ted and chloe

I accepted this appointment many years ago thinking that this day would never come anyway.  But here it is, finally, after a very long wait.  I always tell the seminarians, you never look for a girlfriend.  Precisely they call it falling in love because it is never sought after like some lost thing.  In love you will find each other.  It will come if it was meant to be.

Today this sermon does not have to be long.  Not that we are in a hurry nor are we making up for lost time.  The wait may have been long but remember patience is always rewarded.  But this should be short because there is nothing more that needs to be said in a lot of words.  Ted is not new to this, after all.  And Chloe may already have an earful after attending a great deal of weddings and after seeing a good deal of marriages succeeding and failing in her entire life before coming here today for her very own wedding day.

Today I will just have one message from our gospel. 

In our gospel today John tells of a very big mistake about to happen on the first day of the new couple's life.  They run out of wine.  In Jewish culture which value wedding celebrations, to run out of wine on your wedding day is not just bad luck.  It tells us who the couples are and their attitudes.  It is not just a source of embarrassment that will be remembered throughout their lives, but it also shows a lack of foresight on the part of the couple, a neglect, a lack of provisions and resources in both their families and homes, a lack of preparation, something which does not speak well of their future together as husband and wife and as a family. 

But then Mary presented this situation of need to her Son, Jesus.  And what did Jesus do?  He ordered the servants to fill to the brim six stone jars with water.  Then he instructed the servants to serve this to the guests.  And the head waiter who was made to taste the water turned wine said, “People usually serve the choice wine first; then when the guests have been drinking a while, a lesser vintage.  What you have done is to keep the choice wine until now.” 

In a wedding about to turn disaster, Jesus gave them an extra 25 gallons of wine more.  In a mistake that was about to show glaringly their unpreparedness and their lack of foresight, Jesus turned water into wine.  At a time when members of both families and the couple themselves had the opportunity to point and blame each other as to who was at fault, Jesus caused the best wine to be served after the lesser vintage.

Today Jesus teaching us how to live life in a world prone to make a lot of mistakes.  And how is this?  One has to be ready to always give more. Somebody has to give more than what is asked or expected.  Someone has to give more than what was prepared beforehand.  One of you has to give more than what was presumed.  “You love me, but I promise that I will love you more.”  When mistakes come compete in your love for one another or as St. Paul would say, outdo one another in your love.  Outdo each other in love.  You will never persevere when it's just a tit for tat, when you say Ok you love me this much I will love you also that much.  The ideal of Jesus is this:  you love me, I will love you more. Turn to Jesus, look to Jesus, imitate Jesus, for he is one who would never be outdone in his love, in his generosity, in his forgiveness.