Sermon for January 19, 2025: Roll Out the Barrel based upon John 2:1-11

ohn 2:1-11 The Wedding at Cana 
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. 

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     Once, I saw a llama inside of a nursing home. Yes, inside the nursing home. Not outside in the yard where you might imagine running into livestock. Inside, in the dining hall that looked a lot like an elementary school cafeteria. I’m not sure if the nursing home accrediting bodies would have loved having farm animals in the dining hall, but the person who ran the petting zoo that provided them kept them as clean as possible and the residents seemed to love it... or at least be delighted by the novelty of it. You never know what you’re going to see in a nursing home. Sometimes, it might even be a llama.

     This same nursing home is the one where I heard “Roll Out the Barrel” live for the first time. Though some of my ancestors were Bohemian and German-speaking Midwesterners, I didn’t grow up in the region and missed out on learning the most beloved polka in the area. While I grew up singing “Rocky Top” at ball games, the people who lived in this facility in Illinois learned “Roll Out the Barrel” (also called “The Beer Barrel Polka”). When the lady who volunteered to play piano came every other week, the residents and staff would gather in the same dining room as where they brought the llamas, and rock out to all the standards in a homemade songbook. Just about every time I managed to be there when she was, she’d finish with “Roll Out the Barrel” and everyone would sing along.

     It wasn’t always easy for the people who lived in that facility to be there. Some were quite ill. Some would have much rather been home. And yet, in the midst of what wasn’t always the most desirable living situation, the lady who played piano brought them some joy and helped them feel a little celebratory. When they had the opportunity to sing, they sang out! The first time I heard this glorious ruckus, I learned that there’s no party like a piano lady nursing home polka party.

     We are in the church season that follows Epiphany. If a preacher opts to preach on the suggested Gospel readings on these first couple Sundays after the arrival of the Magi, as I will, we’ll have multiple opportunities to explore the earliest epiphanies people had about the nature of Christ as he began his ministry. Last week, we saw a teacher unafraid to go to someone else for a blessing, who is empowered in the course of that act to do what God is calling him to. This week, we see how people beyond his disciples first encountered his power. It is interesting that they encountered it at a party.

     The party that Jesus is attending is a wedding. He’s there with his newly minted disciples and his mom. In her book on John, Karoline Lewis notes that, across religious cultures in ancient Palestine, you can expect a wedding to take three whole days. There would be lots of food and lots to drink, all provided by the families of those who were getting married. They wouldn’t have had barrels, but they would keep the wine in giant jars that held twenty to thirty gallons of liquid. We should remember that water often wasn’t safe to drink, so wine was the primary beverage for both practical and celebratory reasons.

     Also, as Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez notes in his commentary on this text, not everyone who attended the three-day festivities got the same food and drink. People of high status got better food and better wine. The people of the lowest status might even be offered the same kind of bitter wine Jesus was offered on the cross. It was a mixture of wine, vinegar, and water. Still relatively safe to drink, but not delicious. And, the hosts would often try to save a little money by serving the best wine they had at the beginning of the party, and then, once people had over-indulged and grown less picky, serve lower quality wine to everyone. It is not easy to host a bunch of people for multiple days, especially if you don’t have a lot of money. People did what they felt like they had to do to meet the expectations of their community.

    Imagine what would happen, then, if you ran out of wine? People might gossip about you being a bad host. Irritable drunks might get mad and cause a scene because they’ve been cut off. You might be embarrassed because running out of anything could mean that you didn’t have enough money to do what was expected of you. Then, as now, too many people decided if someone is poor that they must be immoral or foolish. No one wants to be the people who have a party that they can’t properly host. No one wants to be embarrassed and not provide for their friends and family.

     I love that Jesus’ mom has to force him into his first miraculous sign in John. Karoline Lewis points out that he’s going to do seven great signs in this book, six by his own volition. This first one, though, his momma makes him do it. Lewis also notes that Mary only appears twice in the whole book of John and they actually never use her name. She is simply called Jesus’ mom and shows up here, at the wedding, and at the foot of the cross when Jesus is killed. His mother will be both witness and catalyst, helping him start his public ministry, and, as Lewis notes, abiding with him as he dies. The one who offered him his first sustenance at her breast will be the one who encourages him to provide sustenance to the people at this wedding.

     As an elder to Jesus and one who might have been called to host family gatherings, it makes sense that Mary would feel a measure of empathy for the family that has run out of wine. Lewis wonders in her commentary, what about this moment inspired Mary to push her son to use his power? And, what did she even know yet about who he was that led her to be confident that he could help? Neither of those questions is clearly answered in the text. Mostly what we have is an empathetic woman confident that her son can help, who is willing to boss him around a bit so he will. When he says, “Mom, this is both not the right time and not my problem,” she promptly ignores him, telling the head waiter to “do whatever he tells you.”

     Jesus has apparently either learned not to argue with his mother or been convinced that this is the moment to use his power publicly in the service of others. In the grand scheme of things, this would seem like a lower-stakes miracle. He’s not healing the sick or raising the dead. And yet, this sign is a great symbol of generosity and communal care. Pérez-Álvarez points out that in making only very good wine, Jesus renders moot the hierarchy that says the high-status guests are the only ones who get the good stuff. Every person there will have access to the same unexpected and wonderful gift. And, everyone will have something safe to drink. It is particularly gracious to go above and beyond for a family that may not have had the money to throw the kind of wedding the community expected. They really needed the help in a way that a wealthier family wouldn’t have.

     Lewis also argues that in this first sign, John reveals to us that the nature of Jesus is abundance. Jesus’ will not dole out grace as a miser pinches pennies. Jesus will have grace that is practically overflowing into the hands of those who need it. Both of the scholars that I’ve mentioned today did some math to show just how much wine Jesus made in those six jars. Pérez-Álvarez says, in today’s money, this could be 120 gallons of expensive wine, which could total $135,000. Karoline Lewis calculated it to be about a thousand bottles of wine. She said the opulence of this gift at a wedding of two everyday people would have been unheard-of. Regular people don’t have this much good wine, and they don’t serve it at the end of the three-day party.
The epiphany of this story is that austerity is not a key feature of the divine. Celebration, surprise, and generosity are. Jesus won’t be handing out the good stuff to the rich and the bitterest stuff to the poor. Jesus will provide amply for those who need it the most, while also assuring grace is available to everyone, without hierarchy. As we consider how we will follow his example in this world, may we remember the generosity offered to us when we were in greatest need. And, may we turn around and offer it someone else. Let us roll out the barrel. The gang’s all here!
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-john-21-11-5
Karoline Lewis, John: Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014)
Some history and current context about the belovedness of "Roll Out the Barrel": https://americansongwriter.com/how-a-drinking-song-the-beer-barrel-polka-became-a-wisconsin-sports-anthem/
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