I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 3/3/13

Scripture Isaiah 55:1-9

I came across a wonderful story on the internet this week. The story involves a boy and his father.  The boy comes up to his dad and asks him, “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?” The dad was angry at the question and told his son that it is none of his business. The boy just pleaded again, please daddy just tell me how much you make an hour? The dad replies, well if you really must know, I make $100 an hours. The little boy stops and thinks about it for  a little while and then asks his dad, “Daddy, can I have $50 dollars then?” The dad gets furious and tells his son if the only reason he asked how much he made an hour was so that he could beg for money, then he needed to go straight to his room and go to sleep. 15 to 20 minutes passed and the dad started to think about the request. At first he assumed that the boy wanted it to buy some new toy, but as he thought about it he realized that the boy has never really asked for much before other than on birthdays and Christmas. The dad thought it over and decided that he would give the boy the money. He knocks on the door and finds that the boy is not yet asleep, but just crying in his bed. The dad apologies to his son and gives him the $50. The boy takes the $50 dollars, and lifts his pillow to show that he already had money under his pillow. Seeing this the dad starts to get angry again, but before he could say anything the son says, “I have enough now.” Enough for what the dad asks? The boy replies, I have $100 now dad, I have enough to buy an hour with you.”

            This is of course a tender and also heartbreaking story, a story of how caught up we can get in our everyday lives; so much so that we can forget to take time to spend with those that we truly love. While the story does teach a valuable lesson about family relations, the reason I share it with you this morning, is because the relationship between the son and the father in the story is often far too close to depicting an accurate portrayal of our relationship with God. Of course in this instance we are like the father who gets so busy, so preoccupied with things that seem so important to us, that it leaves God asking us, when are you going to spend time with me? Now some may say, well I’m here this morning; I’m giving my hour of time with God. Think again about that story, after the father recognized what the son was asking for, do you think he said, ok thank you very much, I’ll take that $100 and your hour starts now? Of course not, the father realized that he had been neglecting his son and changed his life so that he made sure he had more time to spend with him. This is the same with our relationship with God,  it’s not that God is asking for an hour of our time, it is that God is asking for us to be in a closer relationship with him. God asks us to stop, and take time think about what we are seeking after, what our primary focus is, and whether or not we are focused on the right thing.

            In our passage for today, the prophet Isaiah does what good prophets do, he speaks the word of the Lord to the people. He says, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”  I love this passage, because the Lord is talking to the people in words that hold so much depth and substance, words that have multiple intentions, and words that really make one stop and reflect. On the surface these words seem just like every day practical advice. Don’t spend your money on things you don’t need. We see instances of this today, where people who barely have enough money to pay rent, somehow have the newest cell phones, or people taking expensive vacations and trips around the world instead of putting money into their retirement. On the surface this passage is giving us the practical advice of using our money wisely, spending it that satisfy us (food, clothing, housing) and not on frivolous things. Yet, to read the passage only in this way would be severely missing the point of the scripture.

            In fact making this practical advice is someone like a joke. It’s not a joke to make sure that your priorities are in order, that you using your money on things that satisfy rather than frivolously throwing it away; however the joke lies in the fact that none of these things, bread, wine, honey, will ever truly satisfy. Yes they are something that we need to survive, but each day you will be coming back for more. The real lesson being taught in this passage is the lesson that we know all so well from the Gospels and from that wonderful hymn, “Seek ye first the kingdom of  God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” The passage is telling us that nothing satisfies us like God can. That all that we do, all of our work, all that we spend, should be done so first and foremost while seeking after the Kingdom of God; while seeking after that relationship that God so desperately wants with us.

             The passage says,  “Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant... Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.”  At first, this may sound harsh to us, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. It can sound to us as if we only have a short time to make right to God, that if we don’t repent now, than God is going to leave us for good, but this is not what scripture is saying. The scripture tells us that God will make with us an everlasting covenant, that means that God isn’t going anywhere, that God has been, and always will be there for us. So then what does it mean to seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near? Once again it goes back to what we have been saying all along; that we need to seek first the Kingdom of God. It is saying that God doesn’t leave us, but that we can get so involved seeking earthly pleasures, we can even get so involved in seeking things of this Earth that are good and necessary for survival, but that we can get so caught up in these things that we no longer see God. We no longer seek after, we no longer hear God like that little child saying to us, Can I have an hour with you?

            For the Lord says, “let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  God says to us, seek me I have more to offer,  In me you will find your daily bread. As we come together for communion today we will see the paradox of this scripture at work. We will gather partaking of the physical sustenance of bread and juice and yet the reason we gather around the table for Communion is so much more than that, we come to the table because we want to spend that time together with God.  Communion invites us to come to the table and experience true satisfaction; a relationship with God.

My Own Worst Enemy

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 2/24/13

Scripture- Philippians 3:17-4:1

So this morning I’m going to get a little nerdy on you. I may or may not have mentioned it but I am a huge fan of Star Wars. The originals, not the new ones they don’t count. I used to watch the original trilogy over and over again when I was a child. As I read the scripture for today, it reminded me of one of the scenes from The Empire Strikes Back. The hero, Luke Skywalker is on the planet Dagobah, training with the great Jedi leader, Yoda. He had been training with Yoda for a while, learning the ways of the force, and now Yoda had led him to a cave. This cave was a test for Luke, to overcome his fears, and to put what he had learned to the test. This scene may be one of the strangest scenes in the movie. Luke’s journey into the cave is like some psychedelic trip, which results in him imagining that he is fighting with Darth Vader, who is the bad guy of the movie for those who don’t know. They get into a great lightsaber fight, and Luke wins, cutting of the head of Darth Vader. Then unexpectedly, the front of Darth Vader’s helmet explodes, revealing Luke Skywalker’s face behind the mask. This test in the cave showed to Luke, that his biggest enemy, the one who was holding him back, the one making him weaker, and the one who would lead to his destruction was no one else but himself.

