Epiphany 1 (NL4) John B. Valentine
John 2:1-12 January 11, 2026

“WORLDS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN”

It was January 6th in the year of our Lord 2021 ... five years ago this past week.

Per the dictates of the U.S. Constitution and the Electoral Count Act of 1887 ... a Joint Session of Congress had been convened to ratify the results of the presidential election that had occurred two months prior ...

A process that was disrupted ... interrupted ... by a unruly mob of people who’d gathered on the steps of our nation’s Capitol.

Now I KNOW that what happened that day this week is understood differently by each and every one of us ...

• Some have called that mob ‘rioters’ ...

• Others of us have called them ‘insurrectionists’ ...

• And still others insist on calling them ‘patriots’ ...

But ... regardless of the label which we affix to them ... January 6th was a day that one of the key hallmarks ... maybe even the cornerstone ... of American democracy ... the concept of ‘the peaceful transfer of power’ ... was brought into serious question.

To those of us who always presumed ... despite our political disagreements ... that we would have a peaceful transfer of power because that’s the way it had always been ... January 6th was a moment when our worlds were turned upside down.

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You know that phrase .... “A world turned upside down”?

According to the dictionary ... it means “having one’s entire outlook, circumstances or lifestyle radically affected or altered by an event” ... and usually it comes with a negative connotation.

So ... for instance ...

• 9/11 is a day that many of us would say turned our worlds upside down ... because ... before then ... we couldn’t imagine anyone committing the sorts of atrocities that happened that day.

• December 7th is a day ... so I’m told ... some of you had your worlds turned upside down ... because of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

• Some would say that things which have happened since the first of this year in Venezuela and Minneapolis are events along those same lines.

But it’s not just communal events like those that turn our worlds upside down ... sometimes personal ones do too.

• Like when you receive a rejection notice from the university that was your top choice ... or a termination notice from your employer.

• Like when your girlfriend or boyfriend ... or your spouse ... tells you that they don’t want to be in a relationship anymore.

• Like when someone near and dear to you dies unexpectedly.

I remember painfully well ... when we were living in the High Desert ... the call I was in before we moved up here ... and Bethany and I became acquainted with a woman’s whose husband was the coach of one of the local high school baseball teams ...

But it seems as though ... one day ... when he was out running in the desert with the players on his team ... the woman’s husband was bit by some critter ... and he had an immediate allergic reaction and within ten minutes he was dead ...

Leaving this gal to have to deal with:

• the grief of the passing of her husband ...
• the grief of her three children having to deal with the passing of their father ... and
• the challenge of having to provide for a household moving forward as a single mom.

It was a day ... she was willing to acknowledge in the months and years that followed ... that turned her world completely upside down.

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You know ... I’ve been pondering this week’s Gospel lesson all week ... that story of Jesus and his disciples and his mom all going to that wedding in Cana ... and I honestly think the label that I want to put on it Is “A World Turned Upside Down”.

The first one to have his world turned upside down is Jesus ... actually ... turned upside down by his mom!

You see .... there’s all these folks together at a wedding ... having a good time so it seems ... and suddenly the wine runs out ... and there’s a bit of a crisis.

And while we don’t know the whys and the wherefores of how mother Mary got sucked into this “the host is out of wine” drama ...

We do know that Mary seemed to know things about Jesus that other people didn’t ...

And that she somehow felt not just that he COULD do something about it ... but that he SHOULD do something about it ...

And ... in the process of obeying the fourth commandment ... you know ... that “Honoring Your Father and Your Mother” thing ... Jesus seems to have his world turned upside down!

But Jesus is ... by no means ... the ONLY one to have his world turned upside down in this story from John 2.

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No ... the second set of folks to have their worlds turned upside down are the servants.

I mean ... they don’t get too much mention in John’s telling of the story ... but they are only ones who actually know the totality of what transpires.

• “You see those six stone water jars that are used for ritual washing? Fill them up with water if you would.”

• And a little bit later ... “Now draw some of it out and take it to the chief steward.”

Wait a minute ... what just happened?

We put water in them ... just like he asked ...

