Getting Drunk on the Second Rate

• Listen to the sermon
• Scriptural Reference: John 2:1-11; Isaiah 62:1-5
• January 14, 2007

Cana was a small village about nine miles north of Nazareth . An easy walk for folks used to walking, so when the wedding invitations went out, everyone in Nazareth related to the happy couple resolved to go. Jesus and his disciples went, because, the text tells us, they had been invited. Evidently, more people showed up than were expected, though, and we can assume that perhaps a lot of people showed up who hadn't been invited. After all, Cana wasn't exactly a Las Vegas and when someone threw a party, it was probably the only diversion happening. I can imagine the host standing at the door as yet another knock sounded thinking, "O Lord, we're almost out of those kosher dills." And then he'd open the door and see another group of people smiling ready to come in. He'd be polite. His teeth would shine through a hospitable grin as he said, "Oh, Jacob! So glad to see you and who is this with you? Ah yes, your third and fourth cousins who knew the happy couple way back. . ." And then he'd shut the door and feel the anxiety rising as his wife smiled wanly at him across the over-crowded room and pointed to an upheld, empty wine glass.

How do we know all this? The first part of verse 3 reads, "When the wine was gone. . . “See? They ran out of wine. This wasn't bad planning. They probably did some very good planning -- according to what they imagined would be the reality they'd deal with. But reality often differs from what we imagined, doesn't it? We can make all the careful plans we want. We can draw up all the rules and regulations after something happens so that next time when something like this comes up, we'll be prepared. But life just seems to keep throwing unique situations at us, and we seem to keep coming up short on the resources we need. Well, that happened at Cana -- but it was only the beginning of the story.

Lucky for the people who ran out of the appropriate resources, Jesus was there.

I don't know how Mary found out, but it's quite obvious that she found out about the approaching embarrassment of the hosts. The last part of verse 3 reads, ". . . Jesus' mother said to him, 'They have no more wine.'"

Evidently, this wasn't a mere comment. We only have the words in front of us, and it's up to the individual reader to supply the inflection Mary used, but it's evident to me it wasn't a mere observation. I think Mary used Mother Inflection. You all know what Mother Inflection is. M.I. is a skill only mothers possess. M.I. can transform any otherwise innocent statement into a powerful emotional decree. My basketball coach once told me, "Drexel, you have potential." I knew what he meant. He meant that with more practice, I'd become a pretty good third string point guard, someone he could put in when the other two needed a 45 second break and we were ahead by 20. That didn't bother me one bit. I'd still get my letter jacket and be near the cheerleaders. But when my mother said, "Drexel, you have such potential," and used Mother Inflection, I knew what it meant, too. It meant that I better quit watching "Gilligan's Island ," stop daydreaming, clean up my room, do my homework, read my Bible, and apply myself. And it made me mad. Mother Inflection is never a mere observation. It always includes a suggestion.

Mary used Mother Inflection. How do I know this? Read verse 4. If Mary had made a mere observation, Mary would have said, "They have no more wine," and Jesus would have said, "Uh-huh." But that's not what happened. Mary said, "They have no more wine," and Jesus said, "Why are you getting me involved in the party favors? It's not quite time for me to act." Jesus knew what Mary knew that Jesus knew. Some people they loved were in an unforeseen tight spot, and Jesus had the wherewithal to get them through it just fine.

Several things strike me about this. First, I don't like for my mother to make suggestions to me. I'm forty years old and I know things now. I don't need for my mother to be telling me things. She's done her parenting. Now she needs to leave me alone so I can do what I deem best. After all, she's the one who brought me up. Sometimes when she makes suggestions I feel like saying, "Hey, mom, don't you have any confidence in your parenting? You afraid you didn't do it right the first time and ya gotta keep on parenting, making suggestions with Mother Inflection all my life!!?" I know that none of you has ever felt that way, but other people probably have. When we get to be adults, many of us just don't like suggestions from mom.

Well, even the Savior of the Universe got suggestions from his mom, so I'm in good company.

And here's the second thing that strikes me: when Jesus got the suggestion, he took it! This leads to the third thing -- when he took the suggestion, it worked! Talk about adding insult to injury! But I suppose that tells us that if we were to look past the emotional reaction we feel when we hear Mother Inflection, we might find some wisdom. You see; in Mary's Mother Inflection was a profound insight into the fact that her boy had all that it took -- and more -- to make things turn out right.

