Teachable Moments: Celebration

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Sunday, July 25, 2010

So I was 17 years old and it was time for me to learn how to drive a manual transmission. The job of teaching me fell to my older brother, poor guy. He took me out several times to teach the intricacies of how to take off with a clutch and accelerate and all of that and, after a few mishaps and a couple of trial and errors there, I finally got it down. I was confident. I could now drive a manual transmission. I knew you put down the accelerator and just slowly let off on the clutch and you took off. And then you could glide through all five gears. Just seamlessly, things were going well.

So one afternoon, Mom says that she needs the two of us to run out for an errand. I convinced my brother, “Really, I should drive because, you know, Bro, I probably need the practice.” For whatever reason, he bought into it. He got into the passenger side. I got into the driver’s side. Confident of my skill level, I definitely took off out of the driveway. No problem. I have this down. So confident was I, one hand on the steering wheel, even did the slap shift. You know what I mean? When it’s in third, you just pop it down into fourth because I’m cool. I’m 17 and I’m cruising. I got the tunes turned up, 70’s rock music is coming out the speakers. I’m doing well.

Suddenly, the light turns in front of me. No problem, engage the clutch, come to a stop at the traffic signal. I’m doing great, waiting for the light to change, confident I will take off. The light turns green. I push on the accelerator. I slowly let out the clutch and “Pmmt!” Not to worry. No problem. Start the car back up, pushed in a little bit further on the accelerator, slowly let out on the clutch and “pmmt” it stops. “Maybe I should turn down the radio just a little bit.”

Alright, start the car back up, push on the accelerator, let out on the clutch, “pmmt.”  Stops again. I’m in Michigan, people. They don’t take kindly to this. People are making interesting signals towards me from behind me. Pretty soon, I stall it again and, again, the light turns red. Beads of sweat are now on my forehead. I look over. My brother, Rick, is just simply staring straight ahead, not saying a word. No problem, I have this under control. Light turns green. I really press on the accelerator and I very, very slowly let out my clutch. Pmmt. I stalled it again. This proceeds for another set of lights. Now I’m really worried. The radio is off. I’m saying, “What is going on? What is wrong? I’m doing everything I’m supposed to do.” Light turns green. Now people are honking. They’re going around me on every side. They’re yelling things, interesting things, as they go by me. Push down the accelerator, let out on the clutch, pmmpt. Two more times. Then my brother reaches down, pulls it out of third and puts it in first.

I take off from the traffic light, arrive at the destination. I am so angry with him I am shaking. “Why didn’t you tell me the car was in third gear? You watched me sit through three lights. Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?” Very calmly, he looked at me and he says, “You’ll never do that again, will you?”

That, my friends, was a teachable moment. I didn’t like it but it was a teachable moment. I understood the theory behind it. I understood the concept that the car needs to be in first gear, not the third gear, that you should check that because they’re close together. I understand pushing on the accelerator and letting out on the clutch. All that knowledge is up here but it wasn’t until it was tied to an event, all of a sudden, the theory became very practical. That lesson is forever imprinted in my mind and I have never made that mistake again.

That’s what teachable moments are about. It’s not just the truth of the matter, but the truth of the matter being injected into your life, imprinted into your mind so that you have this special knowledge that carries with you throughout your entire life. Jesus was a master of capitalizing on teachable moments throughout His entire ministry. He always would see a situation with His disciples or with the crowd and He would take advantage of that so He would tie the teaching to an event and that teaching would stay with them for the rest of their lives.

The series of messages that we’re doing is for us to highlight those times that God just might be teaching us something. Or to highlight those moments when maybe we can teach our children or our grandchildren.

Today we focus in on joyous events, celebrations. We don’t normally think of celebrations as a teaching time. Usually when things are really going rough, when things are kind of tough, “God must be teaching us something here.” But what about times of celebration? What about when everything is going well? Can not God teach us something there also, if we keep our eyes open and recognize the moments when they come along. Jesus did.

Jesus recognized the moment. Great celebration, John 2, “The third day, a wedding took place in Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there and also His disciples were there. But when the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to Him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not come.’ Mary simply looks at the servant and says, ‘Do whatever He tells you to do.’”

Weddings were a big deal, just as much as they are today, maybe even more so back then. Huge celebration. They lasted for seven days. You’d invite the entire community. Relatives would travel maybe several days to come in. It was expected back then, as it is today, that the host would take care of them. There would be plenty of food. There would be plenty of things to drink.

