“Mundane Miracle”

John 2:1-11

Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

First Congregational UCC, Manhattan, KS

January 9, 2022

Several years ago now, I updated the lock screen on my phone to a photo of a Kansas sunset with these words on top: “Your life is what you pay attention to.” I figured, hey, I look at my phone too many times a day, so maybe putting this there will encourage me to remember that paying attention to the right things in life really matters. Of course, like all good intentions, it kind of just faded into the background and now I don’t notice it too much because it’s been there every day for years. But every once in a while I DO notice it and am reminded that I want to be intentional about where I place my attention. Because what I pay attention to really does create my life. 

I don’t know if Mary, the mother of Jesus, had a cute lock screen on her phone, but she was paying attention. The story takes place at a wedding in Cana. Mary is there with her son, his friends, and presumably lots of friends and neighbors. The music was bumping. The couple was beaming. The snacks were tasty and everyone was having a great time. But the wine was almost gone and Mary noticed. She was paying attention. And she brought it to Jesus’s attention. Mary invites Jesus into ministry and, while he balks at first, saying it’s not yet the right time, he eventually sneaks in a little miracle quietly, in the shadows. I’ve heard it called Mary’s “ministry of paying attention,” and it is from her ministry that the rest of this miraculous story flows. [1] 

It seems that weddings in the ancient world were a lot like weddings now - feasts where food and drinks grease the wheels of celebration. A wedding with nothing to drink wasn’t much of a party at all. And it would have been pretty embarrassing for the hosts to run out of wine. 

So Jesus, despite his reservations about it not being time for him to start doing miracles yet, does a kind and generous thing: he fixes the problem, saving the hosts from embarrassment and ensuring the celebration can keep going. 

It feels important to note that this is the first miracle in John’s gospel. We’re really just in the second chapter here - the gospel has just begun. And this is how Jesus begins his public ministry. By turning a bunch of water into wine. And I mean A BUNCH. I did the math on this and we’re talking about somewhere around 1,000 bottles of wine. And not only is it a lot of wine but it’s the GOOD STUFF. 

This act is so over-the-top, isn’t it? Because, really, when you think about it, it’s not even like it was a miracle that needed to happen. No one was going to die if the wine ran out. And although I’m sure the hosts would have been embarrassed, surely there were other solutions. I bet someone could have run home and grabbed a few extra bottles to share. Or maybe people would have just said, “Hey, it’s okay, man. We were about to wrap this up anyway.” It would not have been the end of the world to run out of wine. Just an inconvenience. 

But Jesus wants more for his neighbors. He wants them to have an abundance of wine. And abundance of celebration. An abundance of joy. He desires for them to truly feast and be satisfied. He wants good things - great things! - for the couple and their friends and family. He says it clearly later in John’s gospel, “I’ve come so that you might have life and have it abundantly.” God seems to be showing us, through Jesus’s actions, that we were made for more than just surviving. We made for over-the-top celebration, joy, and abundant life. Wow. 

And so, in this act of generosity, Jesus blesses his neighbors in multiple ways. He blesses their joy AND he turns what could have been an embarrassing moment for the hosts into the story of the year. Instead of being remembered as the people who ran out of wine, the family is now remembered as the people who threw the most epic party ever. 

Jesus does all of this quietly. The only people who have an inkling about what’s happened are the servants. Did you catch that? He quietly pulls them aside and asks them to fill up the jars with water and they do. And that’s when, as the story goes, the transformation happens. No one sees it happen. Even the steward, responsible for the wine, doesn’t know what took place. He’s surprised that this “good wine” is still flowing so late in the party. 

Jewish Biblical scholar Amy Robinson says it’s “very Jewish” of Jesus to do the miracle in this way. Doing something generous and kind in a quiet, hidden way, without calling attention to yourself is considered to be very righteous behavior for a Jew. Much better than being loud and showy about it. And Robinson’s partner in conversation, Christian biblical scholar Robert Williamson, Jr. says there’s something beautiful about the glory of the Lord being so subtle in this moment, that no one really even noticed it. [2]

The couple was probably too busy gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes to notice. The parents were probably too busy stressing over the details of the day to notice. The partygoers were too busy, well, partying, to notice. Jesus showed the miracle only to the servants, which is VERY Jesus of him, isn’t it? But the other people there didn’t notice the  seismic shift taking place as the messianic age was ushered in. 

Except I do have to wonder if there was maybe a wallflower at the party. An loner who wasn’t caught up in all the revelry. Just off to the side, out of the light of the disco ball. And maybe they were paying attention. Maybe they saw Jesus go off into the hallway with the servants and noticed that the servants filled these giant jars with water that was then turned into really good wine. Maybe they remembered, “Your life is what you pay attention to,” and they paid attention to this mundane miracle. 

Because that’s what it really is, right? It’s a not a miracle that saved anyone’s life. It’s just an everyday miracle that blessed an everyday thing  - a wedding, a party, a bunch of silly humans crammed into a small space drinking and laughing and feasting and dancing together. The most simple, everyday thing. And Christ blessed all this abundance. And called it good. 

It reminds me of a scene near the end of the new Netflix movie, Don’t Look Up. It’s a satirical science fiction comedy about two scientists who discover a meteor heading towards the earth. Over the course of the film they do everything they can to get people to pay attention and do something to save the planet. Towards the end, they come to believe that their efforts have been in vain and the end is near. And so they do a simple, everyday thing. They go to the grocery store to buy ingredients for dinner. And they cook the food and break bread with family and friends. It’s not a big party. It’s nothing fancy. It’s just some people that love each other sitting around a dining room table eating everyday food and sharing stories and laughs. 

They share memories and take turns saying what they’re grateful for in their lives. Eventually, conversation turns to really mundane things - like debating the merits of store-bought vs homemade apple pie and how some people grind their own beans every time they make a cup of coffee. 

And the main character says, “Thing of it is, we really…We really did have everything, didn’t we? I mean, when you think about it.”

We humans really do have everything, don’t we? I mean, when you think about it.  Apple pie. Coffee. Friends and family around a table. Laughter. Love. A good party. Good wine. 

These are the building blocks of a life. There’s a reason that Jesus comes to us in bread and wine, you know. Because these simple, elemental gifts are what make a life. Receiving sustenance, sharing what we have with others, and being intentional about noticing the goodness that is flowing and overflowing all around us. 

Every day that we are alive overflows with goodness - even when it’s not fancy or showy.. At Cana, Christ reminds us to pay attention to the simple pleasures of life and invites us into the joy of receiving that abundance. 

Maybe it’s not such a mundane miracle after all. Maybe it’s everything. 

NOTES: 

[1] A colleague in a facebook group told us that he once heard a pastor say this about Mary. That her action here was the “ministry of paying attention.” I’d like to give that person credit for that observation, but I don’t know who they are.

[2] BibleWorm podcast #321. https://www.biblewormpodcast.com/e/water-into-wine-john-21-11/