So after she dropped her suggestion, she simply says to the servants in verse 5, "Do whatever he tells you." She didn't know exactly what he was going to do, but she knew he'd do something, and whatever it was, it'd be the right thing. And I imagine there was some Mother Inflection in what she said to the servants, too.

Well, here we sit. We're servants, too. Maybe we ought to pay attention to what Mary said: "Do whatever he tells you to do."

Verses 6 - 8 in the story tell us that six stone jars were sitting next to the wall in that house. They were ordinary jars. Not very special jars. They didn't get these jars from Virginia Wayside. They'd gone to Wal Mart. Every Jewish home had those kinds of jars so that family members and guests could wash themselves before they ate in the manner prescribed by the Law of Moses. Jesus told the servants to do something very ordinary: fill the jars with water. When he said that, they probably shrugged their shoulders and said, "Okay. No big deal. Everybody's already washed and we were going to fill them anyway tomorrow before the first meal, but if he wants them filled now, we'll do it. Besides, we all heard the tone of voice his mother used." So they filled the jars.

Then Jesus does perplex them. After they've filled the jars he tells them to take some of the water in a cup to the master of the banquet, the host, so he can drink it! Now this seemed a little silly. You didn't drink the ceremonial water -- you washed with it. They probably looked at each other with creased brows, giggling under their breath as they did what this rather eccentric guy told them to do. They expected the host to turn up his nose and say, "Yech! What's this slop!" And they could say, "HE told us to give it to you, and SHE told us to do what HE told us to do." But instead, the host takes a sniff and a look of mild astonishment crosses his face. He then takes a sip and delight brightens his eyes. He looks at the servants and says, "Where did you get this stuff. It's terrific!" Like verse 9 tells us, "He did not realize where the drink came from, though the servants knew."

Well, to continue with the story, the host is so amazed at the quality of the beverage he has in his hand that he runs to the bridgegroom. Everyone else is way past sober since the party is well under way and all the previous wine has been drunk, so he pulls the bridegroom aside and says what's in verse 10: "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you've saved the best till now." In other words, he says, "Hey friend, I don't get it. Why did you wait until everyone was soused out of their minds to bring on the really good stuff? They'll never know the difference!"

The host pulled the bridegroom aside, not because there was too much noise. The host pulled the bridegroom aside because he didn't want to embarrass him. You see, it was customary to give people the best wine first because that's when they CARED about the quality of the beverage. By giving them the best wine first, you illustrated that you cared about your guests and that you were a fine upstanding citizen who knew what was right and wrong, and that you had class and social standing. If anyone were to learn that this bridegroom had saved the best until last, they would feel slighted, like the bridegroom didn't care, and would regard him as some social maladroit, a plebian who was course, rude, crude, and socially unacceptable. The host didn't want the bridegroom to experience that, so he tried to keep the emergence of the good wine a secret.

Jesus didn't intend to embarrass anyone, I don't think, and he doesn't intend to embarrass us, but if we want Christ to help us, we better beware that he won't necessarily pay attention to our customs, our rules, or our sense of propriety. The ways things have always been done, or the superfluous standards that human beings set don't mean much to Jesus. He's more interested in getting ministry done, in getting us through the unforeseen difficulties which befall us so frequently.

Notice something, though. The miracle came after the servants obeyed Jesus, heeded Mary’s wisdom, and did what Jesus told them to do – even though it seemed really crazy and out of the box.

No one in this room will forget the events of 9/11, but one thing you might not know. Did you know that the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) cleared the skies over the United States of over 4,500 aircraft, carrying more then 350,000 passengers in just a few hours – a feet that amounted to landing a plane almost every second. There were no mishaps at all. Seventy-five percent of those planes landed in the first hour. It was even the first day on the job for the FAA official who gave the order to clear the skies. The controllers around the nation had to do this while at the same time remaining vigilant for additional planes that might have been hijacked.