            Our scripture for this morning suggests that the same can be true for our lives. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul warns, “For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.  Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.”  Enemies of the cross; that is an extremely harsh term for some group of people that Paul was talking about. So who was Paul talking about. The term enemies of the cross makes us at first assume that these people are not Christians. Maybe, Paul is referring to the pagans in the area, those worshiping false Gods, denying the salvific power of Jesus Christ. They certainly seem like enemies of the cross. Or maybe, Paul is talking about the Romans. After all it is the empire that in certain places had been persecuting Christians; the empire who after all authorized the crucifixion of Jesus. Paul certainly had every right to be angry at the Romans, after all he was imprisoned and sentenced for some capital punishment. This letter to the Philippians is after most likely written from a jail cell in or just outside of Rome. This is certainly who Paul must be talking about when he says enemies of the cross.

            Except, it’s not. Paul is not talking about the Romans, he is not talking about the Pagans, he is actually talking about a small group of  Christians, yes Christians. They are Christians who have misunderstood what it means to be freed by Christ. The hear Paul say that Christians are no longer law, and misinterpret it to mean that they are free to do whatever they please. They indulge themselves in food, in inappropriate sex, they store up goods and money. They see themselves as now being free from the law, meaning that they can do what they like. However, this is a misunderstanding of the freedom of a Christian. They lack the understanding that there is also responsibility in freedom. The fact that Jesus humbled himself even to the point of death on a cross, is not an excuse to live however we want, it is an invitation for us to follow that examples; To be imitators of Christ.

            For this reason, Paul starts of this passage by saying, “Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. Paul is calling us to imitate his actions. At first this seems like a very arrogant thing for Paul to say, as if he is some perfect example, but that is because it is taken out of its context. Before this passage, Paul has talked about over and over again how he is seeking perfection but not yet there. How he much continuously humble himself and follow the example of Christ so that he may grow to be mature in his faith. For this reason, when Paul is asking for us to imitate him, he is not saying look at me because I’m such a wonderful Christian, but instead he is saying, join with me in humbling yourself, join with me striving towards Christian perfection, join with me as we imitate the example of Christ.

            Our freedom requires action. Our freedom requires us to imitate Christ, to constantly strive towards walking closer with God. Some may hear this and wonder, how is this freedom; if we can’t simply do whatever we want, is it really freedom at all? Paul addresses this question very subtly, and yet in a very poignant and powerful way. He says, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  At first this does not seem to provide any answers. On the surface, it seems like a simple way to separate those are who are of this world from those who are of heaven, a way of separating the sheep from the goats. At  first it simply seems to be a way to create a divide between worldy things and Godly things. At worst, this line can lead us to believe that we must be purely separated from anything of this world; that we should not be involved in public affairs, we should not care for the welfare of those who are not part of  “our citizenship.” It can also lead to a horrible theology that I saved and now I’m going to sit around and wait until I become a citizen in heaven.

            All of these things misunderstand what it means to be a citizen. Too many people thank that citizenship in heaven is like reservations at a restaurant. That citizenship is a ticket in, a passport showing proof that we belong, but that is not what it truly means. The word citizen is used very carefully, because of what the word entails. Think about what it means in terms of citizenship to a country, since we live in the U.S. let’s examine what it means for us. Yes, citizenship does mean that we are privileged with certain things. As citizens in the United States we are protected by the constitution, and are guaranteed the right to a fair trial. We are protected by the United States military, we have the freedom of speech. There are certainly benefits of being a citizen. The same is true with being a citizen of heaven, there are obviously benefits, the most obvious being of course heaven, but there is also faith, hope, and love. Alongside of the benefits of being a citizen, we know that there also come responsibilities. The most obvious is obeying the law, but as citizens we have much more than that. We have the responsibility to vote, if called upon the responsibility to serve in the military, the responsibility of jury duty and much more. Yet still there is more to citizenship than this. As a child as we were being taught what it means to be a good citizen, we were taught that it was not simply a checklist list of things to do, but a way of live. That a good citizen helps those in need, a good citizen is well informed of all of the issues being debated, a good citizen volunteers for different leadership roles in the community; that with citizenship there comes a responsibility for how we live. The same is true for us as citizens of heaven. We have responsibilities. We are called to lift each other and those in the world up in prayer, we have the responsibility to study scripture and do other things to learn as much as we can; we have the responsibility to help those who are in need. Part of our privilege as citizens of heaven, is the responsibility to be imitators of Christ.

            It is a responsibility that we quite frankly many Christians do not take very seriously. In our modern context, when we hear the phrase enemy of the cross we are so quick to point the finger at others, putting this label of enemy of the cross on them. This far too often leads to forms of discrimination or hate. We see non-Christian groups as being a threat to us, our beliefs, and our way of life. We see the actions of a few lunatics in the name of their religion, and grossly overgeneralize a whole faith tradition as being enemies of the cross. Or we see people like Richard Dawkins, someone who is antagonistically atheist, and we label them as the enemy; that atheists are destroying our faith. If we can’t find individuals or groups to label as the enemy, then we label our society or our government as being our enemies. This became quite evident in the wake of the horrible shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.  Countless Christians cried out that it was because prayer wasn’t part of public school that someone would not have done those horrible acts.

            We must remember however that the “enemies of the cross” that Paul talks about in our scripture are not the atheists, they are not the pagans, those who worshipped false Gods, it was not even the society or government, but it was those Christians in the area who were not living out their responsibility as a citizen of  heaven, a citizen of the Kingdom of God. If we stop to reflect upon this fact and think about it in our own context, then we will start to see that other faith traditions, atheists, society, or even the government are not the enemies of the cross, that label belongs to us. When we truly reflect upon ourselves and our sin, we will find that we are our own worst enemies. If we took our responsibility as Christians seriously atheists could have the chance to truly believe in God because they experienced God through us. If we took our responsibility seriously then we could find ways to work with other faith traditions to make the world a better place rather than battle about our differences. If we took our responsibility seriously then we would realize that it is not society’s or the government’s job to teach our children about Christ.  I mean honestly that’s absurd and quite frankly lazy. It is our job as the church, as followers of Christ to teach our children. It is our job as the church to reach out to those in need, those who are sick. If we are truly citizens of heaven, then this season of Lent should be a time for us to reflect upon whether we are fulfilling our civil duties, and by that I don’t mean to our country (though that can be a good thing as well), but are we fulfilling our duties to our heavenly citizenship, our duties to our God?

