Christ-Filled Intersection Ahead
John 2:1-11
Through the written word, and the spoken word, God help us to hear your living Word, Our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the past couple of weeks, I have seen a few yellow street signs saying, “Dangerous Intersection.” While it is perfectly possible that I’ve seen them before, I had not really noticed them or catalogued them in my memory until a couple weeks ago. The first time, I approached the intersection, laughed, and said to myself, “that sure is a dangerous intersection.” I appreciated the succinct message and real honesty of a street sign saying, “Dangerous Intersection.”
We encounter all sort of signs in our lives. And I mean just the literal ones. Street signs including street names and speed limits, open signs, arrows pointing around office buildings and hospitals, church signs with clever slogans, neon signs pulling us in. Signs are so ubiquitous that it is easy to forget their significance. We read, follow, and use these signs without thinking.
Let’s slow down a moment and think about the purpose of signs. They capture our attention, they guide us on a path and give direction, they tell us what to do or what to expect.
It may seem a silly exercise to stop and think about the need for such a commonplace object in our lives, but I do think it helps us to understand our gospel more clearly. John’s gospel is unique in its language of Jesus’ signs. John intentionally uses the word sign to describe what the other gospelers might call miracles. That’s small but significant!
In our gospel passage today, we witness the first of Jesus’ signs. He is at a friend’s wedding and sees a serious faux pas. The wedding has run out of wine!
At some prodding from Mother Mary, Jesus uses six jars of water intended for purification rituals and he turns all the water into wine.
The response is interesting to me. The servants, who directly witness the sign, take the wine to the steward. No one remarks at the water shifting to wine, but instead the steward takes the wine and in a sort of proverb says, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
No comments on the shift itself but instead on the quality of the wine.
This is one of those stories that has layers to it. There is, of course, Jesus responding to a material need. The party goers are expecting more wine. This is a marker of abundance and joy. Not only does Jesus provide wine; he provides the best.
Especially considering those who are in recovery or abstain from alcohol for any reason, I want to name that the material provision is less about wine specifically and more about a sign of abundance!
The same themes are present in Jesus taking a few loaves of bread and some fish and feeding thousands of people. Jesus is the source of abundance and Jesus provides for the material needs of the people.
Joy, abundance, and grace.
Then there is the prophetic side of this story, the one that is perhaps an even bigger sign.
Wine is flowing, and it’s fine wine. Jesus’ early followers and John’s early readers likely would have heard Isaiah in the background of Jesus’ first sign.
This is from Isaiah 25:
On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
Isaiah’s prophetic declaration tells of a day when the shroud between heaven and earth with be destroyed, death will be swallowed up forever, and all disgrace will be removed from the people. But first, there is a banquet of the finest meats and wines. The most glorious banquet we can ever imagine is the precursor to the destruction of sin and death. We can of course hear the heavenly banquet in Isaiah, but we might see a small glimpse in John’s telling of the wedding at Cana.
Jesus turning water to wine, and presenting the finest wine at a banquet, is a sign of the miracles to come in his ministry AND a sign that he is the one to destroy the divides between God and humans. It’s a sign that he will destroy death and sin.
The events of the wedding at Cana are signs of a cosmological shift that is coming. The people present at the wedding anticipate the more immediate shifts that come with Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection. We hear this sign and await the shifts that come with Jesus’ return.
Let’s return to our conversation about literal signs and what they do for us. They point our attention toward something specific, they direct us, and they let us know what to expect. Jesus’ signs do largely the same things.
Signs call on our attention. Like a neon sign, Jesus’ sign of joy and abundance pulls us in and draws on our attention. We are put on alert looking for more information. Who is this man? What is he doing? We are alert for more signs ahead. The simple words “the first of his signs” reminds us to pay attention.
Signs direct and guide us. Here we might see a directive to live in the abundance of Christ. Jesus goes beyond material provision and offers the finest and best. He enhances our joys. Inherent in this provision is grace. There is no criticism for unpreparedness or inaction on the part of the steward. Instead, Jesus simply provides. When we are guided to live into God’s grace, it’s possible that we can provide more grace for one another. When we are held in a love as deep as God’s, we can love one another without fear.
Finally, signs tell us what to expect. The banquet with fine wines reminds us to expect those prophecies from Isaiah. We should expect a removal of the boundaries that separate us from God. We should rejoice in life everlasting. We should anticipate the forgiveness of sins and the wiping away of tears. We get to expect something so much grander that we can even imagine.
This is a moment in time when I think many of us are feeling or continuing to feel like we are running dry. Just like the wine at the wedding, our resources, our energy, our patience, and at times even our joy, seem to be running out. That exhaustion, burnout, grief, and restlessness is so very real. We can feel that and name that. It makes sense to feel like we are running out when the world around us is ever shifting and demanding much of our physical, emotional, and spiritual energy. AND we can rest in knowing that Jesus provides in the moments when we run out. Jesus sustains us. Jesus offers us the best we can imagine.
Jesus’ first sign is turning water to wine. We may not expect that sort of transformation in our lives, but we have the signs to remind us that we can hope for Jesus’ provision and for the many gifts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
We might see signs in our lives. Maybe a conversation with a friend that makes you feel seen, heard, and understood. Maybe it’s leaning into the ability to give when we have abundance AND also receiving when we are in need. Maybe our day turns on a dime and we experience an unexpected small joy. There are signs around us that pull our attention towards God, that guide us to live like Jesus, and remind us to expect joys unfathomable.
Often, our lives feel like a series of those yellow street signs reading, “Dangerous Intersection.” That may not be changing, but there are lots of signs on the road and in our lives.
I wonder what it would mean to stumble upon, actively look for, or even create a yellow street sign proclaiming, “Christ-filled Intersection Ahead.”
© 2022 The Rev. Adelyn Tyler
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Fayetteville, Arkansas