Saint George's Anglican Church

                                                                             Epiphany 2, 2010

                                                          « Let love be without dissimulation. »

                                                                              (Romans 12.9)

                               In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

In the Gospel today the Lord Jesus performs His first miracle. At a wedding in Cana of Galilee, He changed six stone pots with 20 or 30 gallons of water apiece into wine. Now that was a lot of water! We are told that St. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also at this wedding, and she came to Him and said, “They have no wine”. It’s hard to say, but it would seem that St. Mary did not want the couple and family hosting the reception to become embarrassed. How would any of us feel, as hosts and hostesses, if we ran out of food or drink and our guests went home hungry or thirsty?

Well, Jesus directed the servants to refill the stone pots with water. (Earlier, at the beginning of the feast, these had been used as the water supply so all the guests could wash their hands.)  After they were filled, He told the servants to ladle some of the water out and take it to the governor of the feast. Miraculously, by the time it reached him, the water had been changed – it was now wine, an exceptional wine,  even better than what had been served at the beginning of the feast.  

Amazingly, without touching the water pots; without breathing into them; without making the sign of the Cross over them, Jesus changed the water into wine – and the couple was saved from embarrassment. So, was this the sole reason for our Lord’s first miracle – to save embarrassment? Or was it because Jesus loved a party as much as anybody and that’s why He did it?...The true answer comes at the end of the Gospel. St. John wrote, “This beginning of signs (i.e. this first miracle) did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on Him.” Why this miracle? So that He could show His glory; that is, the magnificent perfection of His Father’s Wisdom and Power; and, in doing so, strengthen the faith of His disciples.

Perhaps we could pause for a minute on this point of Jesus “manifesting forth His glory”. Some may understand this word ‘manifesting’ in terms of ‘showing’ or ‘demonstrating’, or even in terms of ‘shining’. Through this first miracle, He let God’s glory shine. All right, now here is the next thing: inasmuch as Jesus let His glory shine, He also wants to have His glory shine through us. Think of yourself, then, as His instrument –an instrument of His Mercy; an instrument of His Light and Love; an instrument of His Peace. 

However, before that can happen, we need to be changed – just as Jesus changed the water into wine. Here is an analogy: a few years ago, while cleaning out the shed, we found an old, ivory-colored, pottery jar – a good-sized piece with a wide brim. But, it was filthy, and there was glue or contact cement (or something like it) covering the bottom inside. Well, we hated to throw it away, so we tried different cleaners, and we soaked it, and we scrubbed and we scraped; and, eventually, whatever it was peeled out and the inside was left spotless – clean as a whistle!  Now, of course, that jar sits proudly and usefully in the kitchen as the holder for wooden spoons, serving spoons and spatulas. Do you see the point? That jar needed to be found and thoroughly cleansed before it could be a useful vessel. Actually, that was St. Paul’s point in last week’s Epistle: we, too, need to be changed. In his words:

                  “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies

                  a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

                   And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing

                  of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect

                     will of God.” (Romans 12. 1-2)

“By the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God…and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed…”

Interestingly, this week’s Epistle picks right up where last week’s left off. St. Paul gives us a picture of how that transformed person acts.  He speaks about how we should use the gifts God has given us to serve others and to build up the Church. He reminds us to be humble and kind-hearted. In his words:

                      “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour

                         preferring one another …distributing to the necessity of saints…Bless

                          them which persecute you; bless and curse not.”

Perhaps all of this can be summed up in five words: St. Paul said, “Let love be without dissimulation”. That is, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Let it be genuine. Let your words be consistent with your actions.”

Well, that brings us to the last part of this sermon, and to the question, ‘How?’ ‘How can we become like this? How can we have our hearts and minds changed so that we really want the best for others? So that we are genuine in our love and concern? So that we are content with what we have? How does that transformation come?’

The short answer is, ‘Only with God’s help’. Do you remember the jar we found in our shed? Well, it is   similar for us. Before there can be a real change in us, we need to be found. And that is exactly what God has done for us through His Son. The parable of the Lost Sheep explains it all. Seeing us as His lost sheep, God came to save us. He came in the Person of His Son and paid the price of freedom for us – the debt we owed for our sins. Jesus took the sins of the whole world upon Himself at the Cross and became our Substitute. He died and rose again in order to break the power which sin and death and the devil held over us.

Then, the Lord made a way for us to receive the benefits of His Sacrifice. In Baptism, He applies the precious Blood of Christ to our sin-stained souls and washes us. Just like the pottery jar was cleansed, so the Lord consecrates us in the mystical washing away of sin in Baptism. This, of course, brings about a real change in the person. Whereas before they were under the power of sin (merely water), now they are made a new creature in Christ (the rich, glorious wine). Whereas previously they were in absolute darkness, spiritually; now they live in the radiant and eternal Light of Christ.

Once this work of regeneration has been done in Baptism, the Lord does not leave us. He continues to change us, little by little – always wanting our co-operation. Through His Spirit, He stands knocking at the door of our hearts seeking to lead us in the way of His holiness and charity – seeking to make us more and more like Christ. And yet, as we will all confess, in the busyness of life, we get extremely preoccupied with other things. Days go by and we have not prayed; weeks, and sometimes months go by, and we have not been to Church; and years go by without us opening the Bible.  Slowly, the fire of the Holy Spirit settles and grows cold in us, and we slip into a spiritual numbness. The work of transformation grinds to a halt, and, in fact, we return to our old selfish ways.  Love, once a budding rose, wilts and loses its petals. It bears only the thorns of dissimulation and hypocrisy.

The Lord Who consecrated us, and began a good work in us through Christ, watches all of this with sadness. His knocking has been ignored, and yet He yearns to have us with Himself. He wants to save us and change us into something useful and beautiful. But how?  Someone once likened our situation to a man who fell asleep in a canoe. Sound asleep, his canoe floated downriver towards a great waterfall. People on the shore hollered for him to wake up and paddle out of the current – but to no avail. Finally, for the man’s own good, Someone threw a rock that hit him in the arm. The man awoke with a start – mad as a hatter at first – until he realized the serious danger he was in. Quickly, he turned and changed his course and paddled to safety.

In a certain way, the disaster in Port au Prince is like the rock thrown at the man in the canoe. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake was not a random event; nor was it like a lightning bolt of punishment from Heaven for the people of Haiti. It was a wake-up call to the whole world from the Lord Who loves us and desires to unite us all to Himself. It is as though He is saying, ‘Turn from your selfishness; repent from your pride; consider the limits of material comforts; remember the souls of your children’.  And His credibility in permitting such suffering is found in the agony of Christ on the Cross. Why did God permit His only-begotten Son to suffer and die? For us and for our salvation. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus turned water into wine. Still, He desires that miracle to be done in us. From His Sacred Heart of Mercy He has called out to the world this past week through the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  Amazingly, in one fell swoop, the Lord God Almighty: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, summoned every nation and every person under Heaven to Himself. Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist – He has our complete and undivided attention. And what is His Message? Repent and be transformed . 

“Weep with them that weep,” wrote St. Paul. “Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.” Where is God in the midst of this great disaster? He is with the sobbing mother in Port au Prince. He is with the injured orphans and the beleaguered doctors and nurses. He is working with the military, and He holds the dying. And, He is with us, manifesting forth the glory of His Mercy as He calls the world to the peace of Christ – to His peace which passeth all understanding.     And now unto Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all glory and honor forever.