You Saved The Best For Last!

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SCRIPTURE

Second Sunday After Epiphany

John 2:1-11 (NRSV)
The wedding at Cana

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.


SERMON

I don’t know about you, but I love a good party! Even more than that, I love the promise of a marriage made well. I can still remember Saturday, July 11, 1998 like it was yesterday. That was the day that I married my beloved husband Christopher. On a bright sunny day, in St. Louis, MO, in front of approximately 500 guests, we took our vows! The Holy Spirit was powerfully present in the praise and worship music, prayer, Holy Communion, exchange of rings, and blessings upon our new marriage. On that day there was great rejoicing, feasting, and dancing—so much so that twelve years later I still feel giddy with the memory!

I can imagine that the folks in Cana felt somewhat similar. After all, a wedding in Jesus’ time was a big deal! Wedding celebrations lasted about one week and the entire community was invited to come to the celebration as they were able!

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t envy the job of a wedding coordinator in 30 A.D. Can you imagine having to ensure enough bread and wine for an untold amount of guests over entire a week’s time?

Well, at first, things were going just fine in Cana. In fact, Jesus and his mother and his disciples were amongst the guests enjoying the party when all of a sudden Jesus’ mother became aware of the fact that tragedy had struck the gathering. The wine had run out!

Now, this may not seem like a big deal to you or to me, but to the bridegroom in Jesus’ day, this would have been a huge embarrassment. I assume that it would have been a signal of his inability to provide. It would have caused the party to end abruptly and people to return to their homes mumbling about the perceived lack, rather than the celebrating the great abundance. The bridegroom’s name would have been MUD with his wife, her family, and the entire community, for a long time to come and great shame would have been brought upon his household.

Well, for reasons unknown to us, Jesus’ mother cared deeply about whether the wedding continued to be a success. She called her son to her and let him know what was going on. Jesus objected to her “outing” him at the party, but ultimately he chose to perform his first public miracle by turning six jars of water into approximately 180 gallons of the finest wine anyone had ever tasted! In fact, when the chief steward imbibed Jesus’ wine, he was compelled to praise the bridge-groom declaring, “You have saved the best for last!”

This is an amazing story and very apropos for us on this Sunday morning. So what is it that can we learn from the Wedding at Cana?

Well first of all, we learn the importance of inviting Jesus to hang out in our lives!

Isn’t it grand that the Son of God, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords was hanging out at an ordinary wedding celebration? In Jesus Christ, God comes to us in the ordinary affairs of our lives. Jesus has been rightly called Immanuel, which means God with us, and so he is.

Throughout scripture, and even today, Jesus is present with people on the most joyous occasions of their lives. He was there at the wedding in Cana, the feeding of the 5,000, the raising of Lazarus. Oh, how we love to celebrate all the happy days that God is with us!

But, do you know what I’ve noticed? Often, preceding every happy ending, is a tragedy. In Cana the wine ran out. On the mountaintop the 5,000 needed to be fed because they were sick and they were hungry. In Bethany, Lazarus was raised because he had died tragically with no one to aid him.

In each of these narratives the story ended, “And they lived happily ever after…” because Jesus was hanging around ordinary people, immersed in the day to day struggles of their lives, with them in times of great sorrow and of great joy.

I am so glad that Jesus is with us in the good times and in the bad. I was particularly grateful this past Tuesday when tragedy struck in Haiti. As we all know by now, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 flattened the capital city of Port-au-Prince, and the surrounding areas, killing approximately 100,000 people and leaving another 300,000 human beings displaced, homeless, hungry, thirsty, grief stricken and mourning over the loss of life and property all around them.

It was catastrophic and absolutely devastating! As these images have come to us over our televisions and computers, many have asked, “How could God let something like this happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why have the people of Haiti suffered so much hardship?”

In answer to this question one Christian aid organization stated on their Haiti website that they were meeting “the natural disaster in Haiti with an act of God.”

Dear friends, the earthquake was a natural disaster, but our response to it will be an act of God! And this brings me to the second lesson learned from the miracle at Cana—it pays to be radically obedient to Jesus.

