Epiphany 2 sermon
A nun was out visiting parishioners when she ran out of gas … Luckily, there was a gas station nearby. She walked to the station to borrow a gas can with just enough gas to start the car and drive to the station for a fill up. The attendant told her that the only gas can he owned had just been loaned out. The nun decided not to wait and walked back to her car.
After looking through her car for something to carry to the station to fill with gas, she spotted a bedpan she was taking to the parishoner. Always resourceful, she carried it to the station, filled it with gasoline, and carefully carried it back to her car. As she was pouring the gas into the tank of her car, two men watched her from across the street.
One of them turned to the other and said: "I’ve heard the story that Jesus turned water into wine, but if that car starts, I'll become a believer!"
The wedding has been going on for days and when the hosts run out of wine, Mary walks across the room to where Jesus is partying with his new disciples. “Son, they have run out of wine.” Now, Jesus is in his late twenties and doesn’t like having Mom embarrassing him in front of his friends. He sounds a bit sassy when he answers, “Woman, why do we care?” But he backs down a bit when he whispers in her ear, “My hour has not yet come.”
Here’s my favorite part of the story: Mary doesn’t seem too pleased that her son isn’t doing her bidding. I can SO relate to this moment, as I also have to remind my twenty-eight-year-old son that he should still listen to his Mama.
Mary doesn’t argue with her son. She just ignores him. She turns to the servants and commands, “Do whatever he tells you.” Then I’m pretty sure she turns back to her son and gives him that universal mom look … which says quite eloquently, “You do what I tell you and you do it NOW”. Well, I’ll be darned. With no further argument, Jesus orders the servants to fill a bunch of big jars with water. The servants do it, filling them up to the brim. Jesus works the miracle of turning a whole lot of water into a whole lot of wine, very fine wine.
This story is about the first miracle Jesus performs in his ministry. I think his hesitance to help is partly because he doesn’t want people to think that he is some kind of common magician doing a cheap trick.
The wine steward is impressed with the quality of the wine and doesn’t know where it came from. It’s worth noting that the only people who really know what’s going on are Jesus, Mary, the disciples and the lowly servants. Jesus as God works his miracle through the actions of the servants.
Look at what happens in this story. Mary sees a need. Mary discerns this ability, this gift in her son. Mary pushes him into action. Jesus doesn’t act on his extraordinary gift without the prompting of his mom.
I don’t think that any of us has the talent to make wine out of water… and if you do, please let me know. Our talents and our abilities are truly gifts from God. Sometimes we need others to help us discern our gifts. But we also need to call forth the gifts of others as Mary did in today’s gospel. Gordon Cosby writes: “The primary task and primary mission of the Christian is to call forth the gifts of others.”
In our second reading, Paul writes to the deeply divisive church in Corinth about spiritual gifts because some people are lording it over others, thinking they have the more important gift. Here’s an edited version of Paul’s words:
“And now, brothers, I want to write about the special abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each of you. Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.
Then Paul lists a bunch of spiritual gifts: the ability to give good advice; someone else may be especially good at studying and teaching, and this is her gift from the same Spirit. The Spirit gives special faith to another, and to someone else the power to heal the sick. He gives power for doing miracles to some, and to others power to prophesy and preach. He gives some the gift of speaking other languages and others power to interpret.”
This scripture is very important in churches like ours. We believe that we have all the gifts we need to ‘do’ church. Years ago, we did a lot of work as a Total Common Ministry church discerning our gifts, and we are starting to talk about discernment again. Acknowledging and using our various gifts is what makes our church special, and this is so empowering to each of us.
I like the idea that the Holy Spirit activates our gifts when we are inspired to use them for the common good. If you’re wondering about your own gifts, just think about this quote by Frederick Buechner: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” I’m glad that I get to preach, happy to work on our hymns, happy to use my little gifts in our church.
Mary appreciated her son’s talents and called him to use those talents. My favorite theologian, Mr. Rogers said: “I believe that appreciation is a holy thing… that when we look for what’s best in a person, we’re doing what God does all the time. So, in loving and appreciating our neighbor we’re participating in something special.”
We can all do this work of helping others discern their gifts through our appreciation of them. I love this, this idea that we can help others find their gifts. Let’s make it a habit to call out and name each other’s gifts as we see them.
God works miracles through the actions of his servants. Let us be his servants, stepping out of the church, using our gifts to meet the hunger of the world. Let’s allow the Light to shine for us and through us to lead us to reveal God’s power to the weak, God’s love for the neglected, God’s mercy for all of us.
Amen.