Sermon for Bramley St Peter, 19 January 2025

The Gospel reading this morning is that well known story of Cana in Galilee.  It’s a much-loved story about a wedding that went on for three days, and a miraculous supply of wine. Or is it?

John the gospel writer, as is well known, doesn’t set out to tell the story of Jesus in the order things happened. Instead, he selects those scenes that he thinks most important and orders them in a symbolic way.  The first two chapters are like the overture of a musical, or the trailer for a movie, to give an idea of the plot that is to follow. The wedding scene comes towards the end of the introduction, and there is more symbolism to this one scene than we can deal with in a single sermon, so I have to be a bit selective.

Talking of musicals, Linda and I went to the Playhouse this week to see the stage adaptation of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. It really is excellent, but it finishes this coming week so you’ll need to be quick if you want to get tickets. That’s another story packed with meaning. What I really liked about it was the way they made the identification of Aslan with Jesus so clear.  But that’s not the story I want to talk about today. Instead, let’s take a simpler children’s story…

It was in the news this week that Michael Rosen and Helen Oxbury have written a sequel to their bestselling story ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. It got me thinking. There seem to be some parallels in this short tale with the Bible story, though more by accident than intent.

Both stories feature five people on a search of some kind. In one, five children set off looking for a bear. In the other, five young men set off to find out who Jesus is. Five? In Chapter one we are told that first Andrew and one other, then Andrew’s brother Simon, then Philip and finally Nathanael, join the search, as one tells another about Jesus. The ‘one other’ is not named, but is often believed to be John the author of the gospel. When these five, and eventually seven more who join them, go on a journey together, it’s not a bear hunt, more of a ‘Christ hunt’ as they try to find out whether Jesus really is the Messiah or Christ who they were expecting.

These five men were no more prepared for the journey ahead of them than the five children were prepared for the unexpected along the way in their bear hunt. The first unexpected event was the wedding at Cana.

No-one seems to be certain which of several villages with similar names was meant, but most likely is one about seven miles from Nazareth, so  it would not be surprising that Jesus and his mother Mary, as well as Nathanael who came from Cana itself, knew one or both of the couple. The other disciples, though, may not have known anyone.

Have you ever been in that situation?  When a friend invites you along with them to a party where you know no-one else? You were probably nervous, at least. But were they scared? No! We’re not scared!

The phrase in the story that stuck with me as I read it several times is Mary’s response to Jesus: “Do whatever he tells you”.  In context, this seems to be addressed to the servants who had been serving the food and wine. Jesus tells them to fill the six water jars, as simple as that. Or was it? six times twenty to thirty gallons is up to eight hundred litres. Imagine how long that would take if you had to draw the water from a well, perhaps ten litres at a time. But the servants did as they were told. That’s what servants do.

Pondering this phrase “do whatever he tells you” made me wonder if Mary, who knew Jesus better than anyone else, was addressing the new disciples as well. Was she telling them just to trust Jesus’ instructions and act like unquestioning servants as they set off with him around Galilee? If so, they seem to have followed her advice quite well, as their journey with him took them into many unfamiliar places and tricky situations. Jesus asked people to do many things that would have sounded odd at the time. Not just “fill the jars with water”, but “share the five loaves and two fish among five thousand people”, “untie an unridden colt”, “go and meet a man carrying a water jar”. All of these, when obeyed, would lead to important developments in the unfolding story of our salvation.

This habit of ‘acting on instructions and asking questions later’ would equip them for later, when Jesus was no longer walking alongside them but the Holy Spirit would give similarly unexpected instructions: “Go with this gentile and eat in his house”, “Go and heal Saul”, “Go and talk to the Egyptian in the chariot”. Again, obeying these odd instructions led to key developments in the growth of the Church.

Some of these instructions of Jesus were not just unexpected, they were real challenges to faith. Take that instruction to Ananias about going to heal Saul. Saul was an enemy, who had murdered several Christians already. But there was no getting round what Jesus was saying through his Spirit: it was like those challenges on the Bear hunt. 

Let’s say these words together:
Oh-oh!
We can’t go over it!
We can’t go under it!
We’ve got to go through it!

So much for the disciples. But more than that, does John intend us, his readers, to hear these words of Mary spoken to us as well? Writing towards the end of his life and looking back at all he and his friends had been through with Jesus, he wants to pass on what he learnt, that anything Jesus says can be trusted, even if it doesn’t seem to make sense at first.

In your own walk as disciples of Jesus, there will be times when you hear him saying difficult things to us as you pray. For instance, it may be he points out a sin that you need to repent of, or prompts you to pray for someone you don’t particularly like. Such promptings should be acted on, and you needn’t tell anyone else about them, unless you feel you need help in carrying out the instruction.   

Occasionally he may prompt you to do something seemingly illogical, or something life-changing such as to start doing something completely different for him that will mean moving house or changing jobs. When that happens, it may helpful to seek out a Christian friend or mentor to pray with, to discern whether this really is a word from God and talk through the implications. Like the children on the bear hunt, it’s best to tackle life’s difficult moments together.

We’re looking today at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry as recorded by John. For a moment, let’s jump to almost the end.  Where was it that the children finally encountered the bear? In a ‘narrow, gloomy cave’. That reminds me of where they laid Jesus’ body when he died. The cave that his disciples found to be empty when they came to it on Easter morning. 

But that is where the story of the bear hunt, and that of Jesus’ disciples, end very differently. The children find that the bear they had longed to meet is in fact terrifying, and run away in fear from the bear, going through those hazards of mud, water and long grass again, retreating to the safety of upper room of their house and vowing never to go bear-hunting again.

Whereas Mary of Magdala finds the empty tomb and meets the risen Jesus. Yes, she is fearful, yet she obeys Jesus’ instruction to go and tell the disciples in their upper room the good news of his resurrection. And when Jesus himself appears in that upper room, he tells them all to believe in him and gives them the promise of the Holy Spirit.

So, to bring all these thoughts together: we have heard how Jesus has a habit of giving people instructions, which at different time might seem strange, illogical, challenging or occasionally even dangerous. He showed this from the very start of his ministry, with the first miraculous sign that John records, which when instructions were followed led to an unexpected and glorious outcome. We may have similar experiences ourselves, where Jesus challenges us to do something different and unexpected. But like those first five disciples, we are not alone. We face these challenges with others. For we are called to journey together, to seek, not a bear, but God himself.

Let’s finish by saying another few lines together. Please stand…

We’re going on a God hunt!
We’re going to catch a big one!
What a beautiful day!
We’re not scared!