Jesus turns water into wine. Then Jesus goes and wrecks things in the temple. What are we to make of this? If you were here last week you may remember me saying that John’s gospel was all about answering the question, “Who is Jesus?” Well, who is this Jesus who does these things?
There are loads of interpretations about both of these stories, all of them attempts to tame them. But neither can be tamed. And they are not supposed to. I suspect the author intends them to have a certain shock value, here while we’re still near the beginning of the gospel, which pulls the rug out from lots of what we assume about God.
Take the story of Jesus turning water into wine. Now this is one that makes every tea totaling church nervous. How can God be making intoxicating beverages? And not just a little bit – a whole lot. You don’t have to have gone too far in math to figure out that if there are six stone jars, each holding 20 to 30 gallons, that adds up to 120-180 gallons of wine! What kind of a wedding reception is this!?!
I’ve heard it interpreted that it would be have been shameful for the families giving the wedding to run out of wine. Thus, Jesus saves them from public embarrassment. But there’s nothing in the text to suggest that at all.
The text just says that the wedding had run out of wine. Normally at a party when the alcohol runs out that is a sign that no more alcohol should be consumed. The guests are probably at, if not past, the point of intoxication.
When Jesus’ mother points out to him that they’ve run out of wine you’d expect Jesus to say something to her like, “Well, they’ve had enough. Running out will naturally limit them from going to much further. That’s a very practical and realistic response to the situation. He does at least point out to her, “…what concern is that to you and to me?”
But she, exercising a mother’s prerogative, completely ignores him. She just tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Talk about a mother manipulating her child!
We could speculate on all sorts of dynamics about what Jesus means and what he really intends with his action, but the text does not give us answers to them. All we’re given is that Jesus co-ops the use of six stone jars, special stone jars meant to be reserved to hold water for purification rites, and basically turns them into wine vats.
A party, with the alcohol gone; meaning everyone has had enough already, and God brings on an extra 120-180 gallons more of intoxicant!
This text, when left to speak without an interpretive overlay to tame it, is scandalous! It is irresponsible in the extreme. How can God act this way? Why would God encourage and enable inebriation that is beyond all sense?
The quick answer before we go on to the next scene: don’t be too quick to think you can understand God’s ways. And, God has a sense of humor! What if God is thinking, “They’re going to have fun with this one!” God can do delightful things purely for the delight of it. We’ll come back to all of this after we get the rug yanked out from under us again.
Jesus heads to Jerusalem for the Passover holidays. It is important to note that the other three gospels record Jesus causing a ruckus in the temple right before his arrest and execution. In fact, that’s the event that pushes the religious leaders too far and they decide he has to be gotten rid of. In John’s gospel it is placed at the beginning of Jesus public ministry. Biblical experts that I know say that from a historical perspective it is misplaced. It quite certainly happened at the end of Jesus’ ministry. But John has placed this event at the beginning as another undermining of our assumptions about Jesus.
You may have heard this scene called Jesus’ “cleansing” of the temple. The headings in most Bibles call it that. But that is based on a number of interpretive assumptions. It assumes that the temple was somehow “corrupt” or dirty in the first place. That idea comes from the version of these scene in Matthew, Mark and Luke. There Jesus quotes from Jeremiah and says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. But you have made it a den of robbers.” But when Jeremiah calls it a den of robbers he is not talking about greed and corruption. He is talking about the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.
Here in John’s gospel Jesus appears to quote from Zechariah 14. That’s the, “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace,” quote. In Zechariah it is also not a statement about corruption. It is a statement that when the Lord fully comes into the temple there will no longer be a need for merchants and traders there.
Remember, none of this happens within the temple itself. It all happens within the vast courtyards that surround the temple. They had been built to accommodate the commerce needed to support the major holidays. You’ll remember me saying before that if you were a pilgrim heading to Jerusalem for Passover or a holiday, and you wanted to make a sacrifice to God in the temple, it wasn’t very practical for you to travel with an animal to sacrifice. If you were a farmer maybe you’d sell one of your sheep. You’d pocket the money and head to Jerusalem. There you’d buy another sheep in the temple for sacrifice. And the good thing was the sheep for sale in the temple courtyards were sheep that were considered appropriate for sacrifice. Not all sheep made that grade.
Jesus does not cleanse the temple. He shuts down the temple as the place for right relationship with God. In our passage Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Of course, in what we’ll discover to by typical of John’s comedy, the Jews take him literally. They say, “This temple has been under construction for 46 years, and will you raise it up in three days?” Our author clarifies it immediately for us and says, “But he was speaking of the temple of his body.”
The ”temple of his body” is important. Ancient Judaism was a religion of place. The temple was believed to be the house of God. It was the center of faith, worship, and sacrifice. It was the holiest place on earth. Christianity is not a religion of place. It is a religion of relationships based on what God revealed about his nature through Jesus.
But what is being revealed about God through this abundance of wine and violent actions in the temple? Is God crazy, wild, violent, and irresponsible? Remember, we’re in chapter 2. I think the author puts these scenes here to challenge our reverent and domesticated assumptions about God. He does that to open our eyes to see that God will not be so confined. He has to break our old models in order for us to be open to new ones.
It is very easy for us to allow habits, traditions, and social expectations to become what we think God wants from us. Our Christian faith is incredibly flexible. We forget that place and time are not important to us.
Perhaps the greatest current example is kids’ sports. In this area it feels like kids’ sports rule the calendar and the community. They take priority over all other things. Parents run ragged knowing that to miss a practice or a game may cost their child the ability to stay on the team.
Churches become enraged that Sunday mornings have become prime time for youth sports. I understand the anger too. But we do need to keep it in perspective. While we can question the wisdom of any society that gives such priority to something that has so little provable value in terms of social development for children, it is not a faith issue. While it is long standing Christian tradition to worship on a Sunday morning, it is not a divine decree. Any place and any time can work. When churches dig in their heals and go into battle mode they have lost sight of things. This is a big and complex issue. There are many things at play, and it is far more than time. But I use it as an example of how deeply we can allow faith practices to become an end unto themselves.
As John’s gospel opens with untamable texts we do well to think critically about all of our faith expressions and our assumptions about God. We inadvertently add a lot that isn’t there.
It can be challenging, but we have to let God be God. When we can release our fears and realize that God truly is in control then we can enjoy and be amazed at what God is up to. Don’t be surprised when God comes to you in ways you never expected!
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