Reading: John 2:1-11 Epiphany 2C
January 14, 2001
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Church, Cupertino CA,
"A miracle is not the suspension of natural law but the operation of a higher law."
Today is the second Sunday after Epiphany. Epiphany means manifestation or revelation. In religious terms, it means the revelation of God in the world. Many of you might have had an epiphany of God in your own spiritual journey. Some people have had an epiphany and don't even recognize it. Most of the time, epiphanies of God tend to be small although some people have experienced a major epiphany in such a way that it has transformed their entire life and way of thinking. The Church sets aside several weeks after the Christmas season to celebrate the season of Epiphany. The gospel stories that are selected to be read during this season are usually stories that point to Jesus as "the anointed one". The miracle stories that are presented to the Christian community during Epiphany are to encourage and confirm belief in Jesus as the authentic revealer of God. What I would like to focus on today, is the gospel story of 'The Wedding in Cana'.
Very little is written about the wedding itself so let me give you a little background. In 1st C Palestine, a wedding was a notable occasion. It was Jewish law that the wedding of a virgin take place on a Wednesday. The wedding festivities lasted for more than one day. The ceremony itself took place late in the evening, after a feast. After the ceremony, the young couple was conducted to their new home. They were processed through the village streets by the light of flaming torches and with a canopy over their heads. Instead of going on a honeymoon, the young couple stayed home for a week, kept an open house, and received guests. They wore crowns and dressed in their bridal robes. In a life where there was much poverty and constant hard work, this week of festivity and joy was one of the supreme occasions of their lives.
For a Jewish feast, wine was essential. The Rabbis would say, "Without wine, there is no joy." So to run out of wine at a wedding feast, would be a terrible humiliation for the bride and groom. It is into this context of everyday life, of everyday problems, that we hear about a moment of grace. Where there had been a scarcity of wine, there was now an abundance. Where there had been fear and angst, there was now joy and celebration. What could have been a disaster, there was now a success. This is what is known as a moment of grace or a miracle.
The story of The Wedding in Cana is not a story about how to make wine out of water. It is a story about Jesus and about how he used his spiritual gifts to help someone out and to point to the abundance of God's grace that operates in the world. It is a story about an epiphany!
The contemporary reader, living in a rational, scientifically oriented age, may find this miracle puzzling at best, embarrassing and offensive at worst. If any of you are sitting out there with your arms crossed, skeptical of this story, I would say that at least a dozen of you are gifted enough to come to the aid of a beloved friend at a wedding feast to ensure that the wine supply continued. I could imagine some of you using your technical gifts to solve the problem by taking out your palm pilot, sending an email with your Visa Card # to a nearby store, and having some cases of wine delivered. I could imagine others of you with the gift of hospitality, jumping into your cars and returning with an adequate supply. Miracles can happen when each one of us uses our gifts freely and generously. A miracle can also happen when we are open to its possibility. Let me give you an example.
It was the fall of 1986. I was talking to my friend, Sally, about a relative of mine who was spending several years in prison some three thousand miles away. I felt that he was not getting the support he needed when Sally turned to me and asked, "Well what are you doing? Why don't you go out there and do something?" It was a time in my life when I was working full time and going to school full time. Money was at a premium and I did not have much vacation left. Sally was relentless and would not let me off the hook. She said that those were considerations that needed to be deal with but that if I really cared, I would find a way to go for a visit.
So I did! After much planning, charging up my Visa Card to buy a plane ticket, and confirming appropriate dates, I flew back east, with a sense of hope and concern. The next day as I prepared for my visit, I received a call from my relative. He reported that he was on restriction and would not be able to receive visitors for 10 days and that the prison made no exceptions. I hung up the phone. I was devastated. All that time, effort, and money, gone to waste. I called up Sally to tell her of my dilemma. She said that if I didn't do anything, nothing would be accomplished. She advised me to get in the car, go up to the prison, and see if anything could be done. When I got there, I checked in at the desk, gave my ID, and proceeded through the security process which took about 20 minutes. There was no indication that there was a problem. For four consecutive days, I visited my relative who was astounded that he was being allowed visitors. He thought that I might have paid off one of the guards, which I did not do.
Anyway, as I was heading back to the airport after my four days of being there, I told his mother that he had one more visit that week and that perhaps she should visit him on Saturday. This she did. When she arrived at the prison, she was told that her son could not receive visitors because he was on restriction. When she protested that he had received a visitor for four days, they refuted her claim and said that they made no exceptions.
Like the servants and the wine steward in today's gospel story who did not understand how the wine came to be, I too never came to understand how I was allowed four visits. I do not know if there is a rational explanation of what happened but what I do know is that this story is true. I know that I experienced a moment of grace that was unexpected and not easy to explain. I do know that this moment of grace filled my heart with gratitude and hope. For me, this was the miracle.
"A miracle is not the suspension of natural law but the operation of a higher law." Our world is constructed in such a way that it is elastic. Not everything is cemented in stone. While physical laws of science seem to help us in predicting behavior, they do not tell the whole story. Along side the physical realm of life there is also a spiritual dimension of life. In this dimension of reality, the laws of love, mercy, and grace abound. These laws allow for moments of light to shine in darkness. These laws allow for moments of love to overcome fearful situations. These laws allow for the glory of God to shine through in our mundane lives. It is this spiritual dimension of life opens up more possibilities for those who are committed to embrace it. Today's gospel story points to this dimension of life and to the abundance of God's grace which flows from it.
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