READING:  Luke 6:27-38                                                                                                               
[Jesus said:] 27“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. 
  32“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 
  37“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” 
 
Joseph’s brothers did him wrong, no question. The choice they made, out of jealousy, resentment, annoyance, vengeance, has no excuse, no matter how arrogant and presumptuous Joseph was as a young man, no matter how unfair Jacob’s favoritism of his young son. And the damage they did was significant. For years, Joseph lived in slavery. He endured physical hardship and even abuse, false accusations by Potifar’s wife, ridicule for the gift of dream interpretation that God had given him. And Jacob lived all those years thinking that his beloved son was dead.
 
Ultimately, Joseph’s fortune turns around. Potifar comes to believe him, and not only releases him from prison, and sets him free from slavery, but puts him in charge of guiding the whole country through the famine that had come over the land. We aren’t told how it happens for Joseph. Maybe it was the time that had passed since his brothers sold him. Maybe it was because the physical slavery and hardship that resulted from his brothers’ betrayal had ended. Maybe it the great position of power and privilege that he found himself in. One way or another, by the time Joseph’s brothers come to him desperately seeking the food they will need to survive the famine, Joseph has forgiven them for what they did. He has been set free not only from his physical prison, but from the emotional prison of resentment and anger. Truly, a miracle had happened.
 
When North Minneapolis resident Mary Johnson’s son Laramiun was shot by Oshea Israel, another teenager in the neighborhood, in 1993, forgiveness and love was the last thing on their mind. In an interview with People magazine in 2011, Mary and Oshea shared their experience. Mary said, “At the trial I hated Oshea. I thought he was an animal and deserved to be caged. I was so angry when the judge charged him with second degree murder, instead of first degree.”
 
For his part, Oshea felt that Laramiun was to blame for the shooting, and that if Mary had raised him better the conflict that led to Laramiun’s death and Oshea’s imprisonment would not have happened. As time went on, Mary’s anger and depression and grief led her to become a recluse, and ultimately she knew she needed God’s help to forgive the man who had killed her son. After 12 long years, and countless hours of tears and prayer, Mary visited Oshea in prison, and as they shared their pain with each other, God transformed them, and love and forgiveness became possible in the midst of anger and grief.
 
Mary founded From Death to Life, a program that offers hope and reconciliation to others who have lost children to violence through support groups, prayer walks, and community gatherings that celebrate life and forgiveness. Oshea was paroled in 2010, and today, Mary and Oshea live next door to each other, and share their story of healing from podiums and pulpits around the world, offering hope to many who have experienced the same grief. Oshea, having recognized his own guilt and responsibility for Laramiun’s death, said, “I caused her pain, but we are loving our way through it.”[i] Their journey was far from over. There was much healing yet to take place. But, a miracle had happened.
 
This is a dramatic example that may seem out of reach, and when left to our own resources, it is. Fortunately, it is precisely where we fall short that God steps in. For us as humans, on our own, forgiveness is not possible, but with God, miracles of love and healing are possible, and they happen every day.
 
Forgiveness is not an easy thing. If it were, the Bible would not need to include so many stories about it, such as Joseph’s story today, and Jesus would not have continually taught his listeners, and us, to forgive. If forgiveness was something we could just choose once and for all, and be done, there would be no need to talk about it, right? But it is hard. And there is much to learn from what scriptures share about how we respond when we are wounded. There is much we can learn from the courageous vulnerability of those like Mary and Oshea who share their pain and anger, and the miracle of their healing.
 
There are several things about forgiveness revealed in the stories we have heard today. First of all, forgiveness takes time, and sometimes distance. For Mary, it was years of living in deep bitterness before she could even think of talking to Oshea, and Joseph lived in Egypt apart from his family for years before facing the brothers who had betrayed him. Mary tried to force forgiveness, but it took time and the healing of the Spirit for it to truly begin to happen.
 
Secondly, when forgiveness happens, it is not because the person who did harm demands it. When we have harmed another, our job is not to require them to forgive us, but to own up to what we have done, and commit to being different, no matter how that person feels about us. When we have been harmed, our job is to bring our woundedness to God for healing, and ask for help in being freed from our own prison of pain, anger, and resentment. Joseph, with God’s grace, extended mercy to his brothers. Mary, with God’s help, came to forgive Oshea. Oshea, with God’s help, came to understand how much harm he had done, and commit to living a different life.
 
