Tell Me Something Good!

“So Good It Catches Us By Surprise”

February 22, 2026

John 2:1-11; Matthew 13:31-32

First Sunday of lent

John 2:1-11

The Wedding at Cana

2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you?^[a] My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” ⁶ Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the person in charge of the banquet.” So they took it. ⁹ When the person in charge tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), that person called the bridegroom ¹⁰ 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.” ¹¹ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

Matthew 13:31-32

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³¹ He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; ³² it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Today is the first Sunday in Lent and we’re beginning a series called “Tell Me Something Good.”  Traditionally, Lent is the 40 days that lead up to Easter.  In some Christian traditions, Lent was a time to teach those new to the faith what was central to Christianity as they prepared for baptism on Easter.  This year for Lent, we’re also going to use this season as a way of going back to the basics of our faith.  This series “Tell Me Something Good” asks what is central and at the root of Jesus’ message.  What teachings and ministry in his life form the fertile ground of our faith?  Over the course of the next 6 weeks, we’ll talk about the practice of radical welcome, love for neighbor, care for the vulnerable, nourishment for the hungry, and nonviolence in the face of injustice.  

At the core of all of these stories of Jesus are radical ideas of mercy, love and grace.  Sometimes Jesus’ teachings can be distorted in our modern world and used to support agendas that are about power and control.  But at the heart of Jesus’ message was good news for all.  Nourishment, joy, delight—that which is beneficial to all.  It may be that some would consider this a radical thing that Jesus did.  And actually, we’re okay with that.  The root of the word “radical” means “root” or “ground.”  In other words, what is radical about Jesus is that which brings us back to our roots.  Back to the good news, grounded in God’s love. 

Over the next 40 days we’ll ask ourselves, can we be “good news” people in a world burdened right now by bad news?  

Today we find our first radical roots in a …wedding.  Why a wedding?  In our Bible, there are four gospels.  Four different books of the Bible that we call “gospels.”  The Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John.  Incidentally, the word “Gospel” means “good news.” And I tell you all of this because it’s worth noting that Mark, Matthew and Luke tell many of the same stories about Jesus, often in a similar order.  For this reason, we call them synoptic gospels.  Synoptic meaning similar.  

The Gospel of John stands outside of the similarities of the other three in many ways.  Today’s reading from the Gospel of John, often referred to as the “Wedding at Cana,” is a story that only appears in the Gospel of John.  In fact, this story is the very first story about Jesus’ ministry in John’s gospel.  Oftentimes in Lent, we begin with the story of Jesus’ temptation.  That’s because in all the other gospels, that’s where Jesus’ ministry begins.  In John, Jesus’ ministry begins with a wedding.  

What’s the significance of beginning with a wedding?  You heard the basic plot.  Jesus and his mom and his disciples are at a wedding.  And it appears that some things about weddings never change, even 2000 years later.  Weddings are times for joy and celebration… and extravagance.  The best food and drink are brought out.  The hosts want everyone to have a joyful time.  Except at this wedding, there has not been enough.  I love how another thing that never seems to change is the fact that it’s Jesus’ mom who notices what’s what and nudges him.  At first, Jesus is skeptical.  Is it really his job to make sure this wedding has abundant hospitality?  Jesus’ inner monologue continues and all we see as the audience is that Jesus does end up performing a miracle and plain, ordinary water is turned into wine.  Not just any wine, but the best wine.  This story is less about the wine itself and more of what this transformation represents.  Something ordinary becomes extraordinary at the hands of Jesus as he, for the first time, steps into the calling God has placed on his life. 

We’re used to Jesus healing the sick, eating dinner with the tax collectors and turning tables over in the temple.  But a miracle that seems to have as its primary effect … bringing abundance and joy into a party?  That’s … surprising.  

Jesus’ ministry begins with joy and dancing and celebration and abundance… at a wedding somewhere in the hills outside Nazareth.  Whatever Jesus’ initial hesitation was, with the help of his mom he realizes that this, too, is sacred work.  That this too is part of who he’s called to be.  The bringer of good news.  The bringer of joy.  The bringer of surprise.

I love that we pair this story today with the parable of the mustard seed, the classic story of surprises.  Who would think that the largest bush could come from the smallest seed.  A bush that will give homes to birds all comes from the tiniest seed!?

Jesus compares the mustard seed to what the kingdom of God is like.  It’s from the unlikeliest places and the smallest most insignificant moments that something much bigger and world-changing comes.  If we don’t believe that at the root of our faith, then nothing else matters.  This is the heart of who we are.  People who believe in mustard seed-sized faith.  Faith that squeezes into the most ordinary moments and transforms them into something spectacular. 

I believe that’s what happened for Jesus in the moment of that wedding.  He recognized what was empty and he saw an opportunity for abundance.  He leaned inward and figured out who it was God had created him to be.  A miracle-worker.  A source of abundance for others.  A giver of joy.  The person his mother always knew he could be. 

Maybe this will surprise you… but God has also created you to bring abundance into places and spaces that feel empty.  When we know God well enough, we find that God has given us everything we need to bring joy not only to ourselves but to others, too.  

I’m probably not the only person in this room that watched Alysa Liu skate her heart out this week in the Olympics.  Representing the United States, Alysa had an unlikely, even surprising, path to what became a gold medal performance.  Alysa, daughter of a Chinese refugee, followed her dream to be a champion ice skater.  It was a dream her dad and her siblings poured themselves into alongside her.  But at 16 years old the figure skating world and its pressure to win and diet and be someone she was not became too much and Alysa retired.  She took several years off.  And that space away from the pressure allowed her to see who she truly was inside.  She came back to the world of figure skating and declared that she would not conform to the standards of the high-pressure sporting world around her.  She would only skate if she could be herself.  And after taking those years off to find herself, she came back onto the ice with what can only be described as pure joy.  

I think everyone was surprised.   Something extraordinary came out of a small decision one person made to be themselves no matter what.  And her joy became our joy as we watched her skate. As we watched her defy expectations and be herself.  Don’t you feel the joy when you see her skating in this picture? 

To choose joy may seem like an insignificant decision in this world right now, but it’s not.  This joy gives us life.  This joy underlines every moment of suffering her father went through as a refugee and every ounce of pressure Alysa herself shook off in the relentless grind of a performative culture.  Choosing joy is a small but transformative act.

We could have started Lent by talking about self-denial. It often happens that way.  To begin with the temptation stories of Mark, Matthew and Luke.  This year, though, feels different.  The world feels hard enough right now.  Maybe it’s time to realize that who God made us to be, who we are at our core as Christians and people of faith, are people who can find joy in surprising places.  

Like a person in a frog costume at a protest.  Or paths and tunnels going all over the church yard in the snow banks.  Or, here, let me read from your own words.  Heart-shaped stickers of your good news that you shared at our Ash Wednesday story.   “A new sushi restaurant is opening soon in Cobleskill!”  “We just moved to town.  Thanks for having us!”  “I will be an aunt this summer!”  “I love my friends and family like my mom.”  “I just retired!.”   What good news do you have?

The world needs good news right now.  It needs us to look for places where the joy has run out.  It needs us, from our perspective of a mustard seed-sized faith to understand that great and miraculous outcomes can come from the most insignificant and small acts of joy.  This is, in fact, the most revolutionary and creative belief at the root of our faith.  That things can be different than they are now.  That the capacity for change and joy in the midst of storms and hardship is who our God is.  No action you can do is too small to bring joy into this world.  Let the audacity of this belief surprise you.  Let it surprise the world.  

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Anna