1 Corinthians 12:3b; ‘No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.’
Did you see the ABC TV program Monday before Christmas entitled ‘Elders’ in which Andrew Denton interviewed Richard Dawkins?
Dawkins: prominent writer and media commentator – strident atheist and leader of an increasingly influential anti-religion movement.
Dawkins believes there is a profound contradiction between religion and scientific belief.
He finds beauty and wonder, even awe, in the natural world but looks to science for the poetry of it, as he says, not religion.
Truth for him is only that which can be proved and verified to the satisfaction of the scientific mind. Reason and rationality is the measure of it. Truth is what works and what is known in the collective human intelligence.
He went as far as to say that scientists know, or in time will know all that there is to know. Only scientific fact based on demonstrable evidence is worth knowing.
Religion is at best a distraction or delusion and at worst a curse.
Asked whether he thought that children should be encouraged in the imagination of benevolent magical figures such as fairies and FC and other mythical characters he thought that this was a bad start, not helpful to a developing sense of reality, and potentially leading to religious fantasy.
To Denton’s various respectful but carefully crafted questions about the parts played in human experience by art and beauty, music, loyalty and love, Dawkins was left floundering.
It was a brilliant interview by Andrew Denton during which Dawkins revealed himself as a sad flat man, a two dimensional cardboard cut out, not able to participate in a fully rounded experience of life, bitterly biased against religion with a missionary zeal as blindly fundamentalist as those he rails against.
I mention all this because people like Richard Dawkins are increasingly prominent in the media, given unwarranted attention, and disproportionately influential amongst young people in this confused, individualistic and hedonistic age.
We the members of a community of faith must have language which is capable of presenting an alternative view true to our traditions and also arresting and credible to young people, in thought forms consistent with the history of human learning and experience
able to stand up in this cynical age and catch the imagination of the young in ways which adequately reflect the magnitude of God’s grace.
We must be able, for instance, to argue that reality includes much that can be known by experience and has been experienced over time immemorial by countless millions of human beings, but which cannot be proved scientifically, nor possessed rationally. We can claim this as fact, as irrefutable as any scientific theory.
We must be able to point to the aspect of human nature that intuits the presence of a divine being and has in all human history led people of all kinds to seek the nature of God and to be inquisitive about their own origin and destiny.
We must be able to argue for a view of humanity that will never know all and is always dependent on a benevolent creator spirit, whom we call God, whose option is for life, despite all that we know of death and destruction.
We must argue for a view of ourselves that is the child of such a Creator, needy of spiritual food and reassurance, and totally dependent on the rest of creation, in particular, our mother earth.
We must acknowledge our limitation as human beings and understanding of ourselves as creature, not gods, always growing, always part of a reality the scope of which we cannot perceive.
We must uphold the importance of imagination, especially in the young, whose life view is formed by an ability to perceive truths that are life sustaining and eternal, by participating in imaginary stories and situations, eventually, in a healthy way, to leave aside the physical and cling to the mystical truth, as we know that well adjusted children do.
With Dawkins we can marvel at the beauty and complexity of nature, the reliability of natural laws and the tremendous blessings that have come from that through science that has brought about for instance medical miracles, and allowed us unimagined technological skills.
At the same time we must bear witness to the penultimate nature of science as part of a mystery which is infinite in its being Who promises to continually yield ‘yet more light and truth’ than humans can ever comprehend.
Believe it or not I was stimulated to say all the forgoing by our readings this morning. Especially the passage from John about the Marriage in Cana of Galilee. Let’s look at it more closely.
Firstly, we can claim our understandings about it are the result of dedicated study and scholarly debate over two millennia as rigorous as any scientific enquiry and quite similar in process. That is, ideas are put forward and discussed and that which is commonly believed survives to be further refined by renewed investigation.
We should note that the Wedding at Cana of Galilee story occurs uniquely at the beginning of John’s gospel. The wedding is said to occur “On the third day” which is literary shorthand for something of special significance.
How do we know that about the ‘third day’? By scholarly comparison with other stories and historical knowledge of the period and of the sacred significance of the number three in Jewish Culture.
In John’s account the event occurs after the baptism of Jesus and his choosing of some of his disciples, but before the real beginning of his ministry which is signalled by the cleansing of the temple.
