Filled to Overflowing
John 2:1-11
anonymous

I like water. Cool, crisp, refreshing, ice cold, cleansing; hot showers, a summer rain, a snowstorm, all forms of water. I like wine. Dry reds are my favorite. Merlot, Cabernet. The dryer the better. Full-bodied, loaded with tannins, rich in color, fulfilling, with those undertones of honey and cherries the labels always proclaim. Water and wine. Two wonderful elements filled with meaning, rich in symbolism. You know, maybe we should use these in the church! Well, we already do, these two elements are important and vital to our religious life. Water is very important for both the Hebrew and Christian traditions.

In the Bible, Noah and his family are saved from the great flood of water that destroyed the earth. And the rainbow God showed Noah as a promise to never again destroy the earth is, as we learned in science class, sunlight reflecting off of water crystals in the sky. Later in the Bible, Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea as the waters parted for them to walk through. The walls of water then descended upon Pharaoh's Army and God's children were no longer pursued by Egypt. As they wandered in the wilderness, at times they would complain about having no water. God, through Moses, answered their complaints by bringing water out of a rock. Water was so important for the Hebrew people as they settled in the promised land of Canaan. It was a land flowing with milk and honey as God described it to the people.

But it was also a land where water was a precious resource. To get an idea of the importance of water and water supplies, think about this, the people would go through the trouble of not only digging the wells but giving them names as well. Water was vital for an agricultural society in an arid land. No water meant, no crops, no livestock, and eventually no life. Wine also has importance in the lives of the Hebrews.

One of the first things Noah did after he got off the ark was to plant a vineyard. (He also drank too much of his wine and became drunk, but that's another story.) Wine also plays an important part in the Passover meal, which was first celebrated in Egypt the night before Moses and the people of Israel left their captivity and headed for the Promised Land. And still today a place is left at the table for Elijah complete with a full glass of wine.

Jesus was sharing this meal with his disciples for the last time when he gave the bread and the wine used in the Passover meal a new meaning. Wine also had the beneficial effect of purifying unclean water. The water drawn from the wells was not always pure and healthy to drink. The yeast in the wine would kill any bacteria in the water as it was fermenting. Wine is also the basis of a miracle in the Bible, the story we have before us today from the Gospel of John.

Mary, Jesus and his disciples have been invited to a wedding. Now a wedding in Jesus' time was not just a Saturday afternoon affair. A wedding was not just wedding, reception, dinner and dance. In fact, it was Jewish law that a wedding had to occur on a Wednesday evening after a big feast. Then the bride and groom are taken through the town so everyone could wish them well, and are finally taken to their new home.

Once at the home, the bride and groom oversee a weeklong festival and open house. In a life where there is constant hard work and much poverty, this week of festivity and joy is one of the great occasions in the life of a town. The prime ingredients for this festival are food and wine, wine being the more important of the two. For a Jewish feast, wine is essential. The rabbis said, "Without wine, there is no joy."

At any time the failure of provisions would have been a problem, for hospitality in the Middle East is a sacred duty; but for the provisions to fail at a wedding would be a terrible humiliation for the bride and groom. The wedding which Mary, Jesus and his disciples was, like all weddings, a joyous occasion. That is, until, the wine ran out. Somehow the calculations of who was coming and how much they would drink was wrong. Maybe some unexpected guests came, maybe people were drinking too much, maybe they just goofed.

In any case, the $50 bottles were gone, even the $2 Boone’s Farm wine was gone. Soon the guests would know and the family would be embarrassed. The wine has run out. What do we do now? How do we get more? There are times in our lives when the wine runs out, figuratively speaking. There are times when our bodies have no fuel left to carry on. There are times when illness has sapped our strength. There are times when people keep drawing off of us without replenishing us. There are times when we can't keep up with the demands of job and family and school and church and self and others. Our wine has run out. We are dry. What do we do now? How are we filled?

Notice what Jesus tells the servants of the household. "Fill those jars with water." Those stone jars, used for ritual washing of hands and feet, are filled with water from the well. How are we filled? Water is important in our life of faith. For it is through water that we are brought into the family of God, into the body of Christ. Remember your baptism. Remember those words spoken to you. You are a child of God, holy and precious in God's sight. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Your sins have been forgiven. You are washed clean by the water and God's word. You are a new creation. The spirit of wisdom and understanding is yours. The spirit of counsel and might is yours. The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord are yours. The spirit of joy is yours. Remember your baptism.

 You are saved by God. "Now draw some off and take it to the chief steward." It is the good wine in those jars. The celebration can continue; the wine supply has been renewed. In Holy Communion, our celebration feast, we receive some bread and wine, not much really, a morsel of bread, a sip of wine, but enough. Enough. We feast on bread and wine. We feast on the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We are given a foretaste of the feast that is to come. We eat. We drink. And we are forgiven. The promise of eternal life is ours. We are renewed. We are filled. Jesus fills us up again after we have been emptied. Jesus fills us after our wine has run out. Jesus fills us to overflowing. I like water, cool, crisp, refreshing, cleansing, saving. I like wine, full-bodied, rich, fulfilling, with undertones of grace and forgiveness. Amen.