|
Reuben's Sermon for 4th. Sunday of Epiphany:
Reuben's Theme: "Water into Wine?"
(Epiphany 4) - MORNING MASS
0800hrs. and 0930hrs at Saint George's Parish Church - Cullercoats.
Sunday, 30th. January 2005 Anno Domini.
Morning Mass: 1Kings: 17.8-16 Ps:
36.5-10 1Corinthians: 1.18-31 John: 2.1-11
COLLECT OF THE DAY
God our creator, who - in the beginning - commanded the light
to shine out of darkness:
we pray that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ may dispel
the darkness of ignorance and unbelief,
shine into the hearts of all your people,
and reveal the knowledge of your glory - in the face of Jesus
Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Morning Masses:
FIRST READING (morning Mass)
1 Kings 17.8-16
A reading from the first book of Kings.
Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah, saying, 'Go now to
Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have
commanded a widow there to feed you.' So he set out and went
to Zarephath.
When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering
sticks; he called to her and said, 'Bring me a little water in
a vessel, so that I may drink.'
As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, 'Bring
me a morsel of bread in your hand.'
But she said, 'As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked,
only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I
am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and
prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.'
Elijah said to her, 'Do not be afraid; go and do as you have
said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me,
and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For
thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not
be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that
the LORD sends rain on the earth.'
She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and
her household ate for many days.
The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail,
according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.
Psalm 36.5-10 (morning Mass)
RR With
you is the well of life [and in your light we see light].
5 Your love,
O Lord, reaches to the heavens, and your faithfulness to the
clouds.
6 Your righteousness
is like the strong mountains, your justice like the great deep;
you save both human and beast, O Lord. RR
7 How priceless
is your love, O God! your people take refuge under the shadow
of your wings.
8 They feast upon
the abundance of your house; you give them drink from the river
of your delights. RR
9 For with
you is the well of life, and in your light we see light.
10 Continue your
loving-kindness to those who know you, and your favour to those
who are true of heart. RR
SECOND READING (morning Mass)
1 Corinthians 1.18-31
A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians.
The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it
is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment
of the discerning I will thwart.'
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the
debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the
world?
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through
wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation,
to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire
wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to
Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and
God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you
were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many
were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world
to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame
the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world,
things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so
that no one might boast in the presence of God.
He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for
us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and
redemption, in order that, as it is written, 'Let the one who
boasts, boast in the Lord.'
GOSPEL (morning Mass)
John 2.1-11
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and
the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and His disciples had also
been invited to the wedding.
When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, 'They
have no wine.'
And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what concern is that to you and
to me? My hour has not yet come.'
His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.'
Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites
of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
Jesus said to them, 'Fill the jars with water.' And they filled
them up to the brim.
He said to them, 'Now draw some out, and take it to the chief
steward.' So they took it.
When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did
not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn
the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to
him, 'Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior
wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the
good wine until now.'
Jesus did this, the first of His signs, in Cana of Galilee, and
revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
POST COMMUNION PRAYER
Generous Lord, in word and eucharist we have proclaimed the
mystery of your love:
help us so to live out our days that we may be signs of your
wonders in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Reuben's Theme: "Water into Wine?"
+ In the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Our psalm today sings of the character of God...
loving, faithful, good:
the source of life, light and all the good that everyone can
enjoy.
The theme of our gifts from God continues in the part, of Paul's
letter to the Corinthians, that we heard today.
In the part of Paul's letter to the Corinthians that we have
heard today...
Paul reminds us all that the message about The Cross is a load
of rubbish to those who are perishing - that is those who reject
Jesus.
But, as he says, "...to us - who are being saved..."
the message - about The Cross - is the power of God.
He also points out that all human cleverness is nothing
compared to the wisdom of God.
It isn't the proud and clever people who appreciate the wisdom
of God's 'plan of salvation' through Christ's death on
the cross.
It's only those who are spiritually wise who have any
idea how the ridicule, humiliation and crucifixion
of our Lord and Saviour is all part of God's wisdom... ...for
our salvation.
This kind of wisdom, with it's true values and real judgement,
is God's gift to all mankind through the Holy Spirit.
