Lessons
Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 36:5-10; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John
2:1-11 (Green)
Key Verses:
John 2:1-11
Genesis 1:9-13
Isaiah 62:1
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Message
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.”[1]
Let us pray. “Let the
words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable to you, O Lord,
my rock and redeemer.”[2] Amen.
Good evening. For
tonight’s message, I want to strike out on a different path. Today’s lessons, especially the gospel
lesson, are full of reasons that we, as people grounded in scripture, ought to
“dig in” to our Bibles. To that end, I
am going to make this a much more interactive session than you might normally
expect.
Before I do that, however, I must relay a bit about my past
and why I am taking this approach. In
other words, if you have the need to grab a Bible before I get going, now is
the opportune time, as this anecdote may or may not be something that ties in
as well as the rest of what I am seeking to relay.
As many know, I am a product of my time here among you as a
college student. Yes, this is my second
iteration with Holy Trinity, having been with you all from September 1993 until
I graduated in May 1997. And many of you
may know that my first duty station was at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, the
heart of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod as well as the “Bible Belt”. What you may not know is that not long after
arriving to Leonard Wood, I was contacted by another Clarkson alum, Tim O'Brien,
who happened to be an Army Reservist and had been made pastor of a local
“non-denominational” congregation. As he
explained his faith community, it was a “full gospel” (little did know what he
meant by that at the time) and met in a small church building not far from the
Army post in St. Robert. Being in search
of a church home, I accepted his invitation to join in worship a few Sundays
after our first meeting, but I will be blunt that I was in for a shock. Succinctly, this was my first experience of
many things that are not common parlance in a Lutheran congregation. First, the worship opened with a “call to
worship” that I was not entirely unfamiliar with, my father having come from
the Methodist tradition where this is common place. To a degree, our “centering of hearts and
mind” prayer and “gathering song” are drawn from that tradition. Following that, however, was a protracted
singing of praise songs, often having repeated refrains going 5 or 6
iterations. I saw before me congregants
experiencing extreme ecstasy in the Holy Spirit and even speaking in tongues as
the verses poured forth. Not being
ignorant of today’s second lesson, I was not taken aback by this or otherwise
scandalized, but also I was not moved in particular by this. Some 45 min in, however, it became time to
focus on scripture, and this is where Tim, plain clothed as he was, took center
stage (as there was no altar nor any liturgy and the praise band was ensconced
on a stage). As he began, he offered a
word of prayer and then said something like “… take out our bibles and your
notebooks. Last week …” In the midst of this space, wherever you were
seated, everyone, excepting myself, pulled out a copy of their Bible and a
spiral notebook to begin what was his sermon that I didn’t actually get to
finish hearing on account that after 2 hours I had somewhere else to be. Being a cradle Lutheran, I was certainly
conversant in basic bible knowledge, and had received many a sermon, but the
idea of cracking open the Bible and a notebook to take notes, across the
congregation in worship, for hours at a time, was very different, indeed. So with that, I am hoping you have found your
Bible and are ready to journey with me as the message I have for us proceeds.
Does everyone have a Bible?
Good. Then let us
start with the fact that today’s gospel lesson has a host of meaning that is so
much deeper than the typical eye might discern.
First, this lesson is from the Gospel according to John. While we are in the midst of cycle C in the
lectionary, which normally features lessons from Luke’s most voluminous Gospel,
on the second Sunday after the Epiphany, the lesson is always drawn from
John. John’s gospel is very different
from the other three tellings of the life and times of Jesus Christ, in many
ways. John, for instance, is the only
one to record this scene among all the gospel writers. Another difference is how he tells his story
about Christ: having Jesus speak for
himself in monologues that cover pages, relying often on allusion and metaphor,
and drawing heavily on the prophecies, idiosyncrasies, and language of the Old
Testament. He also is the one that
provides the smallest, yet unique dose of miracle narratives among the Gospel
writers. While this story is lacking in
a long monologue, all the other elements are present in this lesson today.
