Glory Revealed: The Joy of Life Abundant
John 2.1-11
January 19, 2025; Epiphany 2C
Delmar Chilton tells a story that took place in northeast Georgia, near the town of Helen, some years ago. It seems that the climate and soil conditions of the area had drawn an Italian immigrant who wanted to start a vineyard. However, like much of the surrounding region, the county was “dry”—no alcoholic beverage sales allowed. Chilton describes the County Commissioners as “a group of good southern, evangelical Christians” who were not the least bit eager to grant anyone permission to start a business making wine, regardless of any potential economic benefits.
The Italian gentleman was very confused by their reluctance. He especially couldn’t grasp why making wine would be viewed as un-Christian. Hearing once again this objection he looked at the commissioners and said, “I don’t understand why you feel this way. Didn’t our Lord turn water into wine at the wedding at Cana in Galilee?”
The appeal to scripture didn’t work as he hoped. You see, there is an old [and mistaken] story, widely held as gospel truth in southern evangelical circles that wine in the first century was non-alcoholic. Thus, it is claimed, Jesus actually turned the water into unfermented grape juice. Some of the commissioners even told the flummoxed would-be winemaker that “the recipe for [this non-alcoholic wine] was lost from Biblical times until the 1800s; when a dentist and devout Methodist communion steward named Welch rediscovered it.”
At this point, the chair weighed in and corrected the popular misconception: “Well, I have researched this issue and yes, Welch’s grape juice was created as a non-alcoholic communion wine. Unfortunately, I’m afraid there was no such thing as unfermented grape juice in Bible times. They didn’t have the technology for it. Jesus really did turn that water into wine. . . .and I have to say that I’ve always been a little disappointed in the Lord for that!” [https://lectionarylab.com/2013/01/11/year-c-the-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany/]
We are always in danger of trying to make Jesus fit into our cultural and social notions about what’s right and wrong, proper and improper, appropriate and inappropriate. Perhaps that’s why Jesus is so reluctant to intervene when Mary tells him the wine has run out and the wedding party is thus in jeopardy. His initial response is to point out that his hour has not come yet, the time for his true and full identity to be revealed has not yet arrived. So, maybe he is concerned that to act now could give the wrong impression. To miraculously provide wine could make folks think he’s some mere wandering wonderworker, a sort of Miracle Max working wonders for the highest bidder, or a magician sitting around waiting to grant peoples wishes. There is reason for him to worry, for even today some folks seem to confuse God with a genie, so that our wish is his command.
But Jesus is far more: he is the Word made flesh, Divine Wisdom incarnate, dwelling among us to bring salvation to the world that God so deeply loves. His glory will not be fully revealed until Good Friday and Easter Sunday; he cannot be fully understood apart from an old rugged cross and an empty tomb. His glory is found in the giving of his very life out of an unfathomably great love for us and in the resurrection victory of life over death. Christ’s glory is seen in self-giving generosity and life-bestowing munificence.
And yet, Jesus’ extraordinary mission takes place in the midst of an ordinary life; the Divine purpose is fulfilled, and God’s glory is revealed, in a very human life. After all, where is Jesus when he performs this miracle? At a wedding. He is at a celebration, rejoicing with the bride and groom and their families and friends. First century Palestinian weddings often lasted a whole week. Just imagine that: a week-long celebration, seven days of joy. Sometimes we make religion so dull, boring and uninspiring. We think and act as if Christianity is all about rules and having exactly the right beliefs, and checking all the boxes on the list of required good deeds and behaviors. And yet in our scripture, we find Jesus at a party. He is celebrating. He is having a good time. He is rejoicing in the good things of life: love, community, good food and drink, music and laughter. The presence and participation of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, at this wedding in Cana affirms our experience of joy and our desire to celebrate.
There are limits to be sure; any good thing can be overdone or misused. This is certainly true for wine and partying. Nonetheless, we must never forget that joy and celebration are natural and good. And God, it seems, approves of them. Isaiah 62 describes God’s relationship with God’s people in romantic terms: “as a young man marries a young woman, so shall [the Lord] marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” [62.5] This morning’s Psalm speaks of God’s extravagant generosity: “ All people….feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.” [36.7-8] And of course, one of Jesus’ most famous parables compares God with a father who throws a huge party when his wayward, lost son repents and comes home. God is a God of joy.
Here is where the wine comes in. As Robert Dannals points out, “wine is a symbol of joy, lighting up a room with laughter and friendship.” [Lectionary Sermon Series, 182] Wine is also associated with God’s salvation. The book of Isaiah, for instance, describes the celebration that will follow God’s final victory over death and evil: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines….It will be said on that day….‘This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’” [25.6, 9] Similarly, Joel declares that on the day of the Lord “the mountains shall drip sweet wine” [3.18]. So, there is no cause for surprise, much less disappointment, when, in our scripture, Jesus turns between 120 and 180 gallons of water into wine.
This is a miracle of extravagance; a miracle of abundance. [Gail R. O’Day, “The Gospel of John,” New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX, 540] Jesus’ extravagance points to the overwhelming joy that comes with the salvation which reconciles us to God and one another. It is the joy of returning to the relationships for which we were made; the joy of knowing the abundant goodness and generosity of God; the joy of being upheld by the Divine love from which nothing can ever separate us; the joy of just, caring and loving community with God and with one another.
