The Church is Like a Pickle Jar

Text: John 2:1-11

Title: The Church is like a pickle jar

Thesis: What kind of jar will the church be?  A purified jar, or one that becomes purified by God’s Spirit by including others?

Time: Epip, 2 Sun, C

It’s interesting to me that Jesus chose six stone water jars as the object of his first miracle.  So many times throughout his ministry Jesus compared common, everyday things to describe what the kingdom of God is to be like –salt, sheep, light trees.  And here in his first miracle, in John 2, Jesus chooses the most common of things, six stone water jars to describe what kind of community he has come to establish.

We read in John 2 that there were other jars at the wedding, earthenware wine jars, but they were now empty.  Now, all that was left was some water used for hand washing in some stone jars.  The six stone hand-washing jars served primarily a religious function, as we are told in John 2:6, “For the Jewish rites of purification.”

What is so poignant about this miracle in not just that Jesus turned the water into wine.  Rather, look at what Jesus does, he uses the religious, stone purification jars to turn holy water into party wine.  Can you imagine how irate that made the religious folk at the wedding when they heard what Jesus has done?  Everybody at the wedding, religious and non-religious, are invited to drink the party wine.  What a mockery and disrespect of God and religion the religious folk must have thought!

But not everyone thought that.  Jesus’ miracle got people to thinking.  Religion can’t be contained in stone jars.  What is from God isn’t sealed off for only some people to use.  No, religion must be for everyone’s use and enjoyment.  In fact, we are told that after Jesus performed his miracle down in John 2:11, “His disciples believed in him.”

What kind of jar or container would you say describes the church today?  For your church, Smackover UMC, Norphlet UMC, Eldorado First, St. Mark, St. Luke, Dumas Memorial, what kind of jar is your church like?  Is it a holy, purified, hands off, only for religious people jar, or is it some other kind of jar that is to be enjoyed by everybody, a place where everyone can come and be filled with the transforming, miraculous power of Jesus Christ?

I would say this, “The church is like a jar, it’s like a jar of pickles.”  Let me explain what I mean.

I’ve had this jar of pickles in my refrigerator for several months now.  I don’t even remember how long.  According to the label, the jar once had about 30 pickles in it.  Now, you can see it’s only about half way full of pickle juice; and counting, there is only one pickle left in it.  There were more, but they got eaten in the writing of this sermon.

And brothers and sisters, this is how we sometimes feel as the church.  Like we’re a half used up jar of pickles.  We have stories in our churches to tell about how we were once brimming full of pickles, but now most of the pickles are gone, leaving us feeling empathy and wondering how much longer we’ll be of any use.  We look around at other brimming full jars around us, other denominations and churches, and we may feel stale or outdated.  At one time, all our jars were full, we can tell proud stories of how full our churches once were, but for various reasons, not many pickles remain, and most of the ones that are left are getting old.

It’s interesting to me that this is the first miracle of Jesus, as recorded in John’s Gospel.  Think about how the Gospel of John begins.  John first describes Jesus Christ in chapter one as the Word.  As the Word, Jesus was a major player in creation.  “All things came into being through him, and without him nothing came into being,” John 1:3.  So, imagine now, Jesus, the one who created all things being told the wine jars are not only half empty, they’re bone dry empty, not a drop left.  And as he does in many of his other miracles, Jesus takes what is only half full, or totally empty, or not enough to go around and he produces an overflowing abundance.  The story of the bread and fish, not enough to eat, so Jesus performs a miracle and there are 12 baskets left over after everyone has eaten.  Here in this miracle the good wine is usually served first, but Jesus says fill the stone jars brimming full with water and he turns it into better wine.  In other miracles the lame are told to rise and walk, the blind are told to see, outcasts are told to go back into town and be a part of society once more.  Jesus did and will continue to make that which is lacking, or only half full or empty full again as we have faith.  Do you believe Jesus can do that for your life?  Do you believe Jesus can do that for our round robin churches?  Do you believe we can be brimming full once again?

Now, if I were going to fill this jar of pickles, I would need two things.  I would first, obviously, need more pickles.  And you know what else I would need?  I would need more pickle juice.  Otherwise, the pickles would soon dry up, and who wants a dried up pickle?  According to the label, the pickle juice is made up mainly of water and vinegar and mixed in spices.

