In the Name of Jesus
John 2,1-11
2. Sunday after Epiphany (2. Sonntag nach Epiphanias)
Marcellus, Bishop of Rome, Martyr 310
16. January 2011
1. O Holy Spirit, the Mighty Wind of wisdom, from the 14th through the 17th centuries You did hover upon the European waters and did move upon the cultures and science of many people with a marvelous rebirth in the a Renaissance. Through men like Michelangelo and da Vinci You blessed the arts and sciences of nations, and through professors like Luther and Melanchthon you blessed the theology of churches. Through princes like Duke Frederick the Wise and King Adolphus You blessed the nations. Through musicians like Paul Gerhardt and Johann Sebastian Bach You blessed the liturgy of the churches. Just as the heirs of the Renaissance squandered the achievements of their masters and settled for a watering down in the arts, the sciences, and politics, so we today squander the great doctrinal teachings of the Reformation in the Church and settle for pale imitations of the arts, the sciences, and politics in our nation and our State. Send us, O Divine Spirit a renewal in Church and State so that we may once again live our lives with full assurance of our heavenly Father’s beloved mercy on account of Jesus Christ our Lord and be governed by leaders who love God and govern with the best interests of the people foremost in their hearts and minds. „Almighty Father, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that Your people, illumined by Your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, so that He may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth“ (The Book of Common Prayer). Amen.
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to St. John where the apostle and evangelist writes: On the third day there was a wedding in Cana, Galilee, and Jesus’ mother was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to Him, „They have no wine.“ And Jesus said to her, „Dear woman, I have plans that are different than yours. My hour has not yet arrived.“ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars containing twenty or thirty gallons each set there for the Jewish custom of purification. Jesus said to them, „Fill the water jars with water.“ So they filled them up to the brim. Then He said to them, „Now draw some out and bring it to the steward responsible for managing the banquet.“ So they brought it to him. When the steward tasted the water which had become wine, and he hadn’t known where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water had known), the steward called the bridegroom, and said to him, „Every one serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the cheaper wine; you have held the good wine in reserve until now.“ This, the first of His signs, Jesus did in Cana, Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. This is our text.
3. Epiphany is the liturgical season which highlights the revealing of Jesus’ Divine glory. Jesus’ epiphany begins when the magi adore Him, is publicly manifested when Jesus is baptized, and begins to bear fruit in His miracles and signs, the first of which is the changing of water into wine at Cana.
4. It would be wrong to take this miracle in John 2 and conclude that Jesus is only a miracle worker. In his book Jesus through the Centuries, Jaroslav Pelikan entitled his final chapter on the twentieth century as „The Man Who Belongs to the World“. Some movements in twenty-first century Christianity have twisted this concept into false doctrine whereby we find a merging of environmental Gaia religion and classic first century Greek Gnosticism with its secret, mystical teachings known only to a few enlightened Christians dressed up with Jesus language, language that often speaks of Jesus as a spiritualized version of Captain Planet who goes around healing the earth. Captain Planet was an animated show that ran from 1990-92 whereby children joined forces to help Captain Planet right all the environmental wrongs of the earth.
5. Every generation has its handful wonder workers. The reason for their success is their dedication to ritual and formula. Success occurs because what led to previous successes is followed to the letter without deviation. In finances it is: buy low and sell high. In pharmaceuticals it is: take this medicine at this dosage for this many days. The same is true for wonder workers: they follow the procedure that brings results. Jesus, however, did not follow a ritual or formula. Each miracle was unique and different from all the others. Jesus never healed or raised the dead the same way twice. This shows His Divinity and power to command natural laws. His miracles proclaim His lordship and authority over creation. „Each miracle has to be distinguished from the others, but what they have in common is that they are miracles that bless through which the person is lead to his salvation and they are also examples and evidence that the Lord is willing to take nature and to enable it to take part in the salvation of mankind“ (Löhe 76 §5).
6. On the surface, Jesus’ first miracle was one that helped his neighbors save their honor in the little town of Cana. Perhaps the wedded couple were friends or relatives of Jesus or patrons of His carpentry business, as Cana is only 7-8 miles NNE of Nazareth. We should not disregard the setting of this miracle when compared to other miracles of Jesus. Here Jesus turns water into wine so that the groom and the steward do not lose honor in the village. At Jewish wedding feasts (which could last a week), the good wine was normally served first and then the larger quantity of cheaper wine was rolled out throughout the remaining days of the festive celebration. By turning the water into wine, Jesus ensures that this popular tradition is turned upon its head so that the wine served toward the end of the festivities is better than what preceded it. Chronologically, then, the steward served the good, expensive wine, then the average, cheaper wine, and finally 180 gallons of exquisite wine that had been created by Jesus. What Jesus shows us in this, His first miracle, is that He desires the very best for us. When Jesus helps us in our temporal or spiritual needs, He gives us the very best from His hands. At Cana, Jesus shows us the heart of His Heavenly Father who sent His only and beloved Son to the earth as our redeemer. Likewise, Jesus is a caring and loving savior who gives us the very best.
