Brief synopsis of the readings: The Prophet Isaiah writes our first reading and continues this theme of celebration. Zion (Israel) will be celebrated by other nations and “shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord.” Israel will no longer been seen as forsaken or desolate, but instead God’s delight and espoused. In John’s Gospel we see the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, and his first sign (other Gospels call them miracles but John calls them signs). Jesus and Mary were at a wedding when the host ran out of wine. Mary pointed this out to Jesus who responded: “Woman, how does your concern affect me?” At Mary’s instruction the servants bring six stone water jars (each holding 20 to 30 gallons). Jesus told them to fill the jars with water and gave a taste to the headwaiter. The headwaiter tasted the wine and expressed his surprise to the bridegroom: “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.”

Are you getting enough of Isaiah? It seems that between Advent and Christmas we read almost nothing else. To be fair the book of Isaiah was written by at least two and perhaps three different writers. Additionally the imagery in Isaiah enriches this chapter of the Israelites’ history. Today’s reading begins with the idea that Israel will be seen as a leader by other nations, a far cry from their recent history where they were in disarray and exile, and feared for their very existence. As I spoke about last week, the last will now become first.

Isaiah also turns to imagery of a bride. For those of us in happy marriages we will never forget the joy we found when the person we chose also chose us. Our spouse’s choice of us makes us feel blessed, fortunate, and part of a larger plan. It makes us feel that our life is going on as it’s supposed to.

Interestingly enough our Gospel takes place at a wedding. Weddings are wonderful experiences but they also cause great anxiety for the planners. Brides, grooms, their parents, wedding planners and officiants worry greatly about things they can’t control. Will everyone be able to get there? What if it rains or snows? Is the caterer/photographer/wedding planner trustworthy? Will the guests who need to stay sober really stay sober or will they make an epic scene that everyone will remember?

Or what happens if you run out of wine? These days some weddings are dry (no alcohol), some have a no host bar (you pay for your drinks), or an open bar (the host pays for your drinks) and of the dozens of weddings I’ve attended this has never happened. But we can imagine the embarrassment of the host if that happened. Unlike today the host can’t do a Costco run.

And here we find one of the most troubling passages in the New Testament. Mary recognizes the dilemma and also recognizes Jesus’ power. But when she tells him about it, Jesus gives her an answer that nobody I know would have said to his mother: “Woman, how does your concern affect me?” I have a nearly limitless imagination but at no point in my life can I imagine a good outcome had I said this to my mother.

Several human experiences touch most of us, but I think I’m not going on a limb to say that we can all recall times when we’ve said or done something and immediately recognized the damage we’ve done. These events tend to be “growth opportunities” for us when we recognize that we can fix the damage we’ve done.

I think that this happens to Jesus. The two thousand years since the life of Jesus bursts open with debates about when he knew his role as the Messiah. As with all of us disciples we came to our role in God’s Kingdom as a process, as our understanding of our place in the universe (and the mind of God).

I like to think that Jesus’ rude response to Mary caused him to recognize that his role was greater than he thought. He suddenly understood that he was not at the wedding only as a guest but as the person who had the power to make things right. This first sign was not only a sign to us, his disciples, but also to Jesus.

I’m hoping I’m the only one who has had an experience like this. We are unnecessarily rude or we make a poor decision, and in that moment we recognize not only embarrassment but also a glimpse of exactly who we can be if we move beyond our old view of ourselves.

And Jesus did make things right. As a matter of fact he made things better than right. We don’t know how many guests were present at the wedding, but we do know how much wine Jesus made. The servants gathered six jars and each jar held 20 to 30 gallons. When Jesus turned the water into wine he made between 120 to 180 gallons of wine. To translate this to today, a bottle of wine (750 mil) holds 25 ounces of wine. In other words, 120 gallons would fill a little more than 614 bottles of wine. And this is after the wedding guests plowed through all the good stuff.

Clearly Jesus provided more wine than was needed. But this wasn’t just about the wedding, it was about the Kingdom of God. Not only was this wine of superior but there was an abundance of it.

The people who ridiculed Jesus during his life looked at his signs or miracles as merely “magician’s tricks.” But they weren’t. Jesus’ signs pointed to his Kingdom, whether he healed the sick, raised the dead, or turned water into wine. His signs pointed to a place where even an embarrassed bridegroom has more than he needs.

So where does that leave us? Well, we can’t perform these signs or miracles. We can’t turn water into wine anymore than we can turn turn five loaves and 2 fishes into an unlimited supply. But that doesn’t mean we are entirely powerless.

We can save people from embarrassment. We can intervene in situations; perhaps here we are the person who slips out from the wedding and goes to Costco without any of guests know about it. Jesus’ second sign came in the 4th chapter where Jesus healed the ill son of a royal official. Regardless of who this “royal official” was, he clearly was not one of Jesus’ disciples. And yet Jesus saves his son. Perhaps this calls us to reach out beyond our inner circle. We know we can, we just have to want to.

As we begin our journey into 2016, let’s look at those opportunities where our actions, our signs, can become miracles.