Message for Epiphany 3 on John 2:1-11 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 on January 19, 2025 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Richardson, Texas
Sometimes it’s hard not to “buy-in” to a scarcity mentality—this idea that there’s never enough, and there’s never going to be enough. Enough of what you might ask? Well, whatever you’re worrying about at this moment! What are you afraid of not having enough of? Maybe it’s that you don’t have enough health; or that there’s never enough time to do what really matters. Perhaps you’re concerned about having enough rights and freedoms in the future; maybe you’re afraid of not having enough money, especially after the holidays.
I was bumming about the money anxiety recently—not from Christmas shopping or even inflation, but more from big expenses. After paying for our part of Daniel’s wedding in October, we bought our daughter, Leah, a new car (she’s still a new teacher with no money yet); only to find out a week or two later, that my car also needs to be replaced. Why do two family cars have to break down within a couple months of a wedding?
Anxiety about not having enough is nothing new. We hear it even in the Bible at the celebration of joy and love at a wedding. Did you know that the biggest underlying anxiety at weddings is not about having enough food and drink or fun? It’s about not having enough love! Is there enough love for me when my son or daughter marries? Will my best friend still love me and need me? Will the guys still have poker night?
Everyone hopes there won’t be a blow-up, but can’t figure out why. All the anxiety about is there enough love for me floats right under the surface, just waiting for Aunt Edna, or Uncle Ernie to say wrong thing. Which is why Mary, Jesus’ mother, knows things will all go much better if there is not a real scarcity of wine—keep the social conversations and relationships running smoothly, so people feel good, so everyone remains connected, so family members understand that in building community and networks with one another, everyone will all somehow get what they need.
This is Jesus’ first miracle in John’s story—revealing that at this point, his Mom is still smarter than he is! Jesus tries to shirk off that wine running out at a community wedding celebration has anything to do with him. But something in the urgency of his mother’s voice catches his attention. Jesus knows that the fear of not having enough and the anxiety it brings, drains trust and hinders faith, it breaks down relationships and community. Bringing in God’s abundance absolutely does have something to do with him.
So, Jesus takes up the cause, and enlists the help of the servants and the wine steward—it really is a communal miracle. Jesus can’t do it by himself. The servants fill the stone jars with water. Jesus turns the water into wine. A servant brings a taste to the wine steward who then speaks to the bridegroom. 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.
They not only have a great wine—they have 6 stone jars of it, filled with about 30 gallons each –that’s 900 more glasses of wine! Talk about abundance! It’s an embarrassment of riches! That’s an abundance of joy, an overflowing of goodness, an extravagance of on-going blessing, that will last for weeks! If Jesus can do this with water, how much more can Jesus multiply love,
• expand faith,
• grow our resources,
• how much more can Jesus offer healing,
• help us with our finances,
• how much more can Jesus use what we have to offer, which may as simple as water, or a willingness to serve, and multiply it for good.
Jesus he lived a very simple, owning few possessions, but everything he produced was abundant— 900 glasses of wine, thousands of loaves and fish from one lunch box, abundant forgiveness for those who were unforgiveable, like prostitutes, overflowing relationships with those who were not supposed to learn and lead, like women, an extravagant welcome for those who were enemies, like Samaritans, joyful community for the ostracized, like those possessed with demons, abundant opportunities for those who were traitors, like tax collectors.
All they had when they ran out of wine at the wedding at Cana was water. Somehow it was enough. All the servants had to offer was themselves and their willingness to work, their obedience to directions, their desire to serve. They offered what they had, and from these small gifts Jesus created a communal miracle of abundance—all out of a mother noticing, servants gathering water, stewards tasting, more servants pouring, and a community rejoicing in overflowing love!
As we commemorate The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we recall in one of his early speeches in 1957 in Montgomery, AL, Dr. King said this: Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others? This was a call to action, urging individuals to commit to the cause of justice and equality when the Civil Rights movement was transitioning from local protests like the Montgomery Bus Boycott to a larger, coordinated national struggle that needed individual commitment.
Last night, Dan and I were at an event with Project Unity and we heard Martin Luther King, Jr. III speak, and he reminded us that his father believed that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. Serve your family, your neighbor, your block, serve one person. Life is not about winning awards or earning accolades, King wanted to be remembered and to impress upon us that life’s purpose and meaning is about serving others with whatever we have. That is where greatness lies.
Today, Jesus invites us not to look at what we lack, or what seems scarce, but instead, to focus on what we DO have. So, wherever you are feeling scarcity, I invite you to instead ask what you do have, to look at your assets, your abilities, your gifts, your resources. There are some suggestions in your Sermon Notes under the Invitation.
What health and abilities can you use, how can we be grateful for every day we are given, what can we do with the rights and freedoms we are privileged to have in this country that many around the world only dream about, what resources do we have that we can share or put on a gratitude list today? Sometimes we forget that we have all the time there is. Can we free some of it up by shifting our priorities to what gives us joy? Sometimes just changing the question moves us out of scarcity, into an abundance mindset that frees to serve in ways we had not seen before!
First Corinthians reminds us that we all have gifts and different ways of serving. God’ needs all of us, serving in some small way, for the good of all.
On Friday, Dan and I started looking for a car at Kia place and met with a salesman named Michael. Over our conversation, Michael found out we were both pastors and we found out he went to a Baptist church. He told us about his sister, Cassandra, who was always helping homeless people up in McKinney, so she finally set up a non-profit, His Unique Blessings Ministries.
Then Michael shared that recently on Next Door, he saw a post from a woman in Anna with 10 kids who lost her job, and needed food. He called up Cassandra, and they went to Costco after church, and loaded up on food. Cassandra called some of her other volunteers with her non-profit, and they all showed up at this mom’s house with other household supplies. Then the mom shared that her utilities were about to be cut off. And here is where water turned into wine. One of Cassandra’s volunteers that day works for the utility company. She got all the mom’s info and made sure her utility service continued!
Michael had some resources—a little extra money and a Costco card, but God showed up with so much more! I asked Michael’s permission to share this story today, and I was also able to talk with Cassandra over the phone. She has a FT job, but on Wednesdays and Saturdays, she cooks food for about 65 homeless people and takes it around McKinney—the library, certain underpasses, where the homeless gather. Here’s what she said, and I quote, we give them food and share the living Gospel with them—not by shoving it down their throat, but by sitting in the well with them. We listen, learn their story, and don’t judge them. We provide blankets, socks, toiletries, and meals. We don’t solve all their problems, but we try to meet some of their needs.
So, guess who’s not worried about buying another car? Guess who we’re buying a car from? We’ve got to buy it from Michael! He and his family respond to Dr. King’s question of what are you doing to serve others? by sharing what they have. Jesus uses their gifts and combines them with others into a communal miracle, making all of them great servants of Christ.
Jesus makes us all great by turning what ever we have to offer into gifts of overflowing love. This is why we are church together. Because Jesus takes our simple offerings and brings them together for a communal miracle of abundance that serves our community—with food ministries, with a radical welcome, with hope, with a place where God loves everybody.
Today we make our welcome even more visible and real by dedicating our All Are Welcome and You Are Loved murals that even light up at night. We pray these community messages multiply into many great miracles of love in the lives of people we haven’t even met, as we continue our mission to love, serve, and welcome all!
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Linda Anderson-Little