Sermon for Second Sunday after Epiphany

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This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

Please be seated. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, this morning we hear a story about a wedding celebration that almost wasn’t—well, at least… maybe one that was in danger of being spoiled by a shortage of wine. The fact that we hear about this wedding this morning makes us think about your own wedding, and the fact that this particular gospel text is indeed used lots of times for the wedding rite, particularly, I think, in the Lutheran Church.

The text should show us that indeed our Lord Jesus does esteem marriage, and he himself is, of course, the example of the bridegroom, the one who loves and cares for and indeed is going to give his own life for his bride, the church. So we would not necessarily be wrong to take this lesson and use it for the purpose of elevating the state of marriage to where our Lord indeed wants it to be.

Because we also today hear this marriage theme in the Psalm, where you hear about the happiness of a household that fears the Lord. Our lesson from the prophet Isaiah, where the Lord promises to restore and save Israel by wedding himself to her. But there is indeed a lot more going on in this story than just a wedding.

Okay. Now that we find ourselves right now in the season of Epiphany, I think maybe should be a little bit of a hint or a clue to maybe something that we would want to kind of glom onto or take from this lesson today. A few weeks ago on Epiphany Sunday, we heard about the wise men who followed this star from the east, Christ’s star as it was. Its radiance eventually leading them to Bethlehem where they see the boy and fall down and worship him. Last week we heard St. Luke’s account of the baptism of Jesus, where the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.

Just before this reading today, we have in John chapter 2, the evangelist tells us about the testimony of John the Baptist and how Jesus has called all these disciples and he has invited them to come and see. He promises that they will see even greater things. So I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong to say that the epiphany of our Lord is a day in time, but it is also kind of a series of events for us here in the church.

And today at Cana, the disciples indeed do see, because Jesus will make himself known to them through the first of these seven signs that John tells us about. This text today tells us that Jesus and his disciples, they’ve traveled across the Jordan River, they’ve gone from Bethany up into the land of Galilee to this village of Cana, and they’ve all been invited there. It says Jesus and his disciples were invited.

Now, weddings in that day were typically protracted events, sometimes stretched into seven days. It’s not clear exactly when Jesus and his disciples got there, if they got there at the beginning or some other time. John tells us that Mary is already there, although it’s kind of interesting that he doesn’t refer to her as Mary. He calls her the mother of Jesus, but I think that’s kind of a tie-in to why Jesus himself was probably invited.

Right? A Lutheran Christian sermon. But it’s obvious the text tells us that she’s in the middle of things. She knows what’s going on and she now becomes keenly aware that this supply of wine is running dangerously low. Some suggest that maybe Jesus and his disciples crashed this wedding and they showed up and caused the shortage.

But the text tells us clearly they were invited. So no, it’s probably as simple as somebody messed up on the head count and failed to have enough wine on hand. This, of course, in society then would be a major embarrassment—to run out of wine before the wedding is over. A social faux pas of sorts. And I can tell you as one who recently paid for a wedding, I didn’t plan it, I paid for it. I can say this is true: you don’t want to run out of wine, or beer for that matter.

What we see next though that happens is very interesting. You can almost hear the anxiety, the angst, the apprehension, and the exasperation—all those things—in Mary’s voice as she tells Jesus, “They have no wine.”

And what exactly is it that Mary expects that Jesus is going to do about this? He’s there with his disciples, he’s invited, he’s a guest. Is he going to gather them up and go out into the town, a town he doesn’t know, and hunt down more wine? Why doesn’t Mary just take care of this like she should? It almost seems like Jesus is thinking the same with this kind of, I think, what we take as this caustic response to Mary where he says, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?” Some translations might render it to be more of a response like, “With me and you.”

Maybe that’s kind of a signal about something. Because either way, this seems to be a rebuke to Mary for suggesting that Jesus be the one to do something. And maybe we kind of think that we see some sort of a signal of a relationship and the change between mother and son, because it sure sounds like it. Jesus doesn’t even call her mother; he just says woman. And in that day, that was actually a symbol of respect.

But nonetheless, he doesn’t refer to her as his mother. And yet Mary doesn’t seem to be offended by this. She doesn’t recoil at it because probably she understands what’s going on here. Now I was thinking about this—how a lot of people like to poke fun at this song we hear around Christmas time titled, “Mary, Did You Know?” And the reason is that the answer should be obvious: that Mary did know.

So we ought to be sure that Mary did know why Jesus responded the way he did and that he is indeed going to do something. But if she took any offense at the way that he responded, she sure doesn’t show it. Perhaps in her own mind, she’s thinking back to the visitation of Gabriel all those years ago and all the things that he told her that would happen. Maybe she’s thinking back to Simeon encountering the infant Jesus in the temple and how he sang his song of blessing and thanksgiving. Surely she was also aware of his baptism and that he had now called and gathered these disciples who are there with him.

