What is this season called Epiphany?

When we think of the seasons of the church year, we usually attach something of a theme to them

ADVENT            Waiting or Preparation

CHRISTMAS      Celebration Jesus’ Birth

LENT                  Penitence

EASTER              Celebrating  the Death & Resurrection

PENTECOST      The birth of the Church

So what do we make of this season called EPIPHANY?

The BIG IDEA for Epiphany is REVELATION or DISCLOSURE and I think that our special work for this season is to be on the lookout for those things that reveal to us who Jesus was and is and what he’s about.

Each week we are given a selection of readings from our sacred texts, and generally we seem to focus on the ideas that come out of the Gospel reading – which makes a lot of sense, given that we are followers of THE WAY OF JESUS.  The other readings, however, sometimes give us hints at a bigger idea than just trying to stick with the narrative or make sense of a miracle, etc. and that is very much the case today.

Let’s begin with the Gospel and see what there is to think about.

Now, here is the nub of the story:

Six stone jars where standing there, each holding 80 to 100 litres. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim. He said to them: “Now draw some out and take it to the MC.” So they took it. When the MC tasted the wine........ he said: “Usually they serve the best wine first, and when men are a little drunk they then serve poor wine; but you have kept the best wine until now.” John 2:6-11

Was Jesus overdoing it?

What would you think of someone who near the end of a wedding feast produces another 500-600 litres of wine?  Now I can’t let this opportunity pass without telling you that any guy who can turn water into wine is a friend of mine.

Because this story deals with things that we really can’t prove – miracles – I think that it may be more helpful to think of it as a kind of parable-in-action – and remember that John wants us to notice something very important about Jesus from this story.  Indeed, John says so explicitly right at the end – “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

So, this story of turning water into wine points us to a God who is an extravagant Creator and Redeemer.  The God of Jesus Christ holds nothing back.  This God goes over the top, persistently over doing it.  We see this pre-eminently displayed in the life and teaching of Jesus.  But it is also present in the Old Testament.

The God of the Bible is most generous.

You may think 500-600 litres of wine are excessive, but that is the kind of God in whom we place our trust.  This story is a sign post pointing us to a remarkable, holy Friend.

THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF CREATION

Think with me now for a while about the extravagance of God in creation.

My wife and I enjoy walking on Mullaloo Beach in the mornings during summer – in fact, if I am not doing church somewhere, we are very inclined to worship at what we call Mullaloo Cathedral – there are generally hundreds of worshipers of all ages.

Every day it is different – the waves make the water different colours, the sand has moved around, exposing or covering rocky outcrops, seaweed has been washed up or washed away and if you were to stay until sunset, God would paint a different picture with the sky every night.

We often stop to inspect a shell or even a small microbe on the shore.  And we marvel at the antics of birds and the many different birds we see.  We are always on the lookout for dolphins just off-shore because we have seen them from time to time and once we even saw a sea-lion on the beach.

I am sure I don’t have to remind you of the amazing diversity – even extravagance – of the plant and animal kingdoms that surround us on planet earth, and if any of you are into the physical sciences you, too, will be amazed at the enormity, complexity and beauty of the universe that we inhabit with God.

On one level you could say that we don’t need all this abundance, but perhaps we do, if only to keep us in awe of the God in whom we live and move and have our being.

In her celebration of God’s enthusiasm, Annie Dillard wrote in her book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek:

The extravagant gesture is the very stuff of creation.  After that one extravagant  gesture of creation itself in the first place, flinging intricacies and colossi down aeons of emptiness, heaping profusion on profligacies with ever fresh vigour, the whole show has been on fire from the word go!” 

I recognise who this profligate Creator must be!

It is characteristic of the One who in Christ Jesus confounds people towards the end of a wedding feast by producing about 600 litres of choice wine. The God who excels at overdoing generosity!

THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF THE KINGDOM

This extravagance is evident in our Corinthian reading this morning, too, but in a Kingdom setting.

The work of the Holy Spirit, enlivening the Church with the Breath of Life as well as Signs and Wonders, gives to us gifts such as will build up the life of God’s people.  These gifts range from very mundane gifts to the supernatural gifts – but all are given; none are withheld.

And cast your mind through so many of the parables and miracle stories of the Gospels and you can see a kind of sub-text there of God’s extravagance towards us.

The more readily remembered being those of the prodigal son and the surprising wages paid to the workers in a vineyard.  Time does not permit me to expound on them.  It is enough to recognise that in Jesus’ parables of the kingdom we have the same prodigal grace that is reflected in 600 litres of wine.

Belgian theologian Edward Schillebeeckx writes that God is luxury:  

“For believers, God is the luxury of life..... Sheer, superfluous luxury.”

As John’s Gospel has it: “Out of his full store we have received grace upon grace.”

WHY IS IT SO?

I am not sure how you would describe the purpose of your life as a Christian.  I think that as a younger man I was very much caught up in a quest to do the right thing and so satisfy God.

These days I am more inclined to a view that my Christian life is about living in the way Jesus showed us, The Way as it was called in some early non-Christian references to the Christians. 

In spiritual terms I would say my work is to become more Christlike every day, and what this looks like at its best is when I am able to be authentically human – caring about others fully and generously, as Christ has shown us.

Have you ever surprised yourself by exhibiting a similar generous spirit? 

To go back to where I began, if the BIG IDEA for Epiphany is REVELATION or DISCLOSURE then I think this story of Jesus’ e[generosity and extravagance is a call to us to live our lives with similar generosity towards others – not that we can turn water into wine for a wedding, but we can live lives that are disentangled from the materialism of our day and so leaving us free to share our abundance with others as Jesus did.