            And yet,  we must remember that our responsibilities, our acts of justice, our acts of mercy, our acts of piety and self-development are done because of  faith, hope, and love. We could give up all that we have to serve others, we could study scripture daily and pray for hours at a time and yet none of these things grants us that citizenship. As I said, we do these responsibilities because of faith, hope, and love. Faith in Jesus Christ, which does not mean simply believing in him, but means putting trust in him. We serves others, we study scripture and pray because we trust Jesus to lead our lives, and trust that he can do the same for others. We do these things with hope, a hope not simply for our salvation, but a hope that by doing these things Christ can use us to transform the world and the lives of others. Finally we do these things out of love, because after all “For God so loved the world” we are able to love because God first loved us. This morning and throughout this time of Lent I invite each and everyone one of us to see what it is in our lives that causes us to be an enemy of the cross, and then to seek to change it through faith, hope, and love so that we all may become faithful citizens of heaven.

The Scar and the Tattoo

Sermon as preached 2/13/13 at Evington UMC


Scripture- Psalm 51

Tonight is an exciting night for me. It is of course Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. And while it may sound strange to say but I actually enjoy Lent. It is not that I am masochistic and enjoy practices of discipline, self- control, and self-deprivation, but I truly treasure a season that forces me to stop and think about how I can walk closer to God. I must admit though that tonight is an exciting night for me for another reason as well. Tonight is the Duke-UNC, and for anyone who knows college basketball, that’s a big deal. But as I was reading through some of the articles leading up to the game, I came across one that caught my eye, and as I read it, I realized that it had a lot to teach us about Ash Wednesday.

            The article has nothing to do with Ash Wednesday, in fact it is not even religious other than a few references here and there, but yet still it seemed to me to be really help understand the importance of the mark of the ashes on our foreheads. The article is from the New York Times about Jay Williams, he was a former Duke basketball player in the early 2000s. He was an amazing player, an incredible athlete with so much potential. He helped Duke to one of their National Championships and then was drafted by Chicago Bulls, with so much expectation, some even thought he would be the one to fill Michael Jordan’s shoes. Life was going well for Jay, fame, money, living his dream, nothing seemed as if it could go wrong. At this time he probably felt invincible, so much so that he bought a motorcycle to fill his need for speed. But one fateful night as he was speeding down the streets of Chicago, he lost control of his bike and crashed. He was rushed to the hospital and was nursed back to health, but his left leg was severely injured, and Jay would never be able to play basketball again.

            What struck me in this article is how different symbols on his body affected him in his recovery. First there was the scar. The scar was a constant reminder of his foolishness, his immaturity, it was a constant reminder of everything that he had thrown away all on that fateful night. He wouldn’t wear shorts in public because he was embarrassed and ashamed of what that scar represented. But there is another symbol, that helped him as he recovered from the crash, from the depression, even from the thoughts of suicide, and that is a tattoo that he had gotten before the crash that had praying hands with the famous quote, “to err is human, to forgive is divine.” These two symbols, the scar and the tattoo played a large role in his recovery from the accident and the following depression, and helped him pick up his life, and now become a successful ESPN commentator.

            If those two symbols could be put into one symbol, I believe it would look a lot like a cross of ashes on one’s forehead. First the ashes work in much of the same way as the scar. It is a reminder that we are not invincible, that we are in fact mortal. That our death is not just a possibility, but that it is actually inevitable; that our time on this Earth will eventually come to an end.  “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It is also a reminder of our sin. It reminds us to stop, makes us look deep within ourselves, and see the things that are separating from Christ. It makes us see that all of us truly are broken and sinful people. The ashes force us to acknowledge our faults, to see the ways in which we have distanced ourselves from God, the ways in which we have hurt or ignored others, and the ways in which we have hurt ourselves. As our psalm for this evening says, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.” The ashes on our heads remind us that this grace thing that we hear talked about all the time, the reason that it is so amazing, is because none of us deserve it. It reminds us as we begin Lent, a time of preparation for Easter, that the good news of Easter, resurrection and eternal life wouldn’t be that exciting if we didn’t desperately need it like we do; that we cannot truly appreciate resurrection until we wrestle with death.

            And that is why the ashes are also like the tattoo. They remind us that to err is human, but to forgive is divine. It reminds us that yes we are a broken, yes we all have faults, yes we all sin, and that it is something that we must acknowledge, but that the good news is that Jesus Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, and that proves God’s love for us. It reminds us that while we are in the wilderness these forty days of Lent, that there is still hope in the cross. That even ashes, in all of its grittiness, dirtiness, unpleasantness, in its representation of our own mortality, that in its representation of our faults and our sins, that this dark mark on our foreheads, is a reminder that the cross is greater than all of our sins.

            And so the ashes the we will receive this evening is a reminder of our sin and mortality, and yet also a reminder of the hope that we have through Jesus Christ. It is also however a call to action. That we do not just acknowledge our sin and move on, but that we truly strive to walk closer to God. Our scripture says, “You desire truth in the inward being;^[
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. ⁶ For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.  The sacrifice acceptable God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,¹⁹ then you will delight in right sacrifices.”