Finally, this process of forgiving is certainly a gift of grace from the person who was harmed to the person who did the harm. But first and foremost, when we have been harmed, forgiveness sets us free from our own pain, making space for healing to continue. Jesus calls us to forgiveness because he wants us to be whole. Jesus calls us to forgiveness because God’s greatest desire is for us to live in love.
 
Forgiveness is not easy, and there are times when the harm done has been so great that boundaries and distance and even separation are necessary for healing and wholeness to take place. Forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same thing. Whether together or separately, miracles of forgiveness and healing happen, every day. It takes time, and patience, and is only possible with God’s help.
 
We are, in our humanity, people who mess up often, who hurt one another, and fail to live in the love of the God who made us for love. And we are, in our humanity, beloved children of God who continue to grow and experience the miracles of community and forgiveness and healing that God has for us. And we can walk this journey together, trusting the God of Jacob, and Joseph, and Mary and Oshea, to guide us on the way. Thanks be to God!
 
 
[i] Margaret Nelson Brinkhaus and Lorenzo Benet. “How I Forgave My Son’s Murderer.” People Magazine, September 12, 2011, 84-86.

GOSPEL: Luke 5:1-11 
1Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
That day, Simon Peter was doing what he always did on any ordinary day. He, along with his shipmates and partners, had been hard at work, trying to make a living and provide for their families, as many of us do. He had no reason to expect, when he got up, and said goodbye to his wife, and left home, that this day would be any different from any other day. He got in the boat, set out to sea, and cast the nets, hoping to catch enough fish to pay the taxes he would owe the tax collector, with some left over to cover his family’s needs. Sounds familiar, right?
All night they fished, casting their nets again, and again, and again, and—nothing. Finally, they gave up, came back in to shore, and began to wash the nets, hoping for better luck the next time they went out. As they cleaned up so they could go home after a long, unproductive, but quite ordinary night, the first unexpected thing happened. Jesus, looking for a way to preach to the large crowd that had gathered to hear him, came to Simon Peter and asked him for a favor.
Out they went, so Jesus could speak to the crowd from the boat. And when he was done, Jesus told Simon Peter to head out to deep waters and let out his nets again. And in spite of his weariness, the worry of not bringing anything home to his family, and annoyance at the itinerant preacher who was telling this career fisherman how to do his job, something about Jesus had drawn Simon Peter in. Or perhaps, he just wanted to prove Jesus wrong. “If you say so!” And then the second unexpected thing of that otherwise ordinary day happened.
Thank goodness Simon Peter wasn’t alone on the water. His partners had gone back out with them, and between the two boats they just barely managed to get back to shore, hauling the biggest load of fish they had ever seen. And like Isaiah of the unclean lips, and like Paul who had persecuted followers of Jesus, like almost all of the prophets of God, and like so many of us, Simon Peter falls to his knees and says, “Wait a minute, what are you doing? I can’t do this! Go find someone else, you’ve got the wrong person.” The funny thing is, Simon Peter doesn’t even know what Jesus is going to ask him to do yet!
And just like that, Simon Peter’s whole life is changed. He went out that day to catch fish to provide for his family. And while he was out, Jesus showed up, and Simon Peter became one of his followers, a “fisher of people.”
And as we claim in our baptisms, whether we believe we can do it or not, regardless of how much the very idea may terrify us, we too are called to be fishers of people. What does that even mean? Because it certainly doesn’t mean we go around throwing nets over everyone we meet, pulling them into our boat, and hauling them back to shore!
For one thing, if we are to be fishers of people, we have to step out of our comfort zone. That’s part of why this is such a scary thing. We have to leave the solid ground of the shore, with its steadiness and predictability and familiarity, and head out to the sometimes chaotic unknown of the deep waters. Isaiah answers God’s call by saying, “Here am I. Send me,” not knowing where God may send him. Paul, who was raised as a Pharisee and taught to be suspicious of anything that seemed to threaten what he knew, left his comfortable upbringing far behind as he went out to share the good news and promise of God-with-us in Jesus. And in a matter of a few hours, Simon Peter has put down the fishing nets he has used his whole life in order to follow Jesus.
So following Jesus and becoming a fisher of people means leaving our comfort zone, letting go of what we think we know, and trusting that God will lead us when we don’t know the way. That doesn’t mean that all of us are called to physically travel to other places as missionaries, although some certainly are, and we at Bethel continue to support those sent to live and minister with the people of God all over the world.
Leaving our comfort zone, being fishers of people, also means simply seeing people we may normally overlook, and extending the grace and love of God in unexpected ways, right in our own neighborhoods, schools, workplaces. We are called to share the good news of God’s love with everyone we meet, by our words, and by our actions. This is something we do outside of these four walls, as Jesus tells Simon Peter to set out for deeper waters, but also within, as we strive to welcome everyone who enters this space.
Being a fisher of people means putting others before ourselves, listening and reaching out especially to those who may look, talk, think, and live differently from us. This isn’t always comfortable or easy, and we will make mistakes. In the process we can learn about others, and ourselves, and God, as we see the beauty and diversity of God’s creation in the unknown of the deep water.
“Do not be afraid,” Jesus tells Simon Peter. Just like Simon Peter had his partners to help him with his unexpectedly large catch of fish, we also have each other as we seek to follow Jesus. This is something we do together, in community. Jesus does not promise that being a fisher of people will be easy. But Jesus does promise to be with us, and teach us, and guide us, no matter what unexpected things may happen along the way.
Thanks be to God!

