Graduate School Gospel

Yesterday, I taught the first in a six-week series on miracles. In the season after Epiphany, miracles come up pretty often in the lectionary, and it makes for a familiar yet challenging subject. I've divided the series up into topics, grouping the miracles into types--healings, cleansings, exorcisms, etc.. Yesterday, we focused on miracles in which Jesus restores someone's ability, and we looked at one miracle from Mark 8 and one from John 5. Right away, we could see big differences.

In Mark 8, Jesus heals a blind man in two stages. After the first step, having spit in the man's eyes, the man sees but not clearly. After the second part, in which Jesus lays hands on his eyes, the man's sight is fully granted. It's a nifty way of describing the process by which those around Jesus--disciples, the crowd, the Pharisees--either do or do not see who he is completely. When it comes to using a literary device to convey a deeper message, it's about as nifty as Mark gets. And that's what I like about Mark. It's straightforward. "Just the facts, ma'am."

In John 5, on the other hand, layer after layer of meaning is pressed onto the story. A man was an invalid for 38 years, the same length of time Israel wandered in the wilderness. He's lying in a place with 5 porches, reminiscent of the 5 Books of Moses. It all takes place during a Jewish festival, adding a layer of religious legalism to the story. The man can't get into the water, but Jesus heals him anyway. He takes up his mat and is confronted by the Pharisees, who rightly point out that carrying one's mat is forbidden on the sabbath. Jesus and the man meet again, and Jesus warns him not to sin anymore or else something worse will happen to him. Then, Jesus meets the religious leaders, and they squabble over sabbath observance and authority. John isn't interested in making a simple point but in making us question authority, Torah, temple, and Jesus' identity. With John, it's complicated.

This Sunday, we switch from Luke to John to hear the miracle at the wedding in Cana. As I read the text in John 2, I am reminded that John makes everything complicated. Yes, it's a miracle about water being turned into wine, but there's so much more than John wants us to know about Jesus. It's a wedding banquet, which is an important context for Jewish hopes. The wine "gave out." Jesus resists the prompting of his mother because his time had not yet come. The jars of water aren't just any jar but "stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification." And there happen to be six of them. When the water is changed to wine, it's not just any wine but the best wine. And, as always in John, this event isn't a miracle or feat of wonder but a "sign," which points to something else.

The preacher has an extra challenge this week of shifting the congregation's expectations into high gear. We all need to read and listen with the same intensity that a preacher must bring to a passage from John. There's too much to convey in a sermon, but the preacher can't avoid the complexity of the passage altogether. John is making a point about the nature of Jesus' ministry, and, even if we're only going to be in John for one week, it's worth hearing what John would have us know. In this season of miracles, there's a reason we start with John 2. It reminds us that the work Jesus does is not only to heal as many people as he can but to usher in a new era of hope and transformation. How we receive that news this Sunday will shape how we hear the good news for the next seven weeks.