Saving the Best for Last

Devotional Reflection, Friday, December 29, 2023

The week of the fourth Sunday of Advent

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

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.

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings: (BCP, 941)

AM Psalm 18:1-20; PM Psalm 18:21-50

2 Samuel 23:13-17b; 2 John 1-13; John 2:1-11

Today we celebrate the Feast of Thomas Becket. (See below.)

David's Reflections

John's Gospel makes music with symbols.   This miracle story introduces us to one of his most pervasive symbol systems, water.  In John 1, John the Baptist said of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  At the end of the Gospel, blood and water flow from the pierced side of the dead body of Jesus.  In between, water recurs as a symbol.  (See John 3, 5, 7 for examples.)

Here, Jesus attends a wedding at which the host has underestimated the amount of wine it would take to entertain the guests.  Jesus directs the servants to fill six stone water pots to the brim and to draw out water to take to the chief steward of the wedding.  Somewhere in that process, the water gets transformed to wine.

The water pots usually were employed to contain water for purifying utensils and food and for the ritual washing of the hands.  There are six of them, six one short of seven, the number for perfection.  In short, the symbol system speaks of the purifying and cleansing that removes sin and its impurity.  The cleansing rituals and sacrifices of Jesus’ people could speak of that cleansing but could not ultimately effect it. Hence the number six, one short of completeness or perfection. Only the Lamb of God could take away the sin of the world.

Later in chapter two, Jesus cleanses the Temple and presents himself as the new Temple.  In John 3, he confronts Nicodemus, the best that this ritual piety of cleansing can produce.  Nicodemus hears Jesus say that unless he is begotten of water and the Spirit he cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.  The cleansing water from those six water pots would be powerless to effect the cleansing and forgiveness Nicodemus needed;  only the Lamb of God could transform that water to wine;  only faith in him could effect Nicodemus’ cleansing.

No matter what stains might have soaked themselves into the fabric of our souls, Jesus can cleanse us.  Guilt cannot resist the new wine of his presence and saving love.  Shame and feelings of personal inadequacy and unworthiness cannot survive the Lamb's touch.  What would Jesus do with those smoldering feelings of regret and emptiness?  He would snuff out that smoldering heat and remove them.  Our awakening to his presence within can stir a hope wearied about the possibility of such a cleansing.  His loving activity can enable our faith in his saving love to deliver us.

Imagine how you feel after you refresh yourself with a shower or bath. Extend that feeling to your inner being. God’s saving love functions like a cleansing bath to our memories of failure and shameful inadequacy. When t he memories recur, the associated feelings of guilt and shame will not because that linkage has been healed.

St. John of the Cross closed his poetic hymn, The Dark Night of the Soul, with these words:

All things I then forgot,

My cheek on Him who for my coming came;

All ceased and I was not,

Leaving my cares and shame

Among the lilies, and forgetting them.*

Collect of the Day, The fourth Sunday of Advent

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.  BCP, 212

Today we celebrate the Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury and martyr (died 29 December 1170 CE).  You will find a biographical note, readings, and prayers (and a sermon of Becket’s) at the web link http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Thomas_Becket.htm

Collect of the Feast of Thomas Becket

O God, our strength and our salvation, who called your servant Thomas Becket to be a shepherd of your people and a defender of your Church: Keep your household from all evil and raise up among us faithful pastors and leaders who are wise in the ways of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ the shepherd of our souls, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

A Collect for Early Evening

Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)

Daily Office Gospel, John 2:1-11

2:1On 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.

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer