Second Sunday
after the Epiphany (C)
January 16, 2022
Text: John 2:1-11
Maybe
you’ve been in one of those awkward social situations where the whole event is
about to become a train wreck, much to the host’s embarrassment, and all you
can do is watch. We had this massive
funeral one time at my previous parish.
Way more guests than we expected.
It almost happened there at the funeral luncheon. We nearly ran out of food! And I don’t have to tell you that Lutherans
at a funeral expect to eat. It was a
crisis of epic proportions. The macaroni
salad, the tater-tot casserole, the jello-encased fruit cocktail, all of it,
nearly depleted, and more hungry mourners in line. But then those dear women of Epiphany
congregation sprang into action. Fervent
prayer, husbands flying from the parking lot with their wives’ grocery lists,
and a blaze of Lutheran kitchen cookery like you’ve never seen. It was a veritable miracle. I think we ended up with twelve baskets full
of food left over. Or maybe not. That is another miracle for another time. But all the guests left satisfied.
Mary
was in just such a predicament at the wedding in Cana. In those days, wine was to weddings what luncheons
are to Lutheran funerals. And weddings
weren’t just one day affairs. The
celebration could last a week or two.
And one of the burdens of the poor bridegroom was to provide the whole
party with wine. Wine sufficient for the
duration. And the guests weren’t shy
about bellying up to the bar. The custom
was to drink freely, as the master of the feast points out to us. Who knows what Mary’s relationship was to the
happy couple? Close enough that her plus
one was expanded to include, not only her Son, Jesus, but His disciples as
well. In any case, she sees the problem,
and it isn’t going to be good. With a
grave look on her face, she catches Jesus’ eye.
Perhaps she whispers, or silently mouths the words. “They have no wine” (John 2:3; ESV). “What are we going to do?” And Jesus may as well have shrugged His
shoulders. “Woman, what does this
have to do with me?” (v. 4).
Literally, “What to Me and to you?”
“Why does this concern Me? Why
should I get involved?” After all, “My
hour has not yet come.”
What
does this problem have to do with Jesus?
A social embarrassment, but, it’s not as though the world will stop
turning. And what on earth is this Hour
that has not yet come? What does that
have to do with anything?
When
Mary puts the problem on Jesus’ shoulders, she is asking her Son to play the
part of the bridegroom. She is asking
Him to take upon Himself the responsibility, the burden, of the bridegroom, and
to cover over his failure. She is asking
Him to provide for the bride, and for all who are in attendance at the bridal
feast. And though His Hour has not yet
come, Mary asks Him to do this precisely because His Hour is
coming, and it is near. And what
is that Hour? The Hour is the
divinely appointed time when Jesus, our heavenly Bridegroom, gives Himself into
death for His Bride, the Church. St.
Paul says Christian husbands are given to be living pictures of this when they
love their wives “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with
the word”… and here we can think about how Jesus meets His Bride at the
baptismal font in the same way so many Old Testament saints’ met their wives at
the well: Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and how Jesus Himself met the Samaritan woman at
the well, that she may be included in His Bride… “so that he might present
the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27). The Hour is the lifting up of Jesus on the
cross for the sins of the world, that from His spear impaled side a new Eve be
formed for Him by the water and the blood.
That is the Church. That is
you.
The
changing of water into wine is a sign of this very thing. Jesus gives Himself for His Bride, in order
to turn her sorrow into joy (John 16:20), her mourning into dancing (Ps.
30:11), her sins to righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21), her death to life (John 5:24),
her hell to heaven. The Old Law of
Purification becomes the New Law of Feasting.
Jesus lifts the veil and wipes away the tears of His blushing Bride
(Rev. 7:17; 21:4). And He gives her the
cup of joy, the cup of salvation. And
the wine in the cup is nothing less than the New Testament in His Blood that
cleanses her from all her sins. You
already drink this cup. You drink it
right here as you kneel with your Bridegroom at His Altar.
So
Jesus does as His mother says, because it has everything to do with Him. Because of His impending Hour. This particular bride, and this particular
bridegroom, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, are also included in the Bride
of Christ. How could He not provide for
their needs, as Mary well knew?
Now,
“This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested
his glory” (John 2:11). Water into
wine is not just a miracle, to bring Jesus fame, and help a young
couple in need. It is a sign. It is a sign that manifests Jesus’ glory,
and in John’s Gospel in particular, Jesus’ glory is to be lifted up on
the cross. Jesus gives this sign
to preach the Gospel of His self-giving sacrifice, that His disciples, and all
of us who hear this sign anew today, believe in Him. These things “are written so that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may
have life in his name” (John 20:31).
