John 2:1-11
Without a doubt, across our country today, in sermons much like this one, attention is turning to the fact that this is the Sunday prior to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Martin Luther King was, undoubtedly, one of the prophets of the 20th century who, because of his prophecy, became a martyr to the cause of civil rights. So it is appropriate, moreso than at other national holidays, to focus our thoughts on this great man of faith because he was a man of faith and a prophetic voice in our midst.
Of course, King is now on a pedestal, untouchable and unassailable. He is honored even by those who, during his lifetime, turned a deaf ear at best or denounced and hated him at the worst. Of course that hatred spawned fear and anger which is what impelled a bullet into him that April day. They say that hindsight is 20/20 and that is true for many when it comes to our views of Rev. King. What some considered wild prophecy and non-violent hysteria at the time, now is revered. What was disparaged and feared is now accepted fact.
King stood for nonviolence in the quest for rights, fashioning the civil rights movement of the 60s on the work of Gandhi a few decades earlier in India. I’m not an expert on King certainly and recall little about him from his lifetime, though I have vague memories of his assassination in Memphis in 1968. Little about the civil rights movement filtered through to rural northeastern Pennsylvania when I was 11, it seems. So I suppose I could be accused of that same 20/20 hindsight in this sermon.
But great efforts, I know, were made to discredit King during his ministry. He was wanting too much, too fast, some said. He was a radical, a communist, said others. Even fellow clergy, usually white clergy, turned away from him and distanced themselves from his prophetic orations.
It’s amazing what we can look at from the distance of some 40 years and accept without any qualms that at the time we missed completely. With history swirling all around us, it sometimes difficult to know what’s important and what’s not.
In the reading for today, Jesus performs his first public miracle, according to the gospel writer, John. It’s an odd story, without a doubt. Jesus is reluctant at first. Anyone who has been a parent, in fact, anyone who has been an offspring, which I’d bet is most of us, knows the way these conversations go. Mother or Father wants something and expresses that to son or daughter only to be rebuked. “What are you asking me for?” Jesus’ response to his Mother, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?” is so typical of something any offspring would say to their parent that it echoes easily across the centuries and halfway around the globe and sounds all too familiar, some form of it having escaped from our very own lips. His next comment though is a bit more quixotic, “My hour has not yet come.” We can imagine Mary, along with the rest of us, thinking “whatever” as she then busies herself giving instructions to the servants. The water becomes wine, the marriage feast is saved, and the host comes out looking pretty good, serving his best wine, which he didn’t even know he had, last of all.
The interesting thing about this sign is that no one sees it happen, including us. John gives no description of the actual miracle as it occurs. We get no actions that Jesus makes. He just tells the servants to fill some large stone jars used for the Jewish rite of purification with water and the next thing we all know they’re filled with wine. We get nothing of what Jesus said or did to make this happen. No one saw it … it just was.
How many miracles happen like that all around us? However you define a miracle, isn’t it quite possible that they occur each and every day without our noticing? Isn’t it feasible that miracles occur and we don’t realize it until later missing the actual event of the miracle, as all those party guests did, including the steward and host, when Jesus kept the party going with a few large jars of wine.
It’s that same thing of hindsight being 20/20. We look back and wonder at the miracle that has occurred right under our noses. We look back at the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. and wonder where we were; how did we miss that particular miracle while we now enjoy the fine wine of King’s rhetorics. Dr. King’s devotion to nonviolence and his commitment to justice were miracles at the time. Yet many missed those miracles happening right in front of them, choosing instead to be fearful and critical. Many couldn’t see the water turning into fine wine right in front of them. Their vision was clouded by prejudice, racism, anger, and hatred.
I do think that Dr. King would today ask us to look for the miracles happening all around us each and every day. There are many who work tirelessly for justice and rights in this day and age. Many are responding to disasters such as the earthquakes in Samoa and Haiti. Many are giving of themselves to further God’s commonwealth here on earth. These are modern day miracles and all around us are new prophets whose voices are ignored.
Watch for miracles each and every day. Watch for the work that Dr. King started and the miracles he performed to continue to this very day.
