|
| |
“One and the Same Spirit”
Psalm 36:5-10; John 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Race Relations; Partnership in Mission
January 14, 2007
It never ceases to amaze me how we
take for granted our certain routines and rituals in life. The times and
activities where we function in the day and the night; the morning paper we need
or cup of coffee that ‘starts the day.’ Some of us have to view the evening news
or we can’t retire our bodies for rest at night! I know I’m in this particular
group that desires to be told the daily happenings, the weather patterns, on
sports, but knowing that all may change before I put my head to the pillow! Have
you ever thought about it? What if we didn’t have those routines?.
We also know that others are
challenged by every day being different; that’s where they thrive in their life.
It seems that our variety of activities, our routines and rituals, are activated
by the same God through one and the same Spirit. (I Cor. 12:6). Ultimately, each
of us is given evidence of the Holy Spirit for our own common good; in the
revelation, or the activation, of the grace and love of our God that made us
this way.
Our texts today are ritualistic;
they are revealing in the power and love of Christ in that they tell us about
celebrations that we can identify ourselves with; in our Gospel, a wedding, and
to the Corinthians where Paul is substantiating them, their bodies, as the
temple of the Holy Spirit (6:19) within them and received from God. These texts
are telling us that whenever God is present, as Christ was invited to a wedding,
or in our own lives of ritual, there is reason to believe the ordinary becomes
the extraordinary, and we can find joy in the beauty of the Lord. We can
experience seeing Christ in the face of others; in the crowd so to speak.
These Sundays after Epiphany we
are experiencing God’s presence. Last Sunday we celebrated the baptism of Jesus
Christ by the Holy Spirit; this Sunday we celebrate the Epiphany miracle at
Cana, where Jesus is evident in all of his glory. Mostly it’s about the
revelation of Christ; the disciples believing in Christ. Professor and author
Raymond Brown, in his recent book on the Gospel of John, tells us that this
first miracle story of Jesus is a ‘bridge scene’ for it finishes Jesus’
revelation ministry and begins his ministry where those in Palestine are
responding to his ministry (R. Brown, An
Introduction to the Gospel of John, 2003, p. 301). It is a kind of
seeing is believing, in today’s world, as we celebrate the good news of Christ
in our own lives, Paul tells us, in the varieties of gifts, services, and
activities of the one and same Spirit, the same God.
Early Christian life revolved
around festivals, shared meals, as well as sharing in worship. All of the gospel
writers give us a plethora of stories of the rituals of eating together, as they
were written decades after Jesus’ last meal, the Last Supper with his disciples;
Jesus’ own hospitality shaped the early church by his coming from and going to
meals with others. Importantly, in John’s Gospel reading, the scene indicates
celebration and joy where Jesus was the means of God’s message of salvation.
Eating, perhaps bread/water or wine, was ‘shorthand’ for Jesus presence in
sharing, whether it was with Pharisees, tax collectors, feeding the 5,000, or
celebrating at Cana.
Jesus’ presence at the wedding is
low-key; in fact, Jesus was not the host at this gala affair, but was in
attendance as a guest. Yet Jesus performed this first sign in Cana of Galilee,
revealing his glory, changing precious water to wine, and his disciples believed
in him. Symbols and signs are aplenty in this miracle story; water, as we know
was/is not only sustenance for life, animal or human, but theologically and
ritually water was/is for cleansing. Most importantly, water represented the
spirit of God, very similar to baptism. The symbolism for water in the Gospel of
John is understandably complex as it represents the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, Jesus as the living water of life. In our own married life, Christ is
represented as the living, ever flowing water of life to us, to each other ‘in
sickness and in health.’
Christians think of miracles, it
seems then and now, as extraordinary wonders, powers, and signs for us to hold
dearly; they show evidence of divine power, and denote signs from the one God.
Years ago, living in Switzerland and traveling to Cairo, Egypt with friends, I
remember visiting the pyramids and realizing their detail and beauty of being
truly one of the seven wonders of the world! Ironically, all seven signs in our
Gospel are in reference to water, perhaps because John’s approach is expressing
the Incarnate Jesus as God’s Word and work in the world.
Jesus’ first miracle includes all
that is needed for wonders to take place. People in attendance including
himself, the disciples, his mother, a woman of Spirit and mentioned three times
here but never by name, the chief steward, and servants; the place in Cana in
Galilee, and objects, such as full stone water jars for the ‘rites of
purification’ or the cleansing at mealtime. Jesus and his mother as his most
faithful disciple in her initiating, ‘do whatever he tells you’, are showing the
power of God as God in daily places and events. In Cana, Jesus was a
guest, a member of the crowd. This is a story of God’s work of revelation in
Christ in grace and love.
In Paul’s letter to the
Corinthians, guess what? The ritual is about eating, and Paul has told them of
the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper by saying, “...my brothers and sisters, when
you come together to eat, wait for one another.” We know that many Corinthians
were pagans; non-believing in God’s loving ways and they were disillusioned,
angry with each other, just as we are today, and some thought they had status
from another, even at mealtime. Paul is asking them to believe in the living
God; in our receiving freely God’s grace in the variety of gifts, services and
activities, we receive from the one and the same Lord, the same God, and the
same Spirit.
Importantly, each of these gifts,
services, and activities are evidenced (manifested) by the Spirit for the common
good; for us to live in unity with one another. Think of these intangibles in
our married life; wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy,
discernment of spirits, and various kinds and interpretations of tongues, all
activated by the same Spirit, just as God chooses. Each gift in different
amounts or doses, Paul says, but all are given from the same Spirit. For these
Corinthians theologically, the Spirit is characterized by love, a love that can
unite them while trying to preserve their differences. A spirit of love and not
hatred, or broken-ness or ruins, but new beginnings.
In the hospitality and sharing of
Jesus in Cana, in the receiving of our individual gifts of God from one and the
same Spirit, we receive the good news of Christ in how to live our routine
lives. Jesus’ life and teachings and death can be a model for our actions, our
rituals of life. We can ask ourselves, are we open to being transformed by the
power of God in being changed by receiving Christ in the Spirit into our lives,
as the gift of new life? In this renewal season, in the understanding of wonder,
of miracles in our lives, through Christ’ miracles, are we accepting of the
ordinary in becoming the extraordinary? Let us have hope in the same Spirit of
what is to come as life-giving disciplines by God as becoming life-sustaining
disciplines through God.
Thanks be to
God. AMEN.
|
