Good wine, or bad?

     Wow!  What a party!  120-180 gallons of wine?  And good wine at that?  I'd be happy to attend a party like that anytime :)  That was the reaction of a few folks reading this text, anyway.  Our gospel for Sunday comes from John 2, and is the first recorded miracle of Jesus' ministry.  It is also one of the miracles recorded only in John, the first of the signs, and the author tells us that this sign was recorded

so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.  ~ John 20.31

     How does this story help you believe that Jesus is the Messiah?  How does believing this bring you life?  These are questions a group of us pondered this past Sunday morning, and the insights others shared brought a new clarity, a new way of looking at this text.  At least for me.
     One of the insights shared had to do with the wine.  We are the water, says one fellow, and Jesus transforms us into good wine to be shared with others.  The Holy Spirit, by virtue of our baptisms, comes in and changes us so that the world might know the goodness of God.
     Perhaps there is someone out there who, like Jesus' mother, sees that there is something wrong.  And perhaps, like Jesus' mother they ask Jesus to fix it.  (Although Jesus' mother didn't so much ask as rather demand her son do something.)  And so Jesus, albeit seemingly grudgingly, solves the problem. 
     Have you ever been Jesus' solution to a problem?  Has your life ever been the transformation that made the difference for another human being?  My guess is that, at some point or another, all of us have been vessels for Jesus' miracles, whether we know it or not.  We don't always know how God is working in and through us to share God's love.  Which tends to go right along with our story - it would seem that, at least at the time, the only ones who knew about Jesus' miracle were the servants who did what he told them to do. 
     Or, from another angle, perhaps you have been the one doing the asking, like Jesus' mother.  Maybe you have seen a problem and simply trusted that God would provide for your needs and fix it.  And, because of that faith, you were witness to a miracle.  God's transformative work made all the difference in your own life.
     Or, from yet another angle, you were like the bridegroom.  You maybe didn't even know you were out of wine.  Or maybe you did know but didn't think there was anything to be done about it.  And yet, unexpectedly, you were the blessed recipient of God's generous and abundant love.  Can you imagine the embarrassment of running out of wine at your own party?  And can you imagine the relief when someone comes to you and tells you that not only are you not out, but that the wine you are serving is the best and finest of wines?
     There are so many 'or' scenarios in this story.  The one scenario to which I find myself drawn over and over as I think on this text is the one in which I am the water.  Ok - perhaps this is my narcissism coming out here, that everything is always all about me, but  the part that really strikes me about the water being transformed into wine is that it is for the benefit of everyone else.
     How is my life being transformed for the benefit of others?  How are my words and actions pointing not to myself, but to the One who transforms?  In this season of Epiphany we continue to see how the identity and mission of Christ is revealed to the nations, and we see how we are part of that revelation.  So the one question I am left pondering today is, "Am I good wine or bad?"