Without a doubt, across our country today, in sermons much like this one, attention is turning to the fact that this is the Sunday prior to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Martin Luther King was, undoubtedly, one of the prophets of the 20th century who, because of his prophecy, became a martyr to the cause of civil rights. So it is appropriate, moreso than at other national holidays, to focus our thoughts on this great man of faith because he was a man of faith and a prophetic voice in our midst.
Of course, King is now on a pedestal, untouchable and unassailable. He is honored even by those who, during his lifetime, turned a deaf ear at best or denounced and hated him at the worst. Of course that hatred spawned fear and anger which is what impelled a bullet into him that April day. They say that hindsight is 20/20 and that is true for many when it comes to our views of Rev. King. What some considered wild prophecy and non-violent hysteria at the time, now is revered. What was disparaged and feared is now accepted fact.
King stood for nonviolence in the quest for rights, fashioning the civil rights movement of the 60s on the work of Gandhi a few decades earlier in India. I’m not an expert on King certainly and recall little about him from his lifetime, though I have vague memories of his assassination in Memphis in 1968. Little about the civil rights movement filtered through to rural northeastern Pennsylvania when I was 11, it seems. So I suppose I could be accused of that same 20/20 hindsight in this sermon.
But great efforts, I know, were made to discredit King during his ministry. He was wanting too much, too fast, some said. He was a radical, a communist, said others. Even fellow clergy, usually white clergy, turned away from him and distanced themselves from his prophetic orations.
It’s amazing what we can look at from the distance of some 40 years and accept without any qualms that at the time we missed completely. With history swirling all around us, it sometimes difficult to know what’s important and what’s not.
In the reading for today, Jesus performs his first public miracle, according to the gospel writer, John. It’s an odd story, without a doubt. Jesus is reluctant at first. Anyone who has been a parent, in fact, anyone who has been an offspring, which I’d bet is most of us, knows the way these conversations go. Mother or Father wants something and expresses that to son or daughter only to be rebuked. “What are you asking me for?” Jesus’ response to his Mother, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?” is so typical of something any offspring would say to their parent that it echoes easily across the centuries and halfway around the globe and sounds all too familiar, some form of it having escaped from our very own lips. His next comment though is a bit more quixotic, “My hour has not yet come.” We can imagine Mary, along with the rest of us, thinking “whatever” as she then busies herself giving instructions to the servants. The water becomes wine, the marriage feast is saved, and the host comes out looking pretty good, serving his best wine, which he didn’t even know he had, last of all.
The interesting thing about this sign is that no one sees it happen, including us. John gives no description of the actual miracle as it occurs. We get no actions that Jesus makes. He just tells the servants to fill some large stone jars used for the Jewish rite of purification with water and the next thing we all know they’re filled with wine. We get nothing of what Jesus said or did to make this happen. No one saw it … it just was.
How many miracles happen like that all around us? However you define a miracle, isn’t it quite possible that they occur each and every day without our noticing? Isn’t it feasible that miracles occur and we don’t realize it until later missing the actual event of the miracle, as all those party guests did, including the steward and host, when Jesus kept the party going with a few large jars of wine.
It’s that same thing of hindsight being 20/20. We look back and wonder at the miracle that has occurred right under our noses. We look back at the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. and wonder where we were; how did we miss that particular miracle while we now enjoy the fine wine of King’s rhetorics. Dr. King’s devotion to nonviolence and his commitment to justice were miracles at the time. Yet many missed those miracles happening right in front of them, choosing instead to be fearful and critical. Many couldn’t see the water turning into fine wine right in front of them. Their vision was clouded by prejudice, racism, anger, and hatred.
I do think that Dr. King would today ask us to look for the miracles happening all around us each and every day. There are many who work tirelessly for justice and rights in this day and age. Many are responding to disasters such as the earthquakes in Samoa and Haiti. Many are giving of themselves to further God’s commonwealth here on earth. These are modern day miracles and all around us are new prophets whose voices are ignored.
Watch for miracles each and every day. Watch for the work that Dr. King started and the miracles he performed to continue to this very day.
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