Sunday Homily - January 20th, 2019 - Unexpected Grace

Wedding at Cana Icon

I.

So, here we are, at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
 The festivities have commenced,
  and we are going to be celebrating, partying, enjoying family and friends
   for the next entire week!
    7 Days! Because that's how we do it in the 1st century!

Our kids and grandkids are playing games outside,
 There is lively music and dancing.
  We are resting and relaxing from having several days off work.
   And we are having festive food and wonderful red wine to drink each night
    as wine is the festive drink for all weddings in our culture.

As you make your way through the party,
 you see brick layers,
  house builders,
   friends from the marketplaces,
    herdsman coming in from watching their cattle and their sheep.

You see religious leaders leading the joyful ceremonial actions of marriage,
 blessing the bride and groom,
  leading songs of blessing from God on their marriage.

And one night, when the festivities have drawn on and dinner is being served,
 the steward of the party,
  the one in charge of the party planning,
   has an intensely worried look on their face.

They are running about, talking to the families,
 and the families begin to get a worried look on their faces as well.
  But they put on a good face and keep their wits about them.

You are a little confused, and you begin to wonder what is going on.
 You see several people filling up the large jars used for ritual purification.
  Purifications like baptisms, washing of hands before dinner, and the like.
   And they are filling up a bunch of those jars!

Kinda strange for that to be going on in the middle of dinner,
 but you don't pay it much mind.

Then, when you are eating dinner, and drinking your wine,
 you realize that it is the best wine that you have tasted yet!
  It is sweet and strong, it has a wonderful flavor,
   and you can't believe it!

You have been celebrating the marriage of these two people for DAYS now,
 and now, instead of at the beginning, is when the BEST wine is brought out?
  No one ever does that!
   What on earth is this crazy family up to?

But, then again, you don't pay too much attention!
 I mean, hey, it is a wonderful dinner, and a wonderful wine.
  It is a wonderful celebration of two people who have been joined together by God in marriage,
   and you wish and pray that they have many happy days together.

II.

Now, we sitting here know exactly what is missing from the story, right?
 We here who know this biblical account
  of the miraculous sign turning water into wine
   for most of our lives, probably.
    It is a story that we often hear as people who are insiders,
     ones who are disciples of Jesus and who are watching him closely for what happens next.

But what if we were the normal bystanders in the crowd,
 the crowd that may not have been looking at Jesus for anything strange to happen?

Nonetheless, you experienced something that you cannot quite explain.
 This wine, this strange, wonderful, GOOD wine that is brought out
  brings joy to the heart and makes you aware that it is a good night!

BUT, something in your mind, your heart, your soul,
 knows that something is up.

THIS wine isn't supposed to come now!
 The good stuff was supposed to come first, right?
  Where did this wine come from?
   What mysterious plan was put in place by the family of the married couple?
 
Was it a trick?
 Were they pulling our leg and doing an old switcheroo on us?

Yet, we who know this story,
 we who know what miraculous sign was performed
  by the Son of God himself,
   we know that God was at work and that God's goodness
    spilled over even into the midst of a crowd that had NO idea
     that a miracle had been performed!

They had no idea that God had performed a miraculous sign:
 but they did know that something unusually good had happened.

They had no idea that the old wine ran out,
 and that the new wine ran fresh from the purification jars
  from the power of Jesus.
   But they did know that the wine was brought,
    the unexpectedly good wine that no one reserves for later,
     the blessings overflowed into their lives.

III.

Friends, God is always near,
 always working the miraculous in our lives,
  always sustaining the world and blessing you in mysterious ways.

Often it is US,
 it is our failed perception,
  our inattentiveness to the power of God
   that leads us to believe that Our Lord is absent.

What places in your life has God's mysterious power been at work?
 What blessing did you receive that made your mind think twice?
  What glimmer of hope did your spirit sense in that unexpected conversation with a friend,
    that undeserved gift you received for Christmas,
     that good news that came your way from a place you did not expect it to come?

Y'all, that thing that came to your mind?
 That was God's power active and surging into your life.
  That was the mundane waters of your life turned into the sweet wine of grace
   by the power of Jesus Christ speaking healing and love.

And often, that is how God works in your life.
 Like a lover who plays coy with their beloved,
  like a groom rejoicing in the bride,
   unconditional, unearned grace poured out abundantly into your life.

And the miraculous sign of something new:
 of Jesus Christ turning the water into wine,
  of Christ's power and love made manifest in your life,
   of the mysterious love of God that spills unexpectedly into your life
    that is the slow, subversive salvation that has broken into the world.

In this sign are you sent into the world:
 to proclaim that same mysterious presence of God already at work in your world.
  To point out to others that sweet wine of grace already poured out in their lives,
    and to rejoice in the fact that you are witnesses to this Love of God proclaimed to all the world.

That, friends, is what evangelism really is for us as Christians!
 Pointing out to others where God has already infiltrated their lives with divine Love,
  and bringing them into the knowledge and love of God who has already been at work in them.

Go in that frame of mind, friends.
 Look expectantly, excitedly for those weird ways where God shows up next!
  Pay attention in your everyday life for that mysterious sweet wine of grace
   that spills over from God's table.

And then SHARE that joy,
 that life,
  that love with those who are thirsty for it.

In the name of the + Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.