Water into Wine

It's been a while since I've posted anything (even though I have plenty to post--there is a ton of material from my trip to South Africa, notes/reflections from prayer stations we used for All Saints Sunday--not to mention pictures from Advent when we followed traced the story of God's presence through the entire Jesse tree)...

But this past Sunday, I preached on John 2:1-12 Jesus' miracle at the wedding in Cana (otherwise known as Jesus turning water into wine).

At first I was drawn to the servants--those who listened to Mary's words ("Do all that he tells you" she said, pointing to Christ) and their willing obedience to Jesus.
They must have drawn a LOT of water. (six stone jars holding 20-30 gallons of water, filled to the brim; that's 120 gallons on the low side. ....calculate that a gallon of water weighs about 8.5 pounds and those servants hauled over a half-ton of weight in water--On TOP of their normal duties as servants). What incredible faithfulness!! How powerful that Jesus' first miracle relied on the participation and obedience of servants.

Then I kept thinking about the miracle itself: the transformation from one substance to another. 

This particular lectionary cycle put that text in the first Sunday of ordinary time--immediately following the Baptism of Our Lord Sunday. Which meant that I was contemplating John 2 while Allen was preaching about baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit that brings transformation into our lives and the lives around us. That's the miracle of sanctification--our pursuit of holiness and Christian perfection happens by God's miracle and our participation (obedience) of that grace.

That's when I noticed the shift from water into wine foreshadows the story of Christ's ministry-- From the waters of Jordan to the wine of the last supper. from baptism to the blood of crucifixion.

So, too, does our Christian faith follow this shift from baptism to a gradual transformation into being Christ-like. Our communion prayer asks that we, like the blood of Christ, would be poured out in obedience and service to the world. And, indeed, the ACT of servant obedience and active participation in God's grace is the very means through which we are transformed and changed.

Thus my final sermon image--a call to holiness, obedience, participation and action (so that as we do everything Christ tells us to do, we would be made into the image of Christ):