​Luke 4:21-30                                                                                                                   
 
21Then [Jesus] began to say to [all in the synagogue in Nazareth,] “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” 24And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
 
When the passage from Corinthians was read today, many of you likely remembered at least one wedding where that reading was central to the service, perhaps a close friend, or your child, or sibling, or maybe even your own wedding. “Love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.” Rest in that memory for a moment, thinking about the couple you witnessed, the beauty of the dresses and tuxes, the stories of how the couple met and got engaged, parent-child dances, and the happiness of that day spent celebrating the hope for the future they will have together.
 
And now, let’s take a step forward, and reflect on what this passage from Corinthians, and the other readings today, tell us about love, and about God—because when we hear this passage at weddings, it is easy to stay in the place of present joy, hope, and happiness experienced on a day of celebrating the lives of those getting married and the future that lays before them as a couple, and forget how complicated love can be.
 
And it is important to remember that this letter from Paul is not actually written for engaged couples coming to get married. Paul is writing to a community of faith that is struggling to figure out how to live together as followers of Jesus—he is writing to people who, probably like all of us, struggle with impatience and arrogance and selfishness and resentment, and need to be reminded of how God calls us to be in the world—the “still more excellent way of love.”
 
Far from being an easy thing, love can be really hard and challenging. This passage is not describing an emotion that we feel only in particular times and places. The love Paul is talking about is not a love we feel only for certain people, who we have found to be worthy, and withhold from those who have not earned it. This love is not time-limited and fragile, dependent on circumstances.
 
Paul, as he writes to the Corinthians and offers them guidance for their lives together, is teaching them about what love means in a community living with conflict, with jealousy and resentments and impatience and pride and all of the other human things that make life in community so challenging. It is exactly into the midst of barriers to love that the love of God enters in and transforms us and our relationships.
 
Love, Paul tells the Corinthians and us, is about making a choice to endure, believe, be patient, kind, tolerant, truthful, to not insist on our own way, to not hold resentment. Love is an action, a commitment, that must be practiced, in all things, every day. Not just when it is easy, but precisely and most profoundly when it is most difficult. Even impossible. Love is what we choose when we look at one we think of as an enemy, and choose, with God’s help, to see them and respond to them as a fellow child of God.
 
And when we think this is beyond our capacity, when we encounter a person or situation that sparks every bit of jealousy or resentment or woundedness or rage into a blazing fire within us that threatens to destroy everything in its path, we are reminded that on our own, in our humanity, we will never be capable of living out this seemingly impossible ideal. On our own, we cannot love in the way Paul describes.
 
This human life we live, and the relationships and community we share, are complicated and sometimes messy. Living into love does not take this away, and there are times when love means making choices that are equally complex and messy, and sometimes we come to realize that the most loving thing we can do, for the good of ourselves and our families, is to set boundaries, or to divorce or end relationships that have become toxic to everyone involved.
 
And Paul, with his awareness of his own human weakness, certainly knew this. He was, after all, offering wisdom not to a people living this out perfectly, but a people who were finding their life in community hard to manage.
 
