Leaving Your Anxiety with Jesus

The Rev. Matt Kennedy

Sermon January 14 th , 2007

The Church of the Good Shepherd

I don't know about you, but the worst time to be a human male in my house is when we're preparing for a dinner party. A side of Anne comes out that she cleverly hid away while we were dating. Our home is temporarily reduced to martial law and I go from head of the house to cheap labor. Anne gets stressed out . And no matter what I say, she can't relax until the house is clean, the table set, and roast in the oven. This was a shock. Before we got married, my idea of hospitality was to order pizza and clear a path from the front door to the couch. Now I know.

But what I suffer through today is nothing like what the host of a wedding feast in the first century would have experienced. Wedding feasts in the first century could go on for a whole week. It was the bounden responsibility of the host to provide everything necessary for all the guests for the duration of the feast. When I say bounden I mean bounden. Hosting a wedding feast was a social and a legal matter. Marriages in those days were usually negotiated between families. Goods were exchanged. Daughters were given to sons for a price. The wedding banquet was part of the negotiated deal. If provisions ran dry, the master of the feast, usually someone related to the groom, could sue the host, usually someone related to the bride.

So if a key provision ran out, there'd not only be a great deal of embarrassment for the host family—the whole village would be talking about it for months--but there'd also likely be a lawsuit.

So look down to verse three and you'll see the problem: “When the wine was gone…” Wine was like soda back then. The water was not purified, so people generally drank wine at meals. That would especially be true at a feast where they'd have the finest wine. But here, the wine was gone. By this time, servants would've been sent out to find more and come back empty handed. It's safe to say that the host family would've been in a panic.

Mary goes to her Son. “They have no more wine.” This is not a spiritual problem. This is a down to earth practical one. Reputation and financial security are threatened. Mary comes to Jesus and lays out the problem.

Okay, now let's step back a moment. So far Mary has done exactly what the bible teaches to do in every circumstance. Mary has a problem and she's laid it out before Jesus. That was her first response. What's your first response? My first response is irrational worry. I think of the worst possible scenario and persuade myself that the worst case is reality. My second response is to react. I've got to do something to fix it. So I think it over for about five minutes and then I act. My dad used to say unless the problem is life threatening, the worst thing you can do is to react immediately. I still haven't learned that. I act. My fourth response is regret. “Oh dear, I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have sent that email. I shouldn't have written that note. My fifth response is, “Lord Jesus help me.”

My fifth response was Mary's first response. Jesus there's no more wine. Notice how worldly Mary's problem is. I wish I had a dime for every time someone's told me that they don't want to “bother God” with petty daily problems. I don't care how small, how seemingly insignificant an issue is, if it's causing you distress, Jesus wants you to bring it to him. “Well, God's busy running the universe. I don't want to burden him with my problems so I pray for other people and for world peace.” It's good and fine to pray for those things but guess what? God's infinite. He can run the universe and be deeply involved in your life at the same time. If you're a believer, God is in you. He's right there in the nitty-gritty details of your life. He knows your thoughts; he shares your experiences day in and day out. So when you spend all your prayer time going on about peace in the Middle East or Uncle Henry's hernia and never share what's really on your heart, you shut the door. God wants to act in your life but often he waits for you to lay out your problems and ask him to help. He's waiting for you to say “Here's the problem. Lord I need your help. I can't do this by myself” Many if not most of us shut that door and keep it closed.

Mary didn't. “Jesus, they've run out of wine.” And Jesus says. “Dear Woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” Don't be fooled by that. Jesus knows precisely how he's going to act, but he wants to test Mary. He doesn't give her an outright “no”. He makes a statement of fact and asks a question. The statement is: “My time has not yet come.” What time is he talking about? The time to go public as the messiah hasn't arrived. “So Mary, you know I'm not public yet, why do you want me to act?” Again this isn't a “no”. It's just not an immediate yes. He asks Mary to examine her motives. Why do you want me to do this?

