01162022 – John 2. 1-11
I felt bad.
I tried a joke-slash-story in the sermon last night and no one even cracked a smile. No one! Notta!
It couldn’t have been “a BAD story.”
Or, they “WAY” that IT WAS TOLD.
My TIMING wasn’t off…sooooooooooooooooooooooo
I’m gonna chalk it up to Saturday night and the annual Animal Pet Blessing…
I went home and immediately “hit up” and “lit up” the internet.
I promise to be quick…these are all “wedding related and one-liners…” so in my head, they fit with the gospel…and are theologically sound.
They are all-rapid-fire.
Someone please groan, smile, laugh, or throw something…I have to “redeem” myself.
Did you hear about the two spiders who just got engaged? I hear they met “on the WEB.”
Did you hear about the “two cell phones” who got married? Their “RECEPTION” was terrific.
I just saw two “NUCLEAR technicians” getting married. The bride was
“RADIANT” and the groom was “GLOWING.”
Do you know WHY the “King of Hearts” married the “Queen of Hearts?” They were “perfectly SUITED” to each other.
You know…it’s been ten years since “the INVISIBLE MAN” married “the INVISIBLE WOMAN.” Their kids are “NOTHING to look at either.”
And last one…I promise…
Why did “Comic Sans” break up with “Times New Roman?” He just wasn’t her “TYPE!”
Ba dump bump, and I am all done…
And on to John…
This morning I see it as being about “FOCUS.”
We FOCUS on all kinds of things…sometimes, the wrong things…
Take for example the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee.
People get ALL EXCITED about THE WINE.
120-180 gallons of top shelf WINE.
People want to know HOW it was done…and WHEN it actually OCCURRED.
Some individuals FOCUS on THE RELATIONSHIP between Jesus and MARY.
HOW “he” seemingly LISTENS to his MOTHER and DOES whatever it is – SHE TELLS him to do.
That’s why in some TRADITIONS there is EMPHASIS on prayer to Mary.
The KID listens to HER everytime! He has to, she is HIS MOTHER!
Some FOCUS on the six WATER JUGS used for RITUALISTIC washing and PURIFICATION purposes.
And the attempt is made, to make SOMETHING out of that. Usually anti-semetic!
Others will focus on WEDDING CELEBRATIONS in the first century of the common era.
How they went on for SEVEN DAYS…
How the groom and his family were RESPONSIBLE for the food and the drink for ALL of those SEVEN days.
And then, there are those scholars that would have us focus on the HONOR and SHAME SOCIETY, of that time.
And how this NEAR CATASTROPHE of running out of WINE at a wedding, would have placed SHAME on the wedding COUPLE, their FAMILIES, the ENTIRE village and ALL THOSE who attended the festivities. (Jesus included!)
THEN, there are those who will ONLY FOCUS on this LITTLE, TINY, almost unknown-obscure VILLAGE of Cana. Which we believe to be in-near-proximity to-Nazareth.
Almost as if, Jesus was TESTING out his abilities in this little backwoods hamlet. You know if he can make it there…he can MAKE IT ANYWHERE…
I can tell you this – if he would have had a GOOD PR Man, they would have told him to stay away from SMALL, PETTY unimportant EVENTS and go for the big stuff…like Moses and Elijah…
Make a SCENE. Make a SPLASH. Split the SEA. Call down FIRE from heaven. Have lots of WITNESSES, get a whole lot of people talking. Make headlines in the JERUSALEM POST.
But none of that should be OUR FOCUS, either.
INSTEAD…get this…I am pretty sure that we are to FOCUS less on the WINE, less on HOW it was done, or on HIS MOTHER, or on the CULTURAL TRADITIONS, or on the WEDDING ITSELF, or its WHEREABOUTS, and less on the honor/shame SOCIETY that was Israel at that time and to instead…
Focus on the “WINEMAKER. “
The wedding guests in the Bible story never got to know the ‘WINEMAKER’ because they were TOO FOCUSED on the good tasting WINE SAVED til the very end.
I tell you many of us place our FOCUS on the wrong things.
Maybe you are FOCUSED on inflation, or the RISING COSTS at the grocery stores, or on – what is or isn’t being done in our NATIONS’ CAPITOL, or you are FOCUSED on the PANDEMIC and all the morbid daily statistics…(I get it) a lot of people are…
Whatever it is, don’t let it take your eyes off of THE LORD OF LIFE!
The REASON for the Good News, the gospels, is so that we don’t take our EYES off of our SAVIOR… OUR FOCUS needs to be on HIM.
Make sure you know, the WINEMAKER!
The rest, is all relatively unimportant.
Amen!