So many of the prophets—Moses, and Elijah, and Mary, and Esther—felt they didn’t have what it takes to live the life God calls us to. And God never seems to say, “oh, you’re right, you aren’t the right person after all. Get out of the way, and I’ll find someone else to do this instead.” God sent Aaron and the seventy-seven leaders to Moses not to take the burden away from Moses, but to share the load. Elijah had Elisha, Mary had Elizabeth, and Mordecai encouraged Esther in the challenges they faced as they spoke the truth of the love of God in their lives.
 
And to all of them, God promises to be with them, to help and guide them in the task he set before them. In our first reading from Jeremiah, when Jeremiah claims that he can’t possibly do what he is being called to do, that he doesn’t have the words, God empowers Jeremiah, and promises him that he will never have to speak on his own. And God promises the same thing to us.
 
St. Francis prayed, “Make me an instrument of YOUR peace,” knowing he could not do it on his own, asking God to bring peace through him. And we can join him in that prayer . . . “where there is hatred in this world, in this community, in this room, let me bring YOUR love” not our own. And we can trust that God will show us how to love. God will make it possible for us to do the impossible, for this is how it has always been.
 
Love, Paul tells us, will never end. Love, Faith, and Hope will abide, even when we in our humanity fall short, because the love of God will not fail, even when we do. Thanks be to God!
 

Luke 4:14-21
14Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
August 28, 1963, 56 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr stood before thousands on the National Mall for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and delivered a speech—a sermon, really—that would become one of the most famous of Dr. King’s messages for the people, laying out his hope for the future of our country, one where unity and justice would become lived reality for all. It is still today common household knowledge. I bet most of you already know what I am thinking of. Say it with me now: I have a dream.
 
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
 
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
 
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
 
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
 
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
 
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.
 
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
 
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
 
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
 
This might be considered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s keystone address, in which he provided the core focus and hope and purpose for all of the ministry he had done, and all he was to do, during the 10 years or so that he led in public life.
 
Some 2,000 years before Dr. King spoke those famous words, another preacher stood before a crowd gathered in a synagogue in Nazareth, and gave what might be considered his keystone sermon, in which he provided the core focus and hope and purpose for all of the ministry he would do, over the three years or so of his public life.
 
When Jesus entered the synagogue that day, he had just come out of the desert, where he had spent 40 days and 40 nights getting really clear on who he was and what his purpose was. The devil had tempted him, trying to get him to focus on being popular, on having great power, on being seen as relevant, even spectacular, throwing himself down from a mountain cliff so the angels could catch him as he fell. And in all of it, the Spirit was with him, and Jesus kept saying that it was about God, and not his own glory. About trusting, and not testing, God. It was about knowing that the Word of God is what is most important. 40 days and 40 nights later, hungry, thirsty, exhausted, Jesus comes out of the desert, goes to Galilee, and begins teaching, and soon after gives the first sermon recorded in the Gospel of Luke.
 
The Word of the God has been given to us as our guide, to lead us forward together. Jesus lived and breathed that Word. The text he reads for his first sermon is from Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." After reading his keynote text, he tells his listeners, and us, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
 
As we hear in our portion of Luke today, the initial reaction is favorable, and they ask themselves if this can really be Joseph and Mary’s son. Then, Jesus makes sure that they understand just how challenging these words are. Because as always, Jesus’ first concern, and God’s first concern, is for those who are oppressed, hungry, imprisoned, poor. For those impacted by the injustice of the world. Just as Dr. King spoke hope to those who needed it most, the Spirit has anointed Jesus NOT to be a golden hometown hero, but to bring hope to the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed. And after Jesus makes this message clear, they try to throw him off a cliff.
 
Because this message is not necessarily the easiest to hear and embrace, for those of us who have privilege in this world. It is, however, a message that can give us focus, as followers of Jesus, as people of faith who strive to live in the Spirit of God. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” says Jesus. The Spirit is on Jesus. And we know, as we claim in our baptisms, that the Spirit of God is on us, too! We too are anointed to bring good news to the poor. We too are sent to proclaim release to the captives. We too are called to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind. We too are called to let the oppressed go free, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
 
In the midst of this time of change and transition that we of Bethel and Immanuel Lutheran Parish are in, it is the perfect time for us to hear Jesus’ first sermon, as he tells us who he is and why he is here. As we go into our Annual Congregational meeting, and reflect on the past year and dream together about the next, it is the perfect time for us to claim, as Jesus did, that we are anointed by God to serve and live into God’s kingdom, which as Dr. King said, is a kingdom of freedom, equality, justice, abundance for all of God’s children.
 