            During this time of Lent we are called to Acts of piety, those disciplines that help turn our focus back to God, that allow God to teach us wisdom, that create within us a new heart. They can be scripture readings or devotionals, prayer and meditation, or fasting. We are also called to acts of mercy, acts that allow us to show the love of Christ to others. Working at a food bank, visiting those in nursing homes or Heart Havens, donating food or goods, writing letters to our troops. In doing these things we can truly prepare for the good news of Easter. And as we go forth with that sign of the cross in ashes on our forehead, we do not go forth wearing it as a sign of pride, we do not wear it with arrogance or judgment, but we wear it to show each other and the world that we are fallen and broken people just like everyone else, but that we all have hope through the cross.

The Law and the Prophets

Sermon as preached 2/10/13 at Lambs and Evington UMC

 

Scripture Luke 9:28-36

 

As I read our passage from scripture for today, I begin to think back to high school, and in particular to my time in English class. I remember being given a novel to read such as Lord of the Flies or The Canterbury Tales, or a poem from Walt Whitman or Robert Frost and reading it, putting the book down and thinking to myself, what did I just read? Of course I had a general understanding of what was going on; a bunch of kids stranded on an island go crazy, or there are two roads and the author chose one of them, but even with this slight understanding, I still would ask what does it mean? And then I remember the teacher taking us through the poem line by line, or pulling out passages from the books and showing us that the Pig’s head in the Lord of the Flies was symbolic, or that the characters in the Canterbury Tales were references to people and events happening at the time the book was written. Finally after learning all of these things the books and the poems started to make much more sense.

            Our scripture for today is a lot like one of those classic novels or poems. At first reading you understand that Jesus and the disciples went up on a mountain and something amazing happened, but you are still left with that question, what does this all mean? We have Jesus becoming brightly lit, we have the appearance of Moses and Elijah, we have a cloud descending over the disciples, a voice in the cloud, Peter making a proclamation about tents or booths, which apparently is the wrong thing to say, and then after all of it, the disciples say nothing to anyone else about what had happened. All of this leads us to ask what is the importance of this event that we call the Transfiguration? My hope this morning is to be like my English teachers and to help us understand what is going on in this passage, what are some of the importance symbols in this scripture, what references are being made, and once we start to understand some of these things, then we will start to understand why this event is so important.

            Before I start, let me just say that I will not be able to explain every part of this passage partly because of a lack of time, and partly because there are still parts of this story that even the greatest theologians still struggle to fully understand. For this reason I will show us some of the connections that will help us to take something meaningful away from this text. 

            And so we start with the probably the two most pressing questions, why the change of appearance and dazzling white, and why the appearance of Moses and Elijah? Luckily these questions can be answered together, but as we explore we will begin to see how deep these references go. To first answer these questions we must turn to Exodus 34: 29-32 which says, “ Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.  When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.  Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.”

            This is not the first time in the Bible that someone in the Bible had gone up on a mountain and had their face changed by light, here we have in the book of Exodus the story of Moses having his face shine after talking with the Lord on Mount Sinai. When reading  the transfiguration story from the Gospel of Luke, those familiar with this story in the time of Jesus would have made the connection back to this event with Moses on Mount Sinai. If for some reason they didn’t automatically think back to this story, the fact that Moses is one of the people appearing in glory with Jesus on the mountain would have jogged their memory. But still the question remains, what does it all mean?

            First, the light, or the brightness, or the dazzling white clothes, or however you want to describe it, indicates that this moment is a moment of true revelation from God.  It was on Mount Sinai where Moses received the law from God, we are told of a great storm, a sign of the power of God, and then we are told of that Moses face shone as he descended from the mountain. The shining represents the fact that Moses was in presence of God, and not just any presence, but that he was in a special revelatory presence, one that is the closest humans can be to God while on Earth. That is why they are up on a mountain, it was a symbol of being close to heaven, close to God. So in our story when Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are shining in dazzling white, it is a sign that they are in the true presence of God, and it is also a sign that they can expect some sort of revelation.

            So what is the revelation that they experience. Well once again we have to look at the story of Moses to understand. So as we discovered, the last time someone went up on a mountain and had their face shine from encountering God was Moses. And what was the revelation that Moses received on Mount Sinai? Well, that of course is something that we are all familiar with. We have either seen it portrayed by Charlton Heston, or my favorite by Mel Brooks in History of The World Part Two. Where Moses comes down from the mountain with three stone slabs, raises them up and says “I have the 15”, and then drops one,  “10 commandments.” All kidding aside, wherever we know it from, we know that the revelation that Moses received on the mountains was the revelation of the Ten Commandments, or more accurately the law itself. Now keep that in your mind for just one second, that when we think about Moses on the Mount, we think about the Law, don’t forget it, in fact say it with Moses = Law.

            Good,  now fast forward back to our story, so we have Moses and (guide them in repeating Moses = Law) but we have another Biblical figure as well in Elijah, so let’s take a quick look at why Elijah. Elijah is one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. 1 and 2 Kings tell great stories of how he stood up to Ahab and Jezebel. He taunted the prophets Baal, a false God that was worshipped at the time. We may know the story where he exposes the prophets, seeing if their God will light the fire of an altar, and after they failed he poured water on his altar, called upon the name of God and had his altar lit in fire. But there are two other stories that he is probably most well known for, and one of them not surprisingly happens on a mountain. While Elijah is hiding in a cave he comes out to witness, fire, and winds, and earthquakes, and after it all, here experiences God in a still small voice. The other story is the story of Elijah being whisked away by a chariot of fire into glory. Because of all of these stories Elijah had come to be revered as one of the greatest prophets. In fact, we see in both the story of John the Baptist in the wilderness and the birth story of Jesus, that they are mistaken for Elijah returning. When you add this reverence for Elijah together with the story of him experiencing God on the side of mountain, and with the story of him being taken up in glory by the chariot, then is seems fitting that Elijah would be the perfect symbol for all of the prophets. So now we have Moses who symbolizes ____(the law)_________ and Elijah who symbolizes the prophets. But still what does it all mean?