It’s the same for our churches.  We often think about the church like a jar.  [knock on the jar]  Our church buildings have walls and pews and Sunday school classes with chairs that need filled up.  And so we set out trying to figure out how to get more pickles in the jar, that is people in the pews.  There is nothing wrong with this, except we are forgetting one important thing, we first need to add in the juice.

This was important in Jesus’ ministry.  Do you remember what Jesus first does, even before this miracle, even before he makes any start in his ministry?  It’s up in John 2:32, Jesus’ baptism.  John the Baptist testifies, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.  I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

Brothers and sisters, if we want our churches to be brimming full, then we need to be inundated with the Holy Spirit.  We need to be totally saturated, not a dry spot left lest we dry up and lose faith or not fully experience God’s presence in our lives.

Therefore, in our church growth efforts we start by praying for God’s Holy Spirit to be upon us, long before we try to figure out how to get more pickles in the jar –the hymn selection, or the worship styles or the hospitality teams we start.  Before we start off on any church growth or renewal method, the beginning point for us is to remember our baptisms.  To know that in the water of baptism, we are promised the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to guide us individually and as a church in how to fulfill the ministry of making disciples for Jesus Christ.

It’s not inferior and second rate wine that Jesus creates at the Wedding in Cana.  No, in John 2:10, someone says to Jesus, “But you have kept the good wine until now.”  If we look back on our church growth efforts and see the things that have worked and not worked, or the programs that have waned, or people getting burned out, then we have not waded deep enough.  The water of baptism is first rate, totally refreshing, totally satisfying, forever sustaining so that we can be the best at the ministry that God has called us to fulfill.

Now, back to this business of adding pickles to the pickle jar.  This jar of pickles is for what?  It says here, “Dill Pickles.”  I must admit, of all pickles, Dill Pickles are my favorite.  If I had a try of pickles and could choose any of the pickles to fill my pickle jar, I’d chose whole dill pickles. 

An interesting thing about Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God, is there are all kinds of people invited into the kingdom.  Even in this miracle at Cana, it’s not just the religious with purified, clean hands who are allowed to drink the water turned to wine.  No, everyone at the party is invited to drink from the six stone jars.  Everyone joins in the festivity.  There are no boundaries or restrictions, everyone is invited to participate.

If our round robin churches were to have a label to describe us what would they say?  Only whole Kosher United Methodists Dills only?  Some churches might try that.  No, if we are to be witnesses of the kingdom of God, we’ve got to open our lids and let in all kinds of pickles –sweet pickles, bread and butter pickles, yes, even sour pickles, kosher pickles, dill pickles of the mild, medium and spicy varieties.  We’ve got to let in all kinds of pickles into the jar.  And do you know what one kind of pickle we need to add more than any other?  We need ripe off the vine, freshly pickled cucumbers, not yet even called pickles.  In fact, this is our mission, to make disciples of Jesus Christ –to welcome people who are out of relationship with God.  We are to welcome people into our doors who have never been in the jar, and tell them to jump in, to swim around and get saturated in God’s Holy Spirit and to mix around with us other pickles.

As a pastor, I know it’s not always easy for us to be a variety pack jar.  We like to be with people who are just like us.  We sometimes don’t even know were to go out in search of people who are unchurched. 

But it’s like this jar of pickles, the pickles aren’t going to jump in by themselves.  The lid has to be opened, the label has to be inviting, and there has to be room for them.  Where did Jesus go when he began looking for disciples?  He went to an everyday common place, a wedding in Cana.  He told the people he met there about a better way, a way in which not just some could be considered holy and pure and loved by God.  Instead, he told them that everyone could become pure and holy and loved by God together.  No one excluded, no one too poor or too unclean or too different, everyone was invited.

As Round Robin churches we have many challenges in the days ahead.  Especially as we think about ourselves as jars that are not as full as we once were, or how the times are changing in which to do ministry, there are challenges ahead.  But as we allow ourselves to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit, as we become involved in ministries that reach out to unchurched people, as we open our lids and become inviting places, our churches can fulfill the ministry God has called us to fulfill.  May we have faith.  Let’s be in prayer.  Let’s remember our baptisms.  And let’s be empowered through the Holy Spirit to be variety pack churches where everyone can experience God’s love.