​Heaven Shines Down in Cana of Galilee
Third in a series of nine
John 2:1-11 // Isaiah 62:1-5 // 1 Cor 12:1-11
 
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our sermon text for today is especially the Gospel reading, from John 2, “All men first put out the good wine and when it is drunk, the lesser. You have kept the good wine until now.”
 
Dear friends in Christ,
 
We are focusing on the specific locations of our texts in these days, knowing that God most often works in those specific locations through their significant history to bring about particular opportunity.
 
God does not choose places at random but deliberately. God does not ignore the past of his people but uses every bit, every scrap of everything that they are to demonstrate his salvation. 
 
Two weeks ago, we began with Bethlehem, the site of Rachel weeping for her children, the site of Jesus’s birth, the place where the Magi worship the Christ. Last week, we examined the River Jordan, an unimpressive place and yet one where God had chosen to give his people a new beginning.
 
Today we look at the third sermon in our installment of nine, Heaven shining down on Cana of Galilee. Look at the map in our bulletin. Cana was east of the city Capernaum, and north of Nazareth by about 8 miles. It was a similar kind of town, in the shadow of the two big cities in the area, Capernaum to the northeast and the capital Sepphoris to the north. It was just right for construction workers like Joseph and Jesus to get work. It was a small town, the kind of place where Jesus had family and friends the right age for getting married.
 
And for life in a small town, a wedding fest was a big deal. When someone would get married, it took over the town. “The wedding festivities lasted far more than one day. The wedding ceremony itself took place late in the evening, after a feast. After the ceremony the young couple were conducted to their new home...They were taken by as long a route as possible so that as many people as possible would have the opportunity to wish them well.” Can you imagine parading people around Janesville? And it wouldn’t end there. “But a newly married couple did not go away for their honeymoon; they stayed at home; and for a week they kept open house. They wore crowns and dressed in their bridal robes. They were treated like a king and queen, were actually addressed as king and queen, and their word was law.” Here’s the summary statement. “In a life where there was much poverty and constant hard work, this week of festivity and joy was one of the supreme occasions.”[1]
 
How does heaven shine down when important chapters begin? How does heaven shine down when things are supposed to be at their most joyful? Three thoughts on the wedding feast that Jesus attends, a wedding feast gone wrong, a wedding feast that alludes to so much more. Three thoughts on how the presence of Jesus the bridegroom of the church changes the situation they are in.
 
First, he turns disgrace into pure grace. In our text, Jesus attends a wedding and they run out of wine. I quote “For a Jewish feast wine was essential... At any time the failure of provisions would have been a problem, but for hospitality in the East it is a sacred duty; for the provisions to fail at a wedding would be a terrible humiliation for the bride and the bridegroom.”
 
Hospitality was essential, to show your guests that you care. Hospitality was essential, because all of your guests were your family, your friends, the village that you lived in and around all of your days.
 
And in turning water into wine, Jesus turns disgrace on the part of the steward and on the part of the bridegroom into pure grace. He turns a rotten outcome into something better than we could imagine. He uses a mistake to make something better, and he does that for us too.
 
I find it to be a struggle for us to find the words to say these things, to say them in a way that doesn’t praise the mistake, nor does it minimize the pain. For grieving families, death can be a good thing even when death is the enemy that steals our loved one. For the person who has been through all kinds of hardship, those trials of life shape us into the people we are, even if we wouldn’t wish them on anyone. 
 
But here we find the depth of the Christian narrative. We believe that God created the world, good, that the world’s good has been marred and smudged, and that Jesus came to make it good again. We believe in a world that God created good. Very good. Every bit of it. But we believe that all that good has been marred and smudged. Each and every part is good but it is good that has been twisted. Evil isn’t a thing in itself; it's a twisting, a disordering of what is good. 
 
And here’s the gospel turn. We believe that Jesus took the worst piece of that twisting and marring, he took life which ends in death, and through the worst consequence of sin he has brought new life.
 
Do you notice what that does? It does what Isaiah 62 says so well. The God who didn’t wish for cities to be desolate and people to be forsaken in the first place has taken away their desolation and their forsakenness to call them into his weeding feast, to rejoice over them as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.
 
