3rd Epiphany 2015, Give Wine

3^rd Epiphany

Wedding at Cana, Giotto

January 25, 2015

John 2: 1 -11

On the third day a wedding took place in Cana in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.

When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

And Jesus answered her, “Something still weaves between me and you, o Woman. The hour when I can work out of myself alone has not yet come.”

Then his mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

There were six stone jars set up there for the Jewish custom of ceremonial washing, each containing twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with fresh water.”

And they filled them to the brim. And he said, “Now draw some out and take it to the Master of the feast. And they brought it to him.

Now when the Master of the feast tasted the water that had become wine, not knowing where it came from—for only the servants who had drawn the water knew—he called the bridegroom aside and said to him, “Everyone serves the choice wine first, and when the guests have drunk, then the lesser; but you have saved the best until now.”

This, the beginning of the signs of the spirit which Jesus performed among men happened at Cana in Galilee and revealed the creating spiritual power that worked through Him. The disciples’ hearts opened, the power of faith began to stir in them, and they began to trust in him.

3^rd Epiphany

January 25, 2015

John 2: 1 -11

Wine of course comes from grapes.  The vine draws the earth’s water up and transforms it via sunlight into the strength of juice and the sweetness of sugars. Fermented, it becomes ‘spirits’. In large amounts these spirits can displace our own spirit, our selfhood. It diminishes our capacity to make decisions, to control our impulses, to be in charge of ourselves.

At the wedding, Christ became the vine. He had water drawn up from the earth. He transformed it into wine. But this wine was different. Those attending took in the good wine, the best. Instead of robbing them of their selfhood, His wine enhanced it.

Christ, the True Vine, gives life and strength to our spirits. He enhances our ability to experience and act out of our true selfhood. At the wedding, Christ says,’ fill the jars’, and then ‘draw some out.’ Fill and draw. The wedding at Cana is a signpost, pointing to a fulfillment at the Last Supper.  Then Christ will pour his blood’s vitality, its very life, into the wine. He will say of it, ‘This is my blood’, my vitality, my life offered to you.

In the Act of Consecration, the communion service, we fill the chalice with water and the (unfermented) juice of the vine. We offer them along with our feelings of love for Christ. They are transformed. And in communion we are filled with the strength of his vitality, his blood. We fill and we draw. Give and take; offer and receive. And one day we will recognize that what we have been given is our true self. As the poet says:

The time will come

when, with elation,

…You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you have ignored

for another, who knows you by heart…. [1]

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[1] Derek Walcott "Love After Love", in Collected Poems 1948-1984, New York, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1986.