Well, this was such a huge success that the FAA decided to interview folks around the country and write up a procedural manual so that they could do it again should the need arise in the future. They scrapped the idea. They soon discovered that the controllers around the nation violated procedures repeatedly, and, as one FAA official said, “[they] did things intuitively and instinctively that you can’t train a person to do.” So how did they end up their effort? They simply said that when a similar event happens in the future, the FAA will rely on the judgment, intuition, and commitment of its controllers and managers.

In other words, when the crucial time came, a greater good trumped the procedural manual.

That’s how God works miracles: when we obey the call of a greater good regardless of what society – or even what habitual churchianity – thinks is the right way of doing things.

Or, how about the way Michael Chang won the 1989 French Open Tennis tournament? The match had been long and exhausting for both players, but 17 year old Chang was facing then top seeded, number one in the world Ivan Lendl. Chang was even injured. Since he was physically breaking down and dreading the prospect of facing Lendl’s 125 mph serve, Chang decided to gamble and break two of tennis’ cardinal rules. He stepped up to the line and served underhanded. Lendl, expecting the speed of an overhand serve, was thrown off his timing and he returned into the net. Then, with Lendl down and needing to win his service to tie the match again, Chang stepped closer to the net rather than fade way back behind the end line. Lendl, somewhat bewildered, double faulted. It produced one of the most memorable upsets in tennis history, according to Robert Kriegel.

And so it is with you and me. So often, when our own plans go awry, we pray that something will happen to set things right. And many of us are faithful believers in Christ who firmly believe that Christ has the power to set bad situations aright. But even though Christ has what it takes to make things come out right, his solutions still require our cooperation – we still have to be obedient even to the point of doing some things that might seem silly at first; or maybe stupid; or maybe awkward; definitely things that we don’t really want to do because we fear the unknown more than a familiar slavery.

And curiously, like at that party, there is the possibility that a whole passel of people can be right on top of a miracle of God's doing through the unconventional obedience of a few faithful servants and not even notice it. Those folks at that wedding feast were doing all the socially acceptable things, all being fine upstanding citizens, but they had gotten drunk on a second rate vintage and didn't have the wherewithal to notice the miracle quite literally right under their noses.

The story ends at verse 11 with a rather telling remark. "This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him." His disciples put their faith in him. There had been a miracle -- but the majority of folks didn't know it. His glory had been revealed -- but the majority of folks didn't see it. Only a few folks who hadn't gotten swept away by the customary were able to recognize the reality in front of them.

Melissa and I were eating out together this past Thursday and as she munched her Caesar salad, she asked me what I was preaching on this Sunday. When I told her the passage was the wedding at Cana when Jesus turned water to wine, she said, “You ought to tell that story that the minister at the National Presbyterian Church told.” The more I thought about it, the better I liked the idea, so here goes.

One of the pastors at the National Presbyterian Church became tremendously concerned about a young man in the congregation who had a problem with alcohol. He was addicted and had gotten to the point that many alcoholics get to, ruining their health, neglecting their family, and mismanaging their finances to the point of bankruptcy. To try and shore up their battered funds, the young man even sold off much of the household furniture. That led to some serious fights with his wife and soon the marriage was teetering on the brink of breakup. One evening, the minister dropped by the house and convinced the young man to go to an AA meeting. The wife was tremendously skeptical that anything good was going to happen, but said she’d give her husband some time to dry out.

Well, the young man found support and camaraderie at AA and the minister kept at it until the young man decided that he’d give his heart to the Lord. Soon, the family’s prospects improved tremendously, the young man got his old job back, and not long afterwards, replaced all the household furniture that he’d sold off.

Then one evening, the young couple hosted some friends from the husband’s office who were not church goers. They were impressed that the young man had made such a turn around and questioned the family how it came to be. The young man told them about AA and especially about his faith in Christ, and said that it was more Christ than anything that had made him realize that he had been missing so much while intoxicated.

“Do you really believe all that religion stuff,” one of them asked, “Like those miracles when Jesus turned water to wine? So you really think water turned to wine?”

“Well,” said the wife, “I’m not going to try to prove that Jesus turned water to wine, but I can tell you for sure that he turned beer into furniture.”

Men and women, let’s heed Mary’s words at Cana – do whatever Jesus says for us to do. The miracle won’t be far behind.