            If you can recall, throughout this season of Epiphany there has been a theme of anticipation and fulfillment. We had talked about how the Jews at the had been for so long anticipating the Messiah. We talked about how the shepherds and the Magi were a sign of Jesus Christ not only being the fulfillment of that expectation, but one who would exceed all expectations. We also talked a couple of weeks ago about Jesus’ return to Nazareth reading the scroll of Isaiah and proclaiming that scripture had been fulfilled in him. This moment on the mountain, this transfiguration, once again shows the relationship between expectation and fulfillment. This year I have used the scripture in which Jesus says to love God with all of hearts, all of our minds, and all of our souls, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. In fact I just referenced it last week.  Often however we overlook what Jesus says after it. He says, “All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” All of the Law and the prophets.  You see in those times, the law and the prophets were extremely important. These were the ways in which the people knew God. We already discussed how Moses received the law through an intimate experience of God, but the law itself was revered. They were not seen as just a list of rules to follow, but they were seen as a way to be in relationship with God. God made a covenant with the people to be their God and for them to be his people, and the law was seen as a way of fulfilling that covenant. The other way in which the people experienced God  was through the prophets. God spoke through certain individuals who were normally called to either bring news of hope to a people in strife, or to preach words of repentance for a people who had broken their end of the covenant. The prophets and the law were the primary ways in which the people at the time experienced relationships with God. Not only that but the law and the prophets were the way in which God communicated how the people should live as the chosen people.

            But now on this mountain we have Jesus surrounded by Moses and Elijah, representations of the law and the prophets, of  the people’s experience with God, and in this moment the voice of God proclaims, “this is my son whom I have chosen, listen to him.” The mountain, Moses and Elijah, the dazzling white light, all of these things are signs that the disciples are in the presence of God, but in a new way. No longer simply through the law or through the prophets, but that now God can be experienced in person, because God has become flesh, Jesus Christ is Lord. The words from God are telling, “this is my son whom I have chosen, listen to him. Listen to him. Listen to him. These words are telling us we no longer have to labor through trying to figure out what the law is saying, the embodiment of the law is here in Jesus Christ. That we no longer have to look to prophets to tell us the word of God, because the word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. Now let’s not think that this means the law and the prophets became useless, but instead now you can look at Jesus to see the words of the law and the prophet lived out. After all when asked which is the greatest commandment, he didn’t say that loving God and your neighbor replaced the law, but that they encompassed the law, in the same manner the law and prophets are not wrong, but Jesus shows us what they mean lived out.. On Christ hangs all the law and the prophets. We can now experience God in a new way, because God has dwelt among us.

           

           

What is Love?

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 2/3/13

Scripture 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Our scripture for today is probably familiar to most of us. We can  probably quote from memory different parts of, “Love is patient, love is kind.” Or “Faith, Hope, and Love abide, the three, and the greatest of these is Love.” In fact this scripture is such a popular scripture about love that I would guess that some of you here used it in your wedding. Even the movie Wedding Crashers plays on the popularity of this passage.  In the movie the two main characters well they crash weddings, and in one scene they make bets about which scripture is going to be read, and one of the bets was this passage from first Corinthians. It’s words about love are so beautiful, so deep, so inspiring, that it seems natural to have it at weddings. But what if I told you that the original intent of the text was not for marriage but was instead intended for a struggling church; and what if I told you that the words about love were not originally intended to be about two people in a romantic relationship, but rather the love shown to each other within that church? Well, its true, while these words are definitely fitting for the bond of marriage, Paul wrote these words as an attempt to calm disagreements happening in the church in Corinth.

            At that time, the church in Corinth had started to grow, and as it grew many different leaders started to emerge in the church. Some of the leaders had the gift of prophesy, some were able to speak in tongues while still there were others who were great teachers. While at first these many gifts seems like a blessing for the church, the diversity of these gifts started to cause a division with the church. Those who spoke in tongues thought that their gift was the most important and believed they were the clear leaders of the church, while those who were teachers and had other gifts all felt the same about their own gift.  As I said, this created a division in the church because each person believed that they knew what was best for the church. In the previous chapter Paul talks about the importance for the unity of the church, saying that all are members of the one body, each playing an important and significant role. From there he moves onto his words in this chapter, and focuses on the importance of love.   

            Paul doesn’t start by talking about what love is, but instead talks about the futility of Christian life without love. He says, “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” Paul pretty much tells the people of Corinth that all of their spiritual gifts are useless if they do not have love. On the surface this seems like a no brainer, and yet how often do we find ourselves needing to be reminded of this simple fact. So often we ask questions like what do I have to do to get into heaven, or what makes me a good Christian? Our answers are usually that we must follow the precepts and commandments of the Bible, or that to be a good Christian we must always be in service, while others would argue that we must use the gifts that God has given us for ministry. None of these answers are actually wrong, but they are missing something. If I speak in the tongues of mortals but do not have love I am a noisy gong, if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing, If I give away all my possessions but do not have love, I gain nothing, All of these actions seem to be great indicators  of Christian life, but without love they are useless. After all when Jesus was asked by the Sadducees and Pharisees about what the greatest command was, or in other words the most important aspect of the religion, Jesus replied with, “Love your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus’ response was love.

            The reason love is so important is because we are a broken a flawed people. We’re not perfect, and we certainly don’t perfectly understand God or the ways in which God works in the world and in the church. And yet because of our brokeness, our pride, I desire for recognition or acknowledgment, or desire to feel important, we so often act as if we have all the answers. Just like the people of Corinth who each thought their gift was the most important for the church, we far too often act as though we have all of the answers. Paul addresses then when he says, “For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” Paul acknowledges our faults and our limitations, he tell us that when we think we have all of the answers we only have part of it, as if we were standing in front of a dimly lit mirror able to possible see the outline of the object that stood before us, but not able to fully see. Paul shows us that if we were to simply act upon our faith, or to simply act upon our hope that we have in Christ, then we can do more harm than good. You could have all of the faith in the world but without love you could be doing more harm than good. You could have the greatest gifts for ministry, or you could be walking the straightest line, but without love all of that would be useless. We do not see the full image in the mirror, we only can see in part, and that is why love is so important. Love is the remedy. As 1 John says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” We act in love because love comes from God. When we act in faith, when we try and use our gifts, when we go into the world in service, we do it with love so that even we fail, even when our faults are made visible, you are still showing God to others, because you are showing love.

