Transforming Lives with Jesus - Second Sunday after Epiphany
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
January 19, 2025
One of the advantages of age is slowing down, insofar as
it gives us insight a faster pace might miss. Today we’re going to apply that
to the gospel. Imagine being told to do whatever Jesus tells you and what he
says is “go draw enough water to fill all these jars- all 180 gallons of it.”
Remember there’s no faucet that you just turn on. You have to go to the well,
lower the bucket, raise it up, fill your small container, walk back to the big
jars and empty it, for gallon after gallon after gallon after gallon…At what
point do you think the servants begin to feel this is tedious, there’s not
enough of us! Or more importantly, it’s a fool’s errand? After all, they are
not out of water, they are out of wine. Will all of this labor amount to
anything?
There’s a reason Mary tells them just do what he tells you. They’re asked to
put their bodies into a labor that they’re not sure will bear fruit.
And isn’t that what Jesus asks of us? In short, to love
God with all you’ve got and love everyone else as you would want to be loved. Like
the words that we are given in a different water, our baptism. When we affirm
our baptism as we did last week, the words are a profession of faith- a
statement but also something to embody because we believe God has promised to
love us through it all to the end of time.
And so, we say we will continue:
To live
among God’s people
To hear
God’s word
To share in
the Lord’s supper
To proclaim
the good news of God in Christ in our words and actions
To serve all
people, following the example of Jesus
And to
strive for justice and peace in all the earth.
But does this really make a difference? I mean, people
are hard to live with. And sometimes God’s word is confusing. Sharing a table
of any kind has become challenging. We want to proclaim good news, but there
sure is a lot of other news. We want to serve others but how can we know if
they really need it? And justice and peace in all the earth?
Sometimes we can do it in an emergency. The wedding story
feels like an emergency. A town in Alaska where the lighting system went out
for their airstrip, but a medevac plane needed to land. People drove their cars
to park on either side and turned on the lights so the plane could land safely
in the dark winter sky. When it landed, the northern lights came out and the
finishing touch of the glory of their community’s unity was revealed. Just like
at Cana.
What about in the everyday of ordinary lives where day
after day doesn’t seem miraculous?
The miracle at Cana didn’t happen among important people in
a special spot. It happened in a tiny town in “flyover country.” And maybe you
know, this family would just be needy again. Maybe they always are. Why would
God choose this moment to show off God stuff- isn’t that a little foolish too?
God wants us to know everyone’s needs matter and holiness can be revealed
anywhere. But it often takes time. Sustained dedication is not a gift most of
us have, especially if it seems to not “achieve.”
We don’t know when and how God will be revealed. Its why
I asked us to slow down how long it really took to fill those jars. As followers
of Jesus we can feel that the long haul of what Jesus tells us to do feels
tedious, endless, maybe even a fool’s errand. Like throwing all the starfish on
the beach back into the sea only for them to wash up again.
But because Jesus was and is who he says, and because the
power of the Holy Spirit, albeit seemingly often invisible, is real, the
miraculous happens. And we are both those who receive and those whose labor
facilitates this. Doing what Jesus says. It will not always come in an instant,
but then… somewhere …glory and joy and life! And maybe you’ve had a moment like
this in your life.
The key to unlocking this potential for God’s vision to
be revealed is to do as Mary says, “Do whatever he tells you.” At Cana, the
labor went on and on and no one could even see what was happening in those
stone jars until they did. Those who labored helped Jesus transform not just
the water, they helped transform lives. Their own and those around them.
Jesus was revealed. This story of God’s love revealed is
also a story of the labor of love we are called to participate in because the
water of our baptism reveals not just a moment, but a calling upon our lives.
We who are given the best God can give us- unconditional
love- have an ongoing calling to help fill more jars, so to speak, so the
blessing overflows beyond a day and beyond us. Jesus is how the water turned
into wine, but the jars didn’t fill themselves.
I want to share some examples here at Grace to encourage
you in hope AND call you into our shared ministry here. And please, don’t
assume someone else will carry the jars. It takes all of us. We need each other
just like the folks at Cana did. I know many of us were raised to not talk
about need. Jesus needs you because God is still being revealed. The question
is: Will you help Jesus transform lives?
Each week there is a prayer list in our bulletin. The
power of prayer in people’s lives is strong. Instead of returning the bulletin,
will you take that prayer list home and pray each day even if you do not know
the person or why you are praying? Jesus does. Can you help Jesus transform
lives?
Almost five years ago COVID upended our world. Remember
when we were afraid that we’d run out of toilet paper? Scarier than running out
of wine. As hard as that was, it’s been just as hard to get back to being
people of God together. Our Faith Formation team was worried and labored long
and hard. A vibrant, abundant program full of youth and kiddos and families re-emerged
only after carrying lots of water to fill the jars for Jesus. We can always use
folks to take a turn as extra helpers. Can you help Jesus transform lives?
Every week people hear God’s word both here in the
building, and in our broadcasting. At 10:30 I invite people turn and wave to
the camera for our church at home. You cannot see the couple hundred people
watching somewhere- caregivers, people traveling for work, trying to balance
life and faith. They tell me that they are waving back in faith. You all are a
lifeline for them. It takes people to turn on a couple of buttons to turn on
our sound or make the screens light up. Can you help Jesus transform lives?
New people come here hoping to meet Jesus, but it’s scary
walking through a door not knowing what’s next. Being met by a friendly face
who celebrates and embodies Jesus’ welcome matters. Our Welcome Team needs
folks to just say “hello” and give directions. Can you help Jesus transform lives?
I guarantee you your belief as a disciple will grow too.
If you are not sure who to talk to you can ask me or Pastor Schul. There are
many ways to be like those servants who carried the jars of water that were
used by Jesus to transform moments and deepen belief.
Cana was about community and so are we. The wedding at
Cana foretells a feast we call communion. It is both a sacrament and a state of
being. We are in communion with Jesus and each other. Along the way glory shows
up. Jesus needs you to offer your time, your gifts and your resources. The best
is yet to come, and we get to help others see that. In a world where it is easy
to talk about what we don’t see I’d rather work for what God tells us can be
revealed because Jesus is here and so are we and I bet you would too. And the
best response we can give when asked to do what Jesus tells us starts with the
words in our Affirmation of Baptism, “I will, and I ask God to help and guide
me.” AMEN
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2025. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
Sermon Text: John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been
invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is
that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells
you.” 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish
rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with
water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and
take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and
did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water
knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good
wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But
you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this, the first of his
signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed
in him.
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