Second, in turning water into wine, Jesus turns scarcity into (grateful generosity). The wedding feast was only partway in and they were out of wine. One could imagine, that the wine steward was starting to get pretty stingy with the wine by the point that Jesus steps in. He only has so much left, and he would want to make it last as long as possible. 
 
But after Jesus’s miracle, I would guess the wine flowed a little easier. The party went on a little louder, the rest of the night was a more than a little better.
 
If you had just enough money to get through the week, then you would look pretty hard at what you spent it on.But what if you had a million dollars in your bank account? How much easier would it be to spend? 
 
St. Paul comes from much the same place in 1 Cor. 12. There is an overwhelming generosity of gifts, and only one Spirit who gives them. There are such a variety of members, and only one Body of Christ. All of the gifts that we have are to be used to the glory of Christ and to the building up of your neighbor. All of the gifts of your neighbor, this is the Christian trust here, all the gifts of your neighbor are to be used to the Glory of Christ and for the building of their neighbor.
 
Third, he turns this present hour into (eternity). This wedding feast, I can tell you with confidence, ended. At a certain point, the miraculous wine stopped flowing. At a certain point the bridegroom and the bride were no long addressed as king and queen. The laughter and the joy of the village were replaced by hard work. The brief moment of feasting was replaced by the poverty of living in a small town in an arid place.
 
But this is the first of Jesus’s signs, first of Jesus’s seven signs in the Gospel of John, and signs are a thing that point to something greater. This is the first of the signs that point to the greatest work of all. Jesus in his death and resurrection,
 
Every happy chapter of our life is a sign to the overwhelming joy of heaven. Every relationship of love and care is a sign toward the overwhelming love and care of our Father in Heaven. Your marriage is a picture of Christ laying down his life for his bride the church. Your moments, the ones that will stay with you for all your days, the ones that are so full of joy that time seems to have ne meaning, all point toward the day when Christ turns this present hour into eternity.
 
The kingdom of heaven shines down like a large church in a small town where they know they have a foretaste of the feast to come every time they come to the Lord’s table. They know that they have a little bit of eternal feast in every fellowship that brings them joy. They don’t despair over their past; nor do they hide it. Their eyes are turned from disgrace to the pure grace given them, from the scarcity of this world to the generosity of their savior. And together, they long of his hour to come.
 
Amen and amen.




[1]Barclay, John vol. 1.

​Heaven shining down on the River Jordan
Second in a series of nine
Luke 3:15-22 // Romans 6:1-11
 
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our Sermon text for today is Luke 3, beginning with these words, “While the people were all in expectation about John, whether he was the Christ...”
 
Dear Friends in Christ,
 
We are focusing on the specific locations of our texts in these days, knowing that God most often works in those specific locations through their significant history to bring about particular opportunity.
 
God does not choose places at random but deliberately. God does not ignore the past of his people but uses every bit, every scrap of everything that they are to demonstrate his salvation. 
 
Today we look at the second sermon in our installment of nine, Heaven shining down on the river Jordan. Look at the map in our bulletin. You see the windy River Jordan coming down on the right-hand side of the page. It extends from the freshwater Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. We think that John preached on the East side of the bank, nearer to Jerusalem, on the edge of what you can’t see on your page – the hundreds of miles of desert and wilderness that now make up modern day Iraq. Now, we don’t know exactly where on the River Jordan John baptized, but we do know that it was an unimpressive windy river, full of shallow rocks and muddy water. 
 
But for generations, for centuries, for over a thousand years, the River Jordan had been a place of significance. Point number 1 is that the River Jordan was and had been for a long time a place of New Beginnings for an (Ancient) People.
 
It was the final gateway from slavery to freedom. Over the Red Sea, God had claimed Israel as his firstborn son, in the river Jordan, A. Joshua crosses into the (Promised Land). After a generation passed away, after forty years in the desert, after the punishment for their sin was over, here was a new beginning as they started a new nation, as they claimed their freedom. Joshua sets twelve smooth stones on the river to remind his people of their new beginning.
 
B. Namaan the Syrian crosses into (life). You remember, he was a Syrian commander – an enemy of Israel – and he had leprosy. He came to Elijah – an enemy, asking for mercy and for a cure. Elijah tells him to go on down to this river of new beginnings, the Jordan river. Wash seven times, and he’ll be cured.
 