When Mary expresses concern that the wine has given out, the rather curt, even rude, rejoinder put in the mouth of Jesus “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come” could be taken as an annoyance in Jesus that he might be revealed prematurely. But it is more than that. It is a warning by the writer not to read the story out of context with the end of the book – which will reveal the full cost of it all and the power of God to redeem. So don’t let’s understand this miracle in any ordinary way.
Here in the story we have the first sign that the miracle here is mush more than mere turning water into wine.
Another fact known to historians and scholars is that accounts of the lives and doings of prophets and luminaries in the ancient near east frequently began with a miracle. This rhetorical device was clearly understood by all who heard it to be a figurative truth, a metaphorical statement that pointed beyond itself to a greater truth that may be at first veiled from sight which was intended to verify the authority of the main character. Rather like the way the Blessed Mary McKillop must have a couple of miracles attributed to her in order to be elevated to saint hood.
However there’s another reason altogether that we should not interpret this story literally. To do so runs counter to the teaching of the story of the Temptation of Jesus, in which God in Christ specifically prohibits any attempt to flout natural laws in order to create loyalty.
You remember the story of the Temptations proposes Jesus toying with ‘why not turn a few stones into bread, or defy gravity by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple. It certainly would create a following quickly.’ But the message we hear is that it would be the wrong kind of following.
God does not resort to sensationalism and magic tricks to win the hearts and minds of people. God will not ‘wow’ us into belief nor manipulate. Rather, God waits for a free will response.
As well as which we remember the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the test.’ We must not expect God to prove Godself to us by doing our bidding.
People do not walk on water without floatation assistance. The laws of nature stand firm. If we can’t trust that, how can we trust the promises of God that are much more extraordinary?
But wait. What is it that is far more mysterious about this particular story that the writer wants us to glimpse.
The very next verse points to it – points to an even grander claim.
The six stone water jars to be filled with water, capable of holding an entire harvest’s yield, were those used for the Jewish rites of purification. It is the content of these that is to be changed. The story points to the promise of Jesus’ ministry to cleanse and renew the life of the entire church!! That’s what the writer wants us to catch on to. Now there’s a claim bigger than any turning of water into wine. Which will you have?
They filled the jars to the brim.
And the totally discombobulated steward, whose job it was to test everything, was blown away, as they say, by the quality of the wine. What is to come, the story tells us, is not just an abundance of the same. It is to be the best! In this story, the bridegroom whose job it was to provide for all, is playing the part of God. He keeps the best till last.
The new life that is promised in Christ in this story is totally unexpected, socially counter cultural, extravagantly abundant, better than anything experienced before and ultimately enjoyable. Now there’s a miracle to believe in!
I wonder what the people of Judah thought when the prophet Isaiah in our other reading this morning spoke in terms of God getting married to the nation after a terrible period of desolation. The marriage ceremony would be like the Wedding of Cana in its surprise, abundance and sheer enjoyment. Could they believe it?
Can we believe in the providence and grace of God in the face of the terrible suffering of this week due to natural disaster?
We need more than a belief in literal miracles to trust that God is working towards a reality like the Wedding in Cana of Galilee in this traumatised and sorry world of ours.
We need the power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to help us trust God’s unimaginable truth even in the negative light of our experience.
Our faith calls us to trust in the most extenuating of circumstances the promises of God to bring new life in ways we cannot start to imagine. This needs much more than faith in science or belief in physical miracles.
For just as St Paul says “No one can say Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit” we need the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us in our doubts and fears and inspire us for service in these times of uncertainty and trauma.
The human mind alone cannot save itself – but with faith in the power of the Holy Spirit and trusting in the grace of God – all things are possible.
But where does that leave us poor humans? What do we have to do? Where do we start?
Well it occurred to me that the faithful life is like making bread. We put all the right ingredients together, mix it, kneed it, leave it for a while in a warm place, and then bake it in a chosen shape. Then some thing wonderful happens. It rises into a marvellous loaf, giving off a fabulous smell.
But the loaf cannot be enjoyed until it is broken, and is best enjoyed when shared.
Now unto the One who is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think, to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. AMEN
A.B.Pritchard