Scripture: John 2:1–11
How many of you know the phrase “Chekhov’s gun?” This phrase, named after Russian playwright Anton Checkhov, is used in storytelling, whether a novel or play or movie or TV show. The shortest definition is that if an object or element of the story is introduced, then it must be used before the end of the story. Whether or not you know this phrase, you innately know this to be the case. If someone in the first ten minutes of your TV show says, “I have been working on this antidote in case someone gets poisoned,” someone is going to get poisoned. Or if there is a closeup of a back door to the warehouse that doesn’t quite close all the way, someone is going to slip through that door. Or, in Chekhov’s example, if there is a gun that someone sets on the table, it will be shot at some point in the story. Some stories are less obvious than others, but you get the point.
John’s Gospel is full of Chekhov’s devices. We continue our look at the beginning few chapters, and in every paragraph, there are a ton of clues about where the story is going. Every turn of phrase. Every specific object named. Every example used will turn out to be important to the story later. Especially here at the beginning of the story, John uses these symbolic examples to tell us what is going to happen later in the story. Every detail tells us what is coming down the pike. So this morning, I want you to listen for Chekhov’s devices throughout the passage. See if you spot the same ones that I do.
John 2.1–11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you?[a] My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the person in charge of the banquet.” So they took it. 9 When the person in charge tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), that person called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
Did you hear any? I found at least four. And John doesn’t waste any time with the first one: “On the third day.”
For someone who knows the end of the story, we know immediately what John is doing here. Just like Jesus will eventually rise on the third day on Easter, it is no accident that he begins his ministry here “on the third day.” You can make the argument that it is a continuation of the last couple of days as Jesus continues his ministry. And it probably means both things. But what is at stake here is that John is beginning what will eventually be a Resurrection story. You will not understand the Gospel of John if you do not understand that it is the story of the triumphant, death-conquering, Resurrected Jesus. The next 20 chapters or so will tell us what that means for John, and why the Resurrection is important, but this is the antidote that someone sets on the shelf in the first ten minutes of the show. For John, the Good News of the Resurrection is something that is already accomplished. The rest of the story is simply about helping get everyone on board.
In fact, the end of the text says that this is the first of many “signs” that will take place in the Gospel. If we are driving to the Grand Canyon, we will see a lot of signs along the way. “Grand Canyon in 100 miles.” “Reserve a spot at the Bright Angel Lodge.” “Only 10 miles away now!” None of those signs make the Grand Canyon come into existence…they are only pointing to a thing that is already there. John will not let us forget that this is a story of a thing that is already there: the Resurrected Jesus is the center of the story.
Then, and now. I hope that lesson is not wasted on us today. There are plenty of voices who will tell you that the bottom line to your story is one of despair. The world is falling apart. No one is redeemable. You are not redeemable. Bad things are happening and they will just get worse. The Resurrection story in John would beg to differ. Not only is this world redeemable, but it has been already redeemed. We just have to get on board now. I think that changes the way that we live, when we understand that we are participating in the story of the Co-Creator, Light-emanating, Resurrected, “Third-day” Jesus.
Here is a second one. And it isn’t quite as obvious: “They have no wine.”
In this case, the “Chekhov’s device” in the story is not a thing, but a lack of a thing. Because there is something missing, a significant problem ensues. Now, missing wine doesn’t seem like such a big deal for us, right? Especially here in a college town, if we run out of wine, we go around the corner to Alvin’s for some Barefoot. Or do a Trader Joe’s run for some “two buck chuck.” But not only is that obviously not an option here, but there is even more at stake in what was a shame-driven culture. This was a wedding feast, which means that the groom’s family would have been responsible to supply the wine for a seven-day celebration. If they were to run out, it would mean years of shame on the family, on the couple, maybe even on the community of Cana from those who had travelled from elsewhere. It isn’t overstating to suggest that there would be financial and religious and maybe even livelihood implications if this family ran out of wine. Let me be clear: the families who have enough money to make sure there is enough wine to go around will do so. If this family has not stocked the wine cellar, it is not because they do not want to, but because they cannot.
