The Third Sunday after Epiphany
John 2:1-11
The Marriage of Cana
A seven-day party sounds exhausting to some of us, but this was common in earlier times and cultures. Barbrooke Grubb, the missionary to the Lengua Indians of Paraguay, participated in their seven-day feasts and reports them in his books. One week before the event, women amassed nuts, berries, honey, and squash. The men went out on extra hunting ventures in order to bag a pig or a tapir. Many brought clay pots full of fermented pumpkin juice. Once the feast began, six or seven drummers beat their instruments from sunset to sunrise. Villagers danced, sang, and played games around the fires. The festivities quieted only after the sun came up. Fatigued, everyone found a place under a tree, pulled an animal skin over him, and fell asleep. They lay still all day long. At late afternoon people finally started to stir. They readied themselves, and when the sun sank the feast resumed. These weeklong bashes were not restricted to primitive tribes, either. Samson’s wedding party lasted seven days (Judges 14:10ff.). Wedding feasts at the time of Christ may not have been a full seven-day affair, but they could keep on for several days. Our Gospel passage for this 3rd Sunday after Epiphany describes the debut of our Lord’s public ministry. He stepped into a marriage banquet and manifested His glory. We want to examine this passage from John 2 for its epiphany theme, and other lessons. Let us read John 2:1-2 [Read them.]
When does this wedding take place? Shortly after our Lord’s baptism. A handful of Jesus’ disciples accompany Him. The group was probably invited to this wedding because of Mary's relationship to the family. Where was Joseph? He might have passed away by then. Weddings were the most important celebrations of that time, and Jesus was no dour-faced rabbi; He enjoyed Himself laughing and making others laugh. What is the relationship of Mary to the wedding? She must have been close to the people getting married. Mary was the first to know about the lack of wine, and she directed the servants to follow Jesus' orders. Perhaps she was the hostess.
I. It is noteworthy that Jesus inaugurates His ministry at a wedding. Marriage symbolizes the union between the Son of God and His Church. Jesus is the Bridegroom, and the Church is the Bride. Jesus announced in Matthew 22:2, "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a king who made a marriage feast for his son." Revelation 19 describes the final kingdom: "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).
The matrimony liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer refers to this Cana wedding. The first sentence is classic: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony; which is an honorable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church; which holy estate Christ adorned and beatified with his presence and first miracle that he wrought in Cana of Galilee...”
The Bible has a high view of marriage, and the Church strives to maintain that high view in our society. Scripture and wisdom suggest that great harm will befall our culture if same-sex marriage is recognized by the state. This conclusion may be mistaken, but it seems that legalizing same-sex unions will cheapen and degrade the institution of marriage, further erode the family, confuse children, and contribute significantly to the moral decay of our culture. And, of course, moral decline leads to economic decline. This would be a tragedy.
II. Let us move on to the next verses: John 2:3-5. [Read them.]
Notice Mary’s request. Mary knows that her Son is the Messiah, and she comes running to Jesus, "They have no wine!” Mary sounds worried. Somebody will end up disgraced if the wine runs out. Is it possible Mary wanted Jesus to do something in the presence of her friends that might prove He was the Messiah? She knew about His baptism at the Jordan by John the Baptist; the hovering dove, the thundering voice. Mary raised Jesus. She knew Him. She had a feeling her Son could do miraculous things. Now was the time. He could rescue the party. There is a lesson to be learned here. You can pray for the mundane. If Mary requested of the Lord sufficient wine for a party, you can ask the Lord something similar. You can ask Him to grant you a pleasant walk, to fix a nice meal, to help you understand a math problem, to get a homework project done, to have good recall on a test, to get a base hit in the baseball game. Too often we restrict our requests to the big stuff and don’t ask the Lord to help us in the commonplace events of the day.
III. Mary informed Jesus, “They have no wine.” He responded, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." This sounds like a rebuke; or at least a gentle rebuke, as though Mary’s request was out-of-line. Was Mary presuming on her relationship with her Son? Professional baseball players get to give free tickets to their family members. Does Mary expect something similar from her Son? That would be presumptuous. Maybe Jesus was telling her that she could no longer exercise parental authority over Him. Thereafter He would act under the authority of His Father in Heaven. In essence, Jesus explains to His mother: "What is the relationship between me and you? Reflect Woman. I am the Son of God, you are my human mother, but now our relationship cannot be that of a son with his mother. I have entered upon my messianic mission, and you have no more authority over me."
"My hour has not yet come" Jesus tells her. It is hard to determine the meaning of this reply. Some commentators believe that His “hour yet to come” designates His death upon the Cross. Shedding His blood on the cross would be His “hour.” Other passages us the word in that context. Jesus walked a straight line from His baptism in the Jordan to His death upon the tree. “My hour has not yet come.” Mary pondered her Son’s words, then told the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." Jesus had lowered Her expectations, giving no reason to be hopeful; nevertheless she would obey Him, and do whatever He said. Reading John 2:6-11) [Read them.]
