Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Should we start at the beginning, always a good place to start, or should we start at the end? Let us start at the end!

At the end of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John, our Gospel author wrote: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name."

Now we have the beginning -- at least the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the beginning of his signs. What a beginning! Why on earth would John, our Gospel author, start here? It is a question that I have been asked by members here, and elsewhere. Why would John start with something so trivial, turning water into wine at a marriage celebration? Is this meant to be a corrective to some ascetic, puritanical, no-joy-in-life approach to our faith? Not only that, folks often add, but he is rude to his mother!

Now personally, I have always liked these verses -- they resonate with me. Not that I drink a lot of wine -- I don't -- or that I like attending, officiating at weddings -- I do -- but for other reasons, reasons that seem to touch my heart, my soul, my image of our Christian faith, our worship, our teaching, our discipleship.

Let us think this out together even as the Holy Spirit works it out in each one of us.

Wedding celebrations in Jesus' time often were up to seven days long. In fact, the wedding often did not take place until the third day of the celebration. And the fact of the matter is, the groom was responsible for all the festivities and the cost of the festivities. Those he invited were expected to help out, especially with wine. All of this taking place in an "honor/shame" culture that placed an incredible value on hospitality. Think about the story Jesus told about the man who was in bed with his family when a neighbor came knocking on the door looking for bread because a visitor had shown up unexpectedly. The man gets up and gives bread to his neighbor that his neighbor may demonstrate hospitality. There is inconvenience all around but that is not the point. The point is someone shows up, expected or not, expectations have to be met. It's "honor/shame" and the latter is to be avoided at all costs. Think about Jesus eating at the Pharisee's home when the woman we assume to be Mary Magdalene comes in and washes Jesus' feet with her tears, dries them with her hair and anoints Jesus as well. The Pharisee wonders about these things and Jesus points out that his host did not offer the normal, the expected courtesies and here a woman who is not a member of the household is doing just that. It is honor/shame.

Let us connect that to the wedding celebration -- here we have the third day of the celebration and the wine has run out. Mary brings this to Jesus attention and Jesus responds with "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?" Now for Mary, Jesus and his disciples to be there, they had to be invited. Probably by the groom, since Mary knows the state of the wine, or the lack thereof. Now you also need to know that akin to not demonstrating hospitality, drunkenness was also greatly frowned upon -- a matter of shame -- so this is not a story where Jesus turns vast quantities of water into wine so people can get drunk. John includes this story and shows us by Jesus' example something that we see repeatedly through this Gospel and through the other Gospels as well. Yes, it is the first of the signs that Jesus is the Christ, only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth, but there is more. In this seemingly trivial little story that takes place at the beginning of his ministry, Christ shows love and compassion -- in this case for the groom. By his action in turning the water into wine the groom and those with the groom are not shamed, hospitality and honor, so important, so vital in middle-eastern culture, even today, are upheld.

Oh! You say, but Jesus was so rude to his mother. Well, a couple points here. First, although he is not really being rude, he shows that even his own mother has no proprietary claim on God, even though he does as she wishes, as I suspect she knew he would, as is the case with all moms. There is a sixth sense or something and they know their sons. But even more to the point, addressing a woman as "woman" in that culture is part of the culture and may seem rude to us, but would not have been in that time. Note also that it is not the only time that Jesus uses that form of address with women. When Jesus is near death on the cross, he addresses his mother once more saying: "Woman, here is your son." Addressing our Gospel writer, Jesus tells him "Here is your mother." There is no disrespect intended and I do not think that on Mary's part any disrespect was perceived or received.

Jesus directs the servants to fill six jars, holding between them 120 to 180 gallons of water. At this point, they are empty, "fill 'em up," he in effect tells the servants. Water in these jars is normally used for the rites of purification. "...draw some out..." he says and the steward goes to the bridegroom and says "...you have kept the good wine until now." In other words, you have saved the best for last.

Now think of this in your own life, not drinking up to 180 gallons of wine, even if you spend a lifetime doing it, but let us make a connection here. Here you sit, born in a state of sin, separated from God. Here you sit, a baptized believer, baptized when you were an infant, or perhaps as an adult. You are baptized; you have perhaps taken communion a thousand times, maybe more, much more. You have confessed your sins and received absolution, forgiveness, in countless church services over the years. Yet, you are still a sinner. But a saint too, at the same time. Saint and sinner, sinner and saint. You are a disciple, becoming a disciple, consider yourself a disciple, yet still a sinner, still struggling, still preoccupied with the cares and concerns of the world. You are, as you have heard before, a work in progress. If you let God do this work in you, you will be transformed. You are not there yet, none of us are. We will not get there until Jesus comes back. But the transformation has begun. The best is yet to come.

And imagine Jesus here right now, saying to you: "draw some out..." Better yet, understand that Jesus is here right now, and he is saying to you: "draw some out, you are my disciple, you are my work, you have been saved by me, you are mine. I tell you draw some out, share what you have, what you are, share what you will be with those who are lacking, who are struggling, who are hurting, who are doubting. Draw some out, what do you think I am transforming you for if not to let others taste from you, of you, of me, what is to come. Draw some out!"

Brothers and sisters, friends and visitors, we at Lutheran Church of the Cross are being transformed as individuals and together as a congregation of this church, as a part of Christ's body in this time and place. We are a work in progress and the best is yet to come! But we have been given many gifts that are for us to share with others, here in this community, in this state, in this country, in this world, in Haiti, where others are gathered, where others are in need. We are called to "draw some out" that others may taste of Christ, taste of what is to come, hear the Gospel, receive the good news, hear of the signs of Jesus, see what he has worked in us. There is excitement in this place, in this time, I say to you: embrace it, release it, enjoy it, celebrate it -- draw some out and share it and do it now, and do not stop doing it. Draw some out!

AMEN