God's Extravagance by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

You can’t out give God. That is the message for today. God will always find a way to bless you with more.

John’s Gospel reports many signs that Jesus offered which pointed to his supernatural powers. Today’s story tells about the first of those signs: the changing of water into wine at the wedding in Cana.

So the story goes, Jesus was attending the wedding with his mother. His disciples were there too. The wedding was in Cana, not far from his home in Nazareth. After a while the wedding celebration was still going full steam ahead, but they were about to run out of wine. Jesus’ mother came to him and told him. At first Jesus said, “What do I care? It’s not my time yet, Mother. Don’t’ push.” He was insinuating that it was not time for him to make a show of his abilities. However, Jesus must have changed his mind because right away he told the servants to fill up some large stoneware pots with water. These were pots usually reserved for cleansing rituals. Again, they were BIG pots, holding twenty to thirty gallons of water.

The servants filled the pots with water. Jesus had them fill pitchers from the pots and take the pitchers to the host of the wedding. When the host tasted what was in the pitchers, it was the finest wine. He commended the bridegroom saying that most people serve the good wine first and then bring out the cheap wine when everyone is drunk and won’t know the difference. But this bridegroom, says the host, has saved the best for last. Because of this sign, we’re told, the people got a first glimpse of Jesus’ glory and his disciples believed in him.

What does this sign tell us about Jesus? When he does something, he does not do it half-way, he does it extravagantly. He could have just made enough wine to get through the celebration, but he made more than enough. He made so much wine I’m sure they did not know what to do with it all. They probably extended the wedding celebration longer than expected because they had so much good wine to drink. Jesus sure knows how to throw a party.

We see this extravagance and generosity at other places in scripture, don’t we? Do you remember the time the workers get hired, some at the beginning of the day, and some mid-morning, and some mid-day; others mid-afternoon and then some when there is only one hour of work left? The ones who get hired when there is only one hour of work left get paid the same amount of money as those who worked all day. When the workers complain Jesus says it was a fair wage for a day. Why should they complain if others get paid generously? He is all about extravagance and generosity. This is how God is with God’s love.

We see this again in the story of the Prodigal Son. When the son returns, after wasting away his whole inheritance, the father, who represents God in the story, greets him with welcome arms and throws a big party in his honor. We see extravagant love again.

There is a film that is one of my favorites, about extravagant love. It’s an old film from 1987 called Babette’s Feast. The setting is a small Danish Village, where the people are very stern and dour. There are two old women who spent their lives caring for their father who was a very conservative pastor. He has since died. Babette appears, having traveled from France. She is penniless and asks the two women to take her in as a servant and they do. Babette wins the lottery and offers to make a feast for the women and some friends from their church, in honor of the 100^th anniversary of their father’s birth. Little do they know, she was previously a chef in the finest restaurant in Paris. She prepares a gourmet meal for the townspeople. As they eat it, these sad, pitiful people are transformed. They begin to laugh and they come to life. Later we find out that Babette has spent her entire lottery winning on this one meal so she is penniless again. But she does not care because she was able to bring joy to these sad people. They are resurrected through Babette’s feast.

Her gift of love is a gift of extravagance. Any sensible person, who had been homeless and penniless, would have taken that lottery money and made a new life for herself. But Babette is the Christ figure in the film. She gives everything she has, her skills as a chef, and every penny she owns, in order to bring new life to these two old women and their friends. She gives them a blessing, a blessing of extravagant love.

What do you need from God? What blessing do you need? Because you see, Jesus came to give signs that God is in our midst. And Jesus can do the same for us. Jesus can give us signs that God is present in our lives.

Do you need reconciliation with someone with whom you are fighting? Jesus can give you peace in your heart. Jesus can heal you of the anger you are feeling toward that person. Because, you see, carrying around anger does not do anyone any good. It just hurts the one who feels the anger. But when we let go of the anger and give it to God, we have a sense of release. Now, we don’t have control over how that person will react to us no longer being angry. She may not have decided to listen to Jesus and to stop being angry. But we can take the first step toward reconciliation by letting go of our anger and making a move of peace toward that person. Jesus would do that. Jesus would make a move of peace. It would be an act of extravagant love and Jesus wants to help us make that move.

What else do you need from God? Are you feeling hopeless? Despair is a hard place to live. Believe me, I’ve been there. But I promise you this, if you are living in the land of despair, you are not there alone. God is with you. God is sitting with you, and weeping with you, and holding your hand. And God is trying to reach in to offer you hope. God is trying to send you a sign: whether it be in the form of a kind act from a stranger or a friend, or perhaps a memory of a better time, God is longing to give you hope. God does not want you to live in despair. When we are living in despair, we have to take action to pull ourselves out. We have to get out of the house. I know it’s hard when you’re depressed, but it’s what we have to do. We have to do something kind for ourselves, whatever you can do to brighten your day: buy yourself fresh flowers, take a class, go for a walk or do something active that you enjoy, meditate, do yoga, do something artistic, even if you’re not very good at it. The act of doing one of these things will help pull you out of your despair and help you find your hope. God can give you the power to do these things because God is right there beside you in the land of despair and God wants to walk with you out of despair into hope.  

What other blessing do you need from God? Do you need relief from the stress you are under? This is a big one. Most of us feel the stress of daily life. God can give us relief when we pray and join God in the quiet. I know it’s easy for me to stand here and say, “The way to relieve stress is to slow down,” but it’s true. When I take time at the beginning of the day to stop and pray and be silent for a few minutes in God’s presence, it is amazing how much calmer my day goes. I get the same number of things accomplished, but I feel so much calmer because I started my day with God. God will bless us extravagantly when we remember to start our day with God.

I could go on. For every need we have, God has a blessing for us. Because that is God’s nature. God wants to bless us. God wants to bless us extravagantly. Because God loves us so much, God wants to fill us with blessing that is overflowing. Just like the wine at the wedding, just like the feast that Babette gave to her neighbors.

But this is what happened at the wedding. The need had to be identified. Someone had to come to Jesus and say: “We’re almost out of wine.” That was his mother. At first he told her it was not his time, insinuating that he would not do anything about it. But immediately after, he proceeded to do something about it. He acted. Because that is what Jesus does when he hears about a need. He acts.

Jesus will act for us too. We just need to let him know what we need. His response will be extravagant. Just like he produced more than enough wine at the wedding, he will give us more than we need. We simply need to ask.

So let us make our needs known to Jesus. Let us pour out our hearts. Ask for what you need, and trust that your needs will be met extravagantly. Amen.