Epiphany 2C, January 19, 2025
New Covenant, John 2:1-11
“This Wine Is More Gooder”
Note: This week’s message will be presented as a monologue.
I’ve been a wine steward for many years. But, my first wedding is still, probably, my most memorable. It was right after my promotion. The catering team and I were booked at a wedding in Cana, a small village about 10 miles north of Nazareth. The reception was at the firehouse, because they don’t allow drinking in the fellowship hall at the synagogue. They parked the fire truck outside. We swept the floor and set-up tables and folding chairs. The team unloaded several cases of the boxed wine from the catering van. But, soon after the party started, the wine was running low.
A woman at the reception was the catalyst for what happened next. Her son was doing the “Electric Slide” with the other guests when she pulled him aside. She told him that the wine was getting scarce. Whether out of the empathy or compassion that she instilled in him as a boy, despite his reluctance, she trusted that he would do something. So, she tells the catering team to follow his directions. He instructs them to fill the six purification jars with water. Each one of those jars is the size of a garbage can. They hold 20 – 30 gallons each! Then, he told one of the waitresses to draw some out and bring it to me. The water had become a wonderful wine. Not only was it in great quantity, but it was more gooder than any other wine I had ever tasted.
The extravagance and generosity of the man’s act, the abundance and quality of the wine, reminds me of the abundance and generosity and quality of God’s gifts. The abundance of love, the abundance of grace and that they too are freely given. Remember, the bride and groom didn’t ask him to do this. Neither did their families and I didn’t ask him. This was a freely given gift.
When I remember this story, it brings to mind the biblical vision of God’s kingdom, where there is more than enough. “The Lord is my shepherd…I shall not want…You prepare a table before me…My cup is so full it overflows.” God’s kingdom is like a village wedding celebration where everyone is invited. The wine is more gooder than any wine we’ve ever tasted and it never runs out.
A few years later, I worked an event where that woman’s son hosted a Passover meal. As the supper was ending, he took the cup and said, “This is the cup of blessing, the new covenant poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sins. Take and drink this, all of you. Do this in remembrance of me.” The thing about that cup is that it’s just like those jars. Just like those jars, the cup of forgiveness is abundant. Just like those jars, the cup of forgiveness overflows and, it too is more gooder than anything else.
Bring your empty cup to be filled. Just like the jars, there’s an abundance, there’s an excess and it’s really, really good! Amen.