Now, as far as things to drink, well, you were kind of limited. Let’s see, you had wine and you had water. And you had water and you had wine. That’s about all you had back then. So for a host to run out of wine was unthinkable. We’re not talking about people getting drunk here. This is just the standard thing to drink and he’s running out of wine. He would be the subject of ridicule for years to come if that happened. So Mary, close friend to the family probably, comes up to Jesus and says, “Jesus, they’re out of wine.” Now He rebuffs at first and He says, “Why are you coming to me? My time is not here yet.” Jesus is saying, “Do you understand? Once I start down this road, it doesn’t stop until Calvary. So, Mom, if you’re asking me to begin, understand that sets me on a path that’s going to end at the cross.”

Well, I don’t know if it was motherly influence or just faith but she just looks at the servants and says, “Do whatever He says.” He’s going to take care of it. She knows that. She’s confident of it. But Jesus recognizes it as a moment to teach His disciples. I say that because look how John completes the story. “He thus revealed His glory and His disciples put their faith in Him.” It’s what He was trying to do. He wanted to teach His disciples something so He recognized the moment, this time of great celebration and He used it.

Do we recognize the moments? Do we recognize the good times in life, the celebrations, the joys, the laughter as a time that maybe God is either teaching us something or that we can teach our children and grandchildren? After all, did you hear what was written in the book of James? It says every good and perfect gift is from above. Everything that’s good that happens in our life, every joyous occasion that you have is a gift from God. Every good thing that’s ever happened to you is because of God’s grace, God’s gift, every laugh, every joy, every celebration, every party. It’s a gift from God. So shouldn’t that be an occasion, an opportunity for us to first acknowledge but also to learn from God’s goodness, to keep our eyes open and to recognize the teachable moments and the good times.

But it’s not enough just to recognize them. We have to respond. We have to take some action. We have to seize the moment and either learn what God is teaching us or to teach our children and our grandchildren from that. You see, Jesus responded. “So His mother says to the servants, ‘Do whatever He says.’ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used for the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding 20-30 gallons. These are exclusively used for ceremony washings. They’re not supposed to be used for anything else. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ So they filled them up. Then He told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’” You know what happens then. Master of the banquet takes one sip of it, goes to the bridegroom and he says, “Whoa, usually you put out the good stuff first and then after everybody’s had a little bit to drink, you bring out the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best to last.” You see, Jesus capitalizes on the moment. He could have, I suppose, gathered around some of His friends and some of the closer family that maybe didn’t live too far away and said, “Hey, look, let’s help the guy out. Can you run home, get a couple of wineskins, bring them back, just slip them in the kitchen in the back and don’t make too much of a fuss of it.” But Jesus doesn’t do that. No, no, no, no. He doesn’t send out for wine. He chooses to perform His first miracle, but the teaching is not just in the miracle but it’s how Jesus performed the miracle. It’s everything surrounding it.

Do you notice what Jesus did? First of all, He’s teaching His disciples really three things. The first thing is this: It’s a demonstration of His grace. He’s empathetic to the bridegroom. God isn’t concerned just when tragedy strikes. It’s not like He swoops in just when it’s a life or death situation, but God’s concerned with every aspect of our lives and He wants to be involved with all of our lives. And so here’s this grand celebration and Jesus is very empathetic to the bridegroom that they’re running out of wine. So He demonstrates to His disciples, “Listen, God cares about every aspect of your life, not just the tragedies but the triumphs as well.”

The second thing is He teaches them His humility. Do you note how Jesus performs the miracle? Scripture does not record for us that Mary says, “Do whatever He says,” and so Jesus says, “Alright, gather everybody around. Everybody having a good time out there? Good, good. Listen, we filled up these jars with water and it’s just plain water as you can see. In fact, sir, would you come forward? Would you take a taste of this one right here? Would you guarantee for the folks out there that it’s water? Yes, indeed, it’s water, isn’t it? Now do me a favor, sir, if you would. Dump that water out and dip your cup in one more time. Oh, did you see the surprise on his face, folks? What did you taste there? Wine. Isn’t that fantastic? I’m here all week.” It’s not what Jesus did. “Fill them with water. Take a cup to the master of the banquet.” The only people who knew were His disciples and the servants, no one else. Humble service. He didn’t need a show. He didn’t need to call attention to it. He was empathetic for the bridegroom. He has something to teach His disciples and that was enough.

And the third thing He showed them was His power. It was water, folks. And the next moment, it’s the best wine they’d ever tasted. No big show, no magic words, just Jesus being God. So He showed His disciples His grace, His humility and His power and He tied it to an event and they’d never forget it. Obviously, John put it in His gospel. He never forgot that moment. That was a teachable moment, a joyous celebration that Jesus capitalized on.