Filled them all the way to the top ... WITH WATER!

Is this like the ultimate party trick or something???

Are you SURE that these jars were empty when we started??

He did he DO that?

John doesn’t mention those servants’ reactions to this situation in his recounting of the story ... but you can full imagine that they were a wee bit slack-jawed when they made their way to the wedding coordinator and the caterer who were in charge of the festivities!

And it’s pretty easy to imagine that ... having just witnessed the impossible ... their worlds were turned upside down.

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Now the NEXT person to have his world turned upside down by what’s happening in this story is the caterer of that there wedding ...

The chief steward.

I love the details that John shares in his recounting of what happened that day.

How the servants bring the water turned to wine to the steward ... and how they don’t say anything about where the wine had come from ... and ask if its okay to serve it to the guests ...

And how the steward ... thinking this is about the time in the festivities where we start pouring the Two-Buck-Chuck ...

Has a sip of this wine that he swears is the best Oakville cab that he’s ever tasted ...

And has his world turned upside down.

After all everyone KNOWS that you serve the good wine first ... along with the appetizers or at least with the main course.

No one in their right mind would wait ‘til the after-party to pour the really good stuff ... after all ... by then ... the guests aren’t really tasting what they’re drinking anyway.

The chief steward ends up slack-jawed at the quality ... and ... I suspect maybe too ... the reports of the quantity ... of the wine which the servants had brought him.

And his assumptions about the bridegroom and his assumptions about wine and his assumptions about wedding protocol were so discombobulated that his world was turned upside down!

Then again ... though the story doesn’t go into much detail about it ... the disciples seem as slack-jawed at what transpires as the servants and the steward ... for ... in seeing what has transpired ...

• they see a sign ...
• and they see a bit of glory ...
• and they believe ...
• and their worlds are turned upside down as well!

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Which leads us to the last person in this lesson who has their world turned upside down by what happened in Cana ....

Which would be YOU and ME!

You see ... the question we need to ask when we encounter this text is maybe “What does John the gospel-writer want us to see and know about Jesus?”

After all ... John didn’t just write this story because it’s a good story ... he wrote it to let you know about Jesus ... he wrote it ... by his own admission ... that you might believe.

But what exactly is it that John wants you ... wants us ... to know?

And the answer to that question ...

Is not just that Jesus was one who tried to obey the Fourth Commandment ...

And it’s not just that Jesus can do really cool party tricks ...

And it’s not just that Jesus knows what really good wine is like ...

Rather ... it seems to me ... John is trying to give us the first of his many hints throughout the Gospel that Jesus is the One who turns worlds upside down!

That this Jesus is the One who ... in, with and under his words and deeds ... radically alters or affects peoples’ outlooks and circumstances and lifestyles.

The quirky things about it is ... that in this story ... that ‘turning worlds upside down’ doesn’t have a negative connotation but rather a positive one ...

The servants and the steward and the disciples were all ... in their own ways ... in situations of scarcity ... in places of need.

And Jesus’ abundant gifts turned their worlds upside down for the better and they all said “Wow!”

But then again ... in the story which we’ll be looking at NEXT week ... we’re going to hear of some folks who come from a place of presumption and inappropriateness and disrespect who are going to have their worlds ... and their tables ... turned upside down with a MUCH more negative connotation ...

And their encounter with Jesus isn’t going to leave that say “Wow!” in a good way ... but “Whoa” in a bad one.

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You see ... in a certain way ... we’re challenged to locate ourselves not only in the story that is this week’s gospel lesson ... but the story for next week and all the gospel lessons which we’ll be reading between now and Easter as well ...

In the awareness that Jesus comes into this world as one who turns worlds ... and tables ... and realities ... upside down.

And it seems to me that what it is that John wants us to know is that there are only two kinds of people in this world:

• Those who believe that they are entitled ... privileged ... DESERVING ... of all the good things that God would offer in this world and the next ...

• And those who believe that they are UNDESERVING of those very same gifts.

The weird thing is ... in a very particular way ... BOTH OF THEM .... ARE WRONG!