Good Wine for Everyone

(Theology of the Cross vs Prosperity Gospel/Theology of Glory)

John 2

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 ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to the woman, “What concern is that my hour has not yet come to you and me.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever, he tells you to do.” Now standing there were six stone jars of water 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 the water from 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 one 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 him,

Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, our Savior, Jesus, and the Spirit that dwells within and around us.

---

The Wedding at Cana

In our lectionary cycle or cycle of readings for the church year – his comes up every three years, right, after Epiphany. It’s in the Epiphany Season introduction (proper preface) to our song: “Holy Holy, Holy.”  It was part of the story of how Jesus was made known (epiphany)

The preface includes the wedding at Cana at Cana as a sign of Jesus being revealed, The Epiphany is about Jesus being revealed in many different ways.

I used to preach on this text  – I preached about how much wine Jesus made.  – The physical miracle. The amount of gallons was astonishing. So, to get that out of the way – scholars believe that six cisterns equated to 120 or 180 gallons. of wine or 340 to  510 bottles of wine.

My Christian friends who believe that drinking alcohol is always a sin don’t know what to do with this text.

Because from the surface, it looks like Jesus is encouraging drunkenness.

He is not encouraging drunkenness.

First off wine or fermented beverages were the safest thing to drink before water treatment facilities were a thing. Second, and more importantly wine, in the Bible, among the people of Faith – wine was a symbol of God’s abundance and steadfastness

Isaiah 27. These verses are often read at funerals.

“On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples, a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines of rich food filled with marijuana. Well-aged wines, strained, clear and he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples.”

When this was written, God’s people were in Exile. They had been conquered and sent away from their community and relocated. They were war refugees.

They had no place to worship, and for them not having a worship place meant God wasn’t with them anymore.

But the prophet writes, basically, “God is still with you.  And will take care of you.” For people who were now unsettled, they didn’t have their own Vineyards. They didn’t have their own community. They didn’t have their own temple.

Think about what well-aged wines would represent.

Stability. It meant they were going to stay in one place long enough to age their wines.

Not having to search for every meal, meal by meal by meal.

And so, Jesus shows up at this wedding.

And he provides this rich abundance that the prophet promised hundreds of years before.

The water turning into wine – is called his first sign.

And Jesus says to his mother that he’s not ready, it’s not my time.

because as soon as he started performing the signs, the very religious, rule following people lost their minds.

Jesus performed signs.

And extends his grace to everyone.

This wedding would have been time to go home now. Event, when the wind.

But that’s just why Jesus produced the best wine. Anyone present who tasted knew it was and it was the best. It was in abundance. It was for everyone.

My dear siblings. Our whole country has been co-opted by Prosperity Gospel. Or Theology of Glory

Prosperity Gospel. (theology of glory)	Theology of the cross
Talks about how much you will get if you call upon the name of the Lord.	On the other hand, theology of the cross. It is a very Lutheran Concept that goes all the way back to Martin Luther himself. Ask any of my Seminary professors.
It’s also a Theology of scarcity. They are always worried that there is not going to be enough.  I need to make sure I have enough for me.   I will take what I get and say that God blessed me.	Theology of the Cross says that God’s abundance is for everyone.   Everyone – no asterisks.
You are always worried that someone might get more than they deserve.	Theology of the Cross says, we are all children of God, made in the image of God, each person on this planet. and we look out, especially for the lowly and outcast.   Because that’s what God does.
Theology of prosperity says good is bad and bad is good.	Theology of the cross calls a thing what it is
	Remember Mary song from advent, “my soul rejoices?  Because God has lifted up the lowly.” That was T/C

Theology of the cross is about grace and inclusion. Especially to those who have been cast out of other communities.

Prosperity Gospel enslaves some to the benefit of others.

Theology of the cross liberates the oppressed.

Did you know, during World War Two? There were Christians who were very opposed to Nazism.  People of our faith. Because the vast majority of other Christians, figured, if we just keep them happy, they’ll, leave us alone.

That never works out. They just find more and more people to oppress.

And they have more and more money. To tell you there isn’t enough for everybody. So you’re going to have to look out for those people. Those people, those people.

There were Christian leaders, the clergy, emergency league who stood up to that. Most of them were murdered.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Niemoellers, you can look it up Clergy Emergency League, or the Confessing Church.  All those powerful Christian writers from WWII era knew, the Theology of the Cross.

And their conscience could not let them do otherwise

The Civil Rights era, the 60s and 70s. Those black leaders that got murdered? They were all people of deep faith. Deep faith that God is what liberates? Not Power

The dedication of this church.

My husband found this when he was scanning the 75th Anniversary Book.

