Sermon and Video for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Video of Divine Service at St. Luke
2025 Epiphany 2 Isaiah 62:1-5 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
When I am invited to pray at wedding receptions, I often remind people that the very first miracle that Jesus accomplished was at an event just like this. I enjoy saying that Jesus saved the party. By his presence he blesses the marriage and the coming together of the community to witness the union of husband and wife and joining together of the families to which they belong. Marriage was never intended to be a quiet, private affair. Marriage is a public, celebratory event. Love has blossomed. A future is being adventured into together as husband and wife. Families and friends come together to offer their blessing and support. Amid any wedding celebration, there is an abundance of food and drink. That the wine should run out before the party concludes, is not a happy occasion. In fact, it is far more serious that a mere oops and sorry. One biblical commentor points out that the ruination of the wedding feast by not providing adequate provisions is an insult to the bride’s family and could easily be the source of a lawsuit. Yikes! This awareness alone brings a certain gravity to the situation and to our reading of the text. If Mary and Jesus are at wedding because they are kin, we can appreciate why Mary might gently prod her Son into action. It was as if she was saying to Jesus, “Son, before you save the world, save this day and this family, from an unhappy ending.” They and we are blessed that Jesus did. But, there is more to this story than simply turning water into wine. When we learn a few details, it enriches our understanding and experience of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
None of the four gospels tell us everything that Jesus said and did during his earthly ministry. We are told what is necessary for our salvation so that we may come to faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John states this in chapters 20 and 21. John 20:30-31 says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Then the last verse of the gospel says, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
In telling the story of Jesus, we are receiving a curated rendition of events. In his selection process, John chose words and events that revealed the depth and significance of Jesus’ actions. In the gospel of John in particular, numbers often point to a deeper truth.
Take for example the way in which today’s gospel begins: “On the third day.” It’s only chapter two, what’s up with a third day already? On the first day, John the Baptist makes clear to inquiring minds that he is not the Christ. He is the one whom Isaiah prophesied that would be the “voice” in the wilderness preparing the way. On the second day, in two separate occasions Jesus was walking by John the Baptist, and John proclaimed loudly to the disciples with him and anyone else that is within earshot, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29) In connection with this announcement from John, Jesus began calling His disciples.
On the third day there is the wedding at Cana in Galilee. As we are following the story thus far, we are set up to have a major revelation of who Jesus is and what He is capable of.
All of us who regularly draw from the well of Holy Scripture and the liturgy of the Church have our imaginations shaped by God’s Word. When we hear the phrase, “On the third day,” what do our biblically informed imaginations immediately connect us with? The resurrection of Jesus occurs on the third day after Jesus dies on the cross. Believe it or not, already in the second chapter, the resurrection is being pointed to. We will return to that in a bit.
If you go to Biblegateway.com and do a search of the phrase “the third day,” you will discover that a lot of things happen on the third day in the Bible. But I want to focus on one additional event in particular that is pertinent for this text.
On the third day of God’s very orderly creation of the universe, God separates the land and the water. After the third day, you can stand on the ground or you can swim in water. The other thing that happens on the third day, is the fulfillment of God’s command, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” The Bible reports that that is what happened.
At the beginning of the gospel of John, the Apostle John identifies Jesus as the Word, the Logos. One of the many things that Jesus explained to the Apostles and disciples during his forty days with them after the resurrection is that the act of creation involves all three persons of the Trinity. Just like in his earthly ministry, Jesus is the one who is speaking the Father’s will. Jesus is the Word. When the Bible says, “And God said,” that is the pre-incarnate Jesus speaking and bringing forth the Father’s will. Jesus is already Lord and maker of the fruit that goes into the wine that he is about to create out of the water. It is his to do with as He pleases.
Jesus’ first miracle involves two things that he brought into existence and organized: water and plants that bear fruit. The location, the where that Jesus chooses to make the transformation of water into wine is itself quite a statement.
In the gospel of John, numbers often point to something deeper. For example, the number seven is the biblical number of perfection. In the Gospel of John, John records seven times that Jesus makes “I AM” statements. “I am the light of the world, I am the good shepherd, I am the gate, etc.” John records 7 statements of Jesus that illumine who He is because Jesus is perfect. The number seven reinforces Jesus’ perfection. John had many miracles that he could record, yet he chose to record seven miracles that serve as signs of Jesus’ authority and power. Again, seven reflects Jesus’ perfection.
What are we to make of Jesus instructing the servants to fill the six stone jars? Six is a number that reflects imperfection. Not a bad number, it’s just a number that reflects incompleteness or imperfection. God made the universe in 6 days, but creation was not yet complete because God had not yet rested. God rested on the seventh day. All is well.
The 6 stone water jars are there for the express purpose of holding water needed for the Jewish rites of purification. The rites offer only a momentary purification. The rite of purification is an action that needs to be repeated regularly. And, it must be accompanied by various kinds of sacrifices in the temple.
Surely Jesus could have insisted that another stone jar be located and then fill up the seven stone jars. But, Jesus was content to use six. In six stone jars, water was poured. In these vessels that represent imperfection, Jesus performed a miracle. Of course, we must also note that these stone containers are not tiny. They each held 20-30 gallons. When Jesus transformed the water into wine, he made between 120 and 180 gallons of wine. That is a A LOT of booze. The Master of the feast declared that this wine was the good stuff. The party would continue for a good long while with enjoyment!
The real story here is not the abundance of wine. The real story is the intervention. Regardless of who the groom appointed to take care of the wine, its scarcity reflected poorly and directly upon the groom. He gets the credit. He gets the blame. If Jesus had not intervened, he would have received the blame. He would have received shame, he and his family would be dishonored in the public eye, and they could be held legally accountable for the offensive and shameful way in which he treated his bride and her family. And, of course, this incident would be remembered and talked about for decades to come. It would be an ugly black mark against the family.
Thank the Lord! That did not happen. Jesus intervened. The party continued and the celebration got even better as the night wore on. Jesus perfected what was imperfect. Jesus restored honor to a man and his family before it was lost. Jesus brought even greater joy to a joyous occasion.
The Miracle at the wedding in Cana becomes a parable for us.
The groom, friends, is us. Every single one of us. Our lack of foresight, our lack of care, regarding our thoughts, words, and deeds, render us, before God and our neighbors, as sinners. We are imperfect by our very nature. We point to Adam as the root of this, but none the less we too are actors in this drama. We cannot, we are unable, on our own, to restore the glorious position that the Lord originally created us for when God made Adam and Eve. We need help. We need an intervention. Otherwise, we will continue in our shameful condition for eternity. Sowing discord and sorrow and pain all along the way.
Jesus, God incarnate, entered our imperfect world. He intervenes for all of humanity. He saves us from the ultimate punishment for our sins. By his stripes, by his blood, by his death on the cross, Jesus takes the sins of every imperfect human being upon himself, and confers upon us the gift of His forgiveness and the hope of His salvation. By His grace, when we are resurrected Jesus will perfect us for eternity.
Jesus does speak of our future from time to time in His teaching ministry. He speaks of His and our resurrection. He speaks of eternal life. He speaks of the coming heavenly banquet. Based on what happened at the wedding in Cana, our Lord favors a long, sumptuous, feast of a banquet where the wine and food do not run out. We are promised that we have a place at the Lord’s banquet feast.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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