A woman was teaching a Sunday School class to youth years ago. When she got to this passage in John chapter 2 where Jesus turned water into wine and she said, “I don’t know why he did that. But I would have a whole lot more respect for him if he had not.”

Jesus was no kill joy as I have at times seen the ethics police make him out to be just that. Sometimes we just miss the point. We are like the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son are standing outside the party, refusing to join in. Sometimes we so miss the point, do we not? A sure sign of the fruit of the spirit is: JOY.

This is a culture that also values hospitality. Mary – a main character in this first miracle, knew that hospitality was important. She knew the host was about to be embarrassed because they were running out of wine. In many wedding venues there is an RSVP. If you do not fill out an RSVP card and you show up, then the family may run out of food and drinks and that would be quite embarrassing. My niece’s daughter, my grand niece, sent me message on Facebook to see if I was coming to her wedding because she had to pay for it. If I said yes and did not show, she would be charged anyway. I asked her the exact date and it was the Saturday before Easter. She said, “It is?” So, I was unable to attend. But having enough at a wedding was of even more importance in a day when you couldn’t just run to the ACME store or Costco.

Mary went to Jesus and told him they were running out of wine. She knew who he was. There is a song, ‘Mary did you know?’ Well, by now as he is 30 years old, she knows what he is capable of. She knows his power and his purpose. ‘Jesus, the host is out of wine.’ Jesus doesn’t want to show his hand. ‘What concern is that to you? My hour has not yet come.’ What concern? It is only a wedding. It is only a celebration. He is not ready. And Mary tells the servants to do whatever he says. She doesn’t argue with him. She knows he will do what she asked. If ever there was a scripture about praying to Mary for her to go to Jesus to give us what we need, this is one.

And the rest of the story we know. He changes the water into wine.

We have more than one miracle a person doing what Jesus said and being healed. “Take up your mat and walk.” He did what Jesus said and was able to walk. “Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.” He did what Jesus said and could see. Here is a miracle where the servants poured water into the stone jars as Jesus said and it became wine.

I have a mug that says, water is just coffee that has not yet reached its full potential. Maybe the same can be said of grape juice.

A pastor friend of mine came to our oyster supper and she gave me some napkins that say, “You cannot make everyone happy. You are not a bottle of wine.”

In the gospel of John this is the first miracle. Water into wine. The joy, the celebration, the hospitality. What a beginning.

Of course, this is not all there is to our lives. If we only focus on an abundance of wine there will be pain and hardships we have to face. If we stop there, it can lead to alcoholism and no longer will the wine be a means to joy, but it will take over and control the person to the point of suffering and misery. So, of course this isn’t all there is to the gospel. It is the beginning, though.

A scripture I have always found most fascinating when Jesus is confronting people who are rejecting John the Baptist and him, he says, “John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; 34 the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Luke 7:33-34

You are condemned if you do. You are condemned if you don’t. That is actually not how we say it in Texas.

Some people think of Jesus as emaciated on the cross. He did fast for 40 days, then he ate and drank and enjoyed people for 3 years. So, he was called a glutton and a drunkard for enjoying fine wine and good food.

John the Baptist had a different kind of spirituality, never drinking any wine and living off locus and honey. It is an extreme of feast or famine. We often talk about and perhaps practice intermittent moments of abstaining from food or activity. Here the focus is on the feast part.

I just learned the jugs, make an equivalent of 900 bottles of wine. That is plenty for everyone at the wedding. And not only that it says it is the good wine. Usually, people bring out the cheap wine after everyone is, well, been there awhile let’s just say.

Jesus came eating and drinking and providing an abundance of food and an abundance of wine for the crowd. At the end of John’s gospel after Jesus was resurrected, they hear someone say to caste their nets to the other side of the boat and they had so many fish the nets could not hold it all. Then they knew, how did they know? They knew because of this abundant gift, it was Jesus.

I have seen people say, “How can you rejoice, when so many are suffering?” Jesus is listening to his mother and offering radical hospitality to a wedding party, that’s how.

My misery doesn’t bring about relief for others. Joy, on the other hand, is quite contagious. It is about contagious contentment. Now, I am not saying complacency. There will come times to sacrifice and to act while weary. There are also times of great joy and celebration. It is what some call a yes, but sermon. Yes, celebrate. I will save the but … and don’ts and fasting for another sermon.

John’s gospel also has a story about another Mary, not the mother of Jesus, but his friend Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who pours a whole jar of costly perfume on Jesus’ feet. Some naysayers took this generous act and tried to say their objections were noble and pure. But Jesus told them to leave her alone in her extravagant offering.

Remember our beloved Psalm 23, “He anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over” And in Luke chapter 6, “give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over”

We sometimes live under the myth of scarcity. Jesus is abundantly giving wine to this crowd. What a joyous occasion for a first miracle. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

I can tell when someone has been hanging out with God. When someone has been praying, there are signs. This water into wine was a sign Jesus showed. There are signs when one has been hanging out with God. That sign us joy. Fruits are produced when we spend time with God.

And how do we do that? One way is fellowship, or gathering within a community we call church. Where 2 or more are together in his name, there he is.

Another way to hang out with God is through prayer. Our church council wants us as a congregation to be in prayer. Specifically in prayer about what God may be saying, guiding, leading us in the future. Jesus said we don’t pray for show.
And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[b]
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:5-8
I have told you this before, but it is worth repeating. Father Thomas Keating was known for prayer. I heard him speak and afterwards during questions and answers, a man asked, “How will I know I have been in the presence of God? Will I hear his audible voice? Will I see colors?” Fr. Keating said, “When I see the results, I will say you have been there. When you 1. Show the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control) 2. You love your enemies and 3. You don’t have to be right.”
The results of someone who has been hanging out with God in prayer, are seen visible. The fruits – one is joy. Not gloom and doom face, but joy. A love for your enemies and you do not have to win and be right. What a way to see if we are connecting to God.
I know there are people out there who never touch wine or alcohol. I do not want to disparage that. It can help one focus and it can help people dodge alcoholism.
But there are other is’ms we want to avoid as well. Racism, sexism, agism, perfectionism. The list goes on.
I am not sure I am simply talking about moderation. Because I believe in the abundance of grace, the overflowing of exuberant joy.
May our lives show the joy we feel and see and know because we are loved by God.
Selfish? No, it is radical hospitality, joy is contagious. We want others to also have that joy. Our despair is not a gift to anyone. Our joy, is. When we experience to love of God, we share that love.
This story is not about Jesus providing wine for himself, but for a wedding party. Remember he refrained from doing a parlor trick to turn a stone into bread. He was also hungry for God’s words.
Moses prayed and hit a rock and God provided the water. But remember when Moses claimed he was the one brining about the miracle, he didn’t give God credit, then he was kept from the promise land. This is not about showing off. It is about God meeting needs with abundance.
The Apostle Paul said, one pastor plants, another waters, but God gives the increase. Not about me or even you and your talent or your finesse. It is about a gracious and generous God, longing for us to experience joy to share with others.
This is a great start. This miracle of water into wine. This joy of the Lord. It is worth dancing about, it is worth sharing. Let us join together in singing “Lord of the Dance.” AMEN.