And finally, for our purposes, C. Elisha crosses into (ministry). After Elijah was taken up into heaven, Elisha retraces his steps, back from the fiery chariots, back from the wilderness beyond the Jordan, and the first miracle that he does as THE prophet in Israel is to cross the river Jordan on dry ground, marking this new ministry in their midst. He passes from apprentice to master, from follower to prophet, from the end of Elijah’s ministry to the beginning of Elisha’s ministry.
 
That’s the backdrop of this area. So when John the Baptizer comes on the scene, he preaches in the places where Elijah was taken into heaven, where Elisha started his ministry, where Joshua began to conquer the Promised Land, and where we find the Messiah would begin his ministry. 
 
2. New Beginnings for a new ministry
 
Point A. John formed their (expectations). John looked like a prophet. He hung out in the wilderness. He delivered scathing and persuasive rebukes. He looked like the culmination of all the Old Testament prophets, because he was. He was the expectations of the people incarnate, the way that they thought the Lord would begin the reign of the Messiah on earth. 
 
Can you imagine the folks that were coming out to see him? On the far side of the Jordan? They come from 20, from 40, from 60 miles away to see John in the wilderness. Israel hadn’t had a prophet in 400 years. It’s like if America didn’t have a general of George Washington’s caliber in 400 years (we’re at 242 now), and then there one comes. They flock to him. They hope in him. They wonder about him.
 
They were longing for a military leader, for a second Joshua to lead them across the Jordan into the Promised Land. They were looking for a second Elisha to lead them out of their oppression. They were looking for a certain kind of person, and John formed their expectations.
 
But Point B. is that Jesus filled their (needs). This is fundamental to the Gospel. Jesus does what we need him to do, whether we care that he does it or not. Jesus is who we need him to be, whether we want him to be that or not. Jesus is a second and greater Joshua, and the stream that he crosses is death itself. Jesus is a second and greater Prophet, and the sin he calls out is deeper than we could know without him. 
 
But the realest need that his fills is that he does everything that we are supposed to do. He is the representative man. He is baptized here for our sake. He fulfills all righteousness for our sake. He is the beloved son for us.
 
And so, for us today, the River Jordan is a place for our 3. New beginnings and second chances.
 
A. A second chance to (confess) faults. Pastor Griffin told me a story the other day about a voters meeting in Lewiston. They had made some changes in their policies, changes that weren’t appreciated by some. A member, a faithful member, had been angered at something he had done, so angry that he quit bible study, quit coming to church, to the point that his pastor called him. Before he could speak, Pastor launched into an apology, that he hadn’t thought through his words, that he was doing with the law what he should have done with the Gospel, that he was sorry for his fault and wanted to do better.
 
There was a pause. Then, on the phone, “Pastor Griffin, you’re a hard person to stay mad at.” You see, when he heard who was calling, he was ready to just rip into him. He was ready to give him a piece of his mind. He was ready to give him what he deserved. But confessing your faults, taking the first step forward, laying down the burden of your own pain, gives you the opportunity for a new beginning and a second chance.
 
B. A new beginning (day by day). Martin Luther writes this when he says, and this is the last question and answer on baptism in the catechism, “The old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever” Daily we drown the Old Adam and daily the new man rises up on the inside. St. Paul says, we have been baptized into his death so that we might rise in his life. 
 
A new beginning each day. A new rising of the New Man on the inside of his people. A second chance in the body of Christ. A chance to be what we already are in eternity.
 
The good news for those, like Jayme Closs, who have lived a nightmare, the good news is that daily the mercies of God are new, renewed in the morning no matter how dark the night. The good news is, for those who have health concerns, the good news is that although we outwardly waste away, inwardly we are renewed day by day. For those who have messed up again and again, the good news is that daily we remember that Christ has died our death and has raised us to a newness of life. For those who struggle with their thoughts and feelings, with depression and despair, the good news is that God’s first words for us every morning are, “For the sake of my son, you are my beloved child.”
 
The kingdom of Heaven shines down like a large church in a small town where words of confession and forgiveness are spoken frequently, where hurts are laid down at the foot of the cross, where honesty, even when it hurts, is appreciated, where their stories are chalk-full of second chances and new beginnings.
 
