God as the Silent Actor Who Sustains the World

The story of Jesus' transformation of the water into wine in John's gospel is a great lectionary text for the season of Epiphany, because it is in indicative of the nature of the God who is revealed in Jesus and known to John's community.  This story is not found in the synoptic gospels and is found only in John's gospel.  In fact, also significant for Epiphany, it is the first manifestation of Jesus' power in John's gospel.  In the story, Jesus and the disciples are at a wedding feast, and the host of the feast is about to run out of wine.  This would be a great disappointment to the guests who want to continue the celebration and an embarrassment to the host.

I am often asked by persons who are agnostic or atheist why they believe in God, and I usually respond by first asking them about their understanding of God's nature.  After they finish telling me who they think that God is, I normally respond that I don't believe in the god that they don't believe in either.  Answering the question about who we think that God is is just as important as the question of whether we believe in God.

John's story of Jesus' transformation of water into wine tells us two significant things about God's nature.  First, it tells us that God's primary agenda is to create joy and celebration in the world.  The guests are about to run out of wine and Jesus creates more so that the celebration can continue.  For John's community, this evoked God's larger agenda in spreading joy and celebration everywhere.  It also tells us that God isn't interested in getting the credit.  Jesus' disciples in the story are the only ones who know that the water has been magically transformed into wine.  Jesus doesn't do anything to correct the guests' misconception that the host of the celebration has actually strategically withheld the best wine until the end of the celebration.

The Church is called to mirror what God does.  As God is not interested in taking credit for the transformation of the world, the Church is called to be the silent actor who is present in our communities quietly transforming lives and making the world a better place.  There is no limit to the good that we can do in this world if we are not interested in who gets the credit. 

The Secret Hidden from the Foundation of the World

In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Paul says that Christ revealed a secret that was hidden from the foundation of the world.  The secret that was revealed was God's nature.  In the Christian tradition, we inherit the affirmations of the ancient Church Fathers who proclaimed that God and Christ were of the same nature and the same substance.  If we hold that God  Jesus have the same nature, then in the life and ministry of Jesus, we see a reflection of the nature of the God of all eternity.

God's nature, as revealed in Jesus, is ultimate concern for the creation.   This is what ties the story of Jesus together--the manger, the sermon on the mount, the Last Supper, and the final week of Jesus' life all reveal that Jesus lived as the servant of all people, putting the needs of others over his own needs.  This is the nature of the God who lives and reigns forever and ever, and in the life of Jesus, the veil is lifted and we see God's nature revealed.

God did not place a veil over our eyes preventing us from seeing God's true nature.  We were inhibited from seeing God's true nature because of our own sin.  The veil that prevented us from seeing God's true nature was our own darkness.

The Church is the community that is the repository of this great secret that was hidden from the foundation of the world.  As such, the Church is simply called to act as if it knows and believes that secret.  If the Church truly believed that the nature of the God of all eternity was to life as a servant and to give His life for the life of the world, and that as God's children, we as human beings are called to do the same, there is no limit to the light that the Church could bring to the darkness of the world.