Dr. King said,
“The arc of the moral universe is long,
but it bends toward justice.”
Y’all are familiar with that quote?
When we take it out of its context –
a Baptist minster doing work
not necessarily expecting
to see the culmination –
we may as well say
water just turns into wine
when you run out of wine.
This passage from John
that we hear the Second Sunday after Epiphany
every three years
is a weird one.
Christmas didn’t become
the celebratory feast for some centers of the church
until the late 400s.
In the interim
they celebrated a triple-stranded tradition
of God’s manifestation in Jesus.
This lectionary year –
Year C –
is when we hear them all.
Epiphany –
we had Eucharist after Commons
on January 6.
Baptism of Jesus –
the First Sunday after Epiphany
every year.
The Wedding at Cana –
two years of leading up to it
and then we get it this year.
I say this text is weird
because there’s so much we don’t know
and can’t really understand.
Commentator Raymond Brown says,
“Theological themes and innuendo
so dominate the Cana narrative
that it is very difficult to reconstruct
a convincing picture
of what is thought to have happened
and the motivation of the characters in the story.”
Who runs out of wine
at a multi-day
feast?
Maybe a host who wasn’t expecting
Jesus and his new crew of disciples
who should have brought some too
but are too poor to bring some.
Before I read Raymond Brown’s commentary
I already felt like a lot
gets projected onto this text.
Oh look, Mary said to do it
so her intercession is super important!
See, Jesus showed up at a wedding this one time.
BOOM!
Sacrament of Matrimony.
Those miss the point
which is neatly tied up
in verse 11 for us.
“Jesus did this,
the first of his signs,
in Cana of Galilee,
and revealed his glory;
and his disciples believed in him.”
Mary may have been certain
that Jesus would intervene –
since she tells the waiters
to do what Jesus says.
But this passage
isn’t about Jesus being able to throw down
or even Jesus doing miracles.
This passage is about Jesus revealing his glory –
a key theme of the season after Epiphany –
and his disciples
Beginning to believe in him.
We’re out of the church season of Advent,
but we’re always in advent in a sense.
Dr. King knew that
when he talked about the arc of the moral universe being long
but it bending toward justice.
Throughout his speeches
he lives in the already/not-yet.
He goes to the mountain top
he sees what is possible,
and lived in his present
where the vision of God’s reign
wasn’t fully manifest yet.
He references Amos
and longs for the time
that justice rolls down like waters
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
At the same time
he is challenges
what he calls the three evils of society:
racism, materialism, and war.
Dr. King was reviled for his work against racism.
Dr. King wasn’t murdered
during a civil rights march, action or demonstration.
Dr. King was martyred
working on behalf of the poor
and supporting striking sanitation workers
in Memphis.
Dr. King was murdered
but not before he and a countless host of others
did what Ella Baker called “spade work.”
It’s like when my brothers and I
had to till “my mom’s” garden with shovels
before my step dad started renting a tiller.
In his recent book
Bring Back Your People:
Ten Ways Regular Folks
Can Put a Dent in White Christian Nationalism,
Aaron Scott –
a cofounder of Chaplains on the Harbor in Aberdeen –
describes spade work as
an “intentional slow build—
where the victory is never about headline-grabbing
or quick and easy wins
but about building up other leaders.” (p.32)
Part of King’s building up other leaders
was also chastising those who challenged him.
In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail,
which is addressed to clergy,
he criticizes white moderates
more than once.
It’s biting
and I hope you’ll read
the whole letter
on your own
wondering which parts
are applicable to ourselves
at this present moment.
I’ll quote one part of it, though
thinking about the arc of the moral universe
and Jesus saying
that his hour had not yet come.
King says,
“Human progress never rolls in
on wheels of inevitability;
it comes through the tireless efforts
of men willing to be co workers with God,
and without this hard work,
time itself becomes an ally
of the forces of social stagnation.
We must use time creatively,
in the knowledge that the time is always ripe
to do right.”
About this passage from John,
Raymond Brown says
that it’s hard to know what happened
because so much of John’s theology
is in play in the writing.
What’s clear, though,
is that none of Jesus life or actions
are by accident.
When he tells Mary that his hour has not yet come,
he’s saying it’s not time for the
crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension.
By demuring from her request
Jesus is making clear
that not even human familial bonds
can interrupt God’s plan and work for him
as the savior of creation.
Mary addressing the servers
to do what he says
emphasizes that Jesus is the one
who is sovereign over it all.
As Jesus makes his glory known
as the church has celebrated
at Epiphany, Jesus’ Baptism, and today
he’s also in the already/not-yet.
His disciples come to believe,
but the time of his glorification
has not yet come.
As we look to Dr. King
hopefully not just today and tomorrow,
we step into that already/not-yet
with him and Jesus.
The arc of the moral universe is long
but it doesn’t bend toward justice on its own.
God has stepped in to time in Jesus
to redeem time and all creation.
God invites us through grace
to work with God
at seeing God’s vision
not because we naturally know how to get there
but because God loves us
and wants to help us thrive.
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.