Sermon: Epiphany 2 - 2020

19 January 2020

Text: John 2:1-11

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Sometimes people make light of our Lord’s miracle in Cana, turning water into wine at a wedding feast.  Sometimes people laugh because it involves alcohol.  Sometimes people speculate that Jesus was making a show of His power, or making sure people knew that He was God.

But Jesus is not a comedian (though He is witty), nor is he a magician (He is the Creator).  He is God in the flesh who has not come to condemn man for His sinfulness, but rather to save him, by forgiveness, by mercy.

Jesus is not motivated by power or the desire to be accepted.  He is motivated by His love for His creatures: love that manifests itself as mercy.  For He knows how far the world has gone from His original plan.  He knows how wretched our condition is, thanks to sin.  And instead of being repulsed by us, instead of turning away from us, instead of writing us off and starting over – He has mercy, and He comes to fix that which is broken.

And no act of mercy is too great or too small for Him.  For even as His Father intimately knows every sparrow on the planet, He the Son, likewise knows us.  And in knowing us, He willingly took flesh in our broken world to save us from our sorrows, great and small.

Jesus is in Cana for a wedding.  He Himself created the institution of marriage, in which one man and one woman become one flesh, committed to one another for life.  And in this holy state of matrimony, each is better off than when he and she were alone.  Men and women who are called to married life are better off together than alone.  Not everyone is called to married life, but to those who are, Holy Matrimony is the most natural, blessed state of all.  And if God wills it, such unions are blessed by children.  This is how God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit chose to bring new people into the world.  

What a delight for Jesus to witness a man and a woman carrying out the divine plan to which they were called.  And as is universal around the world, there is a celebration.  There is a feast.  There is food and drink and toasts and music.  There are beloved friends and family members to bless the couple.  Money has been saved to make this day special. 

But, of course, we live in a fallen world.  Things do not always go as planned.  And the couple’s wonderful day is about to be ruined.  For whatever reason, there is not enough wine for the guests.  This was not a problem that could be solved with a quick drive to a big box store and a swipe of the credit card.  This was going to be a major disappointment for all in attendance.

In the grand scheme of things, this may not seem like a big deal.  Nobody is dying.  The house didn’t catch on fire.  Marauders did not show up plundering and putting people to the sword.  Nevertheless, this holy day to celebrate a holy estate was on the verge of being turned into a negative, desecrated, if you will, by the lack of something needed for the celebration.  And only God knows the words that might have been spoken, the hurt feelings that may have occurred, the broken relationships that might have taken place.  We do not know the road not taken.

And so Jesus saves the day by exercising His mighty power.  He is not looking for affirmation, but for the provision of mercy to a newly-married couple and their families.  It is fitting that He uses stone jars used in “Jewish rites of purification,” as He is going to do something that not even the ceremonial Law was capable of doing.  Jesus is going to do the seemingly impossible – that is, impossible for anyone except the living God.  

Our blessed Lord has the servants “fill the jars with water.”  And then He commands water to be drawn out.  “Take it to the master of the feast,” He says.  

“So they took it.”  The servants obey the Word of Jesus, even as do the very molecules of water.  The water had become wine.  The master of the feast “did not know where it came from.”  But the servants did.  Often Jesus reveals Himself to the most lowly.  

Because of this action, the bridegroom is praised instead of humiliated.  “Everyone serves the good wine first,” says the master of the feast, “and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine.  But you have kept the good wine until now.” 

The groom is a hero.  The bride’s reputation has been saved.  The families of the couple continue to rejoice.  The master of the feast is astonished.  And the lowly servants have been introduced to Jesus – the one who showed mercy to the newlyweds.  And while this was a small miracle in the grand scheme of things, for the couple, this was no small deed.  Perhaps it saved them from events that could eventually have ruined their marriage.  Their holy day remained joyful, and not a day of pointed fingers, blame, and harsh words.  

And the disciples of Jesus also saw something for the first time: that Jesus manifested His glory – not in glorifying Himself, but in covering the shame of an ordinary and obscure man and a likewise ordinary and obscure woman.  His glory is in His mercy, in His love, and in this love being shown not to the mighty and powerful, but to those of ordinary estate.

Jesus blessed a marriage.  Jesus took away their reproach.  Jesus commanded not only servants, but water itself, to do the will of His Father.  And what’s more, with this first great miracle as recorded by John the Evangelist, in this “first of His signs,” we see that the “disciples believed in Him.” 

They do not believe in Him only for the sake of the miracle, of the power, of the remarkable action that only God could do, they believe in Him because His power is wielded in love and mercy.  Jesus has not come to condemn, but to save.

And on this day, our Lord Jesus Christ saved a wedding feast from disaster.

Of course, He would do many more signs over the next three years, healing many sick, including the blind and the deaf, the leprous, and the demon-possessed.  Each miracle that He does is an act of mercy, of making someone whole.  He will even raise the dead: which is His mission – to restore life to the dead, we who are dead in our sins and brought back to the dust from which we were created.  Jesus would die for the sins of the world, and then rise to life to render death itself impotent against His mighty power of forgiveness and mercy.  And He, the Bridegroom of the Church, will allow Himself to be humiliated in order to save His beloved, His Bride.  And He will invite her to the eternal wedding feast, where indeed, the good wine will be served last, for all of eternity.

Jesus is not a comedian, but we laugh with joy and delight.  Jesus is not a magician, but He does truly change the world by means of His Word.  There is no trickery here, only honest mercy by God in the flesh.  And when he says: “I forgive you all your sins,” and when He says, “This is My body,” and “This cup is the New Testament in My blood,” we too see Him manifest His glory: His glory that is His love and mercy and salvation, even commanding bread and wine to bend to His will for our sake and for our salvation.  

For indeed, our Lord has kept the good wine until now.  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.