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The Second Sunday after Epiphany, 01/20/2019
Sermon on John 2:1-11, by Ryan Mills
1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him (John 2:1-11, NRSV).
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Well for many of us, if we were asked to name the happiest day of our lives, after some joking, or a moment to think, many of us would name our wedding day. Now we all know that not everyone is called to marriage, and certainly not everyone has found their bride or groom yet, and sadly we all know that even with the best of intentions not every marriage lasts with good memories. But all that aside: marriage is a gift from God, and weddings are joyful, they are the best kind of days we get in this life, and afterwards they have the best kind of parties to be invited to! And personally I think Connecticut weddings have the best food. At the last wedding I was at, the reception afterwards had stuffed clams, lobster bites, shrimp wrapped in bacon, scallops wrapped in bacon, bacon wrapped in bacon, all with an open bar with entertainment provided by a barbershop quartet!
And so it is that on the third day, Jesus was at a wedding in the village of Cana, in Galilee, with his mother, brothers, and disciples. Think about that, sending out your wedding invitations, and in addition to inviting Uncle Earl and your friends from high school, you also invite the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Son Jesus?! I think it ought to touch us that our Lord was invited to a little country wedding, with his mom, and he went! Our God is not anti-body, but comes to a celebration of a man and woman becoming one. Our God is not so spiritual that he can’t sit around at the reception and eat a bacon-wrapped shrimp. Our God does not turn his back on our joys and celebrations and pleasures, but is right there in the midst of them.
But then, in the midst of all this, there’s a problem. The Scriptures say, “And then the wine gave out…” Even today, when there’s a thousand more options for refreshment, running out of some bubbly, running out of some good red wine at a wedding might be a little awkward. “Champagne for this side, and I guess apple juice for this side?” And in a small town wedding, where you’ve invited everybody, where this couple will have to live down this embaressment forever, in a world where wine is a sign of life and hope and joy and celebration, the wine just gave out.
But this happens, doesn’t it?! We all know that things that begin in celebration, that begin in joy, can also give out, can also be emptied, can also end. Maybe indeed it’s a marriage of your own that just gave out. Or the health of your body or of a loved one, that gave out. The paycheck you depend on, gave out. The happiness of life taken by addiction or mental illness or depression, and just gave out. All of our time is also slowing running out, we will all give out before long, and even our faith, even our sense that there is a God who cares for us, or that there’s a bigger point to our lives, sometimes, just gives out.
But here into the middle of our crises comes a voice, and it is Jesus’ mother, Mary, who’s been watching the party, and trying to spare this couple from shame and humiliation, and of sending everyone home early, she whispers to her son, “They have no wine.” As Lutherans we don’t talk much about Mary, we know she’s like any mother who just wants to us to focus not on her but on her child, but there’s also a danger in having a faith that’s empty of Mary. Look at her advocate for that couple--she sees a need and she brings it to her Son’s attention. She doesn’t say it out loud but you can hear her between the lines, “Do something, Boy, don’t just stand there, I gave birth to you by the power of the Holy Spirit, I saw the shepherds and the angels and the wise men, and the gold, frankincense and myrrh are still back at home on the mantel, I know who you are, my Son, Son of God, so do something!”
And Jesus says, “Woman, my hour has not yet come.” I tell you, you want to ask Jesus, “Do you kiss your mother with those lips?!” Jesus says, “No,” to his mom. “It’s not my wedding, it’s not yet my time, it’s not my wedding day, it’s not the day when I will give myself in love for the whole world, not the day when I will pledge myself to love unfaithful hearts like yours and mine, not the day when I will wed the church, all those who believe in me, I won’t be married at a feast, but on a Cross, when I am kissed it won’t be by my love, but by my betrayer, my hour has not yet come, Mother.”
Well, Mary responds, “Do whatever he tells you.”
So here is a word from Mary for you and me this morning, Whoever you are, whatever you’re going through, whatever you face, whatever in your life has run out, “Do whatever he tells you.” Whatever you face, do whatever he tells you! And what does he tell us, “What must we do to do the works of God?” Believe in him. Trust in him. Christ is there. He knows. He sees. He will act “far more than we could ever ask for or imagine.” He will come to your help when you need him most. He who gave his own life for you, won’t he give you everything else you need? Do whatever he tells you, trust in him.
Standing in the reception hall were 6 stone jars. Six jars for the most ordinary of stuff, plain old water, 6 jars for purification, every Jew had them around, and Jesus says, “Fill them up” and they filled them to the brim. See the banquet waiters trust, they don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t know what’s going to happen, they just trust in the Lord, they do something as simple as filling a jug with water, they do basically nothing, because for all of us, Christ will do everything! Do the simple things he tells you to with obedience, and let him provide, and let him do everything.
“Draw some of the water out,” Jesus said, “and take it to the chief waiter, to the banquet steward.” And so once again, they did.
When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, he did not know where it had come from. And he called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the cheap stuff. But you have kept the best until now.”
Every host knows at the end of the party you bring out the cheap boxed wine, but Jesus has kept the best until now. For out of that plain water, out of the run out hopes, the failed plans, out of the shame and embarrassment of the couple and that family and me and you, came gallons and gallons of wine, 150 gallons of the greatest wine they’d ever tasted, ranked 100 by Wine Spectator. 150 gallons! So much wine, overflowing, pouring out, multiplying joy, drowning heartache, failure washed away by abundance, the ordinary transformed into the extraordinary, Christ provides over and above for what we need, and then some, too much, flowing out, joy can’t be bottled up, the wine flows forth from him.
For he is the true host of the banquet, he is the Winery and the Vintner himself, even as he sets the beginning of a marriage feast for us now: a taste of bread, a sip of wine, the offering of his body and blood in love for you and me so that we too might once again this morning believe in him, trust simply in him. But this Communion is but a foretaste, the appetizer course of a feast that will have no end: of rich foods, of sweet wine, a feast for all who believe from every time and place, all gathered before his throne, the eternal marriage feast of the lamb, when all things are caught up into the nuptial, marital, self-giving love Christ has for you and all his people.
So come now, to this wedding feast. Christ fills your life that has run out with the abundance of eternal life, Christ has set the table, popped the cork, and poured himself out. Christ gives us joy today, the joy of the Bridegroom for his Bride, the joy of his wedding to us that shall last forever.
And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.