2nd Sunday after Epiphany
Jan. 20, 2013
John 2:1-11
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.
Michael
and I have been very busy lately planning our weddings. Yes, weddings, plural –
one in California, and a reception and short ceremony here in Rochester a few
weeks later. I think it will be mostly pretty traditional, though there are a
few customs that have arisen over the years that we think are silly or cheesy
that we are foregoing. But some superstitions we can’t let go of. For example,
Michael will not see me in my dress until the day of. And, I have been on the
hunt for something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.
You know, I’ve also heard that, as much as every couple wants things to be perfect
on their wedding day, it is good luck if something goes wrong – it rains, a
groomsman (or the groom!) passes out, the bride’s heel breaks, etc. Who knows –
I figure as long as we end up married at the end of the day, it will be a
success, right?
Well,
if something going wrong on the wedding day is the key to a successful
marriage, then the couple in today’s Gospel reading is in luck, because they
are experiencing a major wedding faux pas: they have run out of wine, on only
the third day of what is normally a week-long wedding reception! This is not a
good sign for these young newlyweds. To run out of wine only halfway through
the celebration is to not make good on promises only just after they have been
made! They would be the talk of the town, and not in a good way.
Lucky
for them, they invited Jesus and his mother to the party. The way John writes
the exchange that follows sounds a little stilted to our modern ears, but when
you think about it, it is so very human – a conversation you have probably had
with your own parents or children. Jesus has, for the first 30 years or so of
his life, been lying low. I mean, he hasn’t yet “come out” as the divine Son of
God. He’s just a regular guy. (This wedding event, see, is known as Jesus’
first miracle, or sign – until now, he hasn’t done anything out of the
ordinary.) His mother, of course, knows better – she knows quite a bit about
his potential. And so when she sees that the people throwing the wedding party
are in danger of becoming the village idiots for the oversight of not having
enough wine for the guests, she goes to her remarkable son. “Listen, Jesus,”
she says. “They’re out of wine.” And then she gives him that look that only a
mother can, silently urging him to do something about it and save face for her
friends, the wedding family.
I
can just see Jesus here. I’m sure I’ve acted just like him, in fact. He’s got
this whole plan, see, about when he’s going to make his grand entrance into the
world as the divine Son of God. And so I can see him in this situation, looking
at his mom like, “Mom, what are
you doing? I’m so not concerned with this petty wedding faux pas. I got plans,
and my hour has not yet come! I had a whole schedule in mind, Ma, so don’t rush
me!” And his mother, in her motherly way, simply gives him that knowing look,
turns to the nearby servants, and says, “Just do whatever he says, will ya?”
Mother knows best, right?
And
then there must be some sort of realization in Jesus. What made the difference?
He had been so insistent that this was not the time, that his other plan was
going to be the way to go. But then he goes ahead and tells the servants to
fill up with water the six stone jars there – totaling some 120 gallons or
more, and when they draw water and bring it to the chief steward, of course,
that water has turned to wine. And hence, God’s grace and God’s abundance is
revealed to the world, and at the same time, Jesus’ own remarkable, divine
nature.
So
what made him change his mind? Perhaps the key is in those words, “My hour has
not yet come.” As is so often the case, much can be gleaned from looking at the
original Greek text here. There are two words in Greek that we translate as
“time.” Do you know what they are? Cronos, and kairos. What’s the
difference? Cronos refers to the
earthly time, schedules, things that we at least think we have some control
over. Kairos, on the other hand,
refers to God’s time, something that lies beyond our comprehension or ability
to plan. Interestingly, the word we see here that is translated as “hour” is in
Greek, “hora,” and usually is used
in reference to kairos, not cronos. So, it refers to God’s time, not our time. Or, it
refers to a divine plan, not our schedules. So even as Jesus says, “My hour (kairos) has not yet come,” he is realizing that even if his
grand plan for when he would reveal himself as God incarnate has not yet come,
God the Father had something else in mind. And that something was that God’s
grace and abundance would be revealed right there at the wedding feast in Cana.
Apparently, Father knows best!
Even
though this is happening to Jesus, is it not something so true to our own
experience? We make plans, schedules, in our cronos understanding of life, but God sweeps in with His kairos and changes everything around – thus giving an
opportunity to seize upon an unexpected experience of God’s grace.
This
week, a friend of mine had such an experience. He was riding the subway, and
was busy texting his mom. He was so excited and expressing his delight at God’s
amazing work, because his grandmother, at age 89, had gotten out of rehab five
weeks ahead of the schedule the doctor laid out. He was so busy texting that he
got off at the wrong stop, 100 yards away from where he normally gets off. But
when he did, he saw that a woman had fallen onto the tracks and needed someone
to help pull her out, and there was no one else around to help her before the
next train came around. Lucky my friend was there! Lucky we have a God who puts
us off our predetermined tracks in order to allow us to participate in God’s
grace!
God
is always disrupting our cronos,
earthly time, in order to transform it into a kairos event. It’s so frustrating when that happens, isn’t
it? And understanding is not always so immediate as it was for my friend.
Another friend of mine from seminary called me this
week. She is also planning to get married – a week after Michael and I, in fact
– and is just starting her final semester of seminary with plans of graduating
in May and starting her first call shortly thereafter. An exciting time of
life, and so carefully laid out by my very meticulous friend. She had a biopsy
on her thyroid last week, and called to tell me that while they were 95% sure
it was nothing, she is in the 5%, and she has what amounts to pre-cancer on her
thyroid. It has to have it removed. She reminded me of myself when she said,
“I’m having it done close to school so I can get back to classes as soon as
possible and still graduate on time.” A collision of cronos and kairos!
This girl has a schedule, and she has every intention of sticking to it! Jesus,
too, had a schedule in mind, until he was given the opportunity to seize upon a
disruption in that schedule, and make an ordinary wedding feast in danger of
going sour into an opportunity for God’s grace and abundance to shine.
Here’s
one more wedding story for you. Several years ago in the news was a story of a
bride whose would-be husband got cold feet and abandoned her on her wedding
day, leaving her with only her tears, and enough food for an elaborate
reception. A shame to waste the food, she thought, and she sent messengers out
to gather the homeless in the city. And they partook of a beautiful, bountiful,
and unexpected feast. (Christian Century, 1/13/04)
Cronos transformed into kairos. Our
time and plans transformed in God’s time and plans. Like any collision or
transformation, it can be a painful process. How often we utter a plea of, “Why
this, God? Why now?” And the answer that comes is not always the same, and it
is not always easy to see at first, or maybe ever. But just as when Jesus puts
aside his previous plan, this cronos/kairos collision often becomes a place to witness God being
revealed, a feast at which to taste God’s grace, a time to be amazed by God’s
abundance.
Let
us pray. God, you have given us wonderful minds that can make plans and
schedules, but you have also given us the promise that all time is in your
hands. May we, like Jesus, be open to unexpected opportunities for your grace
and abundance to be revealed to us and through us. In the name of
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You were right. I love this. :-)
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