"Jesus, son, there is no more wine, do something." His response is interesting, "what’s that have to do with me?" or "it’s none of my business."

Maybe he wants to see what the host of the reception will do. Perhaps he is not ready to reveal who he is as a miracle worker in a social situation. His question may strike us as strange, but it helps us to learn the second lesson about miracles, and that is that God through Jesus Christ teaches us that the need for a miracle brings together the elements that create the right moment. It may not have been his time, but he acts anyway, and as he acts, he gives an incredible gift.

Lawrence Wood describes it this way. "No one knows what gift Jesus might have brought to the wedding at Cana, but it could hardly have been more frivolous than the favor his mother asked him. The wine had run out and his mother wants him to do something about it. Surely the Son of Man had not come to the wedding to get the guests liquored up.

"But he relented and quietly saved the host from embarrassment. What Jesus gave was the gift of joy, a good time for all. Thanks to Jesus, instead of the hosts and guests pointing fingers at each other, everyone had a good time. We can imagine the dancing, laughter, camaraderie and delight of the day, as people who had not been together for many years renewed their ties. Guests who otherwise might have had nothing in common had come together because of the host. In many ways then, the wedding feast resembled the kingdom of God" (www.christiancentury.org/article "Wedding Gifts" by Lawrence Wood).

The time is not always right to do something, but there are these moments when there is nothing else to do. Jesus, encouraged by Mary who instructs the servants to follow the instructions of her son, gives what turns out to be an unexpected gift, it was a true miracle of riches, and the timing is perfect.

Jesus claimed this moment, first by asking that the large jars used for the rituals of washing the hands and feet, be filled to the brim. As the jars were filled somehow, by the word and will of Jesus, between the water being poured into the jars, the miracle happened. When the servants tasted the liquid, the water had become wine.

"The symbolism of the wedding at Cana centers, not in the various details of the story, but in the larger theme of the unimaginable generosity of Jesus. The gifts of Jesus extend well beyond meeting the needs of the moment for health or safety or food. In this story, the gifts encompass the celebration of life itself" (Texts for Preaching – Year C. Louisville. Westminster John Knox Press. 1994,110).

There is something in the word and witness of Jesus that can change our lives. At his word, and by his grace, water becomes wine, doubt becomes hope, fear becomes courage, a journey without direction becomes a way with a clear path.

There was not any reason to believe that more than fifty years ago, a young twenty-six year old pastor, raised in Atlanta, with a newly earned Ph.D. hanging on his wall, new to the pulpit at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Montgomery, Alabama, would be able to work miracles, but he did. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired people by the eloquence of his speech and the courage of his conviction. He helped people thought to be helpless and hopeless find their courage as he spoke about his dreams not just for his four children but for children and parents all over the nation, he moved and changed the nation.

Jesus claimed a moment as his own, Martin Luther King, Jr. claimed his moment, and when we claim our own, miracles can happen as we seize the moment and by the ordinary things we do find the inspiration that leads to miraculous moments.

You know miracles: a loved one is healed just as we begin to give up hope. A huge financial debt is relieved when funds are found in an unexpected place, and the car gets fixed, the mortgage gets paid, medicine gets bought, food fills the cabinets and refrigerator. A family broken and troubled is healed and restored to a family that is filled with love and support for each other. A community rises up and is changed from safe to unsafe, out of nowhere, a way is made where there was no way up, out, or forward.

The third thing we learn is that God through Jesus Christ brings us good news of great joy and great possibilities. The miracle of water turned to wine changed the wedding feast, and changed the lives of the guests. The servants know a miracle has happened, that’s good news. The wedding’s host tells the groom that he has done a great thing by saving the best wine for last. Usual custom was to serve the good stuff first, then, when the taste buds and senses are a bit dulled, to bring out the cheap stuff.

They show us that the miracle of birth, the hard miracle of death when death ends the suffering of a loved one, the gift of life and all the grace God has for us when we are at our wit’s end are good news.

It wasn’t just wine Jesus created, but the best. It is not just life that Jesus brings to us, but life in abundance (John 10.10), filled with joy, hope, the vision, and dreams. He brings us life in abundance and that is a miraculous thing. Because of this miracle, the disciples believed and we believe, because God makes things new and makes us new by the every day miracles that come to us through Jesus. We see the miracles as we put our faith in him just like the disciples did.

God through Jesus Christ, in ordinary moments along the paths and passages of life to bring our purposes and our moments together to bring out what is extraordinary and life changing in us, and to help us do as the disciples did. We not only know who Jesus is, but we know Jesus; we know him in all of the miracle working ways he has given us our lives. Jesus will continue to work miracles, he will heal the sick, he will restore integrity to an ostracized women when she comes for water at a well (John 4). He will restore the sight of a man born blind (John 9), and he will raise his dear friend Lazarus from death to life (John 11), and he invites us on this miraculous journey with him. Jesus will die on a cross, be placed in a tomb and the tomb will be sealed. And in the greatest of God’s miracles through Jesus, the tomb will be found empty and Jesus will be raised to new life.

We need the miracles Jesus brings. As we fine our way in his power and in his love, let this prayer be ours:

"Gracious God, whose revelation in Jesus Christ awakens our wonders, let this be an hour of powerful encounter with you in which our gifts are called forth for the sake of your church and for the renewal of your world. Work within us, among us, and through us we pray, believing minds may blossom into trusting hearts and helping hands, fully committed to your service" (Gathered by Love. Lavon Bayler. Cleveland, United Church Press. 1994, p. 35. 

Praise be to God. Amen.