive responses of help and assistance that coming from all over the world. I’m amazed at the variety of opportunities we have to give a part of our resources to help. Nearly every website I visit has a link that enables us to make a contribution, enables us to place a part of our resources along side the resources of others to help meet the needs in Haiti.  One of the easiest for us is to go to the United Church of Christ website which is ucc.org and make a contribution.  Speaking of signs, thanks to our Mission Outreach Board for the signs they have posted in the building to inform us of how we can respond. I suspect the contributions made to assist the people in Haiti will total more than has ever been given in any other human tragedy in the world. This response does not diminish the horrific devastation and loss that has occurred but it does say that people around the world become miracle workers when we place our resources together for the benefit and aid of others.
           
Over and over the biblical material clearly indicates that God does things with people rather than for people.  When we are in difficult circumstances, God expects us to draw from our God‑given resources.  God strengthens our efforts which enable us to cope.  We become sufficient for the hour, in control of the situation rather than controlled by the situation. 
           
More often than not the sign in a situation is not the removal of a problem but the discovery of an ability to cope with that problem‑‑which in itself is a solution.  Even when things are at their very worst, we can be at our very best.  Miracles or signs are produced when God's power is joined to our personal resources. Positive responses to the great need in Haiti may be one sign of what the people of the world can do when we come together for the benefit and help of others.  
           
In the New Testament materials about miracles, signs or wonders primarily revolve around Jesus and his work with people.  Some of the signs have no intrinsic value such as Jesus walking on water.  Mark Twain visited the Holy Land many years ago and considered taking his wife on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.  He asked the man in charge what the cost was.  "Twenty‑five dollars," was the reply.  Twain thanked the man, walked away, and commented to his wife, "Now I know why Jesus walked." 
    
The Gospel writers portray Jesus joining his resources with God’s presence and power.  Three motives surface in the signs of Jesus’ ministry. The first one is compassion.  He had compassion for individuals such as the blind man and the leper.  However, there were many sick people at the pool of Bethzatha, but only one was healed.  Jesus did not feed all the hungry, heal all the sick, nor raise all the dead.  Those he did feed got hungry again, those he healed got sick again, and those he raised from the dead died again.  Jesus was on the side of life, sustenance, and health, but he did not look to miracles or signs as a substitute for what people can do for one another in terms of provision that God already had made. 
           
A second motive for miracles was faith.  The New Testament relates faith to healing and other miracles, but it by no means follows that faith was always rewarded by healing or that signs and miracles always awakened faith.  Sometimes faith is named as the grounds for healing, but where there was faith there was not always healing.
           
The third motive for miracles was they served as signs of what the reign of God is like.  Miracles probably are best understood as signs of the in-breaking of the reign and rule of God in people's lives.  Healing people of their physical, emotional, and mental ills is part of God's redemptive work.  Jesus' miracles were signs of the work and reign of God.  Explicit and emphatic in the Gospel of John is the understanding of miracles as signs, indicators of God’s work in the world. 
           
Mary may have had something to do with arrangements for the wedding feast that she and Jesus attended. Perhaps that is why she became worried when the wine supply was depleted.  Apparently Mary had enough authority to order the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do.     
           
Mary commented to Jesus that the supply of wine had run out.  There is no way to know in what tone of voice Mary said this.  Was her comment merely a passing on of information, a statement of fact that there was no more wine?  Did she express surprise or concern for the family and the embarrassment that this would cause, or did she speak to Jesus with a tone of expectation that he do something about the situation? 
           
The response Jesus made to Mary suggests that she expected him to do something about the situation.  Jesus said, "Woman, do not tell me what to do.  My time has not come" (Jn. 2:4).  The use of the word woman was not a harsh, impersonal identification as we might think of it in our language.  This is the same word that Jesus used to address Mary from the cross.  It was a word different from the word for mother.  The word woman and the context in which it was used suggests that Jesus was saying to Mary she no longer had maternal control over him.  It does not seem that unusual for a parent to expect his/her grown child to try to do something to ease a difficult situation in which they are engaged.  It is fairly natural for any of us to want somebody to do something to alleviate the tension that an embarrassing situation is causing.  So it was for Mary.  If we add to this natural expectation, the things Mary had pondered in her mind about Jesus since his birth, the events she had recently seen happening, his engagement with John the Baptist, and the calling of disciples, then all the more reason was her expectation heightened that Jesus could and would do something to alleviate this embarrassing situation for their friends.  As my uncle said, “After all what are friends for if you aren't going to use them once in awhile?”
           