To get into this we will start with the first four words of
the gospel lesson: “On the third
day,…” If we stop just there for a
moment, we ought to be asking some questions.
“The third day” what does that mean?
Is this the third day in a sequence of days? Is this the third day of the week (aka a
Tuesday)? What is this “third day” thing
and why start this story with this assertion that things are happening “on the
third day”?
Given that you have your Bible in hand, let us all simply do
what you might often see me do during the Sermon: “Bible Surf”.
The lectionary is great, but I really like to see what all is happening
before and after the lessons to get context and some framing of what the
lessons are about. So, take yourself to
John, chapter 2, verse 1.
Now note that the previous chapter, ends with 51 verses in
most translations. That’s a lot of
material before we get to this wedding scene.
In particular, look at verses 29, 35, and 43. How do those verses begin?
A: “The next day …”[3]
Now that is odd isn’t it.
Repeatedly in start of John’s Gospel, after he leaves his opening
18-verse preamble and identification of who Jesus is, he seems to be marking
off for us a day-by-day account of what he is telling us. But yet, is this really about 24 clock hour
days that John is getting at? What is
all this “day stuff” that John is doing in his narrative? Now turn to verse 12 of chapter 2, what does
that say?
(Beth) A: “After this
he went down to Capernaum along with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and
stayed several days.”[4]
There is this day counter thing again, but now it is “days”
not just “day”. If we are paying
attention then, John seems to relay that verses 19-28 are on one day, then
29-34 are on another day, and then 36-44 are another day, and then 43-51 are
yet another day. Are you counting with me?
So how many days is that?
A: Four (4)
Wait a minute, but didn’t John say that this story about the
wedding at Cana was on the “third day”?
But if I am counting the days, then it ought to be the fifth day,
right? Perhaps maybe John was bad at
math or calendars or something. And you
will also note, if you look after verse 12 of Chapter 2, this whole “days” mechanism
of storytelling just abruptly ends. So
it’s like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and then a bunch of days, then the clock stopped. What is going on here?
So maybe we need to step back and think a bit about what
John might be referring to. Where else
have we seen this use of a day-by-day narrative in the Bible?
A: Chapter 1 of Genesis
Yes, the opening creation narrative is precisely the place
most of us conversant in the Bible will go when we hear “on this day”. So let us all turn in our Bibles to Genesis
chapter 1, but keep a finger in our Bible’s back to John Chapter 1 and 2. As you will hopefully recall from Sunday
school, there are two narratives of the creation story in Genesis. The first is the familiar day-by-day account
that starts the Bible and goes through to chapter 2 verse 3. Then there is a different account of the
story that starts at chapter verse 4 and goes to end of that chapter. I could get more into all of that but lets
just look back to the start of Genesis.
How does verse one of Genesis start?
What are the first three words?
A: “In the beginning
…”[5]
Now holding that page, let’s look back at John chapter 1,
verse 1. How does that verse start?
A: the same way.
Interesting, right?
Now, let’s dig a bit more in this comparison we are making. In Genesis chapter 1 the end of verse 5,
verse 8, verse 13, verse 19, verse 23, and so forth, the author pronounces it
to have been the “next day” in a sequence of days. Curious.
So maybe John is using this structure to the opening of his Gospel as an
allusion to the first and most memorable creation story, right? Many a commentary has made note of this very
peculiar paralleling that John seems to have used. But let’s get back to today’s lesson and this
“third day” business. Could someone read
for me Genesis chapter 1, verses 9 to 13.
A: “9 And God said,
“Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the
dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the
waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was
good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding
seed and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in
it.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed
of every kind and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And
God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the
third day.”[6]
Hmm? Now that is
interesting. On the “third day” in the
Genesis creation story, there is God “gathering” the waters into one place that
is separate and distinct and then this act of creating vegetation, calling out
in particular “fruit trees” that “bear fruit”.
Going back to this wedding at Cana story, a favorite miracle often used
even in secular circles, what is happening?
