Lent Exercises: Awkward - Why a Wedding is a Good Image for Life With God.

Weddings can be awkward.  At the first wedding I remember, my then 9-year-old, brother successfully caught the wedding garter.  In our family tradition, this small (largely symbolic) undergarment is tossed to the unmarried men.  Then the bride tosses her wedding bouquet to the unmarried women.  The man who catches the wedding garter is then teased and goaded as he slides the small elastic garter up the leg of the woman who caught the bouquet. 

Neither me nor my brother knew this tradition at the time.  The look of horror on my little brother’s face as his task dawned on him was captured in the wedding album.  

Weddings can be awkward.  They stir powerful emotions.  They make us think of our singleness or marriage. They draw us together and remind us of our separation.  Weddings give us a chance to see ourselves.  We see our hopes, longings, and loves reflected back to us in this couple, under these circumstances.  Perhaps that’s why Jesus’ first sign was at a wedding.  

John 2:1-11 captures the scene in all its awkward humanity.  The wine runs out, a hospitality nightmare.  Jesus’ mother asks him, indirectly but clearly, to do something.  Jesus complains that ‘his hour’ has not come.  Nevertheless, he heeds his mother’s request.  In the end, Jesus provides over a hundred gallons of excellent wine.   This becomes the first of seven, ‘signs,’ in John’s gospel pointing to Jesus’ identity. 

There are layers upon layers in this story.  The wine is a symbol of God’s kingdom.  Its abundance is a symbol of God’s generosity.  The jars it was made in are a symbol of the ceremonial cleansing necessary for communion with God.  The quality of the wine is a symbol of God’s generosity.  This whole sign is thematically and rhetorically connected to Jesus’ crucifixion, where Mary, wine, and the ‘hour’ all return forcefully. 

Why would John (or Jesus for that matter) pack all of these rich themes into an awkward moment at a wedding?  Perhaps Jesus understands us better than we think.  Weddings can be awkward because, humanity is awkward.  We long.  We love.  We connect.  And, in the midst of our brightest moments, we’re negotiating embarrassing family, longing and grief, and the limits we wish we could transcend.  

Jesus reveals his glory at a wedding.  If we can meet God in the midst of our awkward and vulnerable, where can we not meet him?  Can you imagine a God who longs to provide for you in the midst of your messy humanness?