John 2:1-11<\/p>\n
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2<\/sup>Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3<\/sup>When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, \u2018They have no wine.\u2019 4<\/sup>And Jesus said to her, \u2018Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.\u2019 5<\/sup>His mother said to the servants, \u2018Do whatever he tells you.\u2019 6<\/sup>Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7<\/sup>Jesus said to them, \u2018Fill the jars with water.\u2019 And they filled them up to the brim. 8<\/sup>He said to them, \u2018Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.\u2019 So they took it. 9<\/sup>When 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 10<\/sup>and said to him, \u2018Everyone 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.\u2019 11<\/sup>Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.<\/p>\n ++++++++++<\/p>\n Homily<\/p>\n The hymn Songs of Thankfulness and Praise<\/em> (often sung to the tune „Salzburg“), with its text by the 19th century British Churchman Christopher Wordsworth (1807-85), memorably expresses themes and scriptural texts familiar at this time of the Church year. On the feast of the Epiphany („Theophany“ in the eastern Church) and days following, these events and stories related to the life of Christ receive emphasis…<\/p>\n \u2026The Star<\/em> that guided the Wise Men to the child Jesus; the baptism<\/em> of Jesus, in the early Church, was celebrated Epiphany day. Also celebrated on Epiphany Day in ages past: Jesus\u2019 first miracle<\/em>, his changing water into wine at a wedding at Cana, recorded in St. John\u2019s gospel. All of these were (are) signs, manifestations, of Jesus\u2019 divinity, i.e., the presence of God with, and in, this human being, Jesus. What used to be celebrated on a single day, the church now celebrates and stretches out through the nativity and Epiphany seasons.<\/p>\n Wordsworth’s fine hymn text for this time of year calls upon us to thank and praise God, and reminds us of the manifestation of God\u2019s presence among us in Christ.<\/p>\n Songs of Thankfulness and Praise, Jesus, Lord, to thee we raise<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cManifested by a star<\/u> to the sages<\/u> from afar<\/em>.\u201d A-HA! See? There\u2019s the star and the Wise Men. \u2013 Next verse:<\/p>\n Manifest at Jordan\u2019s stream<\/u>, prophet, priest, and king supreme<\/em>. \u2013 See? \u201c\u2026at Jordan\u2019s stream\u201d \u2013 there\u2019s Jesus\u2019 baptism at the River Jordan! The verse continues:<\/p>\n And at Cana, wedding guest, in thy God-head manifest. Manifest in power divine, changing water into wine; anthems be to thee addressed: God in flesh made manifest<\/em>!<\/p>\n Right there, in 2 verses!: THREE major themes for this season: the star, which designated something very special by its guiding, in this case, designating the presence of divinity, leading to Jesus, and then the adoration by the Magi\/Wise Men, „sages from afar“. At the baptism of Jesus: God the Father\u2019s voice from heaven, announcing Jesus as his Son, and the appearance of the dove. Then Jesus, himself, displaying his power and control over nature, quietly changing water into wine, without attracting much attention to himself, but nonetheless showing to a few people his divine power, that his<\/em> presence is<\/em> the presence of God.<\/p>\n These three events all point to a particular theme and truth: Incarnation, \u201cin flesh,\u201d in humanity; instances of a message near the very end of the Bible, from St. John’s Revelation chapter 21:3, which, in this one sentence, is a summary of a major message of the Bible: \u201cBehold, God lives among human beings, he makes his home among them.\u201d<\/p>\n God, the almighty, creator God, can be \u2013 is! \u2013 among us, in the world, present among human beings, and we realize it when we have the eyes of faith to see his presence. God’s presence is symbolized and actual in the birth, life, and even death of Jesus of Nazareth. Those who were willing to see, could<\/em> see, that in the presence of this man, Jesus, the God and author of the universe and history was present.<\/p>\n Furthermore, along with that message: our<\/em> humanness, our flesh, blood, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and even vulnerability (even our weaknesses), are not \u201cmerely\u201d humanness, but are also, potentially, „vehicles,“ means for the presence of God, because God assumes, God takes on, flesh and humanness. God the creator, in Jesus, in a stable, took on flesh and blood and „baby-ness,“ and made it the presence of God.<\/p>\n And what we see in this changing water into wine: Jesus, the presence of God among us, can take an element of nature, water, and change it, make the substance and the event of the change something for God\u2019s own purposes. \u201cWater changed to wine\u201d becomes a story that travels through the centuries, a symbol, of God\u2019s presence and power through Jesus. And it is a foreshadowing (a symbol, an indication) of what happens with and to us: simple elements of nature \u2013 our humanness, our flesh and blood \u2013 become transformed, changed, into the presence of God in this world; that you can be \u2013 sometimes, indeed, undoubtedly, you are \u2013 the presence of God for others. YOU, by God\u2019s grace and power \u2013 by the same power that changed water into wine \u2013 you, have been transformed to be (and are) the presence of Christ for others.<\/p>\n And how does such a transformation (your own transformation and change) take place? One of them: through simple elements of nature, bread and wine, changed, transformed, to be for you, for us, the very presence, the body and blood, of Christ.<\/p>\n Amen: Come, Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n The Rev. Andrew F. Weisner,<\/p>\n The North American Lutheran Church (NALC)<\/p>\n Antioch Lutheran Church, Dallas, North Carolina<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 01\/16\/21 | Sermon on John 2:1-11 | by Andrew F. Weisner | John 2:1-11 On 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,845,157,108,110,658,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-6742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-andrew-f-weisner","category-beitragende","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-02-chapter-02-johannes","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6742"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6757,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6742\/revisions\/6757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6742"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=6742"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=6742"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=6742"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=6742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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