Third Sunday after Epiphany, 2001
John 2:1-11

Marriage and the Kingdom

The great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace while he was still single, and longing for a happy marriage. So it is no surprise that he gives a prominent place to the subject. For example, Count Pierre Bezuhov has long been attracted to the beautiful Natasha Rostov. He is madly in love with her, but fears that she does not love him. Pierre confesses his dilemma to Natasha's best friend Princess Marya. He tells her, "It's like this," he went on, with an obvious effort to control himself and speak coherently. "I don't know when I first began to love her. But I have loved her, and her alone, all my life - I love her so that I cannot imagine life without her. I cannot ask for her hand at present, but the thought that perhaps...she might some day be my wife and that I may be missing the chance to -- the chance -- is awful. Tell me, can I hope? Tell me, what shall I do? Dear Princess?"

In response Marya tells Pierre, "Yes, I believe that Natasha loves you." Pierre is beside himself. Unfortunately he has to travel to St. Petersburg for a couple months on a matter of business. He must see Natasha before he departs.

"Pierre came the following day to say good-bye. Natasha was less vivacious than she had been the day before. But that day, when he looked into her eyes, Pierre felt as if he were vanishing, as if neither he nor she existed any more, that nothing existed but happiness. "Is it possible? No, it can't be," he told himself at every look, gesture, and word that filled his soul with joy.

When he took her thin, delicate hand on saying good-bye, he could not help holding it a moment in his own.

"Is it possible that this hand, this face, these eyes, all this treasure of womanly charm so strange to me now - is it possible that someday it will be mine forever, as familiar to me as I am to myself?... No, it cannot be!..."

"Good night, Count," she said to him, and then in a whisper added: "I shall look forward very much to your return."

And those simple words, the look in her eyes, and the whole expression of her face as she spoke them formed the subject of inexhaustible memories, interpretations, and happy daydreams for Pierre during the next two months. "I shall look forward very much to your return..." Yes, yes, how did she say it? I remember: "I shall look forward very much to your return." Oh, how happy I am! What is happening to me? How happy I am!" said Pierre to himself."

And things did turn out well. Natasha and Pierre were married. They were very happy. After eight years of marriage, they had four fine children, of whom they were very proud. Pierre and Natasha were happier than they had ever been before, and they found their lives together a fulfillment of all their dreams.

For our jaded age of cohabitation, promiscuity and careerism, Tolstoy's exalted portrayal of love and marriage is too lofty, too fairy tale. But cynicism about marriage is not healthy. A sneering disbelief in the nobility of marriage is not biblical. Failed marriages are indeed tragic, but that does not negate the fact that love between a man and a woman, their marriage, procreation, and life together is one of the most sublime goals that we can entertain, one of the greatest hopes we can harbor. Blessed are those who long for and achieve a happy marriage, for that is a gift of God.

Our gospel passage for today depicts a typical wedding. We don't even know who the particular bride and groom were. But Jesus honors that wedding by attending it with His mother and His disciples. In truth Scripture teems with marriage imagery. Marriage symbolizes the union between the Son of God and His Church. Jesus is the Bridegroom, and the Church is the Bride. For the Old Covenant Church as well the theme of the marriage of Jehovah with His people played an important part. For instance, in Hosea, the union indicated the Lord's grace and faithfulness to His people. In the New Testament, the bride and the groom are the Church and the Son. Jesus announces in Matthew 22:2, "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a king who made a marriage feast for his son." In Revelation, time and history come to a climax in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19 says, "Let us be glad and rejoice and exult and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready...Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!" (Rev. 19:7, 9).

Let us now examine other details of the miracle of Christ's turning water into wine at Cana. [Reads verse three.] The first words of Mary are a statement of her hope for a miracle. "They have no wine." She somehow knows that her Son possesses the power to effect something fabulous.

[Reads verse four.]

At first glance, this sounds like a harsh response; as though Jesus were bothered by her request, as though her proposal was out of line that He perform a miracle. Our Lord's question can be rendered: "What is our relation, between me and you, Woman?" The words lead His mother to reflect on the relationship between Him and her. They reveal a shift of authority. The question indicates that Mary's special role as Jesus' mother no longer gives her authority to intervene in Christ's messianic career.

How about the next phrase? "My hour has not yet come." What does that mean? Surely the hour Jesus speaks of points to His suffering and sacrifice upon the Cross, still three years away. Then and only then would He be glorified in the sense that the light of His salvation would begin to lighten the world. Mary wants one and all to see her Son's full glory manifested already, right there and then. She doesn't yet understand the redemptive timetable. She doesn't realize how much He must first suffer. She must be patient and not push things prematurely. Mary gets the message and tells the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it" (v. 5).

[Reads vv. 6-10.]

The theme of the feast must not be overlooked. In a figurative fashion, the Messiah eats with His disciples a messianic banquet. The New Testament often compares the kingdom of God to a feast. Matthew 8:11 says, "Many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [at the feast] in the kingdom of heaven."

How about the wine? That's hard to miss at the wedding. John insists very much on the place of wine in the proceedings of the marriage at Cana. Six times the word recurs, and the quantity of wine provided by the miracle of Christ was enormous: six pots, containing each of them twenty or thirty gallons, about 150 gallons in all. That is a lot of wine. All 150 gallons of water were converted.

The Old Testament has a lot to say about wine. It is a rich figure. In the Old Covenant economy the patriarchs and prophets predicted that wine would flow in abundance in the future messianic kingdom. The blessing of the Lord was expressed in the symbol of an abundance of wine, corn and also oil, sometimes joined by the theme of marriage.

