Remember to take out the trash! Did you schedule the oil change like I asked? How many times do I need to ask you to do (fill in the blank). If you are or have been a parent of a teenager, maybe you remember having to remind your child about doing household chores. Or you might have to remind your spouse to accomplish said requests. We humans really don’t like to be reminded that we have “stuff” to do. Some equate more than one request to nagging. However, sometimes we do need a swift kick in the pants to get us going.
In Luke 2:41-52, we heard about Jesus, Mary and Joseph visit to Jerusalem and Jesus staying in the temple when Jesus was twelve years old. Mary watched her son amaze the learned teachers, remembering their comments. Most likely she recalled the words of the angel Gabriel, “... you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end…So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1::30-33)
Visits by the shepherds and the magi gave more credibility to Gabriel’s announcement and later the words of Simeon at Jesus’ presentation, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel” (Luke 2:34), once again highlighted the destiny of Jesus’ mission. A mission Mary most definitely didn’t completely understand for more than once in the Gospels we hear, “that Mary pondered all these things in her heart.” But she never stood in the way of the Spirit’s call.
So, today fast forward some eighteen years later. We hear that Mary and Jesus are again together, this time at a social event. However Joseph is not mentioned leading us to surmise that he mighht have passed away and Mary is a widow and now under the protection of her son, Jesus. While there is no direct mention of his death in any of the four gospels, he is never mentioned directly or personally again after the finding in the temple.
The social structure of that time mandated that a woman needed to be under the protection of a male relative such as her father, husband, or son. Even a nephew or a minor son would have been seen as the protector. So, if indeed Mary was a widow Jesus staying at home with her was vitality important. She would have depended upon him greatly but also knew in her heart of hearts that someday he would have to leave home.
Mary has been watching him, remembering the words of the angel Gabriel, Simeon, the shepherds and the magi. She knew her son was destined for greatness. She has been watching her son grow and mature. She knows him so very well, like many committed parents. She has watched him from his first breath, his first steps and his first words. She knows her son is destined for great things and that he must begin his life's work, and the time is now.
Jesus too has been preparing for his Father’s work, his mission and his ministry since his youth. Although not much is said about these formative years one can surmise that he has spent lots of time in thought, prayer and contemplation. He even has recruited some followers, his disciples.
Jesus is not the only one who has been praying and being open to the Spirit. Mary has been pondering and reflecting on God’s will in her life for the past three decades. At this wedding at Cana, the Spirit nudges her into action, and she once again co-operates with God’s plan. The time has come for some “Mom Action” or a not so gentle prodding to leave the nest. “Son, they have no wine.”
Jesus too has been pondering when “his time” to begin will start. He appears to be “on the fence” saying, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” Perhaps he feels she needs him at home and at work. Or that he still needs more time for “formation” or support from his friends. Whatever was Jesus’ reason for hesitating to step up to his call, his mission, the Spirit kicks it into high gear. Mary is the voice of the persistent hound of heaven. “Do whatever he tells you.”
Jesus moves forward, heeding the Spirit nudging. He not only changes the water into fine wine, he exchanges his safe carpenter lifestyle for that of an itinerant preacher slash miracle worker. Mary too knows that a major change in her life will take place. She will be on her own, a woman without a male protector, trusting in the mercy of God and other people. Not only has the water been changed into fine wine, but so has the relationship between mother and son.
Jesus moves from service and devotion to his mother to service and salvation to the world. If he does what he is being called to, his life will be changed, he will be giving up his anonymity. No longer will he be just another man in his town, the local carpenter. Everything will change. He really wasn’t planning on starting yet, remember he says, “My hour has not yet come.” However, the Holy Spirit nudges but really nags Jesus forward. Time to begin, the spirit says, “We have work to do.”
“Do whatever he tells you.” Jesus ordered the servants to fill those empty earthen vessels with water. Water is the most essential component of human life. Water is necessary for drinking, hydration and hygiene. At this wedding, the earthen vessels, the jars are empty. Sometimes in our lives, maybe we have been like empty earthen vessels. We have been empty of life giving water. We look okay on the outside but inside we are dry.
Water that is kept in the jar will not be of much use. It can’t hydrate the parched ground and thirsty plants. It can’t wash soiled laundry or dirty hands. Nothing can be cooked in stored water. Shut up in the earthen vessel of a jar, the water is useless. But when it is poured out or scooped out it changes from a static element into a dynamic one. The same is true of our spiritual essence. We need hydration, spiritual hydration.
That spiritual hydration took place at our baptism. We were given life saving hydration, we were filled with the waters of everlasting life. Baptism changes us from dried out and dried up creatures to beloved children of God. Baptism changes us into the finest wine and brings us into a new relationship with God. A relationship that needs communication via prayer, contemplation and action. A relationship that needs trust. “Do whatever he tells you.”
Mary trusted in God that all that was told to her would come to pass and that all would be well. Jesus too trusted that it was the right to begin his mission and ministry. Remember the words from the prophet Jeremiah, “ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. When you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. And I will change your life.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14)
Today’s gospel reading is all about change; changing water into fine wine, changing home and life status, changing being anonymous to being a celebrity, changing from inaction to action. The wedding at Cana is often referred to as Jesus’ first miracle, changing water into wine. Let us become a miracle too. May the life-giving water that we received at our baptism change us into that fine choice wine that saturates the world with passion, tenderness and grace of God.
Blessings on your day.
NOTES
Delivered (preached) January 19 at Trinity Lutheran in Falun, Wisconsin and Bethany Lutheran in Grantsburg, Wisconsin
Second Sunday after Epiphany Year C
References: John 2:1-11