Water into Wine
A Sermon of The Rev. Dr. David A. Killian, Rector
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
Preached at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Brookline, Massachusetts
January 18, 2004
Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Text: John 2:1-11
I
In the thirty-six years that I have been ordained, I have presided at many weddings and they have been very happy occasions. Weddings take a huge amount of preparation and the couple tries to make sure that everything is just right, and usually it is.
However, things don’t always go as planned. When I was a newly ordained priest, I got to know a lovely married couple in the parish. One day, the wife said, "You’ll never guess how happy I made my husband on our wedding day." I was curious and even though I ventured some guesses, I did not come up with what it was. Finally, she said, "You see I was the second person he was engaged to. The first time, the wedding date was set and he was at the church. The minister was there and all of the wedding party and guests -- but the bride never arrived. So he was so happy on our wedding day when I showed up at the church."
In today’s Gospel passage, a huge embarrassment is about to happen -- not because there is no bride, but, as Mary tells Jesus, because "they have no wine." A Jewish wedding without wine is like an Irish wedding without Guinness.
In the days of Jesus, wedding celebrations could last for days. Relatives and friends journeyed by foot from distant villages and they stayed a while before heading home. Obviously someone had underestimated the drinking capacity of the guests. Some Scripture scholars surmise that Jesus’s disciples may even have contributed to the problem by consuming too much wine. No matter who was to blame, the wine was running out. What could be done? Mary gently suggests that Jesus do something about it, and, even though at first he says that his hour has not come, shortly his hour does come and he changes the water into wine and changes the sadness and embarrassment of the couple into joy. The changing of water into wine is an epiphany, a manifestation of Jesus to the world, "the first of his signs" to reveal his glory.
II
Where in our world and history can we see jars of water calling out to be changed into wine? Let me give three examples: St. Patrick, Martin Luther King, and Elma Lewis.
St. Patrick, as a teenager living in Britain, was kidnapped by marauding Celtic pirates and sold into slavery to a pagan Irish king. Patrick was forced to care for the sheep and livestock, often spending days outside in harsh conditions. While outside, however, he marveled at the beauty of God’s creation. Viewing the stars and the moon at night, he was struck with wonder and awe at the Creator’s majesty. Through inner voices and dreams he had a religious conversion. After six years Patrick was able to escape; he was educated for the ministry in France and was ordained a priest and a bishop. But he never forgot his days in Ireland. Even though he was a slave and forced to live under harsh conditions he came to love the Irish people. He had a dream that God was calling him to bring the Christian faith to the Irish people. In 432, Patrick went back to Ireland - and for the next 30 years he baptized, confirmed, instructed and established faith communities. The water of the pagan Celtic people was transformed into the wine of Celtic Christian faith.
My second example is The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we honor this weekend. He, like Patrick, had a dream. In his great speech at the march on Washington in 1963, he said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." In that same speech, he said, "We cannot be satisfied, and we will not be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. . . . Go back to Mississippi; go back to Alabama; go back to South Carolina; go back to Georgia; go back to Louisiana; go back to the slums and ghettos of the northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can, and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair." King had this great hope that things could be changed: the water of injustice and inequality could be changed into the sweet wine of freedom and justice.
III
My third example of someone who helped change water into wine is Elma Lewis, who died a few weeks ago and whose funeral was held at the Cathedral of St. Paul. In 1950, she opened the Elma Lewis School for the performing arts in Roxbury. She also was the force behind the founding of the Museum of the National Center for Afro-American Artists in 1980, also in Roxbury. She is well-known for gathering a gifted array of artists to perform in "Black Nativity," which just completed its 34th season. About her, state representative Byron Rushing said, "She was as concerned for treatment of African-Americans and voter-registration as she was with the music and dance she was teaching. She saw it all as one."
Patrick, Martin, and Elma were persons of faith. Each experienced Christ transforming the water of their ordinary lives into the wine of Christian faith. Each had a dream and vision of uplifting others. Each was dedicated to bring Christ’s justice, love, and beauty to others. Through them Christ changed water in the wine.
In a few minutes just after the gifts of bread and wine are brought to the altar, the celebrant will pour a little water into the wine. This action is a symbol of transformation. As the water is transformed into wine, so may we be transformed into the likeness of Christ. So may our humanity show forth the qualities of love and compassion. So may we be renewed in heart and mind and spirit.
Amen.