Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Second Sunday after the Epiphany (C)

January 19, 2025

Text: John 2:1-11

            “On the third day…” (John 2:1; ESV), when so many of the greatest things in the Bible happen, earthshaking things, things of life and redemption…  “On the third day…”  On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place, Mt. Moriah, upon which he was to sacrifice his only and beloved son, Isaac, to God; but where, at the last possible moment, the Angel of the LORD (and that is the pre-incarnate Christ!) staid his knife-wielding hand, and provided a ram for sacrifice in Isaac’s place (Gen. 22).  On the third day, it was made known that Jacob had fled from his devious father-in-law Laban, gaining freedom for his family, preserving the messianic line, and leading them toward the Promised Land (Gen. 31).  On the third day, Joseph’s prophetic dreams concerning Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker came true (Gen. 40:20-22), which would lead, eventually, to Joseph’s release from prison and exaltation to ruler of all Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself, and savior, not only of Egypt, but of Israel, of his own brothers (and really, of all people… us!... because without Israel, we don’t have Jesus), providing grain during the famine (Gen. 42 ff.).  And that’s only Genesis.  If you want to have a little fun, go to an internet Bible site, like biblegateway.com or esv.org, and search the phrase, “On the third day,” and have a blast reading all the references.  All through the Bible, earthshaking things, things of life and redemption, are connected with the third day.  (By the way, what about the third day of creation?  Vegetation.  Plants yielding seed, trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.  That is to say, among other things, grain for bread.  Grapes for wine.  Wood… for the cross.)

            So, the third day.  Always give that phrase a second, third, or hundredth look.  And what does it all point to?  You know.  “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22).  So Paul preaches, “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).  THE earthshaking thing.  THE thing of life and redemption.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  On the third day.

            “On the third day there was a wedding” (John 2:1).  Mary was there (incidentally, her first appearance in John’s Gospel).  The disciples were there.  Most importantly, Jesus was there.  The couple had invited Him.  And that is not an insignificant detail.  Those of you who are married, and those of you who may get married someday…  Invite Jesus to your marriage.  Not just your wedding (though certainly there, too!).  To your marriage.  He is the center of it.  You need His blessing.  You need His presence in your marriage.  Bring your spouse to Church, where Jesus is, for you.  Bring the fruit of your marriage, your children, to Church, where Jesus is, for them.  Husbands, wives, families…  Hear the Word of the Lord together.  Read it together at home.  Receive the Sacrament together.  Pray together.  Talk about the things of God together.  Marriage is hard.  Family life is hard.  But Jesus is present in these things, to cover over your whole marriage and family with His mercy and redemption, to strengthen it, keep it, protect it, provide for it, and to do great things in it, for you and for the world. 

            But more than that… Every wedding and marriage in which Jesus is present, is a visible witness and foreshadowing of the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom which has no end!  Jesus is the Bridegroom.  The Church is His Bride.  You are His Bride.  Our Lord gave Himself up into the death of the cross for His beloved Bride, the Church, as Paul says, to sanctify her, in order to cleanse her by the washing of water with the Word (that’s Baptism!), that He might present her to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy, and without blemish (Eph. 5:25-27).  The Church joyfully submits herself to her Bridegroom to receive this very salvation.  And when Christian husbands love their wives in self-giving sacrifice, and Christian wives submit themselves to that self-giving love… when Christian husbands and wives invite and receive Christ into their marriage… they manifest a mystery, Paul says, that of Christ and the Church (v. 32).

            On the third day…  Mary shows us that in time of need, we should ask Christ, lay all our troubles at His feet, even when it seems like He doesn’t want to help.  “They have no wine” (John 2:3).  “Woman, what does this have to do with me?” (v. 4).  Well, perhaps His hour had not come yet at the wedding in Cana, the hour of His suffering and death for the world, but it has come now.  And that hour is the answer to all our prayers.  Jesus wants us to hold Him to the hour, and to ask for, and expect, His help on the basis of that hour.  Our troubles have everything to do with Jesus.  He was born to redeem us from our troubles.  And so, Mary directs our eyes and ears, not toward herself, but to her Son.  “Do whatever he tells you” (v. 5).  Because whatever He tells you will be right and good.  And it is in this case, too.  The servants do as Jesus tells them, and behold, wine!  The wedding feast is saved.  The couple is saved from embarrassment, from public humiliation.  And their marriage begins… and continues… with joy, because Jesus is with them.

            And speaking of wine…  On the third day, wine to overflowing!  Six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons (imagine how much that is!).  “Fill ‘em up to the brim,” Jesus commands the servants (and the Greek word “servants” is διακόνοις, “deacons,” by the way, so here the clergy can learn something of their job description.  They are to serve the wedding guests at Table).  And then, of course, the great miracle… sign, as John calls the miracles in his Gospel… water into wine.  Because, when Jesus is on the scene, the old rites of purification give way to the new and better way of purification in Jesus Himself.  The Law gives way to the Gospel.  Sorrow is turned into joy.  Death is swallowed up by life, sin by righteousness.  Throughout the Old Testament, wine is a sign of the arrival of the messianic age.  Wine is the cup of joy.  When Messiah arrives, there will be a Feast for all peoples, Isaiah says.  A Feast of rich food, of aged wine well-refined (Is. 25:6).  Well, here it is.  When Jesus turns the water into wine, you can’t miss the meaning.  On the third day, the servants, and Mary, and the disciples (and you) know… This Man is our Messiah, our Savior, our Lord. 

            And let it be known, this is no two-buck Chuck (or twenty buck Chuck, as the case may be these days).  This is the real deal.  The very best wine.  Astoundingly better than what the couple served at first (and that was presumably pretty good stuff).  And so, on the third day, Jesus bestows this very best of gifts… on drunks!  On those who don’t deserve it.  Weddings lasted seven days when our Gospel takes place.  These guests consumed a week’s worth of wine in… what?... maybe one day.  Never mind the alcohol abuse, they took advantage of the couple.  Nevertheless, the Lord provides.  And isn’t that just like Jesus?  Isn’t that precisely what He does for us?  Sinners, every last one of us.  Yet Jesus pours out the best gifts upon us.  In His mercy, He takes away our sin.  And what does He do?  Our Bridegroom purifies us, cleanses us, not with the water of the Old Testament rites of purification, but the water of the font, the water flowing from His side, the water that covers us with His blood.  And then He gives us wine!  The wine that is His blood, with the bread that is His body.  It is His Wedding Feast! 

            Now, not everyone at the wedding is privy to the sign, the water turned into wine.  “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory” (John 2:11).  But not everyone sees it, and not everyone believes in Him on the basis of it.  Rather, the text says His disciples saw it, and His disciples believed in Him.  The miracles, the signs, are not given to dazzle the unbelieving into faith.  They are given for the faith of those who have become Jesus’ disciples, those who follow Him.  And so they are for you.  On the third day, an Epiphany.  Water into wine manifests Jesus’ glory.  Here is our Messiah, our Savior and our God.  What He did for the couple in Cana, He does here and now, for us.  Wine at the Wedding Feast.  Life.  Redemption.  Joy.  It is earthshaking.  On the third day.  Whenever you run across that phrase, you know.  On the basis of our Lord’s hour and resurrection: This is gonna be good!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.