IV. Here we see the divine power of Jesus Christ. The wine Jesus made was a new creation. Just as the Second Person of the Trinity was present at the first week of Genesis, creating the universe along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, so He stands at the wedding of Cana and turns the water into wine. Jesus simply willed it and it happened. Moses performed a similar miracle with the water of the Nile River. He turned it into blood. It was one of the ten plagues of Egypt. Moses depended upon the power of God; Jesus used His own power. As God, Jesus is the one who sustains the soil that brings forth the vine that produces the grape that becomes wine.
V. Wine is central here. In the Bible, wine means much more than the pleasure of moderate imbibing. It says something about the Kingdom of God. Six times the word recurs in this passage. And the quantity of wine was enormous: six pots, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. That comes out to 120 gallons, minimum. For the Old Testament people of God, the blessing of the Lord was expressed in the abundance of wine, corn and also oil, sometimes joined by the theme of marriage. We see this in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Amos (Isaiah 62:5-9; Jeremiah 31:10-14; Hosea 2:7-11; 14:4-7; Amos 9:13-15) [We can read one or all of these texts.] Wine would result when the Messiah restored Israel, establishing the people in the Promised Land, a land overflowing with wine, corn and oil. By turning the water into wine Christ fulfilled these prophecies. Indeed its lavish supply hints at a global restoration. The new wine bursts the old wineskins. The wine at Cana is a sign of the joyous, blessed kingdom that is already on its way, though far from complete.
VI. The miracle of Cana highlights the superiority of the New Covenant to the Old Covenant. We are told that the new wine at Cana was a good wine, much better than the previous. 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 delicious new wine at Cana is the sign of the New Covenant. The good wine of the new creation succeeds the inferior wine of the old economy. The wine that had served up to that point was becoming depleted: the Old Covenant was exhausted. Jesus came into the world to replace the old wine with new, the Old Covenant with the New. The Master of the feast quaffed a cup. His face lit up, and he exclaimed to the bridegroom, "You have saved the best wine till now." Isn’t that what happened when the Church replaced Israel? The wine Christ brings forth satisfies forever. The previous wine satisfied temporarily. Similar things can be said about the transformation of the water into wine. The six jars were made of stone, not clay. Which means these were not merely jars for holding drinking water; they were for Jewish purification washings. Clay jars could become contaminated, so the Jews preferred stone jugs for their ablutions. In this miracle, Judaism’s vessels of purification are now being filled with new things. The stone vessels contained water of the Old Covenant. Jesus changed it into the wine of the New Covenant. Thus, the New Covenant transforms and improves upon the Old Covenant.
VII. Moreover, the wine at Cana has sacramental overtones. When Jesus held a cup of wine at the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you" did any of the disciples remember the wedding in Cana where old covenant water became new covenant wine? When received by faith, the wine of the Eucharist becomes the blood of Jesus to nourish us in our union with Christ, and grow us in holiness.
VIII. Evangelism colors the banquet motif. The image of the wedding feast comes out repeatedly in our Lord's ministry. Christ described the kingdom as a wedding feast (Mt. 22:1-14; 8:11; 25:1, 21; Luke 22:28-30). In Matthew 22 the King sends out an invitation to everybody to join the jubilant occasion. Calling upon the lost to attend a banquet is one way to conduct evangelism. Of course, we tell unbelievers, "Receive Jesus into your heart as Lord and Savior." or "Pray this prayer" or "Make a decision for Christ." These methods are fine, yet with the sacraments, we also invite them to baptism and a feast! Evangelism takes place when the servants of King Jesus invite whoever will to come to the wedding feast of the kingdom. Evangelism can thus be tied into the Lord's Supper.
IX. Cana is an epiphany passage because it explicitly affirms the glory of Jesus. The Bible says: "He manifested His glory [there]." How was the turning of water into wine an Epiphany? In that act of pulling off this great miracle, Christ’s glory – His true identity – was unveiled for humanity to see. His divine glory shined forth in human form. The bystanders who witnessed Jesus turn water into wine briefly glimpsed Him in the glory of His ascension, as the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the King of kings, and the eternal Son of God. It is no wonder this wonder awakened the faith of the disciples in the messiahship of Jesus, and became the first sign in Jesus’ ministry.
X. What else do we learn from this miracle? The wedding at Cana sets the tone for the life of the Church. Keeping the feast is at the heart of the Church's mission in the world. 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 sad and cold world (I Cor. 10:17).
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a master of the short story, wrote one about a man named Richard Digby. It begins, “In the old times of religious gloom and intolerance, lived Richard Digby, the gloomiest and most intolerant of a stern brotherhood. His plan of salvation was so narrow, that, like a plank in a tempestuous sea, it could avail no sinner but himself…” Likewise, Babette’s Feast is a movie that portrays a people of taciturn disposition. The pietistic Lutherans of Denmark had become so cold and sullen in their lifestyle, they forgot how to laugh and enjoy creature comforts. Fortunately a French lady visited them and prepared a sumptuous feast that provoked them to mirth.
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." Some individuals look everywhere but to God for happiness. They expect God to be dull and lifeless. The truth is, a society permeated with the life of the kingdom of God is a joyful society. As Chesterton pointed out, pagan Rome took itself far more seriously than the Christian empire that replaced it. Sunny Christianity replaced somber paganism. That is the way it is supposed to be. What transpired at the marriage at Cana is a declaration that the world ends with laughter -- the laughter of a wedding feast.
Let us pray.
