"A Celebration with Gifts"
Rev. Dr. Steven Peay
January 18, 1998
Isaiah 62:1-5; I Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11
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"A Celebration with Gifts"
Celebrations, parties...I know very few people who don't enjoy them. Celebrations can come in all shapes and sizes -- just like the people who throw them. There can be grand celebrations on a national or regional scale, like July 4th or the Wisconsin sesquicentennial, which is to have one thousand special events to mark our statehood, or one of the myriad `fests' we have in Milwaukee. There can be intimate dinner parties of two or four; or one of our all-church suppers where hundreds sit down together. There can be celebrations which are solemn, yet joyful, like our worship services, Christmas, Easter, or a wedding. And there can be celebrations which are just downright fun: like a 'super bowl party.' Next week homes and other establishments will be draped in green and gold. Bratwurst, beer, and anything you can dye green and gold will be consumed as the game is watched and the Packers make it two in a row. But, even if they don't win -- though I'm sure they will -- there will have been a celebration.
Celebrations call us apart, take us away from the everyday routine. Celebrations remind us of something important, something special, or just give us an opportunity to recall how wonderful life is. That's why I'm convinced that Jesus enjoyed a good party. Why wouldn't the Creator's Son not celebrate the wonders his loving Father had made? So, it shouldn't surprise us that Jesus, along with his mother and his disciples, accepted an invitation to a wedding celebration. What we should look for, though, is how Jesus really turned this simple wedding celebration, where people brought gifts for the bride and groom, into a symbol of the life we have with God -- a celebration with gifts.
John's gospel tells us that Jesus does "the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory: and his disciples believed him." However, giving credit where credit is due, it was Mary who noticed the need which led to the sign. "They have no wine," she told him. Jesus demurs, "What has this to do with me? My hour is not yet come?" No, it hadn't come in fullness; that would be only on the cross when all would be finished and resurrection made possible. Yet, the hour is always when God is present, so Mary -- like the good Jewish mother she was -- told them, "Do what the Rabbi tells you."
The fathers of the church saw volumes in that little bit of dialogue. What they saw was the poverty of humanity removed from its original state of blessed union with God. In Jesus' action of changing water to wine they saw an invitation to a celebration of new life for all of humanity. In Jesus we are invited to come from poverty to abundance, from emptiness to fullness. Through Jesus we are made aware of the Divine favor toward humankind.
Listen to what Athanasius of Alexandria wrote:
Being God, God gives men a share in His own image, our Lord Jesus Christ, and makes them after his own image and after His likeness; so that by such grace perceiving the Image, that is, the Word of the Father, they may be able through Him to get an idea of the Father, and knowing their Maker, live the happy and truly blessed life.
Thus, the wedding feast was not just for the couple who got married on that day back in Galilee, it was for all of humanity. What John alludes to in this incident is one of the most powerful images in the Scriptures: the heavenly wedding banquet, when time if fulfilled, between God and his creation, the 'eschatological banquet.' This banquet symbolizes the union, the joining of life and destiny, ordained by God between himself and his chosen people. The covenant entered into between a man and woman is reflective of the covenant God entered into with Israel. The difference is, where we can be unfaithful to each other and break our covenants, God does not. The invitation to a life of mutual giving, of reciprocal trust, of complete love is offered by God again and again. So the prophets would use the language of marriage, as Isaiah does in the first reading, and John would see God in Christ inviting us to the table.
What Isaiah sees for the people of Israel, " a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give," is brought to fruition in the life and work of Jesus. In Jesus we are made, as Peter's epistle puts it, "partakers of the divine nature." The fathers of the church called this partaking 'divinization,' entheosis in the Greek. In Christ God invites us to share in his life in a way never before imagined and offers us the opportunity to be made new. I love what Irenaeus wrote:
For this is why the Word of God is man, and this is why the Son of God became the Son of man, that man might possess the Word, receive adoption and become the son of God. In no other way could we receive incorruptibility and immortality, unless in-corruptibility and immortality had first become what we are, in order that what is corruptible might be absorbed by incorruptibility and what is mortal by immortality, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.
It was Irenaeus who cried out: "God's glory is man fully alive!" It was this invitation to a new identity, a new life which led Leo the Great to give us our thought to worship by and remind us, "Christian be conscious of your dignity." We are at this celebration as the guests of honor. We're seated at the table reserved for relatives of the groom. In truth, the church is the "bride of Christ" -- we're at the center of the party!