So yes, she understands who her son is. And yes, this relationship is a little different now. About this, Luther wrote: “Although there is no higher power on earth than a father and mother’s power, even this is at an end when God’s word and work begin.”

So yes, he’s here as her son, the son of Mary. But more than that, he is there as the Son of God. This is why she asked him to do something, because she too believes in him. She has faith in him, and she has faith in him beyond thinking that he is just going to fix this temporal problem.

But perhaps she is expecting more than he is willing to reveal at this moment. For in saying, “My hour has not yet come,” Jesus perhaps is preempting any notion Mary might have that he is going to fully reveal himself there and then. He says, “My hour has not come.”

We know that when it does come, he will turn his face to Jerusalem, but not yet. And Mary knows. She knows what he’s talking about and of what he speaks. And so she looks to the servants and she directs them away from herself and to Jesus. “Do whatever he tells you.”

It seems almost as if she’s thinking back and saying again, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” Here we see humble Mary pointing to Jesus, her son, and yet Christ, her Savior.

Jesus now directs these servants to take these six large stone jars that are used for the ritual of purification and go fill them up. They probably thought he was out of his mind. He’s either one of those crazy Pharisees that is so fanatical about washing hands and everything else in the house that he’s going to make us do it all over again. Or maybe he’s hoping the people have drunk enough wine that he can pass off his water as wine.

What they do is to say, nonetheless, and when they draw the water out at his command and deliver it to the master of the feast, they now know what has happened. They know that Jesus, the new high priest, the great high priest, is doing away with this ritual of washing hands. He has taken this water formerly for self-purification and for strict keeping of the law. He has replaced it with wine—wine that he will soon institute as his own blood for the forgiveness of sins.

A gospel now—not law, but gospel for all believers. And who does he choose to reveal this to? To the rulers and the authorities in Jerusalem? No. To these servants in Galilee.

So now also his disciples see this first sign. This sign requires obedience and faith on their part. Jesus had previously told them to come and see, and now they do see for the first time. John tells us his disciples believed in him. But yet, Jesus doesn’t try to take credit for what he’s done. The master of the feast tells us he must assume that this bridegroom has either planned this all out and praises him for his generosity, or he thinks he’s a fool for serving the good wine last. He says, “You have kept the good wine until now.”

Regardless of the reason, it must have been some exceptional wine. I say, I don’t know much about wine. If you gave me a blind taste test and put a $2 bottle or a $200 bottle in front of me, I’m sure I couldn’t tell the difference. But these people sure could, because the quality of this wine had to have been like none other. And there was plenty of it.

In turning this water into wine, he is showing himself to be who John says he is. More than that, who Jesus himself says he is—the Word, the one through whom all things were made, the creator of heaven and earth, and who has now created this splendid wine. This wine that Jesus waited to make until just the right time, when it was needed.

So, I said earlier that there was more than a wedding going on here. We do want to know and say that the wedding at Cana should make us think of Christ’s love for us, and perhaps it does make you think of your own wedding. For Christ is the bridegroom who rejoices over the church, his bride, having cleansed her, as we hear, by the washing of water with the word. He is, as we heard in the epistle lesson, the one who gives us his Holy Spirit so that only by the Holy Spirit may we proclaim that Jesus is Lord.

He is the one who gives us the bread of life and this good wine, now his body and blood for the forgiveness of all our sins. Although he set aside his glory and kept it hidden, he does not now hide it from us. For he manifests himself in all these gifts which he so lavishly pushes on and puts on us today and always.

Yes, Jesus is doing away with the old rituals and he is now making satisfaction for the law. He has replaced the ritual of washing with the washing of baptism, the water of baptism once and for all. And with the cleansing of blood—his own blood which was shed for us and washes away our sins in a crimson flood.

He has given a sign, but yes, more than a sign. He has given us a new era, a revealing of his glory and his divinity and the coming of the kingdom of God. So yes, in this epiphany season, may we look for Jesus Christ to reveal himself to us again and again and over and over again. As we gather to be blessed by his word and to participate in his Holy Communion.

Yes, we can see how Jesus blesses marriage at Cana, but he blesses more than that at Calvary. At Cana, the servants, and the disciples, and all the rest, they were given this brief glimpse of Jesus’ glory and perhaps even a limited understanding of who Christ is. But on the cross, he fully revealed his glory for the world to see, as he did then and for us today.

Christ was an invited guest at the wedding of Cana—not that he could just partake in the fun and frivolity and the festivities, but so that he may reveal himself to be the Word made flesh. He so reveals himself to us today as the Word made flesh, and he is inviting us now to join the feast which he has prepared for us.

So may we ever hold fast to the truth of this word, and may we never grow tired of being fed and nourished and forgiven in this supper until that day when we feast on the marriage feast of the Lamb and his kingdom, which will have no end. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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