So, as we wonder together where God is leading us, and what the future will bring, we do not wander alone in the desert. The Spirit is with us, the Word of God guides us, and we can dream together with courage and faith in the one who has anointed to share in bringing the good news. Thanks be to God!

John 2:1-11
2On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
 
If there is one thing I have learned about Bethel Lutheran Church in the time I have been here, it is this: You all love a good feast! Whether it be the large-scale meal for hundreds that is the lutefisk dinner, carefully prepared and lovingly served, the monthly Men In Mission breakfasts, or the treats served after worship at the Little Falls Care Center or after Sunday worship here at Bethel, food is central to our life together. And what a marvelous thing that is!
 
Sometimes we can settle in to an image of God that can tend towards the utilitarian—our daily needs are met, we come to worship, we serve our community, we are forgiven and restored when we fall short, we support one another in times of need especially. And all of this is certainly true. But this story of the Wedding at Cana reveals something very important about our God, come to us in Jesus. To see it clearly, we need to get a good picture of where Jesus was and what was happening.
 
When we think of weddings, we may typically think of 100-200 people come together for a few hours, for the ceremony and a reception with music and dancing. There are gifts and toasts, and food and wine, and then at the end of the evening, everyone goes home. The Wedding at Cana that Jesus attended had food and drink and wine and dancing, of course, but on a completely different scale from what we usually expect.
 
This was no Saturday afternoon gathering, but rather a seven-day long feast, with hundreds of people, eating, drinking, even (so the steward in our story says) getting a little drunk! Many of the guests travelled long distances to be there, and stayed several days, and it was a point of honor for the host, with the help of local family and community, to provide for all the needs of the guests while they were gathered.
 
But more than that, the wedding feast was about abundance. There are no limits to the revelry here as family, friends, neighbors join in unbridled celebration with the newly married couple. No worries, or stress, or responsibilities (for the guests, at least). Joy, joy, joy!
 
In the middle of all this, the wine runs out, and Mary is the first to notice. She calls this to Jesus’ attention, and when Jesus resists, I can imagine her thinking: “You owe me. Remember those three days I searched for you in Jerusalem and found you in the temple, of all places? The panic we felt, the exhaustion of walking and looking everywhere for you. For three days. You owe me!” And then to the servants, “Do what he says.”
  
The fact that Mary goes to Jesus, rather than to the chief steward who is responsible for overseeing the feast, is interesting in itself. I think she knew, somehow, that Jesus would have a solution to the dilemma. When Mary visits Elizabeth while waiting Jesus’ birth, she proclaims her belief in a God that can do amazing things, a God who keeps promises, a God who cares about our lives and well-being. She believes that God in Jesus cares not only about the needs of the guests, who need the wine to drink in a land that is short on water, but that God rejoices with us when we celebrate. Mary also believed that the world was ready for what Jesus would show us about God.
 
And Jesus, our God-with-us in human form, having initially questioned whether or not he should step in to solve the problematic lack of wine, decides it is time after all. The enormous jugs are filled with water, and when a cup is drawn, it is wine. And not just any wine, but a wine so good that the chief steward is left to wonder why it was saved for last! God is full of surprises, always, and this is no exception. Having surprised us with his birth as a vulnerable, poor, baby, and then presented himself to John the Baptist for Baptism along with all of the crowds of people doing the same, Jesus now reverses our expectations again by serving the best wine when the guests had already been celebrating for several days. Mary’s faith in Jesus—in God—has not been misplaced. A mother always knows!
  
In this first action of his public ministry, Jesus shows us a God of abundance, and more than that, a God who, like we at Bethel, can appreciate a good party, with lots of food and drink and music and celebration. Jesus himself was a guest at the party, enjoying the feast along with the rest of the guests. And we are invited into the joyful abandon of the wedding at Cana, to celebrate life and abundance!
 
And, if we pay attention, we notice that not everyone at the party was aware of the miracle that had taken place with the water turning into wine. The only ones who noticed were the servants, those considered invisible to most of the wedding guests, and the disciples, who were close to Jesus. Once again, it is not those who have the most power and wealth and privilege to whom Jesus first reveals himself, but to those who are often overlooked.
 
