Sermons:
-
Risky Symbols and Small Miracles, John 2:1-11; Isaiah
62:1-5 (see
below)
Rev. Karen A. Goltz
-
Do Whatever He Says,
John 2:1-11,
by Rev. Randy Quinn
-
The Common
Good,
1 Corinthians 12:1-11,
by Rev. Randy L Quinn
-
Peeking Through
the Window of Grace,, John 2:1-11,
by Rev. Randy L. Quinn
-
What Color is Your Parachute? all lections, esp. 1
Corinthians 12:1-11,
by Rev. Thomas Hall
Martin Luther King Jr:
___________________________________________
Risky Symbols and Small Miracles
based on John 2:1-11; Isaiah 62:1-5
Rev. Karen A. Goltz
Today’s gospel lesson is commonly recognized as
the first of Jesus’ public miracles. It was by this miracle that people sat up
and took notice, and it was with this miracle that Jesus really began his
ministry. Personally, my initial reaction to this is, what a waste of a
miracle.
I mean, really! So the guests drank all the
available wine at a wedding. Big deal. Would it have killed them to switch to
water? If they were going through the wine so quickly maybe they should
have switched to a non-alcoholic beverage! Was it so important that the guests
be able to keep imbibing? If Jesus is going to perform his first public
miracle, shouldn’t it be to provide food for starving people, or healing for
someone terminally ill? Why waste such a momentous event on something so
mundane and unimportant?
I realize my personal bias is showing. But for me, wine is
something that will cause no good and all bad if I bring it back into my life.
So I have trouble using it as a symbol of grace, which is how this story is
often interpreted, because that symbol so completely excludes me and others like
me. What good is grace if I can’t partake of it?
But that’s the thing about symbols. They’re
risky. Any symbol you want to use, you can find someone for whom that symbol is
offensive, and the message is lost. This text also has a wedding, which is
often understood as a symbol of celebration, commitment, devotion, and love.
Tell that to anyone who’s been through a messy divorce, and see how much joy
they get out of the wedding imagery. The kingdom of heaven is like a
wedding banquet? I remember doing the seating chart at my wedding
banquet, and I remember having to make sure that this person was seated nowhere
near this person, or else world war three would break out. And I had to do that
with multiple people, and I only had a few tables to work with. I hope
the kingdom of heaven’s not going to be like that! Isaiah says that God will be
like a husband (or spouse) to his people? I know of many people who the last
thing they want is for the Lord God Almighty to treat them the way their
(usually ex-) husbands or wives did. All of these texts are trying to proclaim
something good, and that good message risks getting lost due to misunderstanding
the symbols.
And maybe that’s why Jesus was so reluctant to
do it in the first place.
[continue]
|
