Deserve’s Got Nothing to Do with It (1/17/2016)
The Miracle at Cana, St. James Catholic Church, London
On Sunday we ordained and installed Ruling Elders and Deacons. I preached on the Wedding at Cana and instead of wearing my clerical robe, I wore my Hines Ward jersey (with my liturgical stole, of course). Was this appropriate attire for the pulpit? Was I showing too much team spirit? Or was I trying to make a theological point? Read on to find out.
Sermon
Good
morning! I’ll bet some of you are wondering why I’m up here in the pulpit
wearing a Steelers jersey. Perhaps it seems too informal or theologically
inappropriate. I mean, I am wearing my liturgical stole. I haven’t gone
completely off the reservation. I’m sure you’ve all figured out that I’m a
pretty serious Steelers fan, so it’s not like I need to demonstrate my team
spirit, right? But I’ve been here long enough that you probably sense that I’m
up to something. And you’d be right.
I was
on Facebook the other day and one of my friends had posted a meme—that’s a kind
of message that’s placed over top of a picture of something else—in support of
our armed forces. In this meme, there were two images side-by-side. The first
was of a soldier in fatigues and a helmet and the other picture was of a professional
football player, and he was also wearing a helmet. The caption said something
to the effect of: Click Like if you think the soldier in the helmet deserves to
be paid as well as the entertainer in a helmet.
So of
course I clicked the Like button. Now I think that an overwhelming majority of
the people in this country would agree with that sentiment. But something about
that didn’t sit quite right with me. To me, there is a deep theological problem
with the word, deserve, especially in the context of money. Money is one of the
ways that we establish value for things—and that’s fine—when it’s limited to things. But when we start attaching that
value to human beings, we are placing our own value judgments on human worth.
And yes, I know that at a certain level, the values are being attached to the
different jobs—soldier and football player—and not the individuals who hold
those jobs. All the same, those lines between person and occupation get
blurred. We allow our thoughts about people to be structured by worldly things,
like money.
That’s
not the only reason I felt uncomfortable after I clicked the Like button for
that picture. After I clicked Like, I had to ask myself, “Do I really think
that?” I mean, why are professional athletes paid so much money in the first
place? They’re paid exorbitant sums of money for playing a game—a game that
most of us love to watch. Some of us pay money to watch the games in person.
Others might go to a sports bar, where they purchase food and drink while they
watch the game. The television networks paid billions of dollars to the NFL for
the rights to televise NFL games. Bars and restaurants that show the games pay
tens of thousands of dollars to cable companies for the privilege of showing
those games to hundreds of customers on a Sunday afternoon. It is a system, and
a great many of us support that system by watching the games and buying the
merchandise.
Clearly,
I’m a part of that system. I got this jersey as a birthday present ten years
ago. I was living outside of Philadelphia at the time and I really wanted a
Steelers jersey. It represented where I was from, and yeah, I enjoyed wearing
it around all those Eagles fans. I even found a Steelers bar near my mom’s
house in suburban Philly and I loved wearing it to games there, surrounded by
other Steelers fans wearing their jerseys. I participate in the system that
makes millionaires out of men like Hines Ward. I am an active participant in
that system. So when I clicked “Like” on the picture that said the soldier
should be paid as well as the football player, well, let’s just say that my
actions were not consistent with my beliefs. It can be difficult to be
consistent and none of us will ever be perfectly consistent—Jesus was the only
person who could be perfectly consistent. Although none of us can live up to
that standard, we must all strive to be Christ-like.
This
morning’s gospel lesson is one of the most familiar stories in the Bible, the
wedding at Cana. This story is the first miracle that Jesus performs in the
Gospel of John and it says something very important about Jesus’ ministry.
Really, it’s Jesus’ first public act and it happens at the wedding of a rather
ordinary couple. They’re so ordinary that we’re not even told their names. What
we are told is that they don’t have enough wine to serve the guests.
Weddings
were important public rituals in biblical times, as they still are today. Think,
for a moment, of how expensive a wedding reception is these days. It’s not
uncommon for the bride’s family to shell out tens of thousands of dollars to
pay for the wedding reception. For what? Yes, the couple invites lots of guests
to share in the celebration of their marriage, but let’s face it; part of the
idea is that people who attend the wedding will bring gifts. Those gifts will
help the couple furnish their home, or somehow get started on their journey
together. Guests will often give expensive gifts, so the people who pay for the
wedding want to make sure those guests feel that they were well taken care of
at the reception. Giving an expensive gift can often function as a show of
loyalty to the parents of the bride or groom. It is a great big system, and
many of us participate in that system.
