The best is yet to come.

Rooke Chapel Congregation
Kurt Nelson
Sunday 1/20/19
John 2: 1-11

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory… full of grace and truth…From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

Thus begins the Gospel of John.
The word “Grace”
which you’ll soon learn is my favorite word,
appears 4 times in John’s dense prologue,
and then never gain.
Unlike – for instance Paul
who’s always trying to tell us what grace means –
John tries to show us.

in one sense,
the Gospel of John is a simple text.
When you take a course on biblical Greek,
you read John,
The language is clear, uncomplicated
and unlike so much of the Greek New Testament,
grammatical.
John is well considered and coherent,
and not a word is wasted.
It’s poetry.
Indeed, it’s theology,
in story form.
But the simple language belies
a deeper complexity.
beneath it all,
you sense layers.
you sense magic.
You sense he’s trying to point you to something great,
and big and mysterious.
Did you notice how today’s story began?
“On the third day…”
This is not an accident.
John’s readers and hearers know the story,
and he’s trying to take them deeper,
to show them what grace is,
to show them who God is.
And remind them that scarcity and abundance,
death and resurrection,
are all woven intimately together.

And the story we read to day,
is his opening salvo,
a likable story,
about – if such a thing is possible –
a quaint little miracle.

But make no mistake,
running out of wine,
was an unmitigated disaster.
The first century Palestinian equivalent,
of running out of beer before 10 o’clock.
Weddings were meant to last a week,
and here we are on the third day,
with no wine,
and the guests are thirsty.
not only has their party gone bad,
Their social lubricant gone dry,
But wine was something of a symbol,
Of harvest, of abundance,
Indeed, of the very and most essential gifts of God.
In this most joyous of occasions,
this most significant of unions,
especially then,
the wedding was meant to reflect the abundance,
the gifts of God and land,
and they are run dry.
And it is bad.

Mary, Jesus’ mother
is introduced here,
since John has no birth story.
And I’m increasingly convinced,
that Mary is always the one who gets it best.
If you grew up in Catholic circles,
you probably grew up venerating Mary
and if you grew up in Protestant circles,
you probably grew up ignoring her.
But if you are looking for a model disciple in scripture,
I’d suggest you look no further.
She’s smart, and thoughtful,
She asks good questions,
and she’s faithful and present from beginning to end.
And she gets it.
Sometimes, it would seem,
better than Jesus himself.

Mary’s probably the one who’s connected to the wedding party,
and she looks around,
sees the impending wine crisis
and says, “Yo. Jesus. You can fix this right? They have no wine.”
To which Jesus replies,
“What do I care?
I’m not ready yet.”

Such a classic kid argument right?
In the immortal words of Michael Scott:
You wouldn’t understand. It’s a secret!

Which is it Jesus?
Do you not care?
Or are you not ready?

Our scriptures – you may have noticed,
don’t contain many facial expressions.
It’s a deficiency of both the ancient and modern codex, to be sure.

I imagine Mary as kind of a sassy mom.
giving the side-eye cocked eyebrow,
in response to Jesus’ childish,
and it turns out untrue response.
But she could very well have been the stoic mom
who just stares at you for a couple of extra beats.
Or maybe she was the “on top of her game teacher mom.”
Who just has to look at you over the top of her glasses,
for you to quiet down,
and stop tormenting your little brother.

But regardless,
we can be pretty sure,
that there was a facial expression of significance here,
passing between mother and son.

And then a pause,
no need for a direct response,
and then she tells the servants nearby:
Do whatever he tells you.

She knows,
even if he doesn’t,
that abundance is ever right around the corner.
abundance is ever right around the corner.
She knows,
even if he doesn’t,
that his time has come.
Indeed, that it’s God’s time,
already there. already here.

The timing here is all sorts of messed up, right?
The good wine comes at the end of the party.
There’s a clear allusion to Jesus’ resurrection –
at the beginning of the story.
Jesus says his time’s not come,
and then turns around and turns water into wine.

This is God’s time,
we are a part of God’s story,
and grace and abundance are always right around the corner.
Even when we’re not feeling it.

But sometimes!
Grace feels like the wedding party about to come derailed,
turning into the event of the century.
Grace tastes like the good wine,
when we expected the bad stuff.
130 gallons of it.
More than enough for everyone.
I hope you’ve had a taste of it, in your life.
The light switch between scarcity and abundance?

Maybe on one of those long Wednesday afternoons at your desk,
when you feel like you’ve nothing left to offer,
and then a thank you note,
or a kind word,
or a spark of inspiration comes through?

In those long winters,
in which you wonder if ever the earth might be fruitful and colorful ever again,
and then you look out,
and notice how many buds have come up?

In those long courses,
in which the conversation is ground to a halt,
and the insight is lacking
and you’re just gritting it out,
and then a new text comes up,
that changes a group of people,
into a learning community?

At a family funeral,
that turns into a celebration.

The point of grace is,
I think,
that abundance is always right around the corner,
even when all we see is scarcity.

And I don’t need to tell you,
about scarcity.
The world narrates scarcity almost exclusively.
Do you have enough saved for retirement?
Enough friends?
The right job?
The right degree?
White enough teeth?
Is there enough room in our country?

And eventually we start wondering:
Will I have enough? Enough time? Money? Success?
We know it.
We feel it.
We have been the bride and groom,
at the wedding gone dry,
more often than we can number,
I’m sure.

But in the face of scarcity,
and bigotry,
and war and famine,
and government shut downs,
we have something to offer,
even when we too feel as though
our time is not yet come,
or that their issues are no concern to us.
Because we know the real story,
isn’t about scarcity,
but about abundance.
About good wine overflowing,
even after the bought supply has run out.

because what we have to give,
are glimpses of a grace so big and boundless,
that it dwarfs the challenges that surround us.

The promise isn’t that everything will always be great.
And it certainly isn’t that we don’t have work to do.
But rather,
that God is with us,
all the time.
that God’s time is –
frustrating though it may be –
different than ours.
And I will be honest,
I rarely feel like I have enough time.

But how might we look,
at the ordinary mundane elements of our lives,
indeed, at the frustrating, overwhelming elements of our lives,
if we really believed God was with us,
and that abundance was ever around the corner.
working in and with us,
to help care for God’s people.

How might we pause,
and let that story wash over us?

Much is asked of us,
by a world which so often tells the story of scarcity.
Indeed, even the church,
seems intent on telling stories
about how great things used to be,
when we had more people,
more power,
more money,
more influence.

Much has changed,
in this community,
in this Chapel.
And much of it,
I know,
has been hard,
and disconnected and complicated.

But be sure, my friends,
that ours is a story of abundance always ever around the corner.
And there is plenty of time.
It might not look like we expect it to,
but I’m confident,
that the best is yet to come,
with the Grace of God.

Amen.