Homily for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, 2022

Homily for Epiphany 3, 2022

Fr. Tony Melton @ CTK

Jesus, Giver of Wine

Who can tell me what season of the Church we are in? [Epiphany] That’s right! During Epiphany, we celebrate that Jesus is the Savior of the whole world. Each week of Epiphany teaches us something different about who Jesus is. The first week we learned that Jesus is like Wise King Solomon, except that Jesus is even wiser and greater. Jesus is the King of Wisdom. Say King of Wisdom. The next week, we learned that Jesus is the Giver of Gifts and we serve Him as our King. You might think of the Chronicles of Narnia in The Last Battle, when Aslan and Father Christmas give Peter a sword, Lucy a vile of healing cordial and a dagger, and so on. Jesus is the Gift-Gifting King whom we serve.

This week, we see a different picture of Jesus, and it is a bit surprising. To begin, I wanted to show you a picture that a local artist recently donated to the church. What is it? [Wine] Is it a bit of wine, or a lotta bit of wine? [A lotta bit] Raise your hand if you like the taste of wine. You might not like the taste of it, but you likely will when you are older. Wine is considered to be one of the best things on earth. Adults drink wine when there is something to be happy about, like when we get together with good friends, or celebrating a birthday. Wine can make a person feel happy, and even a little bit silly. (Too much and it will make you sad and sick, but in the right amount wine is a good thing.)

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is at a wedding. Just like nowadays, weddings back then had lots of dancing, good food, and lots of…[wine]. It was the job of the hosts of the wedding to have enough wine, but at this wedding in Cana of Galilee, the hosts of the wedding ran out. This was not good. So they came to Mary and asked what to do and she came to Jesus. Long story short, Jesus saved the day when He turned water into wine. And He didn’t just make a little bit of wine, He filled six stone vases. Each vase held about 25 gallons of water. So all in all, Jesus made about 750 bottles of wine, which is about 3,750 glasses of wine. You might ask Mr. James and Mrs. Chloe O’Rourke how many bottles they had at their wedding a few weeks ago. It was a lot of wine, but I don’t think it was 750 bottles of it! And so we have the next picture of Jesus in this season of Epiphany. Who is the Savior of the World? He is Jesus, Giver of Wine.

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I was really silly. Sometimes I would pretend that I was a Power Ranger and fight off all the bad guys. During recess, my friend Jimmy and I would pretend that we were The Beatles and would bob our heads while we would sing their songs. I would perfect my funny faces in the mirror. And I would laugh uncontrollably whenever someone would toot.

What do you think it means that Jesus is the Giver of Wine? Some people think that God is up in the sky looking down with His arms crossed, His eyebrows furrowed, His head shaking ever so slightly, exhaling through His nostrils. You might think that He is really pleased with you when are very serious and still and solemn and sober. But are people that drink wine very serious and still and solemn and sober? [No] And what did Jesus do when they ran out of wine? [He gave them more wine.]

You see, God looks down on the people that He made and He loves us. He delights in us. Say, “God delights in me.” [God delights in me.] There are things that you do that make God laugh and smile. You should not be ashamed when you are silly. God is not scowling at you when you play. He is the Giver of Wine, and He loves to see His children make merry and be happy. Now, when we are having fun and being silly, does God still expect us to obey our parents? [Yes] Does He want us to treat others with kindness and respect? [Yes] Does He smile when we say things that we know are wrong? [No] But does He want us to be always very serious and still and solemn and sober? [No] Jesus is the Giver of…[Wine]. The Joy of the Whole Earth, the Joy of Man’s Desiring. Amen.

[to the adults]

As I mentioned last week, Jesus is the New Creation. You might remember that I drew a parallel between the Baptism of Jesus and the story of Noah, namely that both Jesus and the Dry Land emerged from the Water. Both Jesus and the Dry Land had the Divine approval spoken of them. And both Jesus and the Dry Land had a dove land upon them. The message is obvious: Jesus is the New Creation. The parallels between Jesus and Noah go further. One of the first things that Noah did was to plant a vineyard and make some wine, and the first miracle of Jesus after His Baptism is to make wine. But it is here that the parallel stops because Noah became drunk and cursed one of his own sons. And yet, Jesus is the Giver of Wine.

In the Old Testament, the giving of Wine was a key marker that the favor of the Lord had returned to Israel and the world. Instead of exile and famine, God would give Wine. Wine was a sign that God was remaking the world and putting all things to right.

But I want to push past the parallels in Scripture, what we call typology, interesting though it may be. The fact that God chose Wine as a sign of His New Creation, what is the significance of that? You might remember from the story of the Wedding at Cana that Jesus that the water came from huge stone jars that held water for the Jewish purification rites. This is significant. By bringing Wine to the Earth, Jesus was changing the relationship between us and God. This was a sign that He was making a New Covenant with His New Creation. The Old Covenant, represented by Purification Water, was being transformed into the New Covenant, represented by Choice Wine. Mankind would no longer have to fixate constantly on making sure that they are clean, washing themselves several times a day with water. No. The sign of the New Covenant is Wine, which ironically is even more purifying than water and yet its function is not for purification but for delight.

The New Covenant adds delight to duty, and Jesus the Giver of Wine manifests that God delights in the New Creation, too. We delight in God, and we delight in Life, and God delights in us. He smiles at us in our humanity. He laughs when we are silly. And we are to smile and laugh in fulfilling His Will. At the Wedding at Cana, Jesus transforms the Old Covenant into a Religion of Delight. This is why I’ve said many times that Christians should throw the best parties, and we invest as a mission into partying well. It is not simply because we love good food, good wine, laughing and dancing. It is primarily because our mission is to radiate King Jesus, and we learn in today’s Gospel that for 2,000 years the Church has learned who He is and what He means by gazing at the miracle at Cana and seeing that our Savior throws the best parties; that the holy life is not a joyless life; there is no power in being dower. When we perform our duties as a unwanted burden instead of the joy of a dance, we forget that the sign of our Covenant is choice Wine. And when we fixate on avoiding flaws, staying clean, walking the line, we forget that Jesus gave 18 firkins of wine to the people of Cana. 18 firkins, people!

What does this mean for you that Jesus is the Giver of Wine? I’m not sure, but it is something I hope you ponder this week. Perhaps you need to hear that God loves to see you filled to the brim with joy. Like this painting here. “My cup runneth over.” Perhaps this means you need to repent of a spirit of gloom, or false-shame, or unforgiveness, or frustration, or bitterness, or sloth. What is stealing your joy? Let it go. The Stonehaven School has this call and response. Children, don’t leave me hanging up here. Ready? Really loud now. CHOOSE…[JOY!] Listen to the kiddos. You’ve got to choose it, because Jesus the Giver of Wine has given it. To not take up Joy and live within it is like sitting cranky in the corner at a wedding.

What does this mean for our church? That’s more simple. If we are to radiate the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of King Jesus, then we must remember the Wedding at Cana. We must remember that ours is a Religion of Delight. We delight to do God service. We delight to sing His praises. We know the delight He has for us. We delight in one another. We delight in the gifts that God has given to us. We delight in our children. We delight in the aged. We delight in the young men. We delight in the young women. We delight it in the stranger. We delight in the troubled. We delight in good food and good wine. We delight in worshipping outside. We delight in worshipping inside. There is so little delight in the world, and if we have a culture of delight, people will know that Jesus is there, and they will run to His banquet, and be His forever. Amen.