First Presbyterian Church

A Magnet for Ministry

Links

Site Information

Larry R. Hayward
January 18, 2004
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

180 Gallons
John 2:1-11

Most of us in mainline churches love the story of Jesus changing water into wine at the wedding at Cana.[1]

It seems to give us "Christological" permission to drink wine.
It confirms the desire many of us have to make the wedding celebrations of our children as nice as we possibly can.
And we love the story of Jesus turning water into wine because nearly all of us have a funny wedding story to tell.

Many years ago in Texas, I married a couple named Bob and Susan. I started the service with the words of gathering with which I start each wedding:

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the presence of God to join this man and this woman in holy marriage, which is instituted of God, regulated by his commandments, blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ, and to be held in honor among all people.[2]

The father presented the bride.

The couple exchanged their vows:

I, Bob, take thee, Susan….

I, Susan, take thee Bob…

They exchanged rings:

With this ring, I thee wed….

When it came time for me to conclude the service and lead a closing prayer, I rang out:

By the authority committed unto me as a minister of the church of Christ, I declare that Bob and Susan are now husband and wife, according to the ordinance of God and the law of the state, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.[3] Let us play.

I had to move from Texas to Iowa just to escape the ribbing I received over this faux pas.

There are many aspects of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding that are worthy of a sermon. The aspect on which I want to focus today is one detail: the amount of water Jesus turned into wine.

This detail appears in Verse Six:

Now standing there were six stone water jars … each holding twenty or thirty gallons.[4]

Do the math. Six stone jars times twenty or thirty gallons each equals 120 to 180 gallons. Jesus turned as much as 180 gallons of water into 180 gallons of wine. Not even Brittany Spears and Jason Alexander consumed this much wine before their 22-hour marriage!

Nearly every scholar I have consulted agrees that 180 gallons of wine is a symbol — or metaphor — for the lavishness of God. One scholar refers to the wine as representing the "unimaginable generosity of Jesus."[5] 180 gallons of wine! By turning 180 gallons of water into 180 gallons of wine, Jesus demonstrates that in his

Pre-existence
Birth
Life
Teaching
Arrest
Trial
Crucifixion
Resurrection
Gift of the spirit
And promised return

He has brought the lavishness of God to a grand appearance on the stage of earth, and the drama will never be the same again.

180 gallons.

II.

Even though we often feel distracted by inconvenience, hassles, even pressures of life, most of the time most of us operate with 120 to 180 gallons of wine. Most of us operate with lavish abundance from God.

We know the "typical" aspects of abundance God has provided:

Education
Intelligence
Economic opportunity
Technology
Recreation

Those in our congregation who have traveled on one of our mission trips — to St. Louis, Chicago, Mexico, Brazil — often come back with mouths agape and eyes open in surprise at how little other in the world have compared to the abundance we take for granted — in terms of food, clothing, personal space.

We know about these abundances from God. But what about other aspects of abundance?

We spend a lot of energy in our nation worrying about health care, as we should. We are concerned about rising costs, about the number of uninsured people, about skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs. But we sometimes forget that one reason costs are rising is that we are all living ten to fifteen years longer than we expected at birth, and that a reason our health care is so expensive is that it is so good.
It is not only in material aspects that we experience abundance. Through friendships, marriages, relationships within our families, many of us experience what the poet Denise Levertov describes as

that endless giving and receiving
the wholeness of … attention
that once-in-a-lifetime…communion[6]

that is the hallmark of love between two human beings.

Even if we do not experience abundance in material blessings, even if we have yet to experience the abundance of love, each one of us can experience abundance in nature. Writes Mary Oliver:

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way of the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone—
and how it slides again

out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a perfect imperial distance—
and have you ever felt for anything

such wild love—
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed--…?[7]

180 gallons of wine. 180. That is the abundance God gives us.

III.

So what are we to do with this abundance? What are we to do with the 180 gallons of wine God has given us?

There are two ways to respond, and each is represented in this passage.

One way is that of the steward.

The steward is the maitre de of the party. He is responsible for making sure that there is enough wine for the seven-day wedding party.

When the wine runs out, the steward sends the servants to figure out how to provide more wine.

The servants return with a ladle of liquid.
The steward tastes the liquid and discovers that it is wine.

He knows that the party has been blessed with an abundance of wine, but he does not recognize Christ as the source of the blessing.

He receives a blessing, but doesn't recognize the source.[8]

By contrast, the servants simply follow Jesus' orders.

They fill six stone jars with water.

They ladle a few ounces up to take to the steward.

The servants know the source of what they take to the steward, but they do not realize that it is a blessing of wine.[9]

Some of us are like the steward. We know we have received a blessing, but we do not recognize — or acknowledge — God as the source.

Others of us are like the servants. We know God as the source of what we carry in our ladle, but we don't recognize that what we carry is a blessing.

The challenge before all of us is to combine the best of the steward's awareness with the best of the servants': To recognize that what we carry in our ladles is in fact blessing, and that God is the source.

IV.

After Mary Oliver describes the sun, she asks her readers:

have you …
turned from this world—

or have you …
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

If we will recognize that we have 120 to 180 gallons of wine in our lives, at our disposal, and if we will recognize that God is the source of this abundant blessing, we will never turn from this world, go crazy for power, for things. [10]

Amen.

1 John 2:1-11. go back
2 "Order for the Solemnization of Marriage," The Book of Common Worship (Philadelphia: 1946), 183-191. go back
3 Ibid. go back
4 John 2:6.go back
5 Beverly Roberts Gaventa, in Charles B. Cousar, et al, Texts for Preaching: A Commentary Based on the NRSV-Year C (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 111. go back
6 Denise Levertov, "First Love," in The Best American Poetry 1999, edited by Robert Bly (New York: Scribner Poetry, 1999), 112-113. go back
7 Mary Oliver, "The Sun," in Douglas Goetsch, "Generating Poems," Class Handout, Summer Writing Festival, University of Iowa, 2003. go back
8 John 2:9. go back
9 John 2:5-9. go back
10 Oliver, "The Sun." go back

Return to Sermon List

First Presbyterian Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org