And so, Jesus’ public ministry has begun—with a feast! And we are invited to join in the celebration, along with the rest of Jesus’ disciples. And, we are called to be like Mary—seeing the need of the world, knowing and trusting in the abundance of God, and in that trust bringing prayers to God, asking God to continue to provide as He has promised.  With a God who revealed himself in Jesus at the Wedding in Cana, we can trust that the food and wine will not run out, and make sure everyone around us is invited to share in the joy!
 
Thanks be to God!

Matthew 2:1-12
2In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” 7Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
9When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
We have made it to Epiphany! And, unlike the Christmas story in the Bible which doesn’t actually mention gifts, Epiphany is in a sense all about gifts. To be honest, I have always wondered about the gifts the wise people offered to Mary and Joseph the new parents, and the baby Jesus. What would they be able to do with gold, and frankincense, and myrrh, anyway? I got a good laugh when I saw a meme on Facebook the other day that suggested that, after the Wise Men had brought their gifts to Mary and Joseph and Jesus, the Wiser Women also came bearing gifts, but of a different kind: they brought diapers, and formula, and meals for a week! So much more practical, right?
And then there’s the Little Drummer Boy, who according to the song, came to the baby Jesus’ side and also gave him a gift—a drum solo. Now, I am not a parent, but I know a few, and I think you would be hard pressed to find any parent who would welcome a visitor playing a drum solo for their baby, especially when sleep is already so hard to come by for parents of a new born!
Before we get too hard on the original gifts-givers for their gifts, though, it is worth noting that the gifts of the wise people, the gold, frankincense, and myrrh, had great value. Scripture doesn’t tell us how they used those gifts, but they do say that the family left Bethlehem for Egypt as refugees without going home to Nazareth first, bringing nothing with them but what they could carry on foot and donkey, and the gifts of the wise people could very well have given them the means to survive the journey and get themselves settled for their several year stay in a foreign land. So given the circumstances, the gifts the wise men had to offer the family—items of wealth, impractical as they may appear—may actually have been just what they needed after all.
And about that drum solo. The second verse of the Little Drummer Boy says, “Little baby, I am a poor boy too, I have no gift to bring that’s fit to give a king, shall I play for you, on my drum.” The third verse goes on to say that the boy played his best for the baby, giving all he had to honor the newborn. And so, as crazy as it might sound to anyone who has parented a newborn baby, maybe the drummer boy had the right idea, too.
We have reflected for the last few weeks on the gift that we have received at Christmas, knowing God’s presence in our lives every day, being in relationship with a God who knows exactly what it means to be human, witnessing the breaking in of a God who promises to transform our world, and us. So, it is really only fitting that we spend some time thinking about what we can give to Jesus, and how. In the days of the maji, the star led the wise people straight to the stable where Jesus lay, and they offered their gifts directly to the newborn, giving what they had. The Little Drummer of the song does the same, giving the best that he was to the child in the manger in front of him.
Here we are, some 2000 years later. Assuming that most of us don’t have a store of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to offer, and that Mary and Joseph wouldn’t have much use for diapers now even if we could get them to Bethlehem, how are we to go about bringing gifts to celebrate the birth of the Son of God in our midst today? And, what should we bring?
We don’t have to travel to Bethlehem, as the wise people did, to find Jesus. Today, the star leads us not only to foreign lands, but to Christ in our midst, all around us, in every moment. In our church family here at Bethel and the worship and fellowship we share together, absolutely. And also, in our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces and schools, in all the world around us.
If we pay attention, the star is always leading us to where our unique gifts are needed most. And just as the wise people and the drummer boy did, we are invited to give of what we have to honor Immanuel, God with Us. The wise people had wealth and shared it, the drummer boy had no wealth but had a gift of music, and he shared that.
What do we have to offer, as a gift to the God who showed up as a babe to transform us and our world? What do you have to share with your family, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, or the person checking you out at the grocery store?
​On this day of Epiphany, as we remember the gifts given to the Holy Family by the wise people, let us take a few minutes to think of what we have to give, and commit to intentionally sharing the gifts that we have—the gifts that we are—with Christ in our midst.