            All of this leads to one final question,  what is love? If we are supposed to live in love what does that mean?  I could try to explain it the best of my abilities but all of it would fall short of the answer, and so I will simply leave you with the beautiful explanation that Paul gives, “ Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends”

Does it Make a Sound?

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 1/27/13

Scripture- Luke 4:14-21

Now I know that the Christmas Season has passed and we are now on to the season after Epiphany, but as I read the scripture for today I cannot help but to think about one of my favorite childhood Christmas books; The Polar Express. For those who have not read the book,  it is about a young boy on Christmas Eve who desperately wants to believe in Santa Claus, but finds himself in a world of doubt. Until that night after waking from his sleep, he hears a train outside. The train is called the Polar Express, and where else would it be going, but to the North Pole to see Santa Claus. The boy jumps onboard and the excitement of the story ensues. What reminds me of this Scripture is the symbolism of the small silver bell in the Polar Express. During the story, the boy finds two companions who accompany him on the trip. At one point they claim that they hear the sleigh bells from Santa’s sleigh but the main character is unable to hear it.  As Santa’s sleigh passes over the children one of the silver bells falls off, the kids ring the bell but once again the main character cannot it. He is told that you have to believe to hear it. Eventually, the boy comes to believe in the spirit of Christmas and can finally hear the bell. When Santa asks the boy what he wants for Christmas, boy simply asks to keep the sleigh bell; his wish is granted and he put the bell in his pocket, only later to find out that there was a hole in his pocket, and that he had lost the bell. The next morning, Christmas morning, the boy is back home and after all of the presents under the tree had been opened, they find one more small present. He opens it up to find that silver bell, and as he rings it he and his sister bask in the beauty of the sound, while the parents comment that it must be broken, because they cannot hear it. The books ends with the narrator telling us that as his friends got older they stopped being able to hear the bell, that even his sister stopped being able to hear it, but that for him, he could always hear its beautiful music. I love the imagery in this book between faith and being able to hear the beauty of a small bell. It is a sound that so many people had heard once in their lives, but then had lost the ability to hear its beauty; they had lost their belief that something transformative, something amazing could really happen.

            This story reminds me so much of what is happening in our scripture for today, though it may take a little while for it to become clear why. Our scripture starts out with Jesus returning to his home in Nazareth, surrounded by all the people who knew him and watched him grow up. They had probably worked with Joseph, the have probably visited with Mary. In other words, it was a community that knew who Jesus was, and knew his family. Now in the surrounding areas of Galilee there had been a lot of rumors about Jesus, people were starting to talk about him, people were even starting to worship him. I’m sure that some of these rumors had gotten back to the people of Nazareth, and I’m sure since they knew Jesus as a child, that they were probably a little skeptical about Jesus’ return. With that being said, as they gathered in the synagogue on the Sabbath, it seems as though things were pretty normal. They gather to hear scripture, and Jesus is handed the scroll to read for the people. Luke goes out of his way to tell us that this was the custom, which tells us that nothing really unusual was going on, That by all accounts this day was just like any other Sabbath day.

            Now let me stop here to explain the custom a little as we go through the story, so that we might be able to better understand what is happening. In a service like this, what would normally happen is that part of the Torah was read and after it was read then there would be a lesson on the scripture.  Kind of like a mix between a sermon and a Bible study. In those times the did not have books in the same way that we do.  There are things called codexes that were out around the time of Jesus, which would flip in the same way that our books do, but they were made out of papyrus or some other material, and in general were tedious to make, making them quite expensive. Most people in those times still had to use scrolls which were more accessible and cheaper. I mention this because we must realize that with a scroll, you simply cannot flip between books of the Bible. That usually, you would read through the different books, and would roll the scroll to where you stopped and the next person would continue from that point. This puts more meaning into our story because Jesus doesn’t really get to choose his text, Isaiah is given to him. Jesus begins to unroll the words of Isaiah until he finds these words, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”   Then what would be custom for the service would be for the reader to sit down and either them or some other leader of the synagogue would sit and teach about the scripture.

            So we have all of this happening in our Scripture. Jesus in handed the scroll of Isaiah, he gets up, finds this particular spot, reads it and sits down to begin to teach. Nothing is out of the ordinary, nothing so far would cause any alarm, until Jesus sits down and says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”  Wait, what?! This son of  Mary and Joseph just told us that scripture has been fulfilled in our hearing it. This kid that we knew ever since he was little, is now telling us the he is the fulfillment of scripture. He is telling us that the spirit of the Lord is upon him, that he has been anointed to proclaim good news to the poor. That he has been sent to free prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free. He dares to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.  The people of Nazareth get angry because they realize the Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah that they had been hearing about and learning about, and studying about their whole life. In their minds there is no way that Jesus can be the Messiah.

