A sign of God's new day
Commentary
Thus says the Lord: In this place of which you say "It is a waste without human beings or animals," in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, there shall once more be heard the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord:
-- Jeremiah 33:10-11
Wedding bells sound in the background of the Old Testament and Gospel lessons for this day. In Isaiah 62:1-5 the marriage metaphor surfaces to describe in a striking way the relationship with his people that God covets. God has matrimony in his mind and the community of faith is the bride he has in mind. The prophet does not hesitate to use the most tender of human emotions to describe the Divine passion usward. We note also that God's people, male and female, are described in feminine terms. The marriage image surfaces again in the gospel lesson. From the lofty language of his prologue John takes us to a village in the highlands of Galilee for the first public appearance of Jesus at a wedding. This is the first of the signs that are prominent in the Fourth Gospel, signs as to what God is up to and about in history in and through the ministry of Jesus. The lesson provides us with themes appropriate to the season of Epiphany. The epistle lesson seems to stand by itself. Like the prophet in the first lesson, Paul is addressing the community of faith. The prophets always addressed the community, never the individual. There is a subtle shift in the letters of Paul that is worth noting. The focus of Paul is the community composed of individuals. In other words, the individual is always understood within the context of community. This is a significant point to make.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Isaiah 62:1-5
The use of the marriage metaphor by the prophets can also be found in Hosea and Ezekiel. I would be content just to read this lesson with brief comment and let it set the stage for the wedding imagery in that richly woven tapestry, John's story of the wedding at Cana. The wedding imagery surfaces at other points in John's gospel as well as in the synoptic gospels, 2 Corinthians, and Revelation.
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
The epistle lesson for next Sunday continues the balance of 1 Corinthians 12 and Paul's metaphor of the church as the Body of Christ. Verses 1-11 are an excellent example of how Paul, the New Testament in general, and Jesus in particular understood the meaning of individualism. It is worth remembering that the pronouns I, me, and my do not show up in the prayer Jesus taught us to pray. Greek culture that still flourished around the early church glorified the solitary individual. Look at Grecian statuary. Israel never produced such a tradition nor understood the individual as a soloist. The idea of the immortality of the soul that emerged out of Greek thought understands individuals as disconnected units neither dependent upon God nor accountable to him. Resurrection faith is radically different. Our hope is communal as well as individual. In our lesson Paul thinks in terms of individuality rather than individualism.
Our individual gifts comprise our individuality and our true selfhood is found in contribution to the whole. Paul's discussion is by no means passe in this century of relations between the one and the many, the collective and the individual, rights and responsibilities, and in a culture that has been called narcissistic. It is relevant to how we understand our denominational traditions in relation to the great church. Each tradition has a distinctive gift. Is our tradition something we jealously guard or a gift we hold in trust as a contribution to the fullness of the whole church?
John 2:1-11
John's symbol is the eagle and it is a fitting one for his thought takes wings and soars. Sentences and scenes carry multiple levels of meaning. Theological themes predominate and are artfully woven into John's story of Jesus. John is a unique and inspired see-er. It is just such a wealth of symbol and meaning in this wedding scene, for example, that pushes the details of the miracle at Cana into the background and focuses our attention on the theological themes.
Why did John choose this setting for the first public appearance of Jesus? I am going to argue that the clue is found in the words of Jeremiah. (See Jeremiah 7:34, 16:9, 25:10, and especially 33:10-11). The prophet promises a new day for a desolate Israel. They will know its arrival when sounds of mirth and gladness are heard in the land along with the voice of the bridegroom and the bride. Isn't John's gospel itself a paean of praise in which mingle the voice of the bridegroom, Jesus (John 3:29), and the testimony of the bride, the community of believers? (In John's gospel the words of Jesus and those of the community of believers often merge.) The story unfolds in a series of scenes, each one of which brims over with suggestions for the preacher.
