The Rev. Ann R. Lougee January 14, 2007 Timing and abundance John 2:1-11 The themes of timing and abundance intertwine in John's story from the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Jesus has not yet begun teaching and working wonders among the people, yet his mother has confidence that he can help when scarcity arises at a wedding. Wedding celebrations in that culture normally went on for three days of feasting and drinking. We get a glimpse here of Jesus and his mother as human beings who had friends, who "partied," fretted when something went wrong, and, in Jesus' case, balked at being presented with a problem in the middle of the festivities. The exchange between Jesus and his mother feels particularly familiar to any parent who has mentioned a need to his or her child, from a bicycle left in the driveway to a young relative who needs company at a family function. Not now, Mom, not me. And yet Jesus does indeed respond to the need at hand with ordinary, earthy compassion for the hosts who are in an embarassing predicament. But his response is anything but ordinary! He provides abundance in superfluous quantity. The first part of Jesus' response to Mary's observation that the wine has run out sounds almost modern in its detachment: "What's it to you and me?" But the second part of his answer sounds much more solemn and theological: "My hour has not yet come." Don't we wonder if his mother wondered what he meant? Whatever, she may have thought, just make sure there's wine for these poor folks, for everyone's sake. And then she set about the task at hand, un-concerned, it seems, about timing and what the hour was. Asian theologian Chung Hyun Kyung has suggested that Jesus' mother is much more important to this story than is often thought. After all, she must have raised Jesus to practice "compassionate justice." So timing, no matter how important, takes a back seat to human need at that moment, as it would throughout Jesus' whole life and ministry. This overflowing gift, six stone jars of wine, when one might have been enough, is symbolic, too. First, the stone jars are "special," because they hold the water used in the religious purification rituals. They were big, too, each one holding 90-150 gallons, and they were filled to the brim. Talk about abundance! And from these big and special and brim-filled jars came the best-tasting wine served at the wedding, the story says. How fitting that the "hour" of Jesus is indeed there, in the moment of need. For in John's gospel, Jesus' "hour" is any moment when the reign of God breaks in, as it does in every wonder worked by Jesus and indeed, by his entire life, death, and resurrection. Throughout the Bible, overflowing grain and oil and wine are symbols of God's abundance, of the way things will be in God's realm. So these huge jars of wine are "signs of a golden age" -- again, a timing thing. Like so many of the gospel stories, this story is really about something more than wine. These stories all tell us something about the realm of God, the ultimate reality beyond the surface of things. We are to know that the real human thirst, like our deepest hunger, is for the life God offers us, a close, living relationship with the One who creates and sustains us. But we are so hungry and thirsty for meaning that we fill our lives with stuff in a futile attempt to satisfy those needs. Some churches even shape a distorted gospel, a prosperity gospel, that says that God actually wants us to have lots of stuff. That's the wrong kind of abundance, and it invariably leaves people hungry in the midst of excess, longing for the abundance of God, thirsting for God's grace. It is still very early in this new year. We may not yet know what call will come, what need will arise, what unforeseen opportunities lie before us that might lead to a re-arrangement in our plans so that the reign of God might break in. There may be surprises, like that of the wine steward, that await us. As we celebrate the fiftieth birthday of this church and of the United Church of Christ this year, time is very much on our minds. Has our hour come, the hour when we are called into radical acts of ministry, radical acts of reconciliation, radical acts of witness, radical acts of generosity? While we look back on a great and inspiring history, and give thanks for the faithfulness, generosity, courage and foresight of our ancestors in faith, we also look forward to the next fifty years. The future will likely bring even more dramatic changes in the way we live, worship and be church together. The times will likely change the ways we serve and witness. Maybe we'll re-discover what hidden abundance lies within our sacred traditions, ready to be transformed like the water in the great stone jars. Let's keep these maybes in mind as we move to the sharing of bread and cup, symbols of the heavenly banquet, symbols of God's realm where love flows freely and abundantly. Amen.