            But why?  When this scripture is preached about, often preachers point towards the fact that they knew Jesus, and that you simply cannot go back home. This is not an incorrect understanding of the passage, in fact later parts of the passage make this point explicit, but I wonder, what if it Jesus wasn’t from their hometown. What if Jesus was just a stranger, a guest speaker? I feel as though there would still be outrage and disgust and him making the claim that he is fulfilling scripture. I can imagine that these Jews were faithful Jews. They had probably all followed the laws of Judaism, they were after all observing the Sabbath day. I can imagine that they knew scripture pretty well; while most probably could not read, I’m sure that they had heard the scripture many times in their lives, it had been taught to them and explained for them by the teachers of the synagogue. I’m sure they even revered the scripture and treated it respect. And yet for all of this, there seems as though one thing is missing. It seems as though they did not believe that any of the beautiful stories and prophesies in the scripture could actually happen.  If for centuries they had been reading, and teaching about a Messiah who would come to set at liberty those who were oppressed, who would give sight to the blind, who would proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, then why are they so angry when it actually happens? Jesus comes to tell them that the Messiah has come, and yet their first response is to try and kill him. Could it be that they were angry because they didn’t actually believe that it could happen? That they wanted to kill Jesus because there is no way that someone could really be the Messiah that was prophesied about. Was there such an uproar when Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” because they didn’t truly believe that scripture could truly be fulfilled? Did they stop hearing that beautiful silver bell?

            Before we start to pile on the Jewish people of Nazareth, let us turn and look at ourselves. Do we truly believe in the fulfillment of scripture? When we hear scripture read in worship, when we hear it preached on, when we read the psalms together, when we study the word in Bible studies or by ourselves at home, do we truly believe that it means something? Do we hear and think, Wow those are beautiful words, or that teaches a good lesson. Do we simply use scripture as a checklist of morals that we need to follow, or do we truly believe that the words that we hear and study mean something. Do we truly believe in a savior who is the fulfillment of scripture? Do we truly believe in a Christ who has declared the year of the Lord’s favor? A Christ who came to heal the blind, Christ who came to set at liberty the oppressed, a Christ who came to set the prisoners free, a Christ who came to preach the good news to the poor?! Do we truly believe that these words, that our savior can transform the world around us?

            Then why do so often act as if there is no transformative power in the sacred words that we hear? Why do we listen to all of the pessimism in the world around and let that tell us that there is no hope, when we know that there is hope in Christ, hope in a savior who is the fulfillment of scripture? And if we are truly followers of Christ and truly believe that Christ has come to heal the sick, set the oppressed free, preach good news to the poor, then why do we so often sit back and watch sadness in the world and throw up our hands and say that there is nothing that we can do?

            If we truly believe in a Christ who is the fulfillment of these scripture, then we truly believe that Christ can work through us to transform the world. Our savior gives us hope. He gives us hope that all of the things hoped for in Isaiah are fulfilled in him. He gives us hope for eternal life, but he also gives us hope of new creation here on Earth. A hope that we can make a difference with the power of the Holy Spirit. A hope that the world is not destined for doom and destruction, but rather a hope that we may all be made new through Christ. That we may be restored from our brokenness to perfection in love. If we truly believe that scripture is fulfilled in Christ, then all of this is not some fairy tale, it’s not some utopian idea, it’s not just wishful thinking, but it is a true hope that we are able to have in our savior Jesus Christ; and not a hope like I hope to win the lottery, but a hope as in an expectation, a goal worth living and striving towards.  When we truly believe in this reality, then scripture becomes like that silver sleigh bell, a beautiful sound that reminds us of the heart and Spirit of Christianity. Just the pure sound of the words brings joy into our lives, challenges us and gives us hope. So as close this morning I have one question for you, when you hear these words of fulfillment and hope, are they like the silver bell to your ears, does it make a sound? If you answered yes then treasure that sound and never let the beauty fade. If you answered no, don’t despair; instead be like the boy in the Polar Express, search for that sound, long for it, if you earnestly seek after it, one day you will hear the beautiful ringing. Today scripture is fulfilled in your hearing it. Does it make a sound?

 

The Best is Yet to Come

Sermon as Preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 1/20/13

Scripture John 2:1-11

 

Today’s scripture is an account of what has possibly become one of the most well know and miracles of Jesus. If you were to go around and just ask people on the street to name a miracle that Jesus performed what would they say? I’m sure some would mention a healing, but it would probably not be a specific instance, people might mention the fact that he walked on water, but I bet you that one of the most common responses would be that Jesus turned water into wine. Even most non-Christians would know about this miracle. There are references made to it in countless stories, movies, television shows, It almost has even become routine to see water a party and joke about turning it into wine. Our society knows this miracle pretty well, but for those in attendance at that wedding, and for all who would come to hear about it, this would be a moment of revelation.

            Up to this point this point talk about Jesus had mostly been all anticipation. We have the prophets foretelling his coming, the angel coming to Joseph and Mary declaring that Jesus was the Messiah. The shepherds and wise men came from all over the Earth and declared the same to be true. John the Baptist even began preaching telling the world that the Messiah, the promised one was coming. Then we have the baptism of Jesus, the heavens opened and the voice of God was heard declaring that “this is my son with whom I am well pleased.” Jesus had even began to gather some of his disciples, who believed what was said about Jesus was true, and decided to follow him. Still, up to this point all we have had so far is anticipation. Jesus is now around thirty years old, For thirty years, people have been hearing about how this man was the Son of God, this man was the savior. They had heard probably heard him speak and interacted with him, and possibly thought to themselves something is different about this man, but still thirty years have passed and Jesus has not done anything to prove that he is truly is the Messiah. 30 years of waiting, and still no toppling of the Empire, no setting free those who are oppressed, not even a sign that this man is any different from the rest of us; that is until Mary, Jesus and his disciples are invited to a wedding. At first this seems like nothing special, Jesus is not the center of the attention that of  course would be the bride and the groom. Jesus is simply a guest, a wallflower. The wedding seems to have gone well, everyone is celebrating with a party, they are having wine, and once again nothing special is happening. Until, they start to run out of wine. Mary comes up to Jesus and tells, they are running out of wine you’ve got to do something. Mary knows what Jesus is capable of, she did after all raise him, but Jesus indicates that the timing is not right. He says, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." Jesus pretty much says so what, you know what I can do, I know what I can do, but the rest of the world does not, This is not the time for me to reveal that. Or how it probably sounded to Mary, “Mom, Not now, I don’t wanna.”