Scene one centers on the exchange between Jesus and his mother when she informs him that there is no more wine. Addressing her as "Woman" is not rude, but does appear to put distance between Jesus and his mother. The synoptic gospels indicate that Jesus put some distance between himself and his family (Matthew 12:48, Mark 3:34, Luke 8:21). Was there a "first family" problem within the early church? We know of local congregations where blood relatives of the founding members assume their voices should carry more weight than those of newcomers. At any rate, he reminds her the wine supply is not her problem nor is it his. He is not the bridegroom, at least not yet for his hour has not yet come. That word, hour, is special in the fourth gospel. Jesus' hour is the hour of his crucifixion and exaltation, the time when he will be lifted up from the earth.
I find it interesting that Jesus' reference to his hour surfaces in a conversation about wine. Two things are crucial in the production of good wine. One is locale, the location of the vineyard in respect to geography, soil, drainage, and climate. The second is time; it is of the essence in wine production. The vintner has to know just the right time to harvest the grape, and the right time to execute each further step in the process of wine making. John in his gospel presents Jesus as moving toward the crucial hour of his lifting up not just as a matter of personal timing on the part of Jesus, but as part of a vast cosmic purpose intruding into history. And this is all taking place at an historic moment in the land called by the prophets the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts. John's thought can take you down all sorts of suggestive paths.
In the second scene a displacement theme surfaces as attention shifts to the empty stone jars that were used to contain water for the rites of purification and the water that becomes wine. John is signaling nothing less than the displacement of the religious institutions and thinking that ruled the day. Sweeping societal change is coming as the holiness codes are vetoed by the Living Word. John's gospel and his community reflect many of those changes: the elevation of women and the inclusion of Samaritans in the church are examples. Jesus as the bridegroom incognito is suggestive. God still has matrimony in mind. Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (John 4:1-30). Well scenes in the Old Testament are associated with matrimony (Genesis 24, 29). See Revelation 18:23, 19:9, 21:2 , 21:19 for a striking use of the marriage metaphor by a Christian prophet with roots in the Johanine community.
The final scene is that of the steward reporting the sudden appearance of new and high quality wine to the bridegroom who though knowing he did not supply the wine takes credit for it. (Don't we all steal the credit line when it comes to the gifts of God?) The steward, by the way, must have worked for some chintzy bosses. A good host serves quality wine throughout the meal. That is John's point: Jesus is the genuine host; he serves the best wine always. Grace abounds!
-- Jeremiah 33:10-11
Wedding bells sound in the background of the Old Testament and Gospel lessons for this day. In Isaiah 62:1-5 the marriage metaphor surfaces to describe in a striking way the relationship with his people that God covets. God has matrimony in his mind and the community of faith is the bride he has in mind. The prophet does not hesitate to use the most tender of human emotions to describe the Divine passion usward. We note also that God's people, male and female, are described in feminine terms. The marriage image surfaces again in the gospel lesson. From the lofty language of his prologue John takes us to a village in the highlands of Galilee for the first public appearance of Jesus at a wedding. This is the first of the signs that are prominent in the Fourth Gospel, signs as to what God is up to and about in history in and through the ministry of Jesus. The lesson provides us with themes appropriate to the season of Epiphany. The epistle lesson seems to stand by itself. Like the prophet in the first lesson, Paul is addressing the community of faith. The prophets always addressed the community, never the individual. There is a subtle shift in the letters of Paul that is worth noting. The focus of Paul is the community composed of individuals. In other words, the individual is always understood within the context of community. This is a significant point to make.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Isaiah 62:1-5
The use of the marriage metaphor by the prophets can also be found in Hosea and Ezekiel. I would be content just to read this lesson with brief comment and let it set the stage for the wedding imagery in that richly woven tapestry, John's story of the wedding at Cana. The wedding imagery surfaces at other points in John's gospel as well as in the synoptic gospels, 2 Corinthians, and Revelation.
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
The epistle lesson for next Sunday continues the balance of 1 Corinthians 12 and Paul's metaphor of the church as the Body of Christ. Verses 1-11 are an excellent example of how Paul, the New Testament in general, and Jesus in particular understood the meaning of individualism. It is worth remembering that the pronouns I, me, and my do not show up in the prayer Jesus taught us to pray. Greek culture that still flourished around the early church glorified the solitary individual. Look at Grecian statuary. Israel never produced such a tradition nor understood the individual as a soloist. The idea of the immortality of the soul that emerged out of Greek thought understands individuals as disconnected units neither dependent upon God nor accountable to him. Resurrection faith is radically different. Our hope is communal as well as individual. In our lesson Paul thinks in terms of individuality rather than individualism.