In Cana, when the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother instructed the servants “to do whatever he tells you.”

Now this is simple, but profound advice my friends! All of us know what it is to be at the top of the world one moment and in the valley of the shadow of death the next. Some of us have lost loved ones to terrible diseases. Others of us have experienced financial ruin in the form of a loss job, flat-lined investment portfolio, or foreclosed home. Still others of us have experienced the loss of a relationship through divorce or estrangement.

I’m sure I could go on and on for as human beings we know great joy and great sorrow, great success and great failure, great pleasure and great pain.

I can remember one day in my own life when it seemed like everything that I cared about was in ruins. I called out to God in my distress, and with tears, and I asked God how such a thing could have happened to me. On that occasion, I had an epiphany. God revealed to me that bad things happen to good people for three reasons. Sometimes bad things happen because of my sin. Sometimes bad things happen because of someone else's sin toward me. And sometimes--bad things just happen.

It is the third category that is so difficult for us as human beings. We just have such a hard time living with sacred mystery. In the Black Church Tradition, we say to these kinds of circumstances, “We’ll understand it better by and by.” This type of declaration takes enormous faith!

But, as we live out our faith, day by day, inviting Jesus to hang out with us and doing what He tells us to do, we will find that we love and serve a More Than Enough God who gives us daily bread and abundant provision.

In Cana, six jugs of water, became approximately 180 gallons of delectable wine. On the mountaintop, a little boy’s lunch became a feast for 5,000 men, plus women and children. In Bethany, a funeral dirge became a re-birthday party. And on Easter morning, Jesus’ gruesome and violent death upon the cross became a day of great rejoicing!

Hallelujah!

Our God can do anything with folks who are sold out for Him and who are willing to “do whatever He tells us to do.”

I have heard it said that every problem is only an opportunity in disguise. Right now, in Haiti, there is a great crisis. But, this is an awesome opportunity for the world community to finally do right by this nation that has a long history of being ignored, neglected, and/or abused by the Western World.

Through aid organizations like the Red Cross, World Vision, and other denominational organizations, we have a tremendous opportunity to do what Jesus said to do.

Remember, Jesus said, “Feed the hungry. Give drink to the thirsty. Clothe the naked. House the homeless. Visit the sick and care for the widows and orphans. For, as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me!”

WOW! It continually amazes me that we are invited to partner with God in sharing good news
and being good news throughout the Earth.

Let’s be honest, God doesn’t need our help. God’s Love was powerful enough to send Jesus to die on the cross, save us from our sin, gift us with eternal life, and resurrect His Son on the third day! God is all powerful! God can do anything! God doesn’t need our help; God wants it!

Let us partner with God today to bring an abundant miracle to Haiti so that Jesus’ glory may be revealed and so that the people of Haiti will have cause to rejoice, saying, “You have saved the best for last!”

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.


INVITATION

There may be someone who is reading today, who needs an abundant miracle from God. If that is you, won’t you pray with me today?

Lord God, thank you that you are a More Than Enough God. Thank you that you provide for us abundantly when we hang out with you and do what you say do. We pray in Jesus' Name that you will forgive me of my sin and fill me with the Holy Spirit. I believe that you gave Jesus to die on the cross to save me from my sin and gift me with eternal life. I believe that Jesus did not stay dead, but got up on the third day just as He promised! God I thank you that in Jesus' death and in his resurrection we see an abundant miracle. More than Enough! We pray on this day that you will fill us up with your Holy Spirit that we might share your good news with others. We pray this in Jesus' Name, Amen.


SPECIAL NOTE

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, today, you are saved! Let me encourage you to tell a Christian friend that you just put all of your hope in Jesus. Ask him or her to help you find a Bible that is easy for you to understand and to find a good Bible believing church where you can be baptized and make new friends who will walk with you on your Christian journey!

Congratulations and Happy Re-birthday! Your salvation is our GOOD NEWS, please go and share the GOOD NEWS with others!