Loading...Here’s a bit of a sappy love story: About four years ago, when I was living in Boise, Alex flew from Spokane to visit me. When I went to pick him up at the airport, he came out of the restricted-to-ticketed-passengers-only area with his overstuffed backpack, and a single, extremely long-stemmed red rose.
Fake. Well, not so much “fake” as not-formerly-living. In other words, silk.
Of course I still have the flower. Here it is.
The ordinary things of life can be made extraordinary because they are filled with meaning.
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Soon after Jesus had called his disciples and was beginning to be known around the area,
he and his family were invited to a wedding.
You know the story:
The wedding takes place in the village of Cana
and the whole community is involved.
As the party progressed, they ran out of wine.
Jesus’ mom pointedly said to the servants, “Hey! He knows what to do!
Do whatever he tells you to do.”
“Shush, Mom! It’s not yet my time!” Jesus replies.
Whether it’s his time or not, the water is put into the jugs by the servants and it turns to wine.
Most of us probably think of the action in this story as a miracle,
complete with the meme picture you may have seen online of the wine section in the grocery story with the sign above the racks that reads: “Water”.
But, this is a sign – not a miracle or magic trick.
It is a sign of God’s glory in Jesus.
A sign of what?
That revealed Jesus’ glory?
What does that mean?
It’s a sign of something more than just obeying his mother:
it happens on the third day...
it happens in water jugs that are used for the rite of purification
the wine that ends up being in the jugs is of far superior quality
the action reveals the God’s glory in Jesus, and
the disciples are believing.
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This all takes place at a feast and there is wine –
it is hard not to hear the overtones of Eucharist.
We start with water that becomes wine,
the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
The Eucharist meal of bread and wine is the feast
of Christ in, with, and under the elements,
the feast of the Real Presence of Christ.
The ordinary elements of bread and wine become an extraordinary feast for you.
An extraordinary feast that is a sign for you of the glory of Christ –
also known as the love, welcome, forgiveness, embrace,
and hope of Christ for you.
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The beauty of this story from John’s Gospel IS that it is a fairly ordinary situation (weddings are a celebratory day, but the are also common) is made extraordinary –
-- as Holy Communion, a simple meal is an extraordinary feast
-- as Baptism is a water bath that changes us
-- as community is the body of Christ
-- as you are given the gifts of the Spirit to make the whole so much more than each of us can ever be individually.
What makes the ordinary extraordinary?
The glory of God at work, revealed, and shown.
The glory of God which is love.
The glory of God revealed in the things of everyday life because of the promise of God’s presence with us (even if we forget to ask for it!) and God’s love for us.
A long stemmed silk rose
A full water jug that becomes high quality wine
A font filled with tap water
A chalice of wine and a loaf of bread
You, me, each and every person –
signs of God’s grace, love, and glory
in and for the sake of the world.
Amen