Amen and Amen.

Heaven Shining Down Into Bethlehem
First in a Series of Nine “Heaven Shining Down!”
January 5 and 6, 2018
The Epiphany of our Lord
Isaiah 60:1-6 / Ephesians 3:1-12 / Matthew 2:1-12
Behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
Dear Friends in Christ,
The season of Epiphany is one of the oldest seasons in the church year, second only to Easter.  This season of lights begins with a celebration of the Wise Men visiting the Christ child and ends with the Festival of Transfiguration. This Epiphany season is about as long as it ever gets, due to the late date of Easter this year.  Today is the first of nine sermons under the theme, “Heaven Shining Down.”  Three truths we would emphasize in this series.
First, as we travel with Jesus from manger to his baptism and into his public ministry of performing miracles, we rejoice that God has reached down from heaven to rescue us, even as we admit that we have no way of reaching up to him.  Secondly, we explore the obvious reality that mission and ministry happen in specific locations, each with their own significant history and particular opportunities.  Third, we reflect on this epic battle between Light and darkness in the past, the present, and the future.
Today we focus on Bethlehem in Old Testament times, Bethlehem in Jesus’ day, and small town living today.
Bethlehem B.C. At this time, I invite you to notice in your bulletin a map of Israel in Jesus’ day.  Today, we will be focusing on the little town of Bethlehem in Judea, located six miles or so south of Jerusalem.  In coming weeks we will be focused on Jesus getting baptized in the river Jordan, then on Jesus performing his first miracle in Cana of Galilee, then on Jesus reading in the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth / not too far from Cana, then to Capernaum also up there near the Sea of Galilee, then out on the Lake of Gennesaret, then for two Sundays we hear Jesus preaching to the crowds on the level plain, and ending up at the Mt. of Transfiguration, where Jesus reveals his glory in spectacular fashion.
 
Rachel (dies) Bethlehem was a small village, perched on some rounded hills overlooking the desert to the east.  It was six miles south of Jerusalem and an obvious stopping point for those on a pilgrimage to the temple of Jerusalem.  The name Bethlehem means “house of bread,” it was a stopping place for supplies / sort of the Kwik Trip of its day, and a place surrounded by wheat fields and shepherds watching their flocks.
You may remember that Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah, he was the grandson of Abraham and Sarah, and eventually his name was changed to Israel.  And so Jacob’s 12 sons gave rise to the 12 tribes of Israel.  You may also remember that Jacob’s favorite wife was Rachel, and his less favorite wife was Leah.  Rachel gave birth first to Joseph, and as she gave birth to Benjamin, she passed away…  There in Bethlehem, also called Ephrath, Rachel was buried, and Jacob put a pillar over her tomb.
Ruth (gets married) Bethlehem is also that place where the story of Ruth, the grandma of King David takes place.   Ruth was a Gentile woman from the land of Moab who had married into a Hebrew family.  When her husband died, she chose to travel with her grieving mother in law back to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem, where she met and married Naomi’s relative Boaz – and thus the name of Ruth makes it into Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus – Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.
David is (anointed king) Bethlehem is also that place, where some time later, one of Israel’s greatest prophets Samuel comes to Bethlehem to visit that family of a man called Jesse.  There the prophet passes over seven older brothers and chooses the youngest boy David, who was out shepherding the sheep.  David is described as ruddy / attractive, had beautiful eyes and was handsome.  There in Bethlehem, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.  And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. 
From that day forward, Bethlehem was associated with great King David, and as expectations grew that God would send another king like David, the prophet Micah predicted that even though Bethlehem was “small among the clans of Judah,” yet from here would come a ruler of Israel, whose origins are from old. As we move from this little town’s Old Testament history to Jesus’ day, keep in mind, that in this sermon series we explore the obvious reality that mission and ministry happen in specific locations, each with their own significant history and particular opportunities. 
Bethlehem in Jesus’ Day In terms of Mary and Joseph traveling from Nazareth in Galilee down into Bethlehem, we could imagine them traveling along with other family members, we could speculate that it was a five or 6 day journey by mule or donkey.  In terms of the magi / wise men visiting from the east, scholars suggest they may have come from as far away as Babylon and that their visit was months after, perhaps up to two years after the birth of Jesus.
It’s not so important to figure out exactly who these magi were or where they came from or when they arrived.  What matters is heaven shined down with one of the stars of this universes.  In Old Testament times, God led his people by day with a cloudy pillar and by night with a pillar of fire.    Now God uses a star, Scripture, and a dream to guide the Magi on their way to and from Bethlehem. In our Gospel lesson for today, Bethlehem is both a place of danger and a place of divine reversal.
First, A place of (danger) The story of these first Gentiles visiting and worshiping the Christ child is jam packed with all kinds of joy mixed in with all kinds of tragedy.  Gold, frankincense, and myrrh on the one hand and bloody massacre on the other.  A great light shining in the darkness on the one hand, and darkness doing its dastardly best to overcome it on the other.   Bethlehem on the one hand the birthplace of the very author of life and on the other a little town of 300 people or so crying until there were no more tears as they see with their very eyes a dozen or two dozen or more beautifully created baby boys slaughtered.
Second, A place of divine (reversal) Bethlehem was already a place associated with divine reversal.  David had been a child, the youngest son, when God called him to be the anointed king of Israel.  God had overturned human expectation in the choice of his king; humans so often look at outward appearances, but the writer of I Samuel comments, “the Lord looks at his heart.”  Now in Jesus we see something similar; a humble birth in a tiny village, but the one born here will in due course be spoken of throughout the world.  (Isaiah 60 language) Nations would come to his light, and kings would come to the brightness of his rising.
 
