John 2:1-11, Wedding in Cana
1 Corinthians 12.1-11,
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
We have been talking about the special chosen-ness, blessedness, and calling of us Christians. One way to live out our specialness is what Paul says to the Corinthian Christian community: the use of the spiritual gifts that we are blessed with.
God the Father blesses all his children with gifts of all kinds – the 21st century Gospel we proclaim. But how to use the gifts is up to the children to discern and decide. Used wisely, the divine gifts are good; otherwise, the God-given gifts may do great harm therefore are worse than bad! Much wisdom is needed in determining what gifts to use, when/where/how to use. So, wisdom is the top gift that is above all other gifts.
For Christians, the wise use of spiritual gifts, first of all, has to be witnessed in Christ, in Jesus’ life, ministry, example, and teaching. In today’s Gospel story, in the wedding in Cana, we see clearly how wisely Jesus used his gift of wine making. Unlike our time and culture, in which the center of attention at a wedding is absolutely the bride, and the beauty of the bride in particular. but in Jesus’ time Galilee, the honour of the bridegroom’s family is the top priority, everything is planned and carried out in honour of the family’s wealth, dignity, and decency. Wedding is the most important occasion where the bridegroom’s family gets to put on display the best of everything at its disposal. And all the relatives, neighbours, friends, and guests respect that to the best they can. When anything happens at the wedding that may impair the family honour of the bridegroom, everybody in present is more than willing to jump in and help. It is the culture and common practice, the tradition, of the community, acknowledged and respected for centuries by every single one of its members. Such practice is wrong and bad, or simply ridiculous, from our perspective, here and now; but it absolutely is right and good for the Galileans there and then. How about Jesus? What does Jesus think of, and do with, such practice?
In the Gospel reading, we find Jesus didn’t like the wedding practice in Cana. The family honour of the bridegroom was greatly endangered due to the lack of wine; the family would be considered poor and of no dignity, would lose face, would lose respect from all, and would be laughed at by all. Having been invited to the wedding, Jesus’ mother must have had special/close connection with the family; it was just right for her to jump in and offer help. And she was able to help for she had with her the specially gifted son Jesus. The kind-hearted woman took upon herself to solve the problem for the family. Just what we’d do when the bride’s high heels snap during the wedding and we jump in to help because we happen to have some Krazy Glue in our pocket. “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus refused what his mother was proposing; to save the face of the wedding hosts had nothing to do with his calling.
Ignoring her son’s rude response, the mother went on to direct the wedding servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” It seemed she knew her son would change his mind and would help. Here comes the turning point – Jesus indeed changed his mind and took actions to help, just as his mother trusted he would. Why? For what reason did Jesus change his mind? Wisdom prevailed! That which had nothing to do with the Father’s calling was greatly needed by the children of the Father, and that was what Jesus needed to do. Though not the Father’s calling, it was the calling of the children of the Father. Respecting the tradition of so many people for so many centuries was the right and good thing to do for any member of the community. To use Paul’s words to the Corinthians, conjuring wine at the wedding was Jesus’ proper use of his God-given gift “for the common good”. To use our English expression, “doing what the Romans do” is the wise use of gifts in Rome for the building of the Roman community.
For Christians, the use of gifts also has to be accountable to the Scriptures. According to Paul, the use of gifts has to be the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, 1 Cor. 12:7. In other words, only gifts used to build up community is the manifestation of the Spirit, therefore is Christian. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Mt. 5:9. Peace making, rather than conflict causing or community dividing, is the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Here in our Western world, especially during Covid, we hear lots of talks about and protests for human rights, freedom of speech, democracy, etc. How much do they have to do with the common good
of the community, the country, let alone the human race, the family of God? Or are those talks more about individualism, self-centredness and selfishness? The only Christian way is to sacrifice the self for the common good, which Jesus has done and expects his followers to do the same.
I’m attaching a picture here, a field being sprayed. See the lines created by the tires of the tractor/sprayer? The plants in those lines get rolled over, and suffer; they may even die; but they die for the common good of the field. That is the manifestation of the Spirit! The most important lesson I’ve learned from Saskatchewan farming. Christ is indeed everywhere; He is in the fields for sure. Keep this picture on our mind and in our heart; see ourselves as the plants in the Father’s field, and be prepared to sacrifice. This is the special calling of us Christians. When we sacrifice for the common good, we are using our God-given gifts, including our very life, wisely and Christianly. We are doing what Christ has done and is still doing. Amen.