And
it should not be lost on us that Jesus does this sign on the third
day. To be sure, this is to indicate
the third day after the previous event John narrates, which happens to be the
calling of Nathanael (John 1:43-51). But
we know the significance of those words, and that time stamp, which point us to
the greatest of Jesus’ signs. It is the
sign that gives to all the others their power and significance, the sign by
which He brings us to living and saving faith in Him. On the Third Day, Jesus, who was
crucified for our sins, who gave Himself up for us, who died for us… burst
forth alive from the tomb. Jesus Christ,
our heavenly Bridegroom, is risen the from the dead.
The
changing of water into wine is a sign of that… the changing of death
into resurrection and eternal life by His own death and resurrection.
Now,
what is the meaning of all of this for us, concretely? We learn some very important things about
what Jesus does for us in our Holy Gospel this morning. First, let us simply recognize and give thanks
for the fact that Jesus bestows good gifts to sinners; in fact, the very best
gifts, in abundance. It’s no two-buck
Chuck Jesus gives to the drunks at the wedding.
It is the very finest of wines, a draught at which the master of the
feast marvels. God graciously gives His good gifts to those who do not deserve
them, to people who will thanklessly abuse those gifts. He even gives them to you and me. And why?
Because Jesus died for our sins, for our thankless abuse. Because Jesus is risen, and lives, for us,
and is Himself our life and righteousness.
Because He would lead us to recognize God as the Giver of all good,
believe in Him, and give Him thanks.
Second,
Jesus really does care about the details of our lives. He cares about the bridegroom’s
embarrassment, about the hungry Lutheran mourners in the lunch line, and about
you when you are sick, or sad, or suffering, or even when you lose your car
keys. When you are in want or need, He
wants you to tell Him your troubles, as St. Mary did. He may sometimes appear at first to shrug His
shoulders. But why does He do that? That you may address the question of what
this has to do with Him. And the
answer is, everything. Because He
endured His Hour, He has redeemed you, body and soul, right down to every last
detail of your life. It all belongs to
Him. It is sanctified by Him. Just as I am moved to compassion by my wife’s
tears, and I help her search if she loses her car keys, so Jesus cares for
you. He will act out of love for you,
and always for your good.
Third,
as we confess in the Rite of Holy Matrimony, “Our Lord blessed and honored
marriage with His presence and first miracle at Cana in Galilee,” and “In
marriage we see a picture of the communion between Christ and His bride, the
Church.”[1] Marriage is holy to Christ, as His own
institution. And so our marriages, each
one of them, are holy to Him, and blessed with His presence. He graciously deigns to be with us in all the
ups and downs of our married life and the family that comes of it, for better
or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, when we’re arguing
and when we’re rapturously in love, when the dishwasher is broken, and the
trash needs to be taken out, and the kids need help with homework, when we’re
growing old and gray, and when death parts us.
Our whole life long, Jesus is present with us. And on into eternal life. But then, understand, this promise is not
just for married people. At the wedding in
Cana, Jesus didn’t only give wine to the bride and bridegroom. He poured it out for everyone present. Married and single. Newlyweds and widows. Young and old. Men and women. And yes, even for His mom.
There
are undoubtedly more applications to be made, but the final take-home point for
our purposes this morning is summed up by Mary in her instructions to the
servants: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). That is, hear and believe Jesus’ Word as He
reveals it to you in Scripture and preaching.
Just trust Him. Keep His Word,
and do it. This from the woman who
treasured up all these things, all the Words about her Son, and pondered them
in her heart (Luke 2:19). Thus you will
know that all good gifts come to you from above, from God, for Jesus’ sake, and
you can recognize this, and give thanks.
Thus you will know that you can always call upon Him in time of
need. He will provide. He will protect. He will save.
He died for you. He is risen for
you. He gives you life and will raise
you bodily from the dead. And thus you
will know that He is with you now in your own marriage and family life, in all
your joys and sorrows, and that He is with you just as assuredly if you are not
married. With you to sanctify. With you to bless. With you to give you joy and gladness, and
the very best wine. His Word does all
these things.
And
His Word will even give you wisdom for those awkward social situations where
the train is about to derail. Pause and
say a prayer. Like Mary, let Jesus know
your need. Then get to work in love for
your neighbor, knowing every failure is forgiven, and your work is blessed. So it is that on the Third Day Jesus turned
all our mourning into joy, and here and now He gives us the very best wine, His
Blood, shed for us, for the forgiveness of all our sins. When His Hour came, Jesus rose to the
occasion. And now everything in our life
has everything to do with Him. For He
is our life. In the Name of the
Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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