We are at the wedding of Cana of Galilee (see John 2: 1-11). The wine had given out. The party was about the crash. It would have been a great embarrassment to the bride’s family. It would have been a terrible way to begin a new life.
Jesus asked that some jars be filled with water and then they were filled with wine, good wine, not just water.
Jesus partied. Throughout his ministry he is in constant trouble with the religious folks who were that century’s version of the Puritans. Puritans want to be pure. They don’t want to be with folks who are different from them, folks who are “dirty,” folks who are lost or sinful or bad or…well, you name it.
Jesus got in trouble because he said that he came for just such folks. He came for the lost and sinful and grubby. He came for those who knew that they could never be “pure” enough to deserve God’s love. Jesus not only accepted these folks under condescending sufferance, he loved them, went after them, touched them, and partied with them. He wasn’t a stiff. He knew how to have a good time. He had a good time with such folks because he felt like you needed to have a party every time one such person was found and brought back home to God.
Do we remember that every time we gather together is a celebration, a party? Do we remember to have a good time and not be a stiff? Do our faces reflect the great joy of being at the party of life and hope and grace and forgiveness with Jesus? Are we glad to see each other and are we doing all we can to enlarge the party so that all of God’s children will know that the best time to be had is with us? Jesus partied. Let us do the same.
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