So, look who comes to the rescue. You may know that that Jesus’ mother is not named in the Gospel of John. We call her Mary because that is what the other Gospels do, but John never actually comes out and uses that name. But that doesn’t mean that she is not important to the story. When she whispers these words to Jesus, she is intentionally protecting this family from the implications that would inevitably come. A family who cannot assure that there is wine enough to go around is rescued by a perceptive and caring woman who wants to make a difference. In other words, it is a story of justice. Scholar Carol Lakey Hess doesn’t miss the fact that the mother of Jesus is not just nagging her son, but prodding the incarnate deity, God on earth, to do something about the injustice that she sees. She is akin to the Psalmist who sees injustice and prods God: “how long, O Lord, will this suffering continue?”
Again, this is true for us today as it was then. Still today, we see that there is not enough justice to go around. Not enough sharing of resources to go around. Not enough caring-for-neighbor to go around. These are things that we have seemingly run out of, just like they ran out of wine. The mother of Jesus will not let these things go unnamed. Likewise, are we willing to name those things that are missing in the world? Those places where a lack of a thing matters? A lack of infrastructure? A lack of healthcare? A lack of clean water? A food desert where there is not enough access to healthy food? On the weekend that we remember the life and contributions of Dr. King, we are invited to join the prodding. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” says King. Will we join the mother of Jesus to say, “enough is enough?”
There is a third detail that John makes sure to point out. Before the water becomes wine, did you notice what kind of jars the water was stored in? The text says that they were jars for the “rites of purification.”
Again, this was not an accident. These were massive stone jars that would have been used in traditional purification rituals (This picture doesn’t do them justice…we are talking somewhere between 150 and 180 gallons of water capacity here). Why would this detail be named? Because in the story they symbolize the things that we cling to from the past, instead of embracing what God is doing now. They are a symbol that this is a future story.
Jesus was pointing out that when we cling to a certain old way of doing things, we run the risk of making those things idols. Instead of seeing what Jesus is doing now, and opening our eyes to new ways of being, we assume that God only shows up like God showed up to us that one time. But the Gospel of John will proclaim that this is a future-leaning Jesus. In fact, some of you might have cringed a little bit when Jesus talked to his mother this way: “Woman, what concern is that to you and me?” But scholar Ernest Hess points out that this is not Jesus being rude, but simply disengaging from old assumptions. You may or may not remember that the Gospel of John does not include a story of his mother and brothers showing up and him disengaging from them: “These are my mother and brothers.” Meanwhile, John does not include a story of the Temptation in the wilderness where Jesus named what his ministry would NOT be about: simple fixes, or magic tricks to impress a crowd, or attention-seeking. Here in Cana, Jesus disengages from those things that his ministry could have been, to proclaim what they are instead. Not that, but this. Jesus in John invites us to lean toward the future.
Again, this is as true today as it was then. What are the things that we think are required for God to be at work in the world? One of my clergy mentors, Joe Kutter, was fond of pointing out that we tend to think that the only “right” kind of church is the church that most resembles our church when we came into the faith. Perhaps it was when we were a child and began to believe in Jesus, or maybe we came into the faith when we were older, and we fondly remember that congregation. He wisely pointed out that we tend crystalize the faith in a certain cultural and particular way of being. A certain music style. A way of doing youth group that was important to us. A preaching or clergy leadership style that we like. We laughed in a meeting this week because folks had noticed that the grape juice that we have used for communion lately is a lighter color than we are used to…and is that OK? (Yes, that is OK.) It sometimes isn’t as comical when people think that their church is failing because it looks different. Are there old ways of being church that we might acknowledge are not working like they used to? Are there things we need to disengage from that we cling to in unhealthy ways? Jesus in John is inviting us to lean into the future, not try to recreate the past.
Finally, one last symbol that means more than it means: “The good wine.”
The steward is shocked when the wine that comes out of the purification jars is better than any of the stuff that they had served before. Again, there is symbolic meaning to this. Throughout the Old Testament, there are plenty of examples of freely-flowing wine that symbolizes God’s abundance. When God’s people reach the promised land, there will be vineyards producing an abundance of wine. When they return from the Exile, an abundance of wine. That symbol meant something to John’s audience. Extravagance and abundance, for all…not just a few.
Likewise, John’s Gospel is an Abundance Story. Again, we turn back to Dr. King for our final example of this. Throughout his preaching ministry, Dr. King talked about a thing that he called the “beloved community.” It is a way of practicing justice where all are fed, all are welcomed, all are safe. It sounds like the picture of the Old Testament promises of the coming Kingdom, and Jesus’ demonstration of abundance here at Cana. King said it this way:
The end is reconciliation. The end is redemption. The end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opponents into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men.
May it be so.
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