When the Wine Runs Out!

The Second Sunday after Epiphany
January 14, 2001

By
The Rev. Ann M. Smith

Based on 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 & John 2:1-12

There was a wedding feast in Cana. Jesus was one of the invited guests. I don’t know who the happy couple were, but how fortunate for them that they knew Jesus! Because when the wine ran out Jesus turned water into wine and the feasting and drinking went on as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

It is, we are told, the first of Jesus’ signs. It is a rather curious one, after all. It is sometimes called the 'luxury miracle'. For the same Christ who resisted the temptation to turn stones into bread to satisfy his own hunger, turned water into wine to allow the guests at a wedding feast to make merry.

Was it simply a show of power? The host, it is true, was helped out of an embarrassing situation. We have all been to weddings where things did not go smoothly. When my sister was married the best man arrived more than a little late. It was Grey Cup weekend and he was enjoying the game. There was my friend at Trinity who was cutting her wedding cake when the trestle table gave way. We all watched in stunned silence as someone at the end of the table caught the cake in mid air.

So why this particular wedding? Did it have any lasting effect on those present? Did it have, for example, the impact that the healing miracles had? Did it change any lives? It does not even seem to have had any great impact on those present at the event. Although Jesus demonstrated great power, few people even knew about it. There were no fire works. There was no announcement. The local authorities were not called in to establish the validity of the miracle. The crowds did not line up for an opportunity to taste the wine. And believe me, there was enough. Scholars have calculated the amount to be equivalent to several hundred bottles.

Yet there was no recognition that Jesus had accomplished anything. In fact, John says that it was no miracle at all – but a sign of God's presence. It was there for those who could see it. It affirmed the faith of the disciples. And it revealed that the glory and power of God is available within the ordinary, common, everyday circumstances of life. When the wine runs out God is able to provide. And believe me, that is some miracle!

The wine does give out, sometimes suddenly and without warning, sometimes unnoticed and gradually. The joy simply fades from life. It doesn’t usually happen at a wedding. It is usually a few years down the road when the blush of romance has died down and the problems of everyday living – paying the mortgage, raising teenagers, working at the same old job – crowd in on us. Perhaps it is a time of disaster, or loss of health. It may be because of the hurtful actions of others, or a death, or a betrayal. Do we allow ourselves to become aware that the wine is running out? What do we do about it?

Sometimes we look for a sign of God’s presence. The Corinthians were looking for signs and wonders in their own lives. Such signs, they reasoned would assure them that God was with them. The surest sign for them, the one that they looked for in themselves and in others was glossalalia, praying in tongues. Surely if their words came from God, foreign words which they did not even understand, then they could be assured that God was truly present in them. It was demonstrable. Other people could see it and recognize God in them. Others would hear them praying in tongues and know that they were holy people. That God had blessed them.

"No!" says Paul. Ecstasy or enthusiasm is no criteria for true spirituality. A deep religious experience is just not enough. God is the giver, the source of every gift. Each, even the one which seems the least significant is a spiritual gift. We are not the ones to judge the importance of the gift. There needs to be a quality of spirit in the life of the Christian, he tells them, a quality that enhances the life of the whole community. It is the gifts of the whole community that come together to renew and to revitalize.

And you know, the wonder of it all is that the gift used for the common good is the gift that offers the most back to the giver. It may be the gift of compassion when all one can do is listen, the gift of grace that comes up with exactly the word that is needed to one in despair, or the gift of love that continues to reach out to those in need.

When the wine runs out in our lives we look for signs and wonders – things to take us out of the ordinary, everyday into a spiritual realm where we can feel more certain about the faith. Some people look for it as the people of Corinth did, through ecstatic experiences, through emotional highs, through visions and miraculous occurrences. And we have an awesome God who knows that our weak faith needs such signs, truly memorable experiences, to strengthen our faith when times are difficult. But if our experience of God depends on the extraordinary, we will simply miss the signs that are all around us because they are too ordinary or too commonplace.

The incarnation is such a significant mystery. It made a connection between God and us that changed all of history. The connections are not finished with. They continue to be made. They come, often unexpectedly. Without our even knowing they have happened. We cannot tell what the coincidences – or 'God-incidences' – of life can mean. We can only trust that God will help us to reach out to others as God found a way to reach out to us. Whatever the circumstances or the uncertainties that arise in our lives, the signs of God's love and abiding presence are all about us. We need only recognize and accept them. What are the signs for our Church? Is God renewing our work and ministry? What are the signs in our daily lives? What signs do we carry to others? What gifts do we offer? What glory is being revealed in and through us? Those are the things we are called to ponder at this season of Epiphany. For Jesus is still doing it – turning water into wine, filling up empty lives with hope, meaning, joy and grace.

A man who once calculated the amount of water turned into wine presented his estimate to St. Jerome and asked if the guests at Cana had drunk all that wine. Jerome quite wisely responded, 'No, we are still drinking it.' There is plenty of wine left at the wedding. It will never run out. We need only help ourselves and pass on the gifts that God has provided so abundantly in our midst.