The 2nd Sunday after Epiphany - January 15, 2012

The Church Season of Epiphany,
2nd Sunday after Epiphany,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (January 15, 2012)

Readings:   
    Exodus 33:12-23
    Ephesians 5:22-33   
    John 2:1-11

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 2nd chapter of St. John, especially the following verses...

John 2:1-11 (ESV)

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

So Far the Text

Jesus Christ attends a wedding in Cana, and there He blesses the wedding party with His first recorded miracle, changing water into wine.  You’ve heard this miracle repeated at quite a few weddings.  Jesus, His apostles and His mother all in attendance and all who are present are blessed.  But how and why did we come to find ourselves in a reading about a wedding in Cana? The book of John begins with the words, “In the beginning.”  And in the beginning of the book of John, or as it is written in Greek, According to John, meaning The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to John.  But, how do we get to the wedding feast on time?  Jesus brings us there by manifesting Himself into this world and into our lives.  John the author of this book speaks of Jesus Christ who is the Light coming into the world.  And after the Light comes into the world and then John records that Jesus is baptized in water by John the Baptist.  The next few verses of the book of John cover the few days in which the disciples were chosen and then three days later, that is the sixth day, we are in Cana. 

It is the account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in six days culminating with Jesus “[manifesting] His glory”(v. 11) at this wedding. And on the sixth day, “God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”(Gen 1:28) In the beginning God created the world in six days, and on the sixth day He blessed man and woman.  In the account of the six days of Jesus’ life John brings us to the wedding in Cana, where Jesus Christ both God and man blesses a man and a woman who are to be wed. 

But we still seem to be left with a question.  For John does not expound upon the conversation between Jesus and His mother, wherein Mary states to Jesus, “They have no wine.”(v. 3)  Had Mary forgotten to whom she was speaking?  Did she not remember all the angels, the incarnate birth, the boy Jesus in the Temple teaching and speaking with the elders of the church?  And why does Jesus address His mother as “woman.”  Today that term is derogatory, but in that time it would be an answer of respect, sort of like Ma’am.  But this response along with the next creates a new question, Why does Jesus say, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”(v. 4)

Like Mary Jesus’ mother, we may wish to command, rather demand that Jesus to help us.  And sometimes His response to us creates new questions for us.  When He say to us, "My hour is not yet come."  Or right now might not be the right time for Him to step in and transform our lives into something new.  We don’t understand, we ask more questions.  Why, why Jesus did you not answer my prayers today?  In this life we live, everyday is not always a time of joy.  Sometimes, it would seem that the Lord hides His face from us, and we are in sorrow.  Sometimes, we think Jesus acts as though He forgets us, and for us there is tribulation.  Sometimes, the wine of joy is hidden from our lives.  At the wedding feast in Cana running out of wine would be a great disgrace.  We do not have the power to do what Christ has done for us and in our sin are left with shameful disgrace and loss.

We do not want to believe that this is what we deserve.  But, truthfully we neither deserve the blessing of the abundant wine, and for that matter not even a cup of stale water to slake our thirst.  All our deeds, our planning, and our effort always fall short of the glory of God.  And although we attempt to make a good appearance before others, put on a happy face, the Old Adam still dwells within us, our sinful nature ruins every good work. 

In the times when you are overtaken by sorrow, challenged by failing health, driven to tiresome despair, when the world has challenged you beyond what you may bear, it is not Christ who has abandoned you.  Instead, you are always pointed to true joy and is Christ’s miracle gift for you.  You will not always to be happy in this life, but Jesus is always standing nearby, ready to help. We do not pray to Mary, but we do pray like Mary, we pray that Christ would remember us.

So we deserve no wine and we deserve no miracle. But even in spite of ourselves, Christ desires to give us the abundant wine of His joy, undeserved as it is.  We are the pleasure and delight of His loving heart.  Jesus does not want to give us what we deserve, rather He gives us what we do not deserve and that is eternal life.

At the wedding in Cana Jesus Christ did perform His first miracle changing water into wine.  And the master of the feast told the bridegroom, “you have kept the good wine until now”(v. 10)  The bridegroom and the bride shared the blessing of the wine together. 

And so it was and so it shall be.  In this life you have the presence of Christ, you hear the His Word comfort in His Word proclaimed.  You are baptized with the Water combined with His Word.  You are chosen, the Holy Spirit give you the miracle of faith and grace without cost or effort by you.  But all this was won for you at great cost this miracle for you.  For Christ’s time did come.  Jesus stood before the rulers of this world, and did not perform a miracle to save His own life.  Rather He went to the cross and performed a miracle to save the lives of all the lost, including you and me. 

Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom, the church is His bride.  He brought you to the waters of your Baptism.  He changed the water into wine, and “on the night when He was betrayed, in the same way He took the cup after supper and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying: Drink of it all of you; this cup IS my blood of the New Testament which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Focus not on what you think or what you want, or want you want for, in this life, rather focus on all that you have been given in the miracle of eternal life.

Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and you and all believers throughout the world are the church His bride.  Jesus Christ’s time had not come at the time of the wedding of Cana, but His time did, has, and will forever come for you.  The bridegroom and the bride share the abundant blessing of the wine together here in time there in eternity, forever and ever.  Amen.

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

 

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