C.S. Lewis contends that God’s desire for humanity is that we know such joy, true joy. “The ultimate purpose of God in all his work,” Lewis wrote, “is to increase joy. Joy is the serious business of heaven.” [Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, 93] U2 makes essentially the same claim: “Here's where we gotta be / Love and community / Laughter is eternity / If joy is real” [“Get On Your Boots” form the album No Line on the Horizon, 2009]
Perhaps this seems out of touch with the realities of our particular moment. Climate change fueled wildfires and hurricanes; foreign wars which have taken tens of thousands of lives and threaten to turn unto more widespread conflicts; a domestic terrorist attack on New Year’s Eve; political change that is bringing great uncertainty and even fear for a significant portion of our neighbors; concerns that bird flu may pose a serious risk to humans—there is a lot to cause anxiety, fear, cynicism and despair. Can we, should we speak of joy at such a time?
UCC pastor Tony Robinson thinks we can and must. Writing during the contentious and unsettling 2016 election season, he asserted, “Even in anxious times, perhaps especially in anxious times, joy in beauty, joy in life, joy in God, is true and good. ‘It is right,’ as a line from the liturgy puts it, ‘to give God thanks and praise.’” Robinson then offers a quote from Jack Gilbert’s poem ‘A Brief for the Defense:’ "To make injustice the only measure of our attention is to praise the devil." [Robinson, “Joy,” Still Speaking Daily Devotional, email, Oct. 20, 2016] To focus all our attention on evil and suffering, to give in to despair, is a form of atheism: it is a denial that God exists and is at work in the world; an assertion that suffering and pain will have the last word.
But in Christ glorified—glorified as he amplifies the joys of a wedding with a ludicrously extravagant amount of new wine; glorified as he relieves the suffering of lepers and blind beggars and welcomes outcasts to share his table; glorified as he is lifted up on a cross and then raised up victorious from the grave—in Jesus’ glory we see that God has the last word—and it is always a word of love and life. And that is why, come what may, we may join with our African American brothers and sisters in the song Dick Woodward played for our Prelude, “We Shall Overcome.” We—all of us, black and white, rich and poor, immigrant and native born, young and old, together—shall overcome because God is with us, because the God of love and life is at work in the world, because God’s love is stronger than human evil and God’s life is stronger than death.
Thus, joy is the proper and natural response to God’s generosity and graciousness to us. As the medieval English mystic Julian of Norwich observed, “The greatest honor we can give almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love." [Revelations of Divine Love]
Joy should be a distinguishing characteristic of Christians. God’s extravagant love revealed to us in Jesus gives us abundant cause to celebrate. Our joy ought to overflow like water jars that cannot contain the new wine, so that others may share in that joy.
Back in August of 2015, when the recently ended Syrian Civil War was in its fourth year and its intensity had caused millions of people to flee the country, many of them to refugee camps in Turkey, a couple living in the border district of Kilis did something extravagant and amazing. They pooled their wedding money received from friends and family members so they could invite 4,000 Syrian refugees to attend their wedding party. Newlyweds Fethullah Uzumcuoglu and Esra Polat reached out to a Turkish Muslim charity (Kimse Yok Mu) which works with refugees around the world. Supported by the couple’s donations, the charity provided a food truck. Fethullah and Esra, still wearing their wedding attire—a white and black tuxedo and white gown accented with a gold necklace and topped off with a golden crown—took up stations behind the truck’s counter and helped serve the guests.
The groom’s father, Ali Uzumcuoglu, initially came up with the idea as a way to share the joyous occasion with, in his words, “our Syrian brothers and sisters.” He shared the idea with his son, who shared it with his soon to wife.
Esra recalled, “I was shocked when Fethullah first told me about the idea but afterwards I was won over by it. It was such a wonderful experience. I'm happy that we had the opportunity to share our wedding meal with the people who are in real need.” [John Hall, “Newlyweds spend their wedding day feeding FOUR THOUSAND Syrian refugees on the Turkish border,” Daily Mail Online Edition, Aug. 5, 2015; https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3185739/Newlyweds-spend-wedding-day-feeding-FOUR-THOUSAND-Syrian-refugees-Turkish-border.html ]
Through the abundance of their generosity, the newlywed couple brought joy into the lives of people fleeing the horrors of war, joy the Esra said she could see in the eyes of the Syrian children. [reported in Christian Century, Sept. 2, 2015, p. 8] Fethullah echoed that sentiment: “Seeing the happiness in the eyes of the Syrian refugee children is just priceless. We started our journey to happiness with making others happy and that’s a great feeling.” [Raziye Akkoc, “Meet the Turkish couple who spent their wedding day feeding 4,000 Syrian refugees,” The Telegraph, Aug. 4, 2015; https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/11783353/Meet-the-Turkish-couple-who-spent-their-wedding-day-feeding-4000-Syrian-refugees.html?ICID=continue_without_subscribing_reg_first ]
We are called to rejoice in the abundance of gracious blessings God has bestowed upon us. We are called to celebrate God’s extravagant abundance of life, of love, of grace, of hope, of new possibilities and new beginnings. And we are called to invite others to share in that extravagant abundance and the joy it brings. As Robert Hotchkins has said, “Christians ought to be celebrating constantly. We ought to be preoccupied with parties, banquets, feasts and merriment….because we have been liberated from the fear of life and the fear of death. We ought to attract people to the church quite literally by the fun there is in being a Christian.” [quoted by Robert M. Bearley, in “Second Sunday after Epiphany: John 2.1-11: Pastoral Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 1, 264]
Joy is meant to be shared; shared with whosoever may come! There is plenty to go around. Christ’s barrels are full; God’s cup runneth over. And we are all invited to join the party and enter into the joy of God’s kingdom.