7. Jesus Himself tells us in John’s Gospel: »I am the vine, you are the branches« (15,5). Allegorically, we can understand this miracle in the way our Heavenly Father has manifested His glory among His people. The good wine served first represents the Sinai covenant of the Old Testament. The average wine that was served over a sustained period were the judges and prophets who continually kept before Israel’s eyes the good wine of the Mosaic covenant. Finally, the most exquisite wine in our Heavenly Father’s wine cellar brought out at the close of the wedding feast is His very own only-begotten and beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The apostles served this best wine when they proclaimed the risen Christ. Today pastors and bishops are stewards of this blessed wine through the preaching of the Word and by administering the Sacraments which give us the benefits of Christ, namely, eternal salvation and the forgiveness of sins.
8. The deeper reason for Jesus’ miracle at Cana was the strengthening of His disciples’ faith in Him. A few days prior to the wedding in Cana, Jesus had called Andrew, Peter, James, and John to be His disciples; now these five were celebrating at a wedding feast. John reveals in his Gospel that these disciples had already confessed Jesus to be the Messiah (1,41) and the Son of God (1,49). The disciples of Jesus had heard His teachings and already believed Him to be the Christ. Now the disciples saw a wondrous sign and their faith in Jesus was strengthened. This first miracle of Jesus is meant to strengthen our faith in Him, too. Thus John the Apostle and Evangelist included it when he wrote his Gospel. John even explains why he wrote his Gospel: »Jesus also performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His Name« (John 20,30-31). The Four Gospels exist in our Bible as apostolic and evangelical biographies of Jesus so that those who read them or hear them preached may believe in Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world.
9. As John’s Gospel unfolds, he reveals that Jesus has a specific ministry to perform. Jesus’ cryptically refers to the fulfillment of His ministry as „My hour“. At Cana Jesus’ hour was not yet, for His „hour“ was the passion of His death and resurrection, and those events were a few years away in John 2. When His hour arrived, Jesus fully manifested His power over sin, death, and the devil. At Cana Jesus nonetheless reveals that the Messianic age is beginning right now at the wedding feast. The Messianic age was foretold by the Prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Joel who describe the age of the Christ as a time when wine would flow abundantly (Isaiah 55,1; Hosea 2,21-23; 14,7; Joel 2,19.24; 3,18). Jesus’ first miracle shows that Yahweh’s Christ has arrived, for the wine is flowing abundantly at this wedding in Cana! The wine, however, did not cease after the wedding banquet ends in Cana, but the wine continues to flow throughout the world as the blessings of the Messianic age and reign reaches unto all the earth.
10. The gospel of Jesus and faith in Jesus has expanded throughout the earth because the apostles and disciples took up the task to spread this gospel across the globe. We continue the task of spreading this same gospel in the 21st century. The preached Word is proclaimed each week from this pulpit. Each day we are presented with opportunities to spread the gospel among our neighbors. We annually send a portion of our Sunday offerings to the LCMS for the sole purpose of supporting missionaries and evangelism around the world. By the Holy Spirit’s grace, we will be able to do more in the months and years ahead to support the proclamation of the gospel both at home and in foreign lands. Before that gospel spreads outward, first and foremost is should touch our hearts and minds and encourage us and strengthen our faith in Christ Jesus as our Savior from sin and hell. The Holy Spirit has placed the gospel in our midst so that our faith in Jesus is strengthened. »Jesus said to the Apostle Thomas, „I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me“« (John 14,6). Thus the disciples believed at Cana in the 1st century and so we also confess here in the 21st century. Drink this good wine that is Jesus and receive His abundant blessings. Amen.
11. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, Friend of all who celebrate the Messianic age, pour upon us the Holy Spirit so that we become filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5,18) and our lives makes their boast in the Lord so that the humble hear and are glad. Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, John © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1990 Oxford University Press.
Löhe, Wilhelm. Evangelien-Postille für die Sonn- und Festage des Kirchenjahres. Copyright © 1859 Samuel Gottlieb Liesching. A sermon preached on John 2,1-11 for The 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2010.
Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.
McClaren, Brian. Everything Must Change. Copyright © 2009 Thomas Nelson.
Pelikan, Jaroslav. Jesus through the Centuries. Copyright © 1995 Yale University.
www.bible-history.com/geography/ancient-israel/nazareth.html
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