            But of course Mom always wins, and so Jesus begins to perform his first miracle. He tells the servants to gather the water jars and fill them full of water, he then tells them to draw some of it out and to take it to the chief steward. Notice that the scripture doesn’t simply tell us that Jesus turned water into wine, but rather lets us join in on the anticipation. What is going to happen to the water? What is the chief steward going to say? What did he do? It would not be uncommon in those days if you were running out of wine to water it down to make it last longer. Maybe this is what Jesus did. Will the steward like it? But then we get the steward’s response, “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."  You have kept the good wine until now. That means that Jesus must have actually turned the water into wine! John writes the story in such a way so that we like those present at the wedding make the revelation for ourselves. This man Jesus, has done something incredible, he has turned water into wine. Not only has he turned water into wine, but the wine that he created is even better than the wine that they started out with in the first place! You see, it would be quite normal to deceive the guests at the wedding, serving the good wine first, waiting for them to get drunk, and then serving bad wine so that they at that point could not tell the difference. But the steward, the responsible one, the caterer or host of the party or whatever analogy you would like to use would know better, and yet he is even astonished that this new wine is even better than the original. 

            This is it, the first sign of Jesus Christ. Jesus has done something to make people take notice. This man is not just any ordinary man. This man just turned water into wine. All of the anticipation, all of the waiting, all of the prophecy, might just be true, because Jesus has just made the impossible, possible., I’m sure people were going crazy when they figured out what had happened. If this was in or day and age, it people would be texting, tweeting, facebooking, recording it on their iphone and putting it up on youtube, the media would have already come and interviewed people, debates would have been held on talk shows, it would be a madhouse, and I’m sure in its own way at that time, it was. And yet in the midst of that was going on Jesus makes it clear that his hour has not yet come. His hour has not yet come, how is that possible if he just revealed his power at this wedding?  To answer this question we must once again look at the response of the chief steward.

            He says, “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." John is very clever author. All throughout his Gospel he words and phrases that have a double meaning. This is a perfect example of one of those double meanings. The first meaning is of course the literal meaning, that Jesus has saved the good wine for last, but at the same time this is also talking about this sign of Jesus. That this is but the first sign, that like the original wine it is good, in fact it is better than good, it is what was expected to be the best, and yet the best is yet to come. There is so much more ahead. 

            We have all experienced the opposite of this. You’ve seen commercials for a new movie that is coming out and the commercials look so good, the movie looks so funny, and then you go to see it and come to find out that the only funny parts of the movie, was what was shown in the previews, It becomes such a disappointment.  This is so common in our culture, we always try to present our best. We drive fancy cars, or have big houses, When guests come over we put out our best china and silverware. If we don’t have money than we flaunt our best attribute; if we’re funny we tell jokes, if we’re smart we show it off, we do whatever we can to portray ourselves as best as we can, but unfortunately that’s all we have. If people dig deeper, expect something else, we’ve already displayed the best we have.

            And yet the opposite is true with Jesus. This miracle of turning water into wine, is but a teaser for what is to come. It’s  like going to a firework show and they shoot of a firework that’s really big, or really loud, or beautiful, or it does something cool like swerves around the sky, or crackles like rice crispies, or my favorite droops like a weeping willow tree. We’re so impressed by these initial fireworks but then the show goes on and more a more fireworks are fired, the do more cool things, they are bigger and prettier, and they all lead up to the grand finale in which the sky is fully of fireworks, you can’t even hear yourself think, and you are simply stunned and amazed by what you have seen. This miracle of turning water into wine is like the first firework. It’s so amazing and beautiful, but compared to what is about to happen, it pales in comparison. My hour has not yet come. This is the first sign of Jesus Christ.

            Through this miracle, Jesus has given the world a glimpse of what is about to come, a foretaste of his glory, and Jesus is so right, that this is not his hour. It is amazing that he turned water into wine, but it was only a sign. What did it do?  It kept a wedding celebration from ending early. In this passage Jesus seems so disinterested in the plea of his mother. What concern is that to you and me, My hour has not yet come?  It even seems as if Jesus is being a little rude, Mary knows what he can do and simply asks for him to help out the celebration. But compared to what is to come, he’s right that this isn’t his hour. That changing water to wine is for the most part a menial and meaningless task.

            Jesus probably seems so disinterested in the request from his mother, because he knows that turning water into wine is not the reason he has come to Earth. This miracle, though his first is, far from his most important. After all he would go one give sight to the blind, allow the lame to walk, cast demons out of people, calm storms that threaten the lives of his followers, turn a small amount of fish and bread into enough to feed a multitude, he would raise a man from the dead, and most importantly he himself would be resurrected,  defeating our slavery to sin and death. Water being turned into wine, simply was not at the top of his list. And yet this sign is an extremely important sign because it was his first. I was the first time that anyone had witnessed his power. It is the first time that he had shown a glimpse of the power the so many people had been anticipating. This miracle would reveal for the first time that Jesus is truly the son of God. What really is so amazing about this miracle is that it points towards the wonderful works that still lie ahead. As the chief steward indicated, Jesus saved the best for last, but as we have noted that statement refers to much more than wine. Because what was it that Jesus was saving for last? It was of course his death, resurrection and ascension. The true miracle is that Jesus, both fully human and fully divine, gave himself up for us on a cross for the forgiveness of sins. That he rose on the third day showing that death no longer has a hold on humanity, That though we die, there is now eternal life. And after this Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the father. This shows us that Christ still is and always is in control. All of this to give us the hope of eternal life. The freedom from sin. Through the miracles we are able to truly know God love for us, and knowing all of this, remembering all of these miracles and yet seeing a world that is sad and broken, we may realize that maybe, just maybe, the hope that we have in Christ making all things new, the hope that we have in a new heaven and a new earth, the hope that we have in a savior whose most mundane act is the miracle of turning water into wine,  is telling us that the best is still  to come.