PHOTO CREDIT: © Alphaspirit

Second Sunday after the Epiphany
January 20, 2019
Lectionary Year C

John 2:1-11 From the baptismal waters of the Jordan River last Sunday to the water in the stone jars at the wedding in Cana this week, we experience a watershed of God’s love. We experience the insightful last words of Mary from four different occasions wherein her words are recorded in the scripture when she tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” We experience Jesus turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, just as he can take us and turn us into more than we ever imagined. We experience the first recorded miracle of Jesus that is witnessed by his disciples and the servants, which fostered their belief and faith in the greater things to come, just as our own faith is strengthened when we encounter his miraculous works in our journey as we “press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14 NRSV). We experience the guests at the wedding receiving the very best just as we have from the True Vine.

Reflecting on this passage reminds me of the following poem written in 1921 by Myra Brooks Welch.

The Old Violin (The Touch of the Master’s Hand)
‘Twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer thought it hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin, but he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bid, good people,” he cried, “Who starts the bidding for me?”
“One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two? Two dollars, who makes it three?”
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three.”

But, no – from the room far back a gray bearded man came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin and tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet – As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer with a voice that was quiet and low,
Said “What now am I bid for this old violin?” as he held it aloft with its bow.

“One thousand, one thousand, do I hear two? Two thousand, who makes it three?”
“Three thousand once, three thousand twice, going and gone,” said he.

The audience cheered, but some of them cried,
“We just don’t understand, what changed its worth?”
Swift came the reply – “The Touch of the Master’s Hand.”

And many a man with life out of tune, all battered and bruised with hardship
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd, much like that old violin.

Mueller

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine, a game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice, he is going and almost gone.

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought – by the Touch of the Master’s Hand.

Yes, Jesus can turn the water into wine, the ordinary into the extraordinary, a heart of stone into a heart of flesh … the possibilities are limitless – all by the touch of the Master’s hand.

– The Rev. Kay Mueller, Deacon, Church of Our Saviour, Okeechobee.