New Creation and Living By a New Name
(Free Version) Readings for the 2nd Sunday After Epiphany- Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11
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This Sunday we are presented with stories of revelation, of surprise, of newness. Our Old Testament reading (Isaiah 62:1-5) reminds us that God’s people have always been called to shine. God invites us to radiate with his glory. God’s faithfulness, God’s goodness shines in us into all the world.
God has invited us to trade our old names for new ones because, when God does something new, the old names do not fit anymore. We were once deserted, our land desolate. But now we we are “The one in whom God delights.” Now we are in relationship with God.
Just as God has brought about righteousness and salvation, causing his people to shine, Paul reminds the Church (1 Corinthians 12:1-12) that we have been given gifts. These gifts are not to glorify ourselves, but to proclaim that Jesus is Lord. These gifts are not our work, but they are the work of the Holy Spirit.
Because all of the gifts come from the same Spirit, we are to embrace the diversity of the body of Christ and the wide variety of gifts which are given to the church. When we do this, it shows the world a different way of being human, a different family, the new creation which is breaking forth.
In our gospel text, we see Jesus stepping into the shame of the family at the wedding, taking the raw materials of water, and transforming them into the best of all the wines. In Jesus we see God’s new creation brought to bear. Jesus is the one for whom the world longs.
How might you live that reality today? Who do you know who needs to know that they are not defined by their “old name?” Who do you know who has been listening for God’s voice in something loud and miraculous? How might God use you to be his whisper of love even in the midst of pain? Who do you know who has experienced great shame? Who has “run out of wine?” Like the voice of Mary, how might you gently nudge them to “Do whatever He says”?
Our job this week is to proclaim that this future world has come in Jesus! We are to live as new creation people, people of the new wine. Because of Jesus, we are given a new name instead of the old one. Because of Jesus, all Christians are given the same spirit. Because of Jesus, we are given something that we never would have expected.