Every Wedding Needs a Miracle

Scripture Lessons: Isaiah 62: 1-5 and John 2: 1-11 Sermon Title: Every Wedding Needs a Miracle Preached on January 16, 2022 The wedding. The wedding is always a big day, but this wedding, the wedding at Cana of Galilee, is an especially big day, because according to the Gospel of John, this was “the first of his signs” revealing his glory. This is a major step, then, in his journey. Since Christmas Eve we’ve been watching, following Jesus as he grows, learning about his life. We were there when his birth was announced, when he was just a baby in a manger with the shepherds, and the magi brought him gifts. Then, he was a child who nearly got left behind in Jerusalem for wanting to be with the teachers in the Temple, and just last week he was baptized in the Jordan by John. These major events in the Savior’s life don’t come to us from any single account. As you well know, instead of one comprehensive biography, the ancients passed down to us four different Gospels. Each one is different, but that doesn’t mean they’re not true. I remember so well this illustration from one of Dr. Jim Speed’s books, “The Apostles’ Creed: Fresh Water from an Ancient Spring.” If you’d like a copy, I can get you one. This church gave me one when I graduated high school. It’s signed by the author and everything. I read it the following summer, and I’ve always remembered how Dr. Speed talked about the differences between the Gospels. They don’t tell the exact same story. The details are different. There are shepherds in Luke but wise men in Matthew. How do we tell who got the story right? They all did. But they’re different, and that just means they’re telling the truth, for if four boys sneak out of their beds in the middle of the night to throw all the pool furniture into the neighborhood pool (just to give hypothetical example) they’ll get together to come up with an alibi. And because they’re young they’ll think, “now all our stories must be exactly the same,” not realizing that it’s when four boys tell the exact same story it reveals their guilt and not their innocence. So, John doesn’t have a Christmas story like Luke does. There’s no account of the wise men like there is in the Gospel of Matthew. Look it up. It’s not there. The way John tells it, first there’s John the Baptist who meets Jesus when he’s baptized. After that Jesus calls a few disciples and invites them to come with him to a wedding in Cana. This is where we get to today’s Second Scripture lesson. Have you ever wondered why the family didn’t have enough wine at their daughter’s wedding? They probably had plenty. They just hadn’t expected their neighbor Jesus to bring his new friends with him. I can imagine the mother of the bride whispering to somebody when they all came in, “The invitation said bring a plus one, not plus 12.” There they all were. A group of young men doing the things that young men do. Likely, Jesus was doing something more holy than the rest of his disciples. That’s how Jesus always was, but then the wine gave out. That’s what happened. It was sure to happen. It was sure to happen, not only because someone brought a bunch of extra people with him, but because something always happens. Every wedding needs a miracle because something at every wedding goes wrong. Do you remember? The first wedding I officiated was in Florence, South Carolina. I was so excited to officiate at my friends’ wedding. I was so excited that I forgot to pack my robe. Or my suit. They were both laying out on the bed. I took them out of my closet but never packed them in the car. I remember it like it was yesterday. Do you remember? Do you remember what happened at your wedding? Every wedding needs a miracle, because every wedding is planned by a group of imperfect human beings. Every wedding is the joining together of two imperfect human beings. They make promises to each other. They make big promises, but if you were to summarize all the vows you make, the preacher might just have them say, “he’s not perfect. Neither are you. Will you stick together anyway?” Every wedding needs a miracle. Every marriage needs a miracle. Every person needs a miracle. But not every person is willing to admit that out loud. It’s true. We’ve been watching Women of the Movement on ABC. The episode that’s airing now is about Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmitt Till’s mother. It’s not an easy show to watch. It’s easier to believe it wasn’t as bad as it was. Last Monday we were watching it all unfold. Emmitt was raised up north, so when he spends a couple weeks in Jim Crow Era Mississippi, he suffers from culture shock. His mind can’t wrap around the evil reality of the place. When his cousins tell him to keep his eyes down and to say, “yes sir” and “no