In
biblical times, weddings were also big parties, with lots of guests, and the
festivities might last for a week or more. It was crucial that the host provide
enough food and drink for the guests—particularly the drink! But the couple
from Cana doesn’t have enough wine. They are too poor. And once everyone knows
this, they will suffer shame and ridicule because they could not provide enough
wine for the guests.
In
the twenty-first century, the obvious answer might be: don’t have such a lavish
wedding reception. But that wasn’t an option. The couple from Cana likely had
some property, some resources, though not enough for a proper wedding
celebration. Perhaps they didn’t deserve
to have a big, lavish wedding. Having a wedding ceremony without a big party
for lots of guests simply wasn’t an option. If they had not hosted a big party,
it would have been an insult to the entire community. Yet if they had not
provided enough wine, the couple could look forward to a lifetime of shame and
ridicule. Perhaps they would have had trouble finding husbands or wives for
their children. The way this couple provided for their wedding guests—or failed
to provide for them—would affect their standing in the community. Certainly, by
the logic of the times, if they hadn’t provided enough wine, they would have deserved any scorn or ridicule that they
may have suffered as a result. They were part of the system and they couldn’t
opt out.
As I
said earlier, I believe this sort of valuation has crept into our thinking
today and it prevents us from living fully into Christ’s call to be disciples.
You don’t have to look too far to see people who are struggling. There are lots
of poor people in the world and lots of hungry people. There are people
struggling with addiction. Are we busy helping them, or are we busy finding
fault with their behavior? How many times do we say “it’s not my fault,” or
“you brought this on yourself?”
Deep
down, I think maybe we like the language of deserve.
I think we like it because it makes life easier for us. Helping the poor,
helping the needy, helping the disadvantaged and the drug-addicted—that’s hard
work. It’s unpleasant work. And when I decide that someone else doesn’t deserve my time and effort, then I’m off
the hook. I don’t have to make an effort and I don’t have to spend a dime. I
don’t have to be bothered. Maybe I even get to wag my finger at you in the
process. You shouldn’t spend your money like that. You need to stop drinking.
You need to get a job. Wag, wag, wag! It’s all about you and what you need to
do to deserve my time and energy.
It’s never ever about Jesus’ call for me to be a disciple. Because that’s hard
work.
The
bride and groom in Cana didn’t deserve
to have Jesus turn jars of water into wine. They were trapped in a system that
forced them into holding a party they couldn’t afford, and then that system was
going to force them to endure the shame of not being able to afford to buy wine
for their guests. Jesus releases them from this system of shame. Jesus offers
them grace: real, visible, taste-able, and abundant grace. Remember, these jugs
hold 20-30 gallons each. And it’s the best wine, at a point in the celebration
when they should be serving the cheap stuff!
It’s
a miracle! Except that’s not what the gospel writer calls it. Instead, in the
Gospel of John, this is called a sign. The miracle is a sign of what abundant
grace is like—the grace that only Jesus can bring.
Jesus’ signs show you,
don’t tell you, what abundant grace is, “from his fullness we have all
received, grace upon grace” (1:16). Turning water into wine is revealing of
abundant grace in this season of Epiphany. And what does abundant grace taste
like? Like the best wine when you are expecting the cheap stuff. It’s one thing
to say, “Jesus is the source of grace.” It’s quite another to have an
experience of it.[1]
So
how can we experience this grace on this side of heaven? How can we see, touch,
and taste this abundant grace? This simple answer is this: go out and be the grace
in the world! Go out into the midst of the brokenness in the world and serve
Christ. Is that scary? Of course it is! Do it anyhow.
In a
few minutes, we’re going to see a visible sign of God’s grace, through the
offer of service; we’re going to ordain and install elders and deacons to the
service of this congregation. That can be scary, too—especially when you hear
stories about three-hour Session meetings. Those are other ways to follow
Christ’s call and they’re all valid. And yes, sometimes you need to take a
break from serving directly—and that’s fine. You can always help to equip the
servants among you. You will not be able to repair every bit of brokenness on
your own, but if you come to the Lord in prayer and humility, you will hear the
call. Remember, deserve has nothing
to do with it! Thanks be to God. Amen!
Benediction
Now, beloved,
as you depart from this place, remember that this is not about who is
deserving: deserve has got nothing to
do with it. We are called to disciples, to love and serve the Lord. We are
equipped by the Holy Spirit to be and to make disciples, to be Christ’s church
in the world, and to do God’s work in the world. Do not return evil for evil to
any person, but know that we are all loved by God, and that we are called to
reflect that love to everyone we meet. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
let all God’s children say, Amen!
[1] Karoline
Lewis, “Commentary on John 2:1-11,” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1556
No comments:
Post a Comment