Our individual gifts comprise our individuality and our true selfhood is found in contribution to the whole. Paul's discussion is by no means passe in this century of relations between the one and the many, the collective and the individual, rights and responsibilities, and in a culture that has been called narcissistic. It is relevant to how we understand our denominational traditions in relation to the great church. Each tradition has a distinctive gift. Is our tradition something we jealously guard or a gift we hold in trust as a contribution to the fullness of the whole church?
John 2:1-11
John's symbol is the eagle and it is a fitting one for his thought takes wings and soars. Sentences and scenes carry multiple levels of meaning. Theological themes predominate and are artfully woven into John's story of Jesus. John is a unique and inspired see-er. It is just such a wealth of symbol and meaning in this wedding scene, for example, that pushes the details of the miracle at Cana into the background and focuses our attention on the theological themes.
Why did John choose this setting for the first public appearance of Jesus? I am going to argue that the clue is found in the words of Jeremiah. (See Jeremiah 7:34, 16:9, 25:10, and especially 33:10-11). The prophet promises a new day for a desolate Israel. They will know its arrival when sounds of mirth and gladness are heard in the land along with the voice of the bridegroom and the bride. Isn't John's gospel itself a paean of praise in which mingle the voice of the bridegroom, Jesus (John 3:29), and the testimony of the bride, the community of believers? (In John's gospel the words of Jesus and those of the community of believers often merge.) The story unfolds in a series of scenes, each one of which brims over with suggestions for the preacher.
Scene one centers on the exchange between Jesus and his mother when she informs him that there is no more wine. Addressing her as "Woman" is not rude, but does appear to put distance between Jesus and his mother. The synoptic gospels indicate that Jesus put some distance between himself and his family (Matthew 12:48, Mark 3:34, Luke 8:21). Was there a "first family" problem within the early church? We know of local congregations where blood relatives of the founding members assume their voices should carry more weight than those of newcomers. At any rate, he reminds her the wine supply is not her problem nor is it his. He is not the bridegroom, at least not yet for his hour has not yet come. That word, hour, is special in the fourth gospel. Jesus' hour is the hour of his crucifixion and exaltation, the time when he will be lifted up from the earth.
I find it interesting that Jesus' reference to his hour surfaces in a conversation about wine. Two things are crucial in the production of good wine. One is locale, the location of the vineyard in respect to geography, soil, drainage, and climate. The second is time; it is of the essence in wine production. The vintner has to know just the right time to harvest the grape, and the right time to execute each further step in the process of wine making. John in his gospel presents Jesus as moving toward the crucial hour of his lifting up not just as a matter of personal timing on the part of Jesus, but as part of a vast cosmic purpose intruding into history. And this is all taking place at an historic moment in the land called by the prophets the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts. John's thought can take you down all sorts of suggestive paths.
In the second scene a displacement theme surfaces as attention shifts to the empty stone jars that were used to contain water for the rites of purification and the water that becomes wine. John is signaling nothing less than the displacement of the religious institutions and thinking that ruled the day. Sweeping societal change is coming as the holiness codes are vetoed by the Living Word. John's gospel and his community reflect many of those changes: the elevation of women and the inclusion of Samaritans in the church are examples. Jesus as the bridegroom incognito is suggestive. God still has matrimony in mind. Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (John 4:1-30). Well scenes in the Old Testament are associated with matrimony (Genesis 24, 29). See Revelation 18:23, 19:9, 21:2 , 21:19 for a striking use of the marriage metaphor by a Christian prophet with roots in the Johanine community.
The final scene is that of the steward reporting the sudden appearance of new and high quality wine to the bridegroom who though knowing he did not supply the wine takes credit for it. (Don't we all steal the credit line when it comes to the gifts of God?) The steward, by the way, must have worked for some chintzy bosses. A good host serves quality wine throughout the meal. That is John's point: Jesus is the genuine host; he serves the best wine always. Grace abounds!
