"Heroes"

Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

First Congregational UCC, Manhattan, KS

Jan. 17, 2016

Sermon Text: John 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

At any given moment, it can be a challenge to walk safely through our living room because you might step on one of these (put superhero figure on the pulpit) or this guy (another) or this wonderful woman here (another).  

We’re big into heroes these days in the Simmons Wood household.

One of the things my kids love the most in my office is this right here (take our Action Figure Jesus). I regret to say I cannot remember for the life of me who gave me this Deluxe Miracle Jesus Action Figure on the occasion of my ordination six years ago. But I love him dearly. You can’t see the details, so allow me to help you out. “feeds 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish….turns water into wine (see the tiny jugs?)” and my favorite part “Glow in the Dark Hands!”

That last part is apocryphal. I don’t recall an actual story about Jesus’s hands glowing in the dark. Though maybe if you stretched the story of the transfiguration a bit….?

Anyway, I love Action Figure Jesus. And so do my kids. Mostly because he reminds me of two of my favorite stories from Jesus’s ministry, one of which we heard today.

John’s gospel is the only one that records the story of the wedding at Cana. I find it intriguing that it is, quite conspicuously, Jesus’s first miracle in John’s gospel. Jesus goes on, of course, to do many other “signs and wonders” in John’s gospel. He heals, he feeds the crowds, he restores sight, he walks on water, and he resurrects Lazarus from the dead.

But the one that opens the show - the one that’s supposed to make us sit up and take notice – is this one. The story of a wedding that runs out of wine and the unknown man who is pushed into the limelight a bit reluctantly by his mother – who, like all parents, was her child’s first and best cheerleader.

And once Jesus decides to step in and remedy the situation, boy does he ever. He asks the stewards to fill up six stone jars. Each jar would have held 20- 30 gallons of water. Okay, so I didn’t bring a prop for this, but you know what a big outdoor Rubbermaid trash can looks like? That’s about 30 gallons. So, six of those. They fill them with water and then Jesus turns them into wine. And not just any wine – the best wine those people have ever tasted.

We’re talking 120-180 gallons of high quality, primo wine. So that’s about 1,000 bottles. When Jesus decided to go, he went big. He came out swinging.

What I love about this story is how utterly unnecessary this miracle is. I mean, no one was going to die because the wine ran out. It would have put a damper on the party and it would have embarrassed the hosts, to be sure. But no one’s life was on the line. It wasn’t that serious. And yet, he stepped in. He made the day just a little brighter for everyone. He saved the day for the hosts – their party would have been remembered for their mistake, but after Jesus’s party trick they were remembered for their generosity….saving the best wine for last.

Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.”

The story of the Wedding at Cana is all about abundant life. It’s about how God becomes manifest and enters fully into the everyday moments of human life – births and deaths and weddings and funerals – and cared deeply about what happens there. It’s about the goodness and importance of a truly excellent party – something many of us would do good to remember, lest we get caught up in our seriousness all the time. And it’s about abundance. I mean, really, I don’t know how many people were at this wedding, but 1,000 bottles of wine is a whole lotta wine. A ridiculous amount of wine. And that’s kind of how Jesus is – just a ridiculously abundant amount of the Holy all wrapped up in one very human body.

A hero. Jesus is a hero.

Jesus came and pointed to God. And many after Jesus have come and pointed the way to Christ. This weekend, of course, we celebrate another one of my favorite heroes. Martin Luther King, Jr. was many things to many people. One of his truest and deepest identities, I think, was as a Bearer of Christ.

Dr. King came and pointed the way to Christ. More than anything, that’s what he did. He modeled, in everything he did for us, what it looks like to be a true follower  - a true disciple – of Christ.

Just a few months before he was killed, Dr. King gave a sermon at Ebeneezer Baptist Church, his home church, in Atlanta. He entitled it “The Drum Major Instinct.” I want to read you a somewhat lengthy excerpt from it, because it’s all about what it looks like to truly be a hero.

Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

I know a man—and I just want to talk about him a minute, and maybe you will discover who I'm talking about as I go down the way because he was a great one. And he just went about serving. He was born in an obscure village, the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew up in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty years old. Then for three years, he just got on his feet, and he was an itinerant preacher. And he went about doing some things. He didn't have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles from where he was born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. They called him a rabble-rouser. They called him a troublemaker. They said he was an agitator. He practiced civil disobedience; he broke injunctions. And so he was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. And the irony of it all is that his friends turned him over to them. One of his closest friends denied him. Another of his friends turned him over to his enemies. And while he was dying, the people who killed him gambled for his clothing, the only possession that he had in the world. When he was dead he was buried in a borrowed tomb, through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most influential figure that ever entered human history. All of the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life. His name may be a familiar one. But today I can hear them talking about him.

Every now and then somebody says, "He's King of Kings." And again I can hear somebody saying, "He's Lord of Lords." Somewhere else I can hear somebody saying, "In Christ there is no East nor West." And then they go on and talk about, "In Him there's no North and South, but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide world." He didn't have anything.  He just went around serving and doing good.

This morning, you can be on his right hand and his left hand if you serve. It's the only way in.

Dr. King talked the talk and walked the walk. He pointed the way towards Christ, who pointed the way towards God. King was a hero. Thank you, God, for the life and work and witness of your servant, Martin.

As I was pondering all these heroes this past week (and, yes, in case you’re wondering, I have had “Heroes” by David Bowie running through my head on repeat all week) I started wondering about the word. Where did it come from?

It seems to have its origins in this idea of a person who is really more than “just a person.” It is similar to the idea of a demigod – a person who part mortal and part God. Which means, of course, that Jesus’s birth story sets the stage for him to be quite the hero. Part human, part God.

And that made me think about that wild and crazy idea of Incarnation. This idea that somehow, someway God came Earthside in this tiny, perfect, flawed, messy, beautiful human being. Emmanuel – God with us. When I was a child, I thought this meant that Jesus was somehow inherently different than all of us. Because he was part-God, he was altogether, distinctly not-like-me. He was different, better, unattainable.

Later, I started to think of Jesus as more-like-us. More human. More down-to-earth. Less divine. And I even went through a long period of time when thinking of Jesus as some how Divine was really uncomfortable for me. I needed him to be fully human, fully attainable. Otherwise, what’s the point in trying to be like him? I mean, if he’s God, he’s really got a leg up, you know?

These days, I’m coming back around to this idea of Incarnation. This idea that God is fully present in Jesus – even as Jesus is fully human. Not because it makes Jesus somehow different, but because it reminds me that God is fully present in each of us. Emmanuel is not some one-time thing that happened long ago in a village far away. Emmanuel – God-with-us – is happening still here and now. And the season of Epiphany, which we’re in right now, is not just about seeing God fully present in the life and work of Jesus. It’s also about looking around and seeing God fully present in the life and work of the people in these pews, our co-workers, friends, families, heck, maybe even in the people we don’t much like.

Dr. King was a hero. No doubt. Jesus was a hero. No doubt. And David Bowie said, “We can be heroes. Forever and ever.”

It’s a little grandiose, I know. Truth be told, I’m guessing most of us, Dr. King and Jesus included, would be horribly uncomfortable with the idea of being a hero. I know I am.

But if being a hero is about being in touch with that holy truth that we are created in God’s image and beloved children of God? Well, I can get on board with that. Because we are, each of us, somehow magically, mystically, wonderfully Human and Holy. We are somehow mortal and Divine. Dr. King points to that. Jesus points to that.

Paul said that each of us is “given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Dr. King said we are “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” Jesus said, “Abide in me as I abide in you….those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.”

Maybe we can be heroes. Even if just for one day.