​Jesus’ Baby Book
 
Luke 2:41-52
41Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50But they did not understand what he said to them. 51Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
We don’t know much about Jesus’ childhood, really. Luke provides us with a detailed story of Jesus’ birth—where he was born, who was there, the shepherds visiting after the angel came to them. And, we are told in Matthew of the visit of the wise people, and the Holy Family leaving soon after for Egypt, when Jesus was probably no more than a couple of years old. Then, back in Luke, in today’s gospel, we have a story of Jesus around the age of 12, leaving his parents and going to the temple, where they finally find him. And then, nothing, until Jesus is somewhere around 30 years old, and he begins his public ministry.
 
One can imagine Jesus’ baby book, the first several pages full of pictures from his early days, a note stuck in the back about how Mary and Joseph found him in the temple when he was 12, and then, blank pages until he was a grown man and the world around him started to really take notice of what he was saying and doing. So, parents, if you ever feel guilty about not having a complete baby book for each of your children, don’t worry, you aren’t the only one!
 
But let’s go back to the scene at the temple, and Jesus’ wandering away from his parents. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph searched for Jesus for three days. Now, when I was young, my grandmother was visiting us and babysitting while my parents were out of town. All of a sudden, my younger brother Phil was nowhere to be found. Panic ensued, as my grandmother started looking for him anywhere she could think, enlisted the neighbors to help, and we all went around yelling his name. They were just on the verge of calling the police when someone finally thought to look in the boat, which sat in the driveway with a cover on it to keep rain from getting in. Sure enough, my younger brother, who loved (and still loves) boats, had managed to undo enough snaps on the cover to slip inside, and he had climbed in and taken a nap. Found at last. It probably felt like forever to my poor grandmother, who was dreading the thought of having to call my parents to let them know she had lost their child, but really, it was likely only about 20 minutes or so.
 
Mary and Joseph searched for Jesus for three days! Three days of walking, asking everyone they encountered if they had seen Jesus, trying to come up with more ideas of where to look, imagining the worst. If my grandmother dreaded calling my parents, Mary must have been horrified at the thought of having to account to God for losing track of His son!
 
And then, after all of that, they found him, confidently and clearly explaining the scriptures to the temple teachers, while they asked him questions and were astounded at his wisdom, and the young Jesus seemingly unconcerned about how desperately his parents must have been searching for him. It is no wonder then, that Mary is at once flooded with relief, shocked at finding him in the temple, where she and Joseph hadn’t thought to look, and angry at seeing him so calm when they had been so worried about him. This is not a peaceful, serene Mary, but one as frantic as my grandmother was at losing my brother, as panicked as any of us would be if we could not find a child in our care. And so, Mary calls Jesus, the 12 year old Son of the living God, to account. “How could you do this to us? Wander away for so long? Did you not ever once think about how terrified we would be, searching for you all this time?”
 
Jesus’ answer doesn’t really satisfy his parents, as they don’t understand it, but as we listen today to Jesus’ words we notice that at the age of 12 Jesus already related to God as his father, and knew he belonged in his father’s house—an unusual thought at the time. Luke also tells us that, having wandered away from his parents so disrespectfully, and having been called out by Mary for having done so, Jesus went home with them and obeyed them, and grew up and learned and gained wisdom, as we hopefully all do. And the next we hear of Jesus, he is an adult, and preparing to enter public life, after so many quiet years of living the seemingly ordinary life of a young Jewish boy/man in first century Palestine.
 
And so, we know that Jesus did not just go straight from innocent baby to preacher who was known to everyone around, including the Roman leaders, with nothing in between. Jesus lived, as we do, with parents, family, friends, work, Synagogue life, school, and everything else that went along with being human, just like we do. He upset his parents, as all children do. He grew up, as we all do.
 
From this small snippet we have about the adolescent Jesus, we are assured again that in Jesus, we have a God who knows exactly what it means to be human. And Mary and Joseph raised Jesus just as all Jewish children around them were being raised, loving him, teaching him, bringing him to the Synagogue, and yes, freaking out when they thought he was in danger.
 
In the midst of this ordinary life we lead, knowing Jesus means that God is right here with us, not just in the big things, but in all of the ordinary everyday things that go along with being human. Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, shows us that there is no place and no thing where God is not. And this is the good news of Christmas for us as Christians—in Jesus, we are never alone on our human journey, because God is there, in the tiniest details of our daily life. With Mary and Joseph, we can ponder all of these things in our hearts, and grow in our awareness of God in our midst. Thanks be to God!