Pubs with no beer, weddings without wine.

 19^th January 2025

 

When I was a child my dad a non-drinker used to sing a song called a pub with no beer, I will spare you my singing, but I looked it up on Google and I think there were the words; ‘but there's nothin' so lonesome, so morbid or drear  as to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer’.  For some reason whenever I hear this story of the wedding party at Cana I get an ear worm and think of this song and of my dad.  A wedding without wine reminds me of a pub without beer! weddings and wine belong together.  

 

This is an exhilarating gospel story, I find it very easy to imagine the scene. Jesus is the protagonist but says very little – only three short sentences – yet the whole story is a revelation, a disclosing, an epiphany.    An epiphany is a revealing of that which is hidden, and as we go through the Christian year, we learn how Jesus reveals the nature of God to us through these signs and wonders, until God’s glory is fully revealed in the mystery and joy of Easter. 

It is what some commentators have called a gratuitous miracle.  Most of Jesus’ miracles involve healing, a woman with a haemorrhage, a blind man gains sight, he cures leprosy.  That is not the case here, no one’s life is at stake, the very worse thing that can happen is that they run out of wine, it may be the cause of extreme social embarrassment for the host, but no one dies.  

 

This morning’s gospel from John is a happy raucous story, full of minute details and with a lot of humour.  The account unfolds before us as images instead of narration. A wedding celebration is taking place and, as was the custom, the wedding is part of a feast. 

 

  In chemical terms it is not possible to turn water into wine.   What alchemy that would be if we could do so. For the story to speak we need to suspend our scepticism and accept that what really happened will remain a mystery and try to listen to what the story has to say to us today.

 

I mentioned that this was a gratuitous miracle, and as such it is perhaps not very typical of the English Anglican stereotype of dignified even restrained celebrations.  This is not a cheese and wine party!  It is a village wide celebration  which speaks of abundance and of joy.  

 

This is a wedding embedded in a culture where a wedding could last for several days; where a whole village is involved and there is singing, dancing, drinking and a lot of noise, and not just enough wine (120 gallons!) the wine is flooding over.  There would be hangovers a plenty in the morning!

 

So here is a story where Jesus and Mary  are at the heart of excess partying and joyous celebration.  Mary’s presence is vital.

 

It is a story pivots on a dialogue between Mary and Jesus.  The party must have been unfolding with much good cheer since they quickly ran out of wine. The hosts run out of wine, but it is the mother of Jesus who goes to her own son and reports this: “They have run out of wine.” There seems to be an implied “do something about it” here! Jesus responds in a very human way, it is as if he says, ‘OK but why is it my problem’?   “Why should it concern you and me?” Here we are introducedto one of the key themes of John’s gospel.  

 

Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come.” “My hour has not yet come.” There are six other references to the ‘hour not coming’ in John’s gospel. Each of them referring to an important time in Jesus' ministry. The climax of these sayings is just before the crucifixion, when Jesus says, ‘the hour is come.  

 

There is something particularly important about this dialogue between Jesus and Mary.  It is as if Mary recognises something, but Jesus is not yet ready to fully reveal what will come to pass.  This miracle of wine though is a signpost on the way, where Mary encourages/tells Jesus to act!

 

Perhaps we are all called to be Mary to each other, to acknowledge, encourage and rejoice in each other’s gifts.  The Spirit outrageously and generously gifts several gifts to us God’s people.  I believe that we are called to acknowledge, recognise and exercise our gifts  in Christian community.  This way we build up a gloriously diverse community of God’s people.

 

 

Just as Jesus was in the midst of the wedding at Cana, so he is also urging us to drink of his abundant wine and accept him into the centre of our own lives; and that might just mean unbuttoning ourselves a bit, laughing when we are happy, weeping when we are sad, angry at the injustices of life. Our Christian faith should make us feel fully alive and fully supported by our companions in our faith community. 

 

Let us pray that we can accept his invitation to his feast, and that we will from time to time capture the unrestrained joy that his friendship deserves.