Surely one of the most difficult situations for parents and children to negotiate is when to let go and when to be let go.  Some attempt this rite of passage too early, some wait too long.  Some never make this break.  Others do so with many rough, ragged, jagged edges that cut and hurt deeply everyone involved.  Still others move through this time of transition in a fairly smooth and comfortable fashion.  The move from dependence to interdependence in family relationships is a period of growth and maturing for parents and children alike.  That was true for Mary and Jesus in their relationship and this event was one of the steps in that process. 
           
Either Mary was confident Jesus would do something or she so expected him to do something that she paid no attention to his statement to her because she told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do before he asked them to do anything.  Jesus instructed the servants to fill the six stone jars with water.  The jars were large enough to hold between 15 and 25 gallons each.  Part of the Jewish rules for cleanliness had to do with washing before eating.  That is why the jars for water were there.  Jesus instructed that the jars be filled to the brim which was unusual because that would cause spillage when a person washed his hands.  Then Jesus asked that the servants draw water and take to the head waiter who was catering this affair.  The head waiter was responsible for the food and drink and one way of assuring that everything was in order was for him to taste everything that was being served.  We do a similar thing when we host a party, don't we?  The water that the servants took to the head waiter turned to wine.  When he tasted it, he called the bridegroom over to congratulate him for saving the best wine until that moment. 
           
This event in Cana put Jesus under pressure.  He felt the external pressure of his mother who apparently was urging him to do something.  He felt internal pressure.  Evidently, these were friends of his who were marrying.  They were in an embarrassing situation and he must have wanted to do something to alleviate the embarrassment.  There was the pressure of having his five disciples with him.  Wasn't this an excellent opportunity for him to demonstrate to them what a tremendous teacher and leader he was and would be?  This event is one of three situations recorded in John's Gospel where Jesus refused to do what was requested and then later fulfilled the request (2: 1‑12; 7: 1‑10; 11: 1‑7).   
           
The response to Jesus' action of turning water into wine occurred on at least two levels.  First of all, a sagging party took on new life.  That became a consistent theme in Jesus' ministry.  A party picked up when Jesus arrived and sagged when Jesus left.  The dullest, drabbest conversation took on vitality when Jesus entered the conversation.  Jesus was not the "life of the party" in the sense that attention was focused on him or that all events at the party revolved around him.  Rather, Jesus pointed to the Source of life for any and all parties and clearly indicated that he represented that Source.
           
The text of this story does not indicate that all of the water in the six stone jars was turned into wine.  That would have been between ninety and hundred and fifty gallons of wine.  That would have been some party that drank one hundred gallons of wine! The word translated “to draw” usually refers to drawing from a well.  Perhaps Jesus took this opportunity to demonstrate for his disciples that the Source for their religious heritage and foreparents was an inexhaustible Source.  To have one's life nourished by that Source was like having water turned into wine. 
           
This seems to be the second level of response to Jesus' action.  The deeper response of the disciples was not only to enjoy the gift, wine, but also to believe in the giver.  John recorded this story apparently in the same mood and tone that it occurred.  Concentration was on the giver and not on the sign itself.  The sign took place off the stage and out of sight.  There is no indication even that the servants who took the water to the head waiter realized that it had turned to wine.  In the text of the story there isn't even the assessment made that Jesus turned the water into wine.  This is how out of sight the event itself was.
           
There was no general recognition that a mighty work had been performed.  The account of this event is not concerned with the methods used to change water into wine but only with the effect of this change on the faith of the disciples.  This is true of other signs or miracles that were done by Jesus during his ministry. 
           
Jesus did not consider it a crime to be happy and to enjoy people and to interact and relate with them.  This event at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee is just one of many examples of this in the ministry of Jesus.  Of course such an approach was not without its problems.  Jesus was abused because of his attitude and actions, accused of being a winebibber and a glutton primarily because he ate with tax collectors and sinners rather than because of how much he drank and ate (Matt. 11: 19). 
           
Jesus threw himself into life and engaged others with him in living.  He made no distinctions between people with regard to their station, education, creed, or race.  Every time Jesus entered the scene a new quality of life developed that was like turning water into wine.  Thus this event was a sign or illustration of what happens when God dwells in a person's life.  The person begins a whole new existence that is infinitely better than he had ever known, dreamed, or imagined. Truly, that is a sign of God’s presence and generosity. May there be more signs like that in our lives.