We must become a fools in the eyes of the world if we are to
enjoy any of the wisdom of God.
So there's hope for me yet.
It's what Franciscans mean when saying we must be Fools for Christ.
So, let's take a Reuben's-eye view of the wisdom of God as heard
in our readings from the First Book of Kings and the John's Gospel
this morning.
In our first reading today Elijah, with the help of God, seems
to perform magic.
A miracle!
God moves Elijah to go to Zarephath to live, telling him he will
meet a widow who will feed him.
On going to Zarephath, Elijah not only meets the widow, as God
had predicted, but despite the fact that she didn't have enough
food for herself and her son...
(and was indeed preparing to die of starvation after a last meal
when Elijah turned up)
...there turns out to be enough food and drink for all of them
until the drought ends with the long awaited rains.
In our Gospel reading today Jesus seems to perform magic.
He turns water into wine.
A miracle!
I get rather worried when people start quoting miracles at me.
Miracles are grossly misunderstood.
Miracles are not like magic tricks and I don't believe that God
changes the rules of physics in order to get his point across.
My God - our God - does not move the goal posts.
My God - our God - does not cheat.
My God - our God - does have a message for all of us.
A miracle is not a very special thing that happens at any time.
A miracle is an ordinary thing that happens at a very special
time.
We have to be very careful when listening to the word of God
from any part of the Bible...
...but we must tread with even more care when we venture
into the world of... 'The Gospel according to John'.
In my opinion, John is one of the greatest wordsmiths the world
has ever known. His use of language and metaphor is what makes
his Gospel so compelling to me.
His use of symbols and mind pictures is overwhelmingly powerful...
...but we must be very careful not to get so wrapped up in his
words that we lose his message to us.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
Our first piece of code leaps out at us in the first sentence.
The most important thing that John is building up to in his Gospel
is the fact that Jesus is God - and rose from the dead.
As Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, John uses
those four words, throughout the Gospel, to warn the reader that
something very important, something very special,
is about to happen.
On the third day is John's way of grabbing our attention.
On the third day
there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
Wedding celebrations were very merry affairs, and would go on
for several days.
So, what we have here is a party with loads of booze and good-natured
merriment.
A drunken celebration lasting the best part of a week.
Everyone was enjoying themselves.
Everyone including: Jesus, His mother, His friends and His disciples.
It's not wrong to drink alcohol, it's only what some people do
when intoxicated that is wrong.
So back to the wedding... They ran out of wine.
Mary tells Jesus, who responds with what seems to be a rather
cutting reply, 'Woman, what concern is that to you and to
me?' and then, indicating that He is still sober says 'My
hour has not yet come.'
Mary, however, gets the servants ready to do whatever He
says...
and as a result, they end up using water.
Jesus gets them to put the water into six huge water-jars.
Water-jars normally used to hold water that is only fit for the
washing of hands and feet.
Jesus then gets them to take a sample of the water to the chief
steward.
When the chief steward tastes the water, that is to be drunk
the way wine is drunk, he pronounces it to be the best wine he
has tasted at the party.
Having worked for many years as a night-club disc-jockey, I can
tell you that after a long period of drinking alcohol and even
continuing through more than one hangover, plain ordinary life-giving
water is the best wine in the world.
My God - our God - does not do magic tricks.
My God - our God - does not use his powers to impress.
My God - our God - does have a message for all of us.
No mater how plain, or common, or ordinary anything seems to
be...
...in the wisdom of God...
...that same thing is the most beautiful, unique and special
thing in the world.
No mater how plain, or common, or ordinary anyone seems to be...
...in the wisdom of God...
...that same person is the most beautiful, unique and special
person in the world.
In the same way that the meek will inherit the earth.
In the same way that the last shall be first.
In the same way that those who lead must serve.
In the same way that a lowly teenage girl became the Mother of
God.
...the poor become rich... ...the hated become loved...
...the fools become wise...
...and water... ...becomes wine!
Jesus did this, the first of His signs, in Cana of Galilee,
and revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
And so do I.
+ In the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
1153 words
|
