A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, January 20, 2019.
All the Best
John 2:1-11
(Other Readings Appointed: Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11)
In today’s Gospel we heard, “On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee.” And in hearing these words, along with the mother of Jesus, with Jesus Himself, His disciples, and with all of those others who were present that day, we too have been invited to be there and to witness the joy of this moment. To be invited to be present at this moment is not unlike our attending of weddings in our own day. We come to rejoice with the bride and groom, celebrating the union and life that they begin in the Lord’s Name and blessing, and rejoicing in the abundant gift of love which has brought them together, and which, Lord willing, will carry them through the rest of their days.
Perhaps if we think of this moment as a wedding celebration in our own day, we might find ourselves having the opportunity of greeting the happy couple at some time during the course of the day’s festivities. And among the things that we can say to them would most likely be the most common of well-wishes spoken on these occasions: “I wish you all the best”. It is a wish that does not say that there won’t be the moments in their life that will be less than perfect, but that perhaps there will be more joys to outweigh the sorrows of life, and that there might be more plenty rather than want.
Yet as this particular celebration goes on, there is already a “crisis” facing this couple, and Mary comes to Jesus in hopes that a solution might be found: “They have no wine.” In some ways, it seems like a somewhat trivial matter that Mary brings to her Son, and we sense that even Jesus might even believe this to not be His problem: “Woman, what does this have to do with Me?” But as we know, Jesus does take the matter in hand. He works for the good of this couple and their guests, providing them not only with wine enough and more—120 to 180 gallons worth—but also giving them the best wine that could be found, a sign of not only generosity, but of great blessing as well. This gift from Jesus was His way of tangibly saying to this couple, “I wish you all the best.”
As the Evangelist John concludes his account of what took place at this wedding he states: “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.” With these words, John wants us to see that this miracle of turning water into wine was not just about Jesus being a generous gift giver or even a quick-providing wine steward. No, this was all about showing who He truly is, who He came to be, and what He came to accomplish and to give to and for the entire world—namely to give all of us all the best from our God.
What then are these good and best gifts that Jesus shows and gives to us from the Father? How do these things show us Christ’s glory and help us to know and to share in that glory with Him?
The first and best gift is of course the Gift of Christ Himself. In the text, we hear Jesus at first seemingly refuse to work what His mother asked of Him for the good of this couple, declaring “My hour has not yet come.” In these words, we hear the Lord Jesus declaring that all that He has come to be and to do is to be seen in the light of the accomplishment of what His Father has sent Him to this world for—to come to the hour of His death and resurrection for the life and salvation of all who would believe in Him. With that in mind, providing wine for a wedding feast does seem awfully trivial. Yet, He still provides the wine that was asked for and needed. Why?
What Jesus does in this moment is His showing us that He is here and present among us to bring us life and salvation, but also to be present in every moment of our life—to be one with us as our Immanuel: God with us. He is here to heal and bless, to provide for our needs, to comfort and console—in short, He is here to not only wish but also to give us all the best by giving us His very self to and for us.
It is this Gift of Christ to us which also then points us to the nature of these gifts which our Lord brings and gives. The gift of the water made wine brought joy and gladness to the wedding feast that was celebrated that day in Cana. That feast and that wine did come to an end, just as everything does here on earth. Yet, we are pointed by Jesus towards seeing and sharing in another wedding feast—that eternal feast which is to come and to be shared by all those who believe in the Lord and His salvation. At that feast, the wine will never give out, the joy and gladness will not end, and we will know the comfort and peace of being forever with the Lord. We certainly look forward to our sharing in this eternal feast with our God and Savior, and as we do, we also give thanks that we are able to already now share in that feast as our Lord comes to us and places before us the richest of fare in His Words of life, in the cleansing found in the waters of Baptism, in the pardon given in Christ’s word of absolution, and in the Bread of life and the New Wine of salvation—all gifts given to gladden our hearts and our lives both here in time and forever in eternity.
These gifts from Christ then lead us to see what He has come to create among us—a new creation. From creation, we know that water can no more become wine than wine can turn into water. Yet, the One who is here at Cana accomplishing this very work is none other than the One who created the heavens and the earth and all within them. The English poet John Dryden, translating a Latin verse by another English poet, Richard Crashaw, described the miracle of Cana in these words: “The water saw its God and blushed”. The God who made all things now does a new thing. The water made wine becomes a sign of the beginning of Christ showing His glory of making all things new, a work which would be accomplished through the shedding of His blood on the cross that brings new life and eternal salvation for all who believe in Him, that same blood which is given to us now in the cup of His Blessed Sacrament, which gives us that foretaste of the wine He will share with us in the feast of God’s eternal kingdom where God’s creation is forever restored and we are there with Him sharing life, peace, joy, and bliss everlasting.
In the celebration of Epiphany, we have come to see and behold the One who is our Immanuel: God with us. He is the Prophet, Priest, and King adored by the Magi and all who come to believe in Him. He is the One who stands in the waters of the Jordan as the Beloved Son of the Father, anointed by the Spirit, and declared as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And He is the One who by changing water into wine announces a coming New Creation which will make us and the whole creation new through His cross and resurrection. In and through this One—our Lord Jesus—our God has come to us and made Himself known to us and has indeed given us all the best. Thanks be to Christ! Amen!
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