John 2:1-11
Here we are in the book of
John. Remember the beginning of
John? “In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” A little later in that first chapter we hear
“The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the
glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” It continues, “From his fullness we have all
received, grace upon grace.”
Now fast-forward through Jesus’ baptism and the calling
of the first disciples to the next chapter of John. This is where we pick up our text for
today. The first miracle or sign that
Jesus does. Jesus, the disciples, and
the mother of Jesus are all at a wedding in Cana. The wine runs out. But the wedding is still a lively party. Talk about things you don’t want to happen at
a wedding and this is toward the top of the list. To some this would be a catastrophe. One author that I read this week said that
wine played an important role at weddings.
He said, “Wine isn’t just a social lubricant, it’s a sign of the
harvest, of God’s abundance, of joy and gladness and hospitality.” Wine is a gift, a blessing. As the miracle plays out Jesus is called to
remedy this catastrophe. He does so in
great abundance. As one who is full of
grace and truth, he fills the six stone water jars full. That is a lot of wine – 120-180 gallons of
wine. The blessing is restored and it is
even better wine than before. But what
deeper message does this miracle story teach us? What is revealed about the character of
Jesus?
I think grace is revealed here. It echoes the beginning of John. “From his fullness, we have all received,
grace upon grace.” From the fullness of
Jesus to the fullness of water jars filled with wine we have received
grace. We have seen grace. We have heard grace. We have experienced grace. What then is our response to grace?
I think that is where the third week of our sermon series
fits. We have been studying prayer. We have already heard about prayers of adoration
and confession. Now this week we move to
the T of the acronym ACTS. We move on to
thanksgiving. I think that is our
response to grace. The fullness of God
revealed in Jesus. The fullness of Jesus
revealed in miraculous signs and an abundance of wine. The response, I hope, to that wine was
thanksgiving. The fullness of grace
which we receive through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The response to that grace is thanksgiving.
If you have ever traveled to an impoverished country you
have likely seen very visible thankfulness.
It is in those places where I often see deep need, that the local people
see great blessings and are filled with extreme thankfulness. In January of 2010 I had the opportunity to
travel to Nicaragua and Honduras. As our group from South
Canyon prepares to travel to Nicaragua, I
have been reliving some of my memories from my trip. In homes with dirt floors and boarded up
windows, people were thankful for shelter.
In homes with very little income, they were thankful for food and more
than willing to share that with their guests.
As a guest you typically eat first and the family eats whatever is
leftover. In places with no electricity,
they were thankful for their one solar powered light, which provided them with
a few hours of light after the sun had set.
Thankfulness is at the center of their lives. Gratitude to God for everything. Thanksgiving is at the core of who they are,
whose they are, and what they have been given.
I think those are three areas that we can be thankful for as well.
Thanksgiving for who we are. Through the waters of baptism we have been
given an identity. We are called
children of God. We are loved, beloved
children of God. In those same waters we
were promised forgiveness from our sins, deliverance from death and the devil,
and life eternal. We were given grace
upon grace. As our text from Isaiah
states, “God rejoices over you;” “the Lord delights in you.” God delights to call us sons and
daughters. Just like our earthly
parents, God wants the very best for each of us.
Thanksgiving for whose we are. We are a community of believers. We are brought together by the common beliefs
of Christianity, by the common belief in God the creator of the universe. We are brought together by the one who first
created and claimed us. We are people
who have been saved by the blood of the one Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Thanksgiving
for what we have been given. We have
been given food, clothing, shelter – the basic necessities of this life. We have been given family and friends who
love and care for us. We have been given
blessings of medicine, technology, travel, and education. Ultimately, we have been cared for by the one
who first loved us.
Today
I am going to invite you to share with a neighbor what you are most thankful
for. So, take a moment and share what
you are thankful for and then listen to what your neighbor is thankful for. If you don’t know the person sitting next to
you make sure you introduce yourself, too.
The listening here is just as important as the sharing. I would invite you to remember what your
neighbor is thankful for and at some point offer prayer on behalf of that
person, thanking God for the opportunity to worship with them, and giving
thanks to the creator for whatever they are most thankful for.
We
each have much to be thankful for, but we must remember to direct our thanks to
the one who most deserves it. We must
let God know just how thankful we are for who we are, whose we are, and what we
have been given. Our prayer life is the
perfect way to share that thanksgiving with God. It is the perfect way to let God know that we
are filled with thanksgiving for all that we have so graciously been given. Amen.
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