January 14, 2007 John 2:1-11

2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

"THE MORE, THE MERRIER"

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus begins his public ministry by performing a miracle at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. As miracles go, this one is quite impressive. This miracle involves Jesus turning some 120-180 gallons of water into fine wine. Now to me, this is a rather odd way to begin a public ministry. After all, you might expect Jesus to begin his public ministry by teaching, as he does in Matthew, or by healing, as he does in Mark, or by preaching, as he does in Luke. But John makes it clear that the first public act of Jesus’ career is not teaching or preaching or even healing. According to John Jesus first turns water into wine.

To understand the significance of this act, however, you need to be aware of what precedes this miracle in John 1. In the second half of chapter 1 Jesus calls his disciples. Well, Jesus not exactly call the disciples, at least not the way that he does in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

The first two disciples, Andrew and another unnamed male, sort of tag along after Jesus. Andrew and this unnamed person are John’s disciples. But when they see John point to Jesus and hear him say, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29; see 1:36), Andrew and the other disciple of John leave John and start to follow Jesus. When Jesus sees these two men following him, Jesus asks, "What are you looking for?" (John 1:38a). Andrew and his friend respond, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" (John 1:38b), and Jesus invites them to "Come and see" (John 1:39a).

According to John’s gospel, Andrew then goes and finds his brother Simon Peter. After Andrew tells Peter, "We have found the Messiah" (John 1:41), Andrew takes Peter to Jesus. In John’s gospel Jesus does not seek out Peter. On the contrary, in John Peter seeks Jesus out, with the help of his brother.

Then Jesus encounters Philip and commands him to "Follow me" (John 1:43). But then Philip goes and tells Nathanael, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth" (John 1:45). When Nathanael challenges Philip, Philip responds, "Come and see" (John 1:46). And when skeptical Nathanael comes into the presence of Jesus, Nathanael confesses, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" (John 1:49).

So now that a group of disciples has begun to follow Jesus, where does Jesus take them? The first place that Jesus takes his disciples, we are told in John, is to the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee. There is something important about that order of events. And there is something of significance that the call of the disciples and the wedding at Cana can teach us.

The first thing to note is the importance of being invited. The first followers of Jesus, according to John, invited others to come and see him. People may sense that Jesus is important, but those who have never encountered Jesus need to be brought into his presence by their family and friends. Those who have only heard of Jesus but have never experienced Jesus need to be challenged, like the first disciples, to "Come and see." It is only when people encounter the living Lord for themselves, when they are touched by him, that their lives are changed forever.

But the story does not end with the individuals encountering Jesus. No, Jesus gathers those who have encountered him to celebrate. The first thing that Jesus does is take his new disciples to a party. Here they get to know each other and come to enjoy the presence of other followers of Jesus. Here they learn that following Jesus is not all cross-bearing and laying down one’s life. Here they experience community not as a luxury but an essential element of life with Christ. Here they find out that communal celebration is made even sweeter by the presence of Jesus. Those are some of the lessons that his ancient disciples learned, and those are some of the lessons that these passages in John teach modern day disciples.

This emphasis on invitation and communal celebration that we find in John, chapters 1 and 2, reminds me of the work of our Evangelism Committee. In preparation for Pine Street’s 150^th anniversary celebration (which takes place on May 20, 2007, to be exact), the 150^th Anniversary Committee has asked each committee of the church for special ways to celebrate this historic year. The Evangelism Committee has set an ambitious goal of taking in 150 new members in the coming year to celebrate the 150 years of Pine Street’s life. To put that goal in perspective, you should know that 150 represents about twice the total number of new members that we receive in one of our best years! The Evangelism Committee is confident that we can reach that lofty goal, and I agree with them.

But the Evangelism Committee also realizes that it cannot attain this goal by itself. You and I need to pitch in and help. How, you may ask? Should we go out and engage people in lengthy theological discussions to win their hearts to the Lord? Sure, if you can. But most of us would probably prefer a more subtle form of witnessing, and here is where John 1 comes in handy. All that we need to do is to invite our family and friends, like those first followers of Jesus, to "Come and see" all of the great things that are happening at Pine Street.

Another thing that you can do is come and learn more about how to be a welcoming congregation. On the first two Sundays in February we will have two Adult Forums on evangelism. We will learn more ways to talk about our church, our faith, and what is happening here with others. After all, we have inspiring worship, challenging educational opportunities, stirring musical offerings, a great fellowship of believers--from both shores of the Susquehanna--and most importantly, we have the presence of the Living Lord in our midst. Maybe with some guidance from Dr. Robinson we will be able to share all that the good things that Pine Street has to offer with those outside of our community.

Barbara Brown Taylor, a former parish priest and currently a college professor, writes that for her and her congregation:

"Sundays were the best. . . . Once everyone was seated and the first hymn began, it was foretaste-of-heaven time. Our bread was given, not earned. We had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do but sit together [and worship]" (Leaving Church, pp. 92-93).

This is what happens here. Worship is amazing. "Come and see." And our worship changes us.

I spend a fair amount of time on my computer composing and responding to emails. I usually end my emails with: "Peace and grace" or "Peace" (as in "Peace be with you"). This is what I did with an email this week. I closed with "Peace, Anne." I was in later in the evening and checked my mail. I opened up this one particular email, and it began, "And also with you." My heart soared. This is a small but significant example of how what we do in worship spills over into the rest of life.

If people would only "Come and see," I know that many would stay with us. But they need to be invited by you, their family and friends, to this weekly celebration. And those of us who are not new to this fellowship need to go out of our way to welcome with open arms those who are new among us.

I am excited about this coming year, because I think that we are all going to learn another truth that those first followers of Jesus came to believe. And that truth is this: the more who join in the party, the merrier the celebration will be!