As we move from Bethlehem in Jesus day to small town living today, keep in mind, that in this sermon series we explore the obvious reality that mission and ministry happen in specific locations, each with their own significant history and particular opportunities. 
Bethlehem Today is a majority Muslim town cut off from its sister city of Jerusalem by an 8 meter high wall.  The old city has a population of 5000 or so, and its chief business is tourism.  You could find 30 hotels and 300 handicraft workshops on these streets.  Rachel’s tomb is only a short drive from Jerusalem.  It is completely walled in, and only bullet proof buses and vans are allowed to pass between the 15 foot high concrete barriers that lead to the Tomb.
In closing today, we note two truths about small town living on the subject of light vs. darkness.  Two truths about what it means for this church and school to be like a city of lights set on a hill shining Jesus Christ all over our neighborhoods.  Two truths about what it means (Ephesians language) to join the missionary Paul in preaching to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things…
Two truths, one obvious and one not so much.  Truth #1 is obvious.  Darkness is still causing all kinds of (trouble) The kingdom of darkness is like a country where two political parties engage in debate that is often petty, occasionally poisonous, and increasingly profane.  It’s like large cities and small towns alike where unborn infants are aborted and many argue that it’s nobody else’s business.  It’s a land where darkness infiltrates our families on a daily basis, it attacks our relationships morning, noon, and night, it hides in the shadows, it lurks around many of our corners, more often than not, it is predictable and surprising at the same time.
Truth #2 should be, but isn’t always obvious to the naked eye Those who look to him are (radiant) This is Psalm 34 language, it’s King David language after he had confessed his transgressions to the Lord, after the Lord had forgiven the iniquity of his sin, and after he had changed his behavior.  He writes, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul makes it boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.  Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!  I ought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.  Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.
The kingdom of light is like sinners who have cried out for mercy, mercy has arrived, and a huge weight has again been lifted from their shoulders.  It’s like a marriage where husband and wife say to each other again and again, I’m sorry, I forgive you, I really do want to do better.  It’s like classmates and co-workers and church members who have stumbled into self-centeredness and sarcasm and cynicism and worse, who have looked themselves in the mirror, shaken their heads in disgust, and in the quiet of the night they have asked for and received forgiveness.  They understand now what Solomon once declared, “the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.”  They look around the sanctuary and think about what  Isaiah predicts, “Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and exult.”
Heaven shines down.  In the case of the Wise Men, heaven shines down with a star, in Scripture, and in a dream.   This week, we pray that heaven would reach out through us, in every one of our relationships, in every one of our conversations, in every one of our actions, that we would be like a city of lights set on a hill, obviously radiant, difficult to ignore.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.