Different Gifts

Parties have been in the news a little bit this week and, thanks to the lectionary, our Gospel reading for today brings us another occurrence at a party – although under rather different circumstances.

In this case, the party is a wedding feast; an occasion which would have lasted several days. And, far from the issue being the presence of wine at this gathering, it was its absence which was causing concern and could have been a real source of embarrassment to the bridegroom who was supposed to be responsible for ensuring its plentiful supply.

The wine has run out and Mary notices the issue and implores her son to do something about it. Jesus (here, as elsewhere) appears rather dismissive in his tone: ‘woman, what concern is that to you and me?’

But Mary knows it is of concern, because there’s a problem and Jesus has the power to do something about it and, after being persuaded to act, he certainly demonstrates this power as he performs the first of the great ‘signs’ of his messiahship that we find running throughout John’s Gospel.

I find it intriguing, and little hard to resolve, that Jesus has to be bidden by his mother in order to act. But this is no ‘party trick’, Jesus is not here simply to ‘perform’ but it is through his actions, that his Disciples come to believe in him. And Jesus’ encounters with people in need throughout the gospels tell us that God often waits to be invited: He does not grow the Kingdom by force. As Mary well knows, he grows it by active and joyful consent to his work in our lives.

And it is telling, that here, he requires the cooperation of others too – namely the servants, the chief steward and the bridegroom – even though they certainly don’t all notice or understand the significance of what they are participating in at the time.

Like much of John, this passage is rich in symbolism which the gospeller uses to reveal God’s glory and point forward to the greatest revelation and glorification of God when Christ’s hour really does come and he is lifted up on the Cross.

But, for all it looks forward to, this first miracle of Jesus also meets a rather mundane and perhaps even apparently frivolous need in the moment.

This act both glorifies God in the eternal sphere and meets a practical need in the temporal sphere. For Jesus, they are inextricably linked:
What we do in the here and now, is of eternal significance.
and what God has done for all time and all people in Jesus, matters for us now too.

It is true that God’s mission is universal….. but it is also particular.

God cares about the little things…the things we think no one notices.
And the Gospels tell us time and again that God has a special care for the people no one notices too.

It is a common misconception in prayer that God is so big and powerful that we small individuals with our particular problems and concerns could not really matter to him in the grand scheme of the world. When in fact it is the opposite: that God is so big and powerful that he sees our every need and he equips his Church with the gifts to respond to those needs, just as Jesus responded to individuals he encountered as he walked among us.

But God invites the participation of all of us in this work too, just as he required the participation Mary to give instruction, or the servants to draw the water made wine; Jesus equipped his disciples to respond to the needs of those they encountered – not only by careful formation in the Way but also at the appointed time, by bestowing upon them the gift of the Spirit which empowered them as Apostles and continues to empower the Church today. 

God cares about the particular needs of individuals and communities and has given the Church gifts to respond to those needs in ways which not only glorify God for all eternity, but also make life better in the here and now.

In the first reading from 1 Corinthians, Paul gives a list of gifts of the Spirit which are for the building up of the Church; for equipping ordinary Christians to have an extraordinary impact on the communities that they serve. This list is representative, but it’s not exhaustive, and at the beginning of his letter he also tells them: ‘you do not lack any spiritual gifts’.

The Church have been given all they need to grow the Kingdom of God in Corinth but, rather than rejoicing in this abundance of gifts, the Corinthian church have started in-fighting about the ranking of particular gifts and glorifying those who exercise them, rather than glorifying the God who gives them.

So Paul reminds them that these are not hard-won special abilities, or a reward for piety, these are exactly what they say on the tin: gifts.
They are gifts from God who believes that every single person has a distinctive role to play in being Good News for their community and for the world around them.

Whether you have the gift of prophecy or you have the gift of administration – each is essential and we should not be tempted to glamorise one over the other.
Without the unseen work of many who exercise their gifts behind the scenes: this church, like any, would quickly cease to function well, if at all.

We must always resist the temptation to be sensationalist about spiritual gifts or to attribute holiness to performative Christianity: whether you pray in tongues or pray in silence, whether you preach to thousands or share your faith with a one friend, whether you serve God by lobbying world leaders or by doing the rotas – you, and your gifts, are essential to the ministry of the Church and equal in validity to the gifts of any great Saint you might choose to name.

God gives gifts to his Church so that we might all assist in making life better in the here and now: in seeing the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

In the miracle of the water made wine, a mundane need was met in a way that had cosmic significance. You may or may not witness miraculous occurrences in your own life and ministry but I promise you that what you do in the here and now, in the name of Jesus, is of significance: both for the person or cause you care for, and also because it grows the Kingdom tiny act by tiny act; little prayer by little prayer, cup of tea by cup of tea.

The problems of the world may feel overwhelming at times but you can make a difference; because God makes a difference and the Spirit has given you gifts to use. And remember too that wherever you go as a person of faith, you are also in the company of a whole church community who have gifts to draw on too.

We can do very little in our own strength, but together with God and one another, and using the gifts God has given us collectively, this City can become a place of even greater hope; a place where there is greater equality of opportunity and a place where every resident and student and worker and visitor can come to glimpse something of the intrinsic value they have as a beloved child of God.

And if that sounds like an unachievable aim in the middle of a pandemic then remember that this Church is not lacking in any spiritual gift either. We have already been given all that we need to grow the Kingdom and help transform our community in the next season of life together.

This work will not be quick, this work will not be easy, this work will almost certainly not be finished in our life-time but with God we can make a difference.
God invites the participation of each and every one of us (whether we have discovered our gifts yet or not) to join in his work of making this City and the lives of the individuals within it, better in the here and now.

And right now, at this feast we share, which looks forward to the heavenly wedding banquette – where the wine will never run out – we look for the signs of transformation in our midst and we pray, that as the Spirit is poured out upon bread and wine this morning, it might also be poured out on us too. So that we might be equipped to better respond to the needs of the world because we trust that, in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Spirit, together we can do something about them. Amen.