The blessing of Isaac upon Jacob had called forth this symbol of the wine. Isaac prays, "May God give you the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine" (Genesis 27:28, 37).

Isaiah announces, "For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your son marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you...and those who have gathered [grain] shall eat it, and praise the Lord; Those who have brought together [new wine] shall drink it in My holy courts" (Is. 62:5, 9). Jeremiah echoes that theme, saying, "Therefore, they shall come and sing aloud in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat and new wine and oil..." (Jer. 31:12; Hosea 2:7-11 and 14:7; Amos 9:14).

Fermented wine, not grape juice, is the sign of God's blessing. Those who insist on a complete prohibition of alcohol will never find biblical warrant for their position, nor will they understand the meaning of this miracle at Cana. God's infallible Word is not squeamish about wine. Drunkenness is condemned, and of course driving while inebriated is criminal. People who have abused alcohol in the past may have to abstain for a certain period of time until they gain self-control. Then there are those who simply don't enjoy the taste of adult beverages. That is fine.

Still, let us not fall for this myth that total abstinence is the paradigm of sanctification. Where did that idea come from? Jesus Himself, by His example, set the highest standard for His people. That standard is the fellowship and joy of wine in moderation. Wine temperately drunk is the example of the historic Church, and the ideal that parents set before their children. If we want to assign a standard of holiness in this controversial subject, then drinking in moderation would have to be it.

How was wine a figure of blessing? It was a symbol of the Promised Land. Wine symbolized the restoration of Israel by the Messiah, who will establish for ever the People of God in the Promised Land which is overflowing with wine, corn and oil. Why did Jesus choose to attend this wedding at Cana? Have you ever wondered why Jesus immediately goes to a marriage feast after His baptism in the Jordan? There has got to be something important here. There is. The feast and the miracle He performed there, creating a joyous celebration, served as an inauguration of His ministry.

Dozens of balls and galas were thrown this week to celebrate the inauguration of President Bush. In like manner, Jesus launches His ministry and the soon establishment of His kingdom with wine spilling over. The wine at Cana points to the restoration of creation. With His death upon the Cross Christ reverses the curse and redeems the world. Since the Church is Israel now, the Promised Land has expanded to envelope the earth. Fine wine comes from well-tended vines and vineyards. Maybe you have sat under a grape arbor during a hot afternoon. The lush foliage and dangling grape bunches make it a special spot. For the New Testament Church, wine is a figure of the garden paradise that will eventually encircle the globe. Wine shared among God's people produces laughter. The Psalmist says, "wine makes glad the heart of man," and "My cup runneth over" (Ps 104:15; 23:5). Hence, the Church toasts her victory over the world with wine. And the wine at the wedding was a sign. It was a sign to all those who attended and St. John recorded it for all succeeding generations. That wine was a sign of the joyous, blessed kingdom of Christ. A kingdom that is coming and will not be stopped.

Furthermore, the quality of the wine at Cana is instructive. In John 2:10, the master of the feast remarks, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!" (John 2:10). The exquisite wine at the wedding is the sign of the New Covenant. The good wine of the new creation succeeds the inferior wine of the old world. The wine Christ brought forth was most elegant and pleasing. The color, the bouquet, the aftertaste, and the smoothness were astonishingly delightful. The cheap wine the guests had been drinking previously was merely tolerable. In like manner, the New Covenant eclipses the Old Covenant.

Moreover, the wine at Cana has sacramental overtones. It prefigures the Eucharistic wine, the wine Christ will distribute to His disciples while He institutes the Last Supper, the wine which signifies His Blood poured forth on the Cross, the blood which sets forth the resurrection and life eternal (John 6:54), the wine which Christ will no longer drink until He comes for His Bride (Luke 22:18), the wine which our Redeemer will drink anew in the Kingdom of God (Mark 14:25).

We are now able to estimate the total theological importance of this marriage for the Church. For the first time, at the end of the opening week of His ministry, Christ manifests His glory as the Messiah, the Son of God. In the wedding at Cana Jesus Christ sets in motion the future restoration of all things. We get a glimpse of the New Covenant's destiny, a taste of heaven, a prefiguring of the Lord's Supper, and a snapshot of the joviality, joy and wisdom of the Kingdom of God. Of course the disciples are not yet aware of the full scope of what they have witnessed, but surely their faith has advanced significantly. "They believed on him" (v. 11). The wedding at Cana sets the tone, tenor, and ethos for the life of the Church. We come together for a meal on the Lord's day. Our Sundays are marked by feasting and festivities. A marriage banquet characterizes the life of the Church because a marriage banquet characterizes heaven. Keeping the feast is at the heart of the Church's mission in the world. We celebrate a weekly communion as a way of outreach and evangelism. At the feast the members of the Church partake of the one loaf, and are formed into one body, a body whose joy and love shines into a cold and lonely world (I Cor. 10:17).

C. S. Lewis once wrote that a truly Christian society would be "a cheerful society: full of singing and rejoicing, and regarding worry or anxiety as wrong." Lewis puts it well. Christian society, a society permeated with the life of the kingdom of God, is a joyful society. As Chesterton pointed out, contrary to the common caricature of Christianity as a religion of killjoys, pagan Rome took itself far more seriously than the Christian empire that replaced it.

An anonymous couple was married that day in Cana, and the feast that followed was a joyful success. But much more importantly, the whole event sets forth Christ's epiphany -- the manifestation of His divine glory.

Knowing that earthly kingdoms are destined to rise and fall, Christians can regard the apparent chaos of human history without despair, and even with joy. The marriage at Cana suggests that the world ends with laughter -- the laughter of a wedding feast.

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