Well first, there is a gathering of water into jugs, which have a separate
and distinct purpose, and then that water is converted into wine, a product
produced literally from fruit. Fascinating,
isn’t it. It’s as if John is calling out
that this scene is happening on “the third day” to make a direct connection to
the Genesis narrative of the third day and how Christ is being a creator just
like/as if he was God. And I bet you
that is indeed what is happening here. “On
the third day, …” wasn’t John miscounting.
John was using the day-by-day mechanism to bring to mind the creation
narrative from the opening of Genesis, and then hones in on the “third day” of
that story as he begins this scene to bring in all of its meaning and
context. So “on the third day …” is a
pregnant phrase steeped with deeper meaning that helps us see the deep truth
about Jesus as creator and also presage what Christ is going to do both in the
scene and beyond.
Now we have spent some serious time “Bible surfing” to walk
through just the first four words of the Gospel lesson for today, but there is
so much more that is in this lesson to discover. For instance, turn to John chapter 19, verse
34. What does it say?
A: “Instead, one of
the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came
out.”[7]
Water and blood, hmm.
In communion, what is the earthly element we use to represent Christ’s
blood?
A: Wine
So, water and blood, water and wine, what is John connecting? Are there two sacraments we celebrate that
use water and wine respectively?
A: baptism and
communion
Yes, baptism and communion, another deeper meaning and
connection. I could go on. For instance, what about this whole “my hour has
not yet come” part[8]? Or Jesus calling his mother “woman”[9]? Or this “wine gave out”/“they have no wine” concern[10]? Or what is this first and last business about
good and inferior wine[11]? And why was this “the first of his signs” when
John the Baptist had pronounced the sign of “the Spirit descending like a dove”
in the previous chapter[12]? Let me just offer that we could spend hours
on this story alone, but I am not Tim O’Brien and this is not a “full gospel” congregation
where services, apparently can go on for up to 4 hours. Honestly, however, I’d encourage you to spend
some time digging in more in the coming days.
There is some amazing things in here that will give you a broad
appreciation for scripture and specifically the way to understand better John’s
message to us, and therefore the gospel itself.
So why did I do this and what does this all mean. First, the lessons today ought to call us to
dig deeper into what they are trying to say to us and the world. That digging deeper often requires us to have
scripture help us interpret scripture. John
was well aware of the Genesis narrative and was clearly inspired to make this
connection between Jesus, the creation, and the Creator for us to find and contemplate. This means we shouldn’t take things at face
value within scripture as we will often miss the larger and more important points. If we simply breeze by what might be a throw
away phrase at first glance, we will be like those trying to hear God in a loud
wind. We are called, however, to see
past the loud wind to hear God in the still small voice[13]. Second, that you can do this. The lessons we hear each week are a starting
point, not the ending point of our exploration of scripture. We hear and read a large portion of the New
Testament and a limited part of the Old Testament through the 3-year lectionary
cycle. But, like today, its not always
put well into context nor does it give us the chance to hear even more about
God and his actions in the world yesterday, today and into the future. Lastly, because as Isaiah says, we are to “not
keep silent” and we should not “rest” but seek out those spiritual gifts that
Paul speaks about in our second lesson[14]. Scripture helps us see what God is calling us
to be and do in the world. It helps us
ground the free gift of faith he has given us.
We need to feed ourselves the good fruit that He provides. We need to hear that one Spirit who provides
all good gifts. Yes, that happens in worship
and in the sacraments, but it also happens as we glimpse at the living Word,
Christ, as shown us in the Bible. When
we do, we can more clearly see that the gospel is truly good news.
Amen.
[1]
2 Corinthians 1:2
[2]
Psalm 19:14
[3]
Cf. John 1, 29, 35, 43, NIV
[4]
John 2:12 – The Message
[5]
Genesis 1:1 NSRV
[6]
Genesis 1:9-13
[7]
John 19:34
[8] Cf. John 2:4
[9]
Cf. John 2:4
[10]
Cf. John 2:3
[11]
Cf. John 2:10
[12]
Cf. John 2:11
[13]
1 Kings 19:11-13
[14] Cf. Isaiah 62:1, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