Shouldn’t we? It’s not enough just to recognize the teachable moments but we need to respond. We need to capitalize on those times of celebration but I wonder. I wonder if the reason we don’t is because we’re not sure that we want God at our parties. Right? He has all these rules and regulations. Maybe God would spoil some of our fun. So we’d rather keep God kind of in a box and keep our spirituality over here.

I will demonstrate what I’m talking about. Early on in my ministry, I served a congregation out of the state and at one point in time in a neighboring town, they were without a pastor so I was filling in up there as well. A couple came into my office up there. They wanted to plan their wedding and wanted to know if I would do the ceremony. Of course I would do the ceremony. And from the very first, they said, “And we want you to come to the reception, too, Pastor.” I said, “That’s very nice but I’m going to pass. I really don’t know any of your family. I won’t know anybody there at the reception. You guys are going to have a good time without me. You don’t need me there.” “No,” they insisted, “Pastor, we really, really want you at the reception and we would be honored if you gave the prayer before the meal.” “Okay, I’ll be there.” Do the wedding ceremony, lock up the church, go over to the reception hall. I kid you not, I open up the door and the place fell silent. All eyes were on the pastor who just walked in. You could hear my feet click along the floor. Click, click, click, click, click. People were taking their beer bottles and hiding them behind the table decorations, like I’d be shocked, “There’s alcohol at a reception?!” But the bride’s father comes up, shakes my hand, “Good that you’re here, Pastor.” With the other hand, he shoves a microphone in my face. “Would you say the prayer?” “Sure.” I said the prayer, blessed the food and not another soul talked to me the entire evening. They missed the moment. They missed the moment. Jesus wanted to be part of that reception just as much as He was part of the reception in Cana but they missed it. They wanted to put God in a box over here so He wouldn’t spoil the fun.

Don’t miss the moments. Don’t miss the moments that God brings before you, the great blessing that He has to acknowledge and to learn from Him. How powerful would it be for your children and grandchildren that they would learn God is concerned about every aspect of your life? So maybe on vacation, as you’re driving across the countryside and you see some magnificent scenery, if you just stop and say, “Is that incredible what God has done?” Just to acknowledge His creation and His majesty and bring God into part of the conversation.

How about the birthday party as you thank God for another year of life and you reflect back on all the great things that have happened in the past 12 months? How about when friends come over and, before the barbeque starts, you say, “Let’s just offer up a word of prayer and I just want to thank God for you. I want to thank God for the friendship we have and the conversations that we’re able to have. That’s just incredible and it’s a blessing from God.” You see, that’s recognizing the possibility and then responding and capitalizing on that and saying, “This is a teachable moment. This is a time to acknowledge that God is good and God is great.” How powerful would that be for your children and grandchildren if they knew that God was with them in the good times so that when the bad times come, how much more confident would they be that God is right there beside them and that God is going to lift them up and get them through those rough times?

Teachable moments. They’re all around us. We just need to recognize them and we need to respond.

And then the final thing, it comes straight from the last instruction on the shampoo bottle: Repeat. It’s just over and over again. There are teachable moments that are happening all the time and capitalize on them. Look at Jesus’ ministry. Just start paging through the gospel of John and he just capitalizes on one after another after another right after the changing the water into wine, it’s Jesus clearing the temple. Do you think anybody forgot that day when He came through and turned over all of the tables? It goes straight from there to the teaching of Nicodemus and it goes from there to the Samaritan woman at the well where she comes to draw water. Jesus has this conversation. She comes to faith. She’s in heaven right now because of that teachable moment. All the way up until His final breath, Jesus uses each opportunity to teach of God’s goodness. Even with His final breath, John records for us when He had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” And with that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Even with His final breath, Jesus is teaching. He could have just sighed and died but instead, He announced, “Mission accomplished. It’s finished. All your sins have been paid for. Heaven’s opened up for you. My work is done. I accomplished all that the Father wanted me to do. I went through hell for you and I made it out on the other side. It’s finished.” You’ll never forget that moment, that teaching because it’s tied to an event. It’s tied to Jesus giving His last breath. That’s a teachable moment.

They’re happening all around us and it’s for us to keep our eyes open. Is God teaching me something here or is this an opportunity for me to teach someone else? And it happens every day. Moses in the book of Deuteronomy says this about God’s law, “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, every moment of every day,” he says. God is part of every moment of every day and there are teachable moments that are happening, times and events that you can link a teaching to so that it is forever imprinted in your mind and in your heart to learn of God’s goodness, His grace, His humility, His power, whatever it is that God wants to teach you at that moment. Recognize those events. Respond and then repeat. Amen.

Copyright 2010 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church