- A couple weeks ago, when we celebrated the Epiphany, I challenged you to be spiritual detectives; to observe like Sherlock Holmes. I encouraged you to notice Christ’s presence with you in all the little details of life.
We see Jesus and his disciples and his mom, Mary at a wedding in the town of Cana, which was about 8 or 9 miles north of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. And up till now, Jesus had done nothing in public to tip his hand that he was the Son of God.
There were no crowds around Jesus yet the masses of people bringing their sick and lame hadn’t shown up yet. And so for the most part, Jesus is fairly anonymous. And you get the impression that he kind of wanted to keep it that way for a while, because he didn’t seem too eager to help when Mary told him about the wine.
And what’s really striking about Mary’s role in this whole episode, are her words to the servants at the wedding. She tells them, “Do whatever he tells you to do.”
And when you think back on the stories we heard last month during Advent about Mary’s obedience when the angel came to her and told her she would have this baby who’d be the Son of God, do you remember what her response was?
She said to the angel, “I am the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word.”
I am the Lord’s servant. I’ll do whatever he tells me to do.
She knew the blessings that would come from obeying the Lord’s commands. And so here she is in our lesson this morning, telling these servants to obey her son; to obey the Lord just as she had done. And they did.
They filled the jars like he told them to, and then they drew some out and took it to the chief steward. And sure enough, they, along with everyone else at the wedding, were blessed by the miracle of Christ.
But the thing of it was, most of the folks didn’t even know a miracle had occurred. Mary knew, and the servants who had obeyed Christ knew, and, in the end the disciples knew. But the chief steward and the rest of the guests just figured the bridegroom had been saving the good stuff till the end.
And this brings up two things I’d like to add to our discussion about being observant disciples.
The first thing is that we shouldn’t be hard on ourselves or others when we or they fail to observe the miracles of Christ that are happening right under our noses. Sometimes the purpose of a miracle – the epiphany – is intended for someone else.
At the wedding feast, the epiphany was intended for the servants and the disciples. The rest of the guests just got to enjoy the blessings. That doesn’t mean the other guests were ungrateful or somehow sinful. It just means that God had a different time for them. Christ would be revealed to them at some other time, and in some other way.
In his book, The Miracles of Our Lord, George MacDonald has a beautiful take on this point.
He says that this story reminds us that, “God ministers to us so gently, so subtly, and with such a quiet, tender, loving absence of display” – meaning that he doesn’t use his miracles to show-off –“that we often drink of his wine as these wedding guests drank; without knowing from where it comes—and without realizing that the giver of the gift is right beside us. In fact, he’s in our very hearts.”
“Christ works silently,” MacDonald says. “He keeps quiet behind his works so that he may truly reveal himself to each of us at the right time.” MacDonald, George (2012-05-17). Miracles of Our Lord (p. 9). . Kindle Edition.
That’s the first point: that as disciples of Christ we should always be on the lookout for him in our midst. But we shouldn’t be hard on ourselves if we fail to notice. And we especially shouldn’t be hard on others when they fail to notice. God’s got a different timing for each of us.
And that leads me to the second point I want to add to our discussion about being observant disciples. And that is that as disciples we are to do more than just observe Christ. We are also called to obey him.
Mary’s words to the servants are just as important for us to hear, too. “Do whatever he tells you.”
We are called to obey Christ in our lives for the same reason that Mary told those servants to obey him. So that Christ could use us to reveal himself to others.
And when we start talking about obeying Christ and having Christ reveal himself through us, it can make us a little apprehensive. We start to get these grand images in our minds of having to do something difficult or extreme.
But that’s not the case at all. Christ simply calls us to faithfully do the work that’s before us. For the servants in our lesson this morning, it was putting water in jars and then drawing it out to serve.
It’s what they did every day. But on this day, Christ chose to bless it in a very special way.
And so it is with each of us. We all have jobs to do every day. Whether it’s working at a bank, or a school, or volunteering at the church.
But most important are the jobs we have as husbands and wives; fathers and mothers. By faithfully executing these jobs, we give Christ the opportunity to work in us to reveal himself to others.
And, you know what? We may never even know which life Christ has touched through us. There’s no indication in the gospel that the servants knew it was the disciples who’d been touched. I’m sure they figured the chief steward was the one Christ was aiming at.
And so my friends, I again want to encourage you during this epiphany; to be observant and always looking for Christ.
And, even more, I encourage you to be faithful and obedient in carrying out the work that’s before you each and every day. Trusting that whether you know it or not, Christ is working through you to bless others.
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