By now it should be clear that this celebration is an extraordinary one. We're invited to the party and, what a switch, we get the gifts! We're invited to share the life of God. What is more, we're given the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower us so that we can then reflect God's life in our own lives.
The Spirit brings more gifts into the midst of the community of faith and Paul wrote the church in Corinth about them. Paul identified, first of all, that nothing is possible, not even the profession of faith that Jesus is Lord, without the presence of the Holy Spirit. "The Lord, the giver of life" the Council of Nicea called Him, and it is the Spirit's role to draw us and sustain us in the life in God. As we live that life we are given the 'spiritual gifts' which allow the body of Christ, the church, to grow and to prosper.
Paul also tells us that God is the author of all these gifts and that while there are many different gifts, there is but one Spirit and one Lord who gives them. He did that to help the Corinthians, and Christians of every age, to understand the special dignity each one of us has no matter how great or how limited our gift. I love the story of Brother Juniper from the "Little Flowers of Saint Francis." Juniper was so dumb he couldn't do the most lowly work around the house. As a consequence, he was depressed and dejected. One day as he was moping around Francis walked by and asked him what was wrong. When he complained of his inability to do anything right and how ungifted he was, Francis laughed and hugged him. "Oh, Brother Juniper, " he cried, "You are possessed of the gift of a pure and loving heart. That is the greatest gift of all!"
All the gifts we bring are needed to make the community of faith work -- just as the body needs every function it has, no matter how small, to make it live. God gives everything and everything is blessed. "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."
Then Paul goes through a list of what these gifts can be, and it's important to realize that there are several such lists and each is different. There is the gift of wisdom and the gift of knowledge. To others are given the gift of faith. Some are blessed with the gift of healing, others with the ability to do mighty acts (which is often translated miracles). Still others are given the gift of discernment and to some are given the gift of tongues and their interpretation. Each gift is different, each is important, and each should build and strengthen the body -- not tear it apart.
Those gifts are here in this gathered body. I have seen each of them at work. Maybe not always as we might expect the gift to be made manifest, but they're here. Each of us is possessed of a gift or gifts which only we can bring to the body. We see the gifts in the activity of mission team in Honduras and the many who made that journey possible. We see the gifts exercised in our Sunday School (and I think some of you might be holding back on your gifts in that area). We see the gifts of hospitality and healing around here a great deal as members reach out to one another in times of need. Each person is to be cherished, nurtured, loved, and brought closer to the body through these gifts and they're here.
So this is quite a celebration we're invited to attend. It's unlike any party you'll ever attend because it's truly a "come-as-you-are" party. We're invited as we are. I'm not talking just about tux, coat and tie, evening dress -- even a cheesehead. What is meant as we are, right at the moment of encounter. Thomas Aquinas, one of the church's great thinkers, once said, "Grace builds on nature." In other words, God takes off from where we are and builds on what is there. He helps us in our situation and in the process we become more truly ourselves, more truly what we are, because we're coming to live in God.
RSVP -- repondez s'il vous plait -- please reply. No doubt you've seen that at the bottom of an invitation. There's an RSVP here, too. We're called to respond by developing our spiritual lives and by giving of ourselves in service to others.
Respond in prayer. Last week Chris gave an excellent sermon on prayer, reminding us of Jesus' invitation to ask and receive, seek and find, knock and have it opened to us. Here we're invited to really deepen as children of God, remember we are partakers of Divine nature now. As a consequence, our prayer life should become as natural as any conversation. If we are truly sharers in this new life, bearers of this dignity, we will see God present in all reality and come to recognize the holy in the ordinary. Part of it, as Chris said, is just doing it. I like what John of the Cross wrote: "Seek in reading and you will find in meditation. Ask in prayer and it will be given to you in contemplation." If we just begin to attune ourselves to God in us, soon we'll practice his presence all around us.
Respond in service. Each one of us is gifted, maybe not in the same way, but we have something to offer. Exercise your spiritual gift in service to this community of faith and to the broader community. God's life is known through our lives. Teresa of Avila said it well: "God has no hands, but your hands. God has no feet but your feet. God has no mouth, but your mouth." It's true. For some people the only encounter with God they may have will be through you or through me. Don't worry, God makes sure we do it right, but we at least have to do something.
RSVP -- party clothes become a Christian. After all, we are invited to the banquet of life, aren't we? Discover and celebrate the spiritual gifts which are there within yourself and within this community. Discover that all of life is a celebration with gifts. Amen.
