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The Sermon for Sunday, January 19th, 2025, the Second Sunday after Epiphany
The Lessons: Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 96; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11
The Text: John 2:1-11
INTRODUCTION
Some time ago a young man – let’s call him Joe – began thinking of marriage. He was nervous about the whole thing, but he knew what he wanted in a wife, and he started looking. He went out of his way to meet new girls, but only one stole his heart – let’s call her Jo Beth. He worked his way into a relationship with her, and to his great joy, she returned his affection. They fell in love and one evening he proposed. Their families were thrilled, and word spread quickly among their friends. Joe and Jo Beth couldn’t hide their joy as they started planning their wedding. They chose the date. They contacted the minister. They talked about the flowers, the candles, the ceremony, and the food. Then the guest list: who to invite? They started compiling names. Their parents, grandparents, and relatives, of course. Their friends. Their work associates. And then Joe said something interesting, or perhaps it was Jo Beth. “What would you think of inviting Jesus Himself? Let’s add him to the wedding list just as we’d invite anyone else. Let’s send Him a formal invitation to be a part of our marriage.”
So they did – and Jesus Christ came. Now, when Jesus attends a wedding, you never know what will happen. What happened on this occasion is recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 2. Jesus took the occasion to perform his first miracles – the turning of water into wine.
This young couple was evidently well known to Mary and Jesus. The Lord had undoubtedly sold wood products to people in Cana, for he was a carpenter, and Cana was near Nazareth….
Jesus wants to attend our weddings, live in our homes, and help us build our marriages. He wants to turn water into wine, that is, to transform ordinary relationships into special ones. Charles Erdman put it this way: “All the signs wrought by our Lord were symbolic of the experiences which would result from faith in him. It is most significant, therefore, that his first miracle, which was an index to his whole ministry, was so related to the joy of a wedding feast.[1]
In New Testament times, wine was often diluted with water, three parts of water to one part of wine being typical. The Jewish wedding in those times might have lasted as long as a week, and for there to be a shortage of wine at any point would have been a disgrace to the bridegroom. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at this wedding at Cana in Galilee. The fact that St. John mentions her presence at the wedding (John 2:1) might imply that she had a significant role to play in the arrangements of the wedding feast. This would also make sense of St. Mary’s appeal to Jesus about the shortage of wine (John 2:3).
The Lord Jesus’ reply to his mother appears to be dismissive: “Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come” (John 2:4, KJV). The way the Greek is expressed, this could mean, “What do you have to do with me?” or “What do I have to do with you?” Further, “Woman” might be better translated in this instance as “Dear woman.” Part of what Jesus might have been saying here is that his mother no longer had authority over him, since he was fully under the authority of God the Father. His addition of the statement that his hour had not yet come pointed forward to his crucifixion when St. Mary would certainly be at his side and be struck with grief at his passion. The effect of this statement in the account of Jesus’ first miracle in this Gospel narrative, is to connect the miracle with his passion and death on the cross.
St. Mary, who must have had some authority to give directions to the servants at the wedding, is not discouraged by Jesus’ reply, but commands the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do (John 2:5). Her words imply her deep faith in Jesus to do a miracle to restore the wine supply.
Six stone water jars used for Jewish purification rites were standing near Jesus. He tells the servants to fill them with water. Each of these jars had a capacity of two or three firkins, and a firkin translates the Greek word for “measure” and is equivalent to nine gallons. At three firkins a jar, the total amount of water turned into wine would be about 162 gallons! This would certainly be enough for the remaining days of the wedding feast!
THE GOVERNOR OF THE FEAST’S CONCLUSION
Before any wine was set before the guests, it was the responsibility of the governor of the feast (equivalent of the chief butler in an aristocratic household perhaps) to taste the wine. When he had tasted the water changed into wine, but did not know where it had come from, although the servants who had drawn the water knew, he called the bridegroom to tell him that though it was the custom to serve the good wine first and keep the poorer quality for the time when the guests had become intoxicated, the bridegroom had kept the best wine until then (John 2:9-10).
St. John then adds that this miracle at Cana was “the beginning of miracles” that Jesus did, and showed his glory, and his disciples believed in him (John 2:11).
CONCLUSIONS
The first miracle of Jesus in the Gospel according to St. John conveys a number of important insights to us.
Firstly, it shows God’s blessing on marriage, and hallows marriage as God’s will for society, since Jesus chose to perform his first miracle at a wedding.
Secondly, the miracle reveals Jesus’ glory as the Son of God who can perform miracles. In St. John’s Gospel account, though, the glorifying of Jesus is associated with his death on the cross and ensuring resurrection on the third day (John 12:23-33). Therefore, the words of the governor of the wedding feast take on a greater significance – “you have kept the best wine until now” (John 2:10b) – for they speak of the new life that Jesus Christ has brought to mankind through his death on the cross.
The Jewish Law, symbolized by the water purification jars, cannot itself bring life to people. Jesus, by obeying God’s Law perfectly, even to the point of death on the cross to redeem mankind from sin, reconciles man to God and so gives them the new wine of his life.
As we think of this miraculous transformation of water into wine, we are reminded of Holy Communion, in which the bread and the wine become for us the Body and the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we receive spiritually in the Blessed Sacrament. The first miracle is in fact a sign of the glory of Jesus Christ shown in his death and resurrection, which are commemorated at every service of Holy Communion, but it is also a sign of the continual spiritual communion Christians ought to have with the Lord through their relationship with him. It shows the abundant, eternal life that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to all who turn from their sin to believe in, receive, and follow Him all of their lives. More than that, this first miracle points to the Wedding Banquet of the Lamb, when the Church, as the sanctified Bride of Christ will meet with Him and celebrate with Him in God’s kingdom.
[1] p.530, Robert J. Morgan: Preacher’s Sourcebook of Creative Sermon Illustrations. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2007.