New Wine
January 19, 2025
Considering the hopeful news of a cease-fire in the Middle East that’s supposed to happen today, we have to acknowledge that Christianity has played a significant hand in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Certainly, it was Christian guilt on the part of western nations who were silent at the atrocities of the holocaust and then refuse to give refuge to Jews fleeing persecution, that agree to the creating of the state on Israel. And in a typical western Christian way we recreated Israel without any consultation or compensation for those who had lived there for about 2000 years. We decided for them. It was Christian nations that involved themselves in Crusades and who create opened bigoted laws forbidding Jewish land ownership and in many ways citizenship. Even the burnings of Jewish people through the centuries as heretics. The truth is that much of that antisemitism lived out over 2000 years was based on the gospels, specifically the gospel of John.
John, or I should say Johns, because most scholars agree there were at least three distinct authors of the gospel of John, is writing to a largely non-Jewish audience. As well, by this time, the followers of Jesus who were Jewish had been forced to choose between saying a confession that excluded a belief in Jesus so that they could remain within the Jewish congregations. Or confess Jesus as Lord and be excluded from the community of the synagogue. So, when we read John, we cannot ignore the themes that arise from a breakdown or divorce within the family of God. These themes run as an undercurrent in John’s writings.
The first miracle that Jesus performs, the changing of water into wine at Cana has these undercurrents in it. On the surface the story is about a God of celebration. A God who wants the people, when they gather, to be filled with joy. Scripturally wine and joy are synonymous. God wants faith to be filled with joy and not just average joy but the best and finest of joy. And I think that there is something to be said for that interpretation after all when we gather as community and worship, it ought to be celebratory. There is time for lament, but generally speaking when the community gathers together we should feed each other emotionally and spiritually with the best that we have to offer in our lives. So that when people come into the church, they should expect to be filled with joy. That somehow the everyday water of life is transformed into the good wine of spirituality and friendship.
The theologian Rev. Dr. Linda McKinnish Bridges points out another layer to this gospel story. The six large jugs that were filled at Jesus’s command with water were not there by accident. These very same jugs had been filled with water so that all the guests could ritually purify themselves before the celebration. So, there is a tying of these jugs of water to the ancient traditions of Judaism. Now Jesus comes along to the celebration. His mother tells him that the people are thirsty because the wine has run out. In other words, the ritual of the Jewish faith of the day has left them empty. The wine or joy of their ‘faith’ has run out. Sounds pretty anti- Semitic. So, Jesus has those same jars of water refilled, but instead of engaging in this act of purifying, Jesus transforms the ritual of purification into a sign of God’s abundant joy. Instead of using wash to clean the outside Jesus proclaims this can nourish the inside. Jesus offers a new way to experience God. Instead of the empty ritual Jesus offers joy and joy abundant. The text even says that it was here that they saw the glory of God. The writer of John isn’t saying that Judaism is bad, but it just leaves the believers thirsty. John proclaims that only Jesus can transform this ancient faith into something new and life-giving. Its why we call the New Testament new and the Old Testament old.
Now certainly all the people of the Jewish faith who have been sustained by that faith for over 2000 years of prejudice and harm would disagree with John. For example, I can’t image the depth of faith it must have taken not to hide one’s faith within Nazi Germany. And secondly so many Christian churches I have visited over my career have slipped into empty ritual. Ritual that leaves people hungry and thirsty for a real spiritual experience. The fact that mainline churches have so few younger people is partly due to a rise in secularism but also younger people find an emptiness and a lifelessness in our rituals that don’t engage their hearts enough to have them come back to the table for more. So if John’s words are true then it is Christianity today that needs to be transformed.
This is hard for us who have found comfort in the old rituals to hear this. But if the glory of God is not seen or felt but the community at large then once again we need to say to Jesus that perhaps for many, the wine has run out. And once again must heed the voice of Mary that says to we the servants, “Do whatever he, Jesus, asks us to do.” It doesn’t mean breaking those ritual stone jugs, it means transforming what those jugs hold. Yes to music but there has to be new music as well. Yes to pray but it has to mean something to you and not just me. Yes to sermons but the format probably has to change. What is the difference between preaching and a podcast? Young people today listen to podcasts, sermons not so much. In fact, podcast are how many young people get there information and perspectives on the world. And yes to gathering for worship but fellowship isn’t just for the half hour after, fellowship has to be part of the worship. Then maybe we will say I thought the wine we had before was good but now I see God has saved the best for last. Amen