I’m honored to be with you this afternoon.
Perhaps, we’ll learn a little bit more about each other over the next hour.
That’s right.
I was told to fill up an hour.
Just kidding. I don’t want you to be late for dinner.
Let’s see if I can do better with the humor.
Perhaps, you recall the comedian, Red Skelton.
I can remember watching his show on television.
Here is some humor from Mr. Skelton:
All men make mistakes, but married men find out about them sooner.
There are three signs of old age—loss of memory—I forget the other two.
I put on a lot of weight. I was only six and half pounds when I was born.
I married Miss Right. I just didn’t know her first name was Always.
I asked my wife where she wanted to go for our anniversary. She said, “Somewhere I haven’t been in a long time.” I suggested the kitchen.
There is nothing like a bit of humor to distract us from the challenges that might be whirling around us.
During his career, Red Skelton knew it was important for him to help people to laugh.
Mr. Skelton said this: “I personally believe that each of us was put here for a purpose — to build not to destroy. If I can make people smile, then I have served my purpose for God.”
Do you ever wonder what God was thinking when he brought his son, Jesus, into the world?
What was God’s purpose for sending us Jesus?
Was it to frighten us?
Teach us?
Make us think?
Was it to nudge us to understand our purpose in this challenging and complicated world?
Maybe you are familiar with John Chapter 2 verses 1-12.
This is the wedding in Galilee where Jesus changes water into wine. Let’s read through that scripture passage.
Jesus Changes Water Into Wine
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.
He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
In this setting where we are today, I always have a disclaimer, I’m no Biblical scholar or theologian.
I’m just a below average knucklehead who is still trying to figure out why the good Lord put me here.
So with water to wine story, I’m drawn immediately to the presence of Jesus’ mother, Mary.
She notes that the wedding has a little challenge—they have run out of wine.
I wonder if Mary is thinking to herself— I know how to resolve this dilemma, I’ll get my son to work some of his magic.
Maybe it’s just me, but I sense a bit of terseness in Jesus’ response to Mary—“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
Despite that response, Mary says to the servants— “Do whatever he tells you.”
For me, Mary’s response is an indication that she knows that Jesus will not let his mother down.
This past weekend, I was invited to a wedding.
The wedding was for our youngest daughter.
Perhaps, you have watched the remake of the movie, Father of the Bride. This movie starring Steve Martin as George Banks, the father of the bride, clearly illustrates that for a wedding fathers have no rights—their “Miranda” rights are removed.
There is a scene in the movie where George Banks experiences a meltdown—a humorous meltdown. George’s meltdown is grounded in his minimal input for his daughter’s wedding.
Planning for our daughter’s wedding took almost a year.
During that time frame, I could identify with George Banks.
For example, I still do not understand why an invitation to our daughter’s wedding was mailed to our house. I knew she was getting married.
Why did we waste a whopping 78 cents to officially notify us? I filed it with my long list of “fathers have no wedding rights grievances.”
Subsequently, any attempted whine from me about the planning of our daughter’s wedding was met with this frequent rebuttal from my wife: “just chill William.”
Indirectly, “just chill William” is similar to Mary’s instructions to the servants—“do whatever he tells you.”
In the end, for our daughter’s wedding, I did what I was told to do.
Mary says to the servants “do whatever he tells you.”
In my almost seventy three years of living, I wonder if I’ve complied with those words.
Have I been able to do whatever Jesus tells me to do?
When you look back at your lives, have you been able to do whatever Jesus has told you to do?
A few years ago, I began the process to become a local licensed pastor in the Virginia Conference for the United Methodist Church.
At the time, I received exceptional support from Trinity’s senior pastor, Larry Lenow, and my mentor, Katie Gooch, the director of the Pace Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.
That initial support nudged me along, but I became frustrated with the process. I became mired in attempting to understand and respond to the multiple layers of work ahead of me.
So, I bailed out. I quit. I did not do what I felt like Jesus had told me to do.
What might have happened at that wedding in Galilee if the servants had not responded to “do whatever he tells you to do?”
I don’t think Jesus is looking for us to turn water into wine.
However, there are times in our daily living when he needs us to do our part and help people.
At Trinity, we attempt to do our part by helping people through our mission work. Goochland Cares, the Tuckahoe YMCA, the Park at Oak Grove-Bellemeade, the food pantries at Belmont, Sherbourne, and Welborne, the recent United Women In Faith collection for UMCOR care kits, an upcoming youth mission trip to serve people in need in western North Carolina, and the upcoming Joy Circle are examples of “do whatever he tells you to do.”
In case, we didn’t notice, there is another important part of the “water to wine” scripture.
This is the first time that his disciples encounter Jesus performing a miracle. With this conversion of liquids, their journey as believers and followers truly begins.
Being a believer, a follower isn’t always easy.
Sometimes, believers and followers of Jesus are faced with making difficult decisions.
Even Jesus, and his mother, Mary, had to make difficult decisions in their lives.
“Do whatever he tells you to do” impacted them.
How difficult it must have been for Mary to “believe” and trust God with her unexpected pregnancy.
How difficult it must have been for Jesus to “believe” and trust God knowing that Jesus was to die on the cross.
Every month, a copy of Southern Living magazine is delivered to our house. My first read in the magazine is the Rick Bragg column. I look forward to Mr. Bragg’s writing because he usually makes me laugh.
At one time during his career, Mr. Bragg was an accomplished newspaper reporter. In 1996, Mr. Bragg earned a Pulitzer Prize for his work at the New York Times.
Mr. Bragg’s book “Somebody Told Me” is a collection of newspaper articles he has written.
In late October 1994, Mr. Bragg wrote a series of articles about Susan Smith. You might recall that Mrs. Smith was the mother who claimed that her car had been hijacked with her two sons remaining in the car as the hijacker stole the car and drove off.
Howard Wells was the sheriff in Union, South Carolina. In the end, it was Sheriff Wells who was able to get Susan Smith to confess. There was no hijacker and stealing of her boys. Mrs. Smith with her boys in the car drove her car into a local lake where they drowned.
Suspicious of Mrs. Smith from the start, Sheriff Wells who describes himself as “I’m not a smart fellow” was smart enough to know that he had to build a rapport, a trust with Mrs. Smith.
Sheriff Wells’ patience and understanding in working with Mrs. Smith allowed him to tell a lie to catch her.
Sheriff Wells admits “I had a problem telling the lie, but if that’s what it takes, I’d do it again.”(Bragg)
I wonder how Jesus would respond to Sheriff Wells’ “lie?”
How does “do whatever he tells you to do” apply in this set of circumstances?
At the wedding Jesus responded to a plea for help from his mother.
Even though, Jesus might have expressed some initial reluctance to his Mother’s request— he followed through and converted the water to wine.
And yes, Sheriff Wells didn’t like telling the “lie”, but deep inside his soul he knew he had to try this tactic for the sake of those two drowned boys. Sheriff Wells did what his soul, his conscience told him to do to solve a horrible, horrible tragedy.
Remember, Red Skelton stated that he believes each of us was “put here for a purpose.”
The real question for you, me, we, us is will we have the courage “to do whatever he tells us to do” when we are called to help someone?
Let us pray: Father of us all, help us to be better “ to do whatever you tell us to do” to help the people we encounter in our complicated world. Amen
might be baloney 