mam,” to step off the sidewalk and let the white folks pass, he does it, but he doesn’t understand it. He can’t comprehend it, so when all the local boys call him Chicago and dare him to go ask a white store clerk on a date, he does it. And when she goes to her car to get a gun, they all run and won’t tell anyone about it. This is the moment when my wife Sara said to our children, “I wish they would have told someone. Why didn’t they tell someone? They could have gotten him out of there.” It’s because they’re like all boys. They’re scared to get into trouble, so they don’t ask for help. They make up a story or they keep silent. They’re like every person I know. The hardest part is saying it out loud. I made a mistake. I need some help. I have a problem. We’re out of wine. The question is not whether you need a miracle. The question is: have you told Jesus about it? Have you done that nearly impossible thing? Have you admitted to yourself that’s something’s wrong? And have you mustered up the courage to ask for help? In the end, the story of Mamie Till-Mobley is so inspiring. Because this one woman who’s willing to stand up and talk about the brokenness of a nation did something about it. “I want everyone to see what they did to my son,” she said, again and again, while the whole guest list of a wedding feast was scared to say anything. Don’t you know that if no one says anything, nothing gets better? Every wedding needs a miracle. Every person needs a miracle. But have you told Jesus about it? Back during the Great Recession, I was the pastor at a church in Lilburn. The church was hit so hard financially that we feared it would close. Instead, we ended that year with a 25% surplus. People have asked me, “how’d you do that Joe?” I’ve tried to come up with a good answer. I told one group, “Well, I’m a financial genius.” Unfortunately, that’s not true. What is true is that I stood up in the pulpit and I said to the whole church, “Something is wrong. We’re in trouble. We need a miracle. Will you help me?” Don’t you know that every wedding needs a miracle, and the miracle worker is never so far away that he can’t hear? The wood around our stained-glass window has rotted out. Did you know that? Maybe you heard about it, but just in whispers, because only few people knew. Not too many. Those who knew, we were wringing our hands about it. “Where will the money come from? What are we going to do?” My friends, two couples heard our whisper and the whole project is paid for. Can you believe that? You need to. Because every wedding needs a miracle. Every person needs a miracle. But has anyone told Jesus? Have you told Jesus? Mary went to her son and said to him, “They have no more wine.” And what the author of the Gospel of John left out is how she also said, “It’s because of those drunk fishermen you brought that they ran out.” Did you know she also said that? Well, she did. Then Jesus said, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” This is where it really gets good, because, Jesus, thinking about how it’s not the right time for this miracle which will reveal his divinity, just gets ignored completely by his mother who says to the servants standing there, “Do whatever he tells you,” as she knows that even Jesus sometimes needs a little nudge. He told the servants to fill up the purification jars and they filled them to the brim. “Now, draw some out,” he said. The opposite of this is what happened in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve need a miracle, they need forgiveness. Instead, they hide. Do you know anyone who hides? Anyone who got COVID-19 will tell you, the worst part is calling your friends. No one wants to do that. No one wants to come out and say it, so instead we hide. What are you hiding now? Every wedding needs a miracle, so don’t let shame confine you to the shadow. Every one of us needs a miracle, so don’t let fear hold you back. We read from our Old Testament Lesson: “For Zion’s sake, do not keep silent.” Call on the Lord for help “until vindication shines out like the dawn and salvation like a burning torch.” Yesterday I heard about a lady walking through Kroger with her shoe untied. Only then a lady who works there named Miss Philomena came over to tie it. Remember that. Don’t hide the emptiness. Everyone gets so tiered of pretending their full when they’re running on empty. Instead, let him know, for the Lord delights in you. He’s at the wedding with you. It might be his friend’s fault that all the wine is gone. So, don’t hide what’s broken from the miracle worker. Every wedding needs a miracle. Every marriage needs a miracle. Every person needs a miracle. And when we let the savior know, the wine that has run out will be replaced but the wine that’s even better. Alleluia. Amen.