“The Wedding – Merging Lives”

Sermon by Pastor Dan Wilkie

First Congregational United Church of Christ

January 17, 2010

 Scripture:  John 2: 1-11

            Let me introduce myself, my name is Jacob, I was a simple shepherd, but now I travel around the countryside, teaching and ministering to the people.  I love this scripture passage from John’s gospel because I was at this wedding John is talking about, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

            Let me tell you a little about life in Cana.  Cana was a rather large town, a trading center in the region.  On market day people would come by the thousands to trade and visit.  There were businesses on all the streets, and the hills on the outside of town were filled with small farms and sheep pen where people tended their crops and livestock.  It was a wonderful place to grow up and live.

            It was during one of these market days when my friend Samuel, a very quiet, strong hard working tin-smith, met Rachel when she came into his shop to purchase some tin goods.  Rachel was an incredible beauty, she had bright eyes, and incredible smile, and a fantastic sense of humor.  Every single man in town was totally smitten with her but she never was allowed to date by her father a wealthy merchant.  When the two of them met, you could almost feel the sparks between them.  I knew in that moment my friend had found the woman he would marry.

            Everyone in town watched as the two of them dated under the watchful eyes of their parents, we watched as they fell in love with each other and we all knew it would not be long before we would be celebrating a wedding.

            Weddings in those days are not like your weddings now, it could take most of a day to say vows to each other, then the party afterward was truly something to behold, it would last for days sometimes up to a full week. It was always important to have plenty of food and wine for the guests because it was what you call it today a social faux pas not to have enough and run out.

            Soon Samuel and Rachel announced their wedding, they sent invitations far and wide to all their friends and family, and to everyone who was anyone in the community.  I know I was so excited when I received mine.

            I watched as Samuel and Rachel and their families worked hard to make sure there was plenty of food and wine.  They must have made wine for months to have enough for such a large gathering. 

            When the big day came the Synagogue was filled to capacity, we had never seen such a crowd to honor two people in our community.  There was even a visitor to our town, a man named Jesus, who, rumor had it, was some sort of famous teacher, his mother Mary, and several of his followers they called disciples. Jesus was a rather rugged looking man with his strong wiry build, olive skin, and laughing warm brown eyes and curly long black hair who kind of stood out from the crowd. 

            The Synagogue was decorated with wild flowers, a large banner and several streamers and looked extra festive for the occasion.  The Rabbi was in his finest robes as were the other Jewish leaders, Samuel and Rachel were also in their finest clothes as was everyone in attendance.  I was pretty spectacular to see such a sight.

            The Rabbi began the service by telling everyone that we had gathered to celebrate the beginning of their new life together, one in which Samuel brought all that he was, all that he had, his joy, his sorrow, his strengths and weaknesses, his talents, his friends and family to the relationship, as did Rachel.  As everyone listened they were kind of shocked because the Rabbi did not treat Rachel as property as was the custom then, but rather as an equal partner.  This in itself was pretty amazing.

            As the Rabbi then asked them their vows, he stressed that they were not giving themselves up, or becoming servants of one another or were the property of each other but that they were sharing their lives and all that they brought to the relationship. 

            When they had finished their vows to one another and God, they sealed their relationship with a kiss, a glass of wine, which they shared, and a lit candle symbolizing their unity.  When I looked around the room from where I was sitting, many of the women silently had tears in their eyes and the men were smiling at this incredible moment.

            After Samuel and Rachel left the Synagogue to go to the reception everyone followed them out yelling and screaming their names, they were clapping and dancing all the way to the area where he reception was to be held.

            Everyone was eating, drinking, visiting and laughing having a good time.  There were many toasts to the new couple, lots of dancing and just general gaiety and excitement.  Well at least until I noticed that the serving of the wine had dropped of considerably, and I noticed the chief steward talking to Samuel and the panicked look come over Samuel’s face when I went to ask if I could help I overheard them say they were out of wine. 

            Mary, Jesus’ mother must have heard the same conversation because she turned to Jesus telling him that they were out of wine.  Jesus who had minutes before been laughing and clapping with the crowd kind of snapped at her saying what concern is it of mine, it’s not my problem, and it is not time yet.  After Jesus said this, he and his disciples left the room for a while.  Now I never followed them outside and I don’t know what was said exactly, but I did notice Mary talking to the chief steward telling him to do exactly what her son told them to do. The chief steward like a great many men during that time kind of brushed her off, until Jesus re entered the room.  Jesus noticing the large empty clay jars for the water for the purification service told the chief steward to fill them up, then fill the pitchers and serve them.  The chief steward, grumbling about all this added work as he left for the well soon returned with all of his staff and filled the jars as he was told filling every last jar to the brim. When he dipped in the ladle in to fill the first pitcher, I am sure expecting to see water, he got a dipper of wine and upon tasting it found that it was better than what they had previously been serving, and the quantity was more than enough to last another week.  One guest even told Samuel what an amazing gift this was because unlike most hosts who serve the best wine first then the older or worse wine for later after the guests were drunk, he had saved the best wine for last.   

            Watching this scene I was totally amazed, I had never seen anything like it in my life, and I guess from the looks on their faces neither had the disciples for they too were stunned by what had occurred.  What was even more amazing though was as I looked around the room, everyone else in the room had not even noticed, they were too busy talking, and laughing and celebrating to notice and I realized then that they had missed something truly miraculous and wonderful.

            It was not long before everyone had become too stuffed and consumed far too much wine to continue the party and gradually started leaving.  Jesus, his mother, and the disciples were the first to go, and I followed along not too much after them because I had sheep to tend to. 

            Later that evening, sitting with my sheep, I could not get the image of Jesus and that wine out of my head, I kept going over it and over it wondering what it all meant.

            Suddenly it dawned on me that Jesus was an incredible teacher, because in turning that water into wine there were many lessons he had taught those of us who noticed what he had done. 

            The first lesson I learned was that life with God is kind of like that marriage between Samuel and Rachel, because when we open our hearts to God it is like exchanging marriage vows, we are giving our selves in all that we are to God, all of our strengths and weaknesses, all our joys and our sorrows every aspect of our lives and God promises to be with us in all things as an equal partner sharing every aspect of our lives.

            Secondly I learned that when we have this incredible faith in God, like Jesus did that we are rewarded with more wonderful things than we can imagine and in greater quantity than we could ever hope for.

            And lastly, thinking about all those people who never even noticed the miracle before them, that it is easy for us to miss the everyday joys and miracles that show that God is truly with us; the laughter of our children, the sunshine for our crops, the beauty of a rainbow, or the terrible darkness of a thunderstorm. 

            Thank you for listening to my story, I hope you learned from it and I hope that you were touched just as I was.

            I know it was a story, and that it may touch each of you in different ways, what I do hope is that each of you will take a moment to think about the many and incredible ways that God has touched your life, that perhaps you will notice the every day blessings all around you, the friend and neighbor you are sitting next to, the joy of children or grand children, the beauty of the snow that brings water to our land in the spring, the comfort of a friend’s voice or the touch of their hand when they are hurting.  I hope that find in God the faith to celebrate life’s joys, and be comforted in life’s sorrows and I pray that in what ever way God touches your life, that you will be filled with greater abundance and greater blessing than you could ever imagine.

Amen.