When you come to Jesus with your requests, you'll sometimes hear the same question. Why do you want me to do this? Don't ignore that question. That's the Holy Spirit. Why do you want success in this business venture, what will you do with it? Why do you want this relationship healed, what will you do differently when it is? Why do you want this car or this raise or this new job? How will you use these blessings? Jesus makes a promise regarding prayer. I'll give you whatever you ask for in my name. “Who of you,” he says, “if his Son asks for a fish will give him a snake or if he asks for bread will give him a stone?” Jesus promises to give you all the good things you ask for. The problem is that often what we think is good isn't really good. We ask for stones and for snakes thinking we're asking for fish and bread. He won't give you a snake or a stone. That's why God asks the question: why do you involve me? He gives you the opportunity to examine your heart. Is this really a good thing I'm asking for? Maybe Jesus hasn't given me this raise is because he knows I'll use it to feed habits I shouldn't feed. Maybe I should ask him to help me get free of this habit first?

So, Jesus doesn't say yes or no. He asks Mary why she wants him to act. I love her response. She doesn't say anything. Maybe she doesn't know? Maybe she's too confused. But she does know that she's done all she can do. She's given her request to Jesus and she knows that whatever he does, it'll be the best thing. So she calls the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” and she leaves the problem in Jesus' hands. What a great model. You come to Jesus with your plans, your problems and your worries, you lay them out before him and then you go in peace, trusting him to do what is best.

My problem is that I believe this in my head but I don't really believe it. So I'll say, Okay Lord all of this is in your hands and five minutes later I'll work myself into a fit of worry. Mary gives the entire situation into Jesus' hands and walks away. That's precisely how the Lord wants each of his children to live. He wants you to give him everything in your life. Your time, talent, treasure, your plans, your worries, your health, your relatives, your friends, put it all in his hands and walk away trusting him to work all things together for your good. And he will.

This doesn't mean you do nothing. You don't pray for God to give you a job and then lounge on the couch and watch TV all day waiting for the phone to ring. Look what Jesus says to the servants. They don't just watch Jesus work. He gives them a task: fill the jars with water. They work. God's given you a unique purpose in the world. He's given you a role in your family. He's given you special gifts that you're to use to build up the church. He's given you a mind, and a body to provide for yourself and others and he has given you his laws and commandments. In fulfilling these purposes, roles and commands, you fill the water jars. Now the water by itself is worthless. Without Jesus, you might be very successful and wealthy and popular, but in the end, you'll just have water. But when you give yourself to Christ and live as a servant of Christ, for his kingdom, for his glory and in obedience to his commands, you open the door for God to turn the water of your efforts into the finest of wines. You open the door for God to move powerfully in the circumstances of your life.

Over the last 4 years a lot of people have come to faith in Jesus Christ. A lot of people have been saved here in these pews. That's not because I'm a charismatic guy. It's not because you're good evangelists. It's not because we're a family church or a friendly church or a happy church or because of us in any way. All you can do, all any believer, any church does is fill the water jars. We proclaim the word of God. God makes the wine. You share your faith with someone; all you're doing is filling the water jar. You can't move hearts. You can't make people taste and see that the Lord is good. Only God can do that. There's new life here because God has taken our water and made it into wine. For those of you who've come to faith in Jesus Christ over the last 4 years, that's what you did. You gave him your life. You gave him all your water and he's changing it into wine. You're a new person now. And if you want to continue experiencing the transforming power of God in your life, you have to keep filling your water jars. Keep giving him your best efforts. Keep giving him your time and your talent and your treasure. Keep coming to him in prayer and seeking him with all your heart because whatever you give him he makes wine. Whatever you keep to yourself, well, it's just water.

So let me sum up. The miracle in Cana was this. Jesus took ordinary water and he turned it into the best wine the master of the ceremonies had ever tasted. But before he acted, Mary had to give the situation into his hands and trust that he knew what is best. Jesus alone, by his power turned the water into wine, but he required the servants to do as they were commanded to do. They had to fill the jars with water first and then Jesus transformed, miraculously, the ordinary water of their lives into wine.