The dedication of this church reads,

 it is our hearts desire and prayer that this Sanctuary may be a house of prayer for all people. It is erected to serve the people of this community, to minister unto them. In the name of Jesus Christ, The riches of God’s mercy and grace. It is consecrated to the Lord for Christian worship. In his name amost hearty welcome is extended to everyone.

At First Lutheran. We open our doors. Not so that people can experience us because as great as we are and you’re wonderful. You’re not Jesus.

We open our door so that the Hope House can serve hundreds and thousands of meals more than we can alone.

They’re opening up the good stuff to everybody and that is part and parcel of the mission of the dedication of this church.

I was asked to give the keynote yesterday at the people’s March.

One of our members was there.

The topic was “Hope Healing and Human Rights.’

Human Rights

The UN Declaration on Human Rights, came about beginning in 1945 and was ratified in 1948. Countries all around the world  realized how awful and dehumanizing everyone had become and the atrocities that had been committed. People from all these countries came together.

And just for a short list of the many Human Rights they expressed – They declared that every human being on this earth, man, woman and child should be free from torture. We should have free expression, children should have an education so they can develop critical thinking skills and not stumble into the hole of inhumanity of their elders.

All people have the right to asylum. They have a right to a homeland and a right to life and liberty, and privacy.

Every human should have a right to Health Care. They have a right to adequate housing.

The United States of America has stepped off the UN Human Rights Council.  Now, there are some reasons for that, but we deny most of these rights now. They are only for a few.

And we here, are mostly the few that have them.

So yesterday I talked about the erosion of Human Rights. And the slippery slope of dehumanizing language. Which is how all propaganda begins.

The historic horrors of the most atrocious events in the world. Ancient battles. slavery, holocausts and genocide. They started by using humanizing words for people who are all made in the image of God.

They also used entertainment to lull all the people into self-absorption.

The Roman Colosseum.

all those things that the Roman Empire did was to distract the people from how horrible life was. They used entertainment. They called them bread and circuses.

So if you ever hear that term bread and circuses, it means somebody’s trying to pull the wool over the people’s eyes.

They took people’s minds off of real issues and the real issues were getting uglier and uglier. The world fell.

After my speech yesterday. I engaged in a conversation with the homeless, man.

and, he said he felt like he was being chased around by a giant pencil.

The eraser end first. And that his life was being erased, little by little every time that pencil caught up with him.

You know, why I went to talk to him? It was because he had a pro-life side sign and I want to have a conversation because we were closer in philosophy than he or anyone thinks.

Some dehumanize the fetus.

Some dehumanized, the woman that’s carrying the fetus

It’s all a game of language. That turns people into enemies.

Human rights.

Are things that everyone should have.

This is how Jesus lived his life!  He healed. He loved and still loves without condition and he taught his disciples to do the same. Jesus says– so, you know, how, how will people know your Christians? hmmm

Oh yeah.

By your love.

To deny the humanity of anyone else.

Is to deny Jesus.

To deny these things has to go down the road to inhumanity, the same road that led to

Holocaust.

We all renounce these things. Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God, think about that and we’ll answer next week.

and we will do this again next week, as we bring in new members.

Genocide.

And crucifixion,

the crucifixion of our Lord. Jesus Christ.

In our baptismal liturgy.

Before we profess our faith, we make three very specific renunciations.

Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?  What rebels against God? Think about it.

Do you renounce the ways of sin?

That draw you from God.

The devil and all the forces that defy God and if God is love of that, then hate is the opposite. (indifference comes before hate, but hate is the result.)

Next week, we will renounce these things together.

And then, we will affirm our faith in who is really our Lord and Savior.

Jesus said, you will know them. They belong to me because of their love.

The Apostle Paul said in Galatians, you will know them by the fruits of the Holy Spirit that are dripping from them.

Love, joy. Peace, patience.

Kindness.

Generosity.

Faithfulness.

Gentleness.

And self-control.

We sang earlier this morning, “Let us build a house where the prophets speak. And words are strong and true.

Where All God’s children dare to seek to dream God’s reign anew

Here, the cross shall stand as witness and as symbol of God’s grace,

Here, as one, we claim the faith. Of Jesus.

Tomorrow, we will welcome the community into this building. Dedicated to the glory of God. In service to our neighbor. To show our neighbors Jesus.

To show our neighbors, Jesus

None of us was here when this building was built. It is entrusted to us to share

To share, not to hoard -that’s Prosperity Gospel.

So let’s turn on the light. Porch light.  the light that shines the love of Jesus Christ. Let us live the life that Jesus modeled and sacrificed.

For

Us

Do not let the gospel become bread and circuses.

Dig deeper.

Talk to a homeless person.

And live the sacrificial love.

Of a follower of Jesus Christ.

And the peace of God, that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ. Jesus, our Lord. Amen

---