Writings: Jesus Keeps the Party Going!

By: Dr. Gregory S. Neal

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. (John 2:1-11)

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In graduate school I knew a lot of people with brilliant, yet often wicked, senses of humor. I was one of them. Sometimes we would circulate hilarious cartoons, many hand-drawn, which reflected our twisted sense of humor. One of my favorites showed up from a friend one day after the story of Jesus changing the water into wine was read in morning Chapel.

It was multi-framed and depicted a bunch of people sitting around a big round table, drinking and partying; meanwhile, Jesus was depicted as a dorky kid with glasses who, while sitting at the table with the partiers, wasn’t engaged in the drinking. Instead, he had a glass of water in front of him.

With each successive frame of the story, the partiers’ drinks became progressively more empty until finally, they were all empty. The partiers, who had been happy, are now sad because they were out of booze. At this point, they all look to Jesus, who still has a full glass of water sitting on the table in front of him.

The next frame shows Jesus putting his hand out over his glass of water, and in the 3 successive frames of the cartoon the water in his glass darkens into wine. Finally, in the last frame of the cartoon we find the partiers, with their arms linked together in a huddle around Jesus, singing: “What a friend we have in Jesus …”

In today’s Gospel story we find Jesus at a wedding party, along with his Disciples, and Jesus’ mom is also there. Unfortunately, disaster has struck because the party has run out of wine! As we well know, the last thing you want at a truly good wedding feast is for the adult beverages to run out! And, in the course of events, Mary comes to Jesus and says: “they’re out of wine.”

Now, that’s a weird remark: why would she say that to Jesus? It’s not as if he has any responsibility for this event … the story makes it clear that Jesus and his disciples were guests at the wedding, not that he or his mother were hosting it. But Mary appears to be desperate to help those who’ve thrown the party: “They have no wine.”

Now, frankly, Jesus’ response is rather hilarious:

“Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”

It’s like he’s saying: “ok … Mom … but why are you telling me? Do I look like the magical bartender?” Note … she doesn’t offer a reply to his response. Rather, Mary just says to the servants: “Do whatever he says.” And Jesus, being a good Jewish son, takes care of things: he has the staff fill with water the huge jars that had been used, prior to the wedding, in the ritual purification ceremony. They then draw out some of that water and took it to the chief steward, who tasted it and is amazed that it’s not only good wine, but the best wine of all!

What do we learn from this story? Let’s make a few observations: Firstly, from the remark at the end of the story we realize that this is Jesus’ first miracle. That’s incredible! His first act in public ministry is to change the water into wine in order to keep the party going! I already like this Jesus dude! Far from being a cosmic kill-joy, Jesus clearly demonstrates that he knows how to celebrate life! Secondly, we note that the wine that Jesus provides is far better than ordinary wine. This is true for the entirety of our spiritual lives: what Jesus provides is far more meaningful than what we, left to our own devices, can provide. Thirdly, Jesus provided the wine even though he didn’t have it; he worked this miracle as a pure gift of largess; and this is also fundamentally true about grace: God's grace is freely given, freely received, and given entirely out of the love of the giver. And, fourthly, we note that it was ordinary water, poured into ritual jars, that was changed. Jesus takes the ordinary water of our lives – yes, the everyday stuff of our hum-drum existences – and radically transforms it into the divine, special, even intoxicatingly extraordinary grace of God.

This last point cannot be overstressed, for it is the essence of all the means of grace: Jesus takes what we bring – our common supply of strength, ability, substance, talents, and skills – and transforms them all into the delicious, life giving, and joy generating grace of eternal life. As happens again and again throughout Jesus’ ministry: we bring our meager supply -- whatever we may have of the ordinary stuff of our lives: our 5 loaves and 2 fish; our incomplete understanding; our sickened bodies; our fearful expectations; our paltry overnight fishing catch … and Jesus transforms them into an amazing, abundant supply of grace: a feast to feed a multitude, with plenty of leftovers; spiritual knowledge beyond our imagination; health and wholeness; hope and wonder; a boat so full of fish that it’s about to sink. Again and again in the Gospels, Jesus transforms our ordinary lives into an extraordinary experience of the divine; Jesus transforms our meager supply into God’s amazing abundance; Jesus transforms each and every one of us into God’s incredible children.

That’s what this story illustrates, and it does so in remarkable anticipation of the rest of the Gospel account: it depicts how Jesus moves into the midst of our scarcity and, by his very presence, transforms it into a wellspring of life.

In a very similar way, Psalm 36:5-10 also speaks to us about God's very nature as our nurturing care-giver:

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. (Psalm 36:7-9)