MLK
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way God's universe is made.”
Inspired by the gospel, MLK worked tirelessly to overcome the divisions of society. Divisions between black and white, but also other divisions, like the division between rich and poor, and the division between the powerful and the power-deprived.
King understood how Jesus’ mission was to rupture those divisions and uproot any structure in which one group of people misuse or abuse the power or privilege they have over another group of people.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The gospel’s emphasis on overcoming these divisions can be seen in today’s scripture, in the story about Jesus turning the water into wine.
Six Stone Jars
In John’s gospel, this is the first miracle performed by Jesus, although John usually calls these miracles “signs.”
As we heard, Jesus was at a wedding in Cana. There were many guests at the wedding who had travelled long distances to get there. The celebration was planned to last several days. At least.
But at some point, they ran out of wine.
The story draws our attention to six stone jars, each holding 20 to 30 gallons of water. That’s about 150 gallons of water altogether.
This water was not intended for drinking. Rather, it was for ritual purification.
Jewish teaching instructed ritual purification by water for a number of reasons. It was part of the process by which a ritually unclean person could become ritually clean. If a person wasn’t ritually clean, they couldn’t be a part of the celebration.
Depending on the situation, purification might require a washing of hands; or, it might require complete bodily immersion: a washing of the whole body. Hence, the six jars of water.
These purification rituals were distinguishing marks of Jewish identity. In that sense, they could be compared to baptism, which is a distinguishing mark of Christianity. Among other things, it helps to show who is a part of the group, and who is not. Who is in, and who is out.
So it was important to have all this water available.
Water Into Wine
So the question, now, is: why did Jesus do it? Why did Jesus change this water into wine?
At first glance, it seems he did it so that the host of the party could avoid the embarrassment of not having enough wine for the guests.
But if miracles in John’s gospel are “signs,” what is this a sign of? Is it a sign that one of Jesus’ greatest concerns is to save us from embarrassment when our party-planning skills come up short?
On the one hand, I’ve always thought that changing water into wine was a pretty cool thing for Jesus to do. Yeah, Jesus loves a good party!
And I think that maybe Jesus did love a good party - but, for me, that’s never really been a satisfactory answer as to why Jesus’ first miracle was changing water into wine.
I’ve heard some say that this miracle is a sign that, with God, the blessing of abundance never runs out. It’s kinda like the story of the loaves and fishes… It may look like there’s not enough of what we need, that we’re going to run out, but God always provides.
And that is a good, acceptable interpretation… but it still seems to be missing something.
But what else could this story, of Jesus changing water into wine, mean? What else could it be a sign of?
The fact that these jars of water were meant for purification, and not for drinking, is a clue; but I needed help deciphering this clue.
Help finally came when I read an article about Elizabeth Edman, an openly queer priest in the Episcopal Church. That led to an hour-long interview with Edman that I saw on YouTube, and that led to me purchasing and reading her book, Queer Virtue.
Her discussion of the water-into-wine story is brief, but eye-opening. Here is what Elizabeth Edman sees in the story of the Wedding at Cana…
She writes:
“As I started working with the text, I saw something amazing going on, something that had nothing to do with weddings…. What I saw was Jesus taking these pots of water - water designed for ritual bathing, for spiritual cleansing - and turning that water into wine that everyone was supposed to drink. What I saw was Jesus taking this substance that was all caught up in ideas of cleanness and uncleanness, all caught up in notions about what separates us from each other, and turning it into something designed to be shared, something that eases our anxiety about all the harsh lines in our world, something we take into our bodies in order to overcome barriers like ritual purity laws that separate us from one another.
Queering Those Pots of Water
“What I saw was Jesus queering those pots of water.”
Well, this was a new way of understanding this story! And I had to sit with it, and think about it for awhile. And then I realized: She’s right.
We have divisions in our society. Some of the strongest divisions involve gender and sex and love. Society wants men to be men and women to be women. Society has certain expectations about sex: who can have sex with each other, and who cannot. Society has certain expectations about love: who can love each other, and who cannot.
The queer movement works to break down those barriers, to rupture those binaries, to erase those divisions that separate people into sharply defined categories; and it works to liberate people so they can simply be who they are: their true, authentic selves.
And that, she says, is what Jesus did when he changed the water into wine. He took what was used for rituals that determined who was clean and who was unclean, who was acceptable and who was not - and he transformed it into something that everyone was able to share and enjoy.
I started thinking about what else Jesus did in his life, in his ministry: he was always breaking down barriers between this and that, between clean and unclean, between saint and sinner.
Jesus’ own existence breaks down the barrier between body and soul, that divide between human and divine. We still tend to think of body and soul as two very different things. Two opposite things. Either you’re in the body, or you’re in the spirit.
But in Jesus, body and Spirit exist together. In Jesus, that binary has been ruptured.
Jesus even tore down the barrier between life and death. He crossed that divide, and he crossed back. He ruptured everything that people understood about life and death.
And this rupturing of binaries was symbolized when, at the moment of his death, the curtain in the temple - that curtain which separates the people from the holiest spot - was torn in two, from top to bottom, removing the barrier that separates the people from God.
Wine for Everyone
I think about the many problems we have in society today. And all of them seem to have been created or aggravated by an overdeveloped and false sense that there is a divide between “us” and “them.” Society says you’re either “this,” or “that.” You’re either an ally, or an enemy. You’re either with me, or you’re against me.
Isn’t this a part of the cause of every problem we have? Racism. Homophobia. Climate Change. Even our struggle to contain the coronavirus…
Some people are more interested in their own rights and freedoms, because they see themselves as separate from the rest of their community or the rest of humanity; and this prevents them from taking the steps needed to ensure their own health as well as the health of their community.
And everyone suffers as a result.
No wonder Jesus was all about rupturing these divisions. The healing, wholeness, and salvation of the world depends on rupturing these binaries. The kingdom of God is one in which all these divisions and separations are overcome.
All this brings me back to something I’ve mentioned a number of times, that the word “religion” literally means to “reconnect.” To practice religion is to understand that what separates you from anyone else, or from God, is an illusion, or a lie told to you by someone.
As Martin Luther King Jr., said: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
Now, after last week’s sermon on baptism, I have one more question for today: what are the implications of this water-into-wine story for baptism? If one of the ways we understand baptism is as a marker that defines who is a part of the church, and who is not,... should we rethink that?
Does baptism separate us from others in a way that prevents us from overcoming divisions?
Maybe the answer isn’t “either/or.” Maybe the answer is “both/and.”
Maybe our baptism can help us to more closely follow the example set by Jesus, so that we see ourselves not as people who have been set apart or set aside, but as people who have been called to a special role in the uniting of humanity, in breaking down those divisions that separate us.
Maybe that’s our baptismal calling: to be agents of unity and love, to rupture the binaries, to uproot the definitions and distinctions that deny a place and deny honor and dignity to some, and to instead welcome all and affirm all as God’s beloved people.
In other words, as baptized believers, I think it’s our job to ensure that the wine is available to all.
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