A MESSAGE FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

(a link to a worship service including this message on the YouTube channel is found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-l-hTr5KR4&t=1508s)

Prayer of the Day:

Lord God, source of every blessing, you showed forth your glory and led many to faith by the works of your Son, who brought gladness and salvation to his people.  Transform us by the Spirit of his love, that we may find our life together in him, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.

John 2:1-11

2 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 him, “They have no wine.” ⁴And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” ⁶Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. ⁹When 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 ¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone 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.” ¹¹Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

We have in the passage today a scene that is familiar to most of us.  It's a dinner, a wedding dinner.  Many of us have been to them.  Many have planned them and so many can understand the apprehension and perhaps the terror with the idea that at some point the wine would run out.  These things are planned carefully and partly, let's be honest, to save face.  Nobody wants to be in charge of that feast where something runs out…the wine, the appetizer, the main course, the dessert…that there was something that just ran out.

This is the scene we have before us, and this was a Jewish wedding feast.  This would have gone on for days.  There was a lot of riding on it.  The bridegroom's family would put on this series of feasts and their social standing hung in the balance.  To run out of something would have been to face derision for the foreseeable future.

This wedding feast took place in Cana of Galilee, a small village in Galilee which was kind of Jesus’ home turf.  It is also a mixed area that was predominantly Gentile area.  It was an interesting area.  It was not Judea.  It was not Jerusalem.  It was not the heart of the Jewish nation.  This was on the fringes.

We are told that the mother of Jesus was there.  Mary was presented first.  She was “there”.  Jesus and disciples “had also been invited”.  It sounds almost like an afterthought.  We are not told Mary was “invited”.  She was there.  It would seem that Mary had a place at this meal and the way she carried herself through the story indicated that.

And so, there was a marriage feast.  Mary was there.  Jesus and his disciples have also been invited.  And at some point, the wine gave out.  Now, this would have done a couple of things.  First of all, it would have been a horrible embarrassment to the family because, secondly, it would have ended the feasting.  When you were out of wine, that was it, the feast was over, everybody went home.  And that would have been bad.  That would have been very bad.

So, when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him: “They have no wine.”  We are not told how Mary knew.  Again, it seems an indication of how central she was to this wedding, that she would be in on something that certainly would have been kept secret for as long as possible.  And Mary in a kind of a mother-son moment here did not ask Jesus to do anything.  She simply said: “They have no wine.” 

Now, Mary has known from the announcement of Gabriel forward that Jesus was unique.  Jesus was the Son of God and certainly Jesus could do something about this.  But for whatever reason she did not ask it of him.  She simply brought it to his attention, I think understanding that eventually Jesus was going to do something.

But that was not how Jesus responded.  Jesus responded: “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?  My hour has not yet come.”  Now, in English this seems a little abrupt, addressing his mother as “Woman”.  In the Aramaic it was not quite that abrupt, in the original language, the language Jesus would have used.  But this does come off as a “No”.  He was right.  This was not technically their concern.  They were not guests.  They were not the family.  They were not in charge.  It was not their responsibility to manage the catering.  And although running out of wine would have been a horrible thing happen, it was not strictly their problem. 

Jesus also added that his hour had not yet come now.  This phrase, “my hour has not yet come”, is repeated through John's Gospel.  It stood as a reminder that what Jesus did was on Jesus’ timetable, on a divine calendar, on a divine clock.  And it was not his time.

It also says something about what Mary was at least suggesting.  Mary not only knew that Jesus was the

Son of God.  She knew from Gabriel and from those who responded to Jesus at his presentation at the Temple where Jesus’ life was going to go.  His hour not yet coming was a good thing.  Could it have been that Mary knew full well what she was suggesting and that itself communicated the gravity of what she did suggest?  Was this how important it really was to her and potentially to this wedding family?

No matter what Jesus said, Mary turned to the servants and said: “Do whatever he tells you.”  So, there was this moment of realization that, yes, Jesus was going to do something.  What though?

“There were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification.”  Everybody who arrived had to be

provided water to wash, not only because they had been walking through dirt streets.  There were rites of cleansing, of cleaning, of washing, which were part of all these social gatherings and this water was provided for those.  A lot of water, perhaps an indication of how many people were at this wedding.  I do not know about you, but I always have to do the math when I read passages like this.  So, we are talking about six stone jars, and each held 20 to 30 gallons, or about 120 to 180 gallons of water.  That is a lot of water.  And Jesus tells the servants, who have been instructed by Mary, again an indication of her position at this wedding, that she was able to give the servants this instruction: “Do whatever he tells you to do.”  And what he told them to do was to fill the jars with water.  And we are told they not only filled them, they filled them to the brim.  There was no question about the quantity of water that had been obtained here, that was sitting now in these jars waiting for what Jesus would do. 

Jesus did not seem to do anything physically.  Jesus told them to fill the jars with water.  They filled them up with water.  He told them to draw some out and take it to the chief steward.  They drew some out and took it to the chief steward.  The chief steward would have been the manager of the feast.  He certainly would have known that the wine had run out.  At this point it was likely very few people did know because, again, this would have been humiliating to the family so the news would have been kept a very close secret.  Mary knew.  The chief knew.  The servants knew.  Jesus knew.  His disciples knew.  And likely no one else knew.

Jesus told the servant to draw some of the water and take it to the chief steward.  I picture a ladle.  I do not know why.  It could have been a cup.  It could have been a bowl.  Whatever was handy.  But some of that water was taken to the steward.  And at some point, it became wine.  Interestingly, we are not told when.  It was water when they put it into the jars.  It was water when the servant drew it out.  We do not when it happened.  But we are told that when the steward tasted the water, it had become wine.

We are not told when.  Jesus did not acknowledge it.  It was not announced.  Again, this is a quiet moment to save the family from embarrassment.  So, at some point in time, the miracle occurred.  It calls to my mind the healing of the ten lepers.  As they were running, they were healed.  Again, no big announcement.  No “Shazam!”  Nothing like that.  It happened in the going.  Here it happened in the delivery of the water to the steward.

The steward tasted the water now become wine.  He had no idea what it came from which was a big deal because the steward was in charge of the meal.  “Where did this wine come from?  I thought we were out!”  No, there was around 180 gallons ready to be served.  He tasted it and not only was it water that had become wine.  It had become exquisite wine.  It was really good wine.  We might have assumed this.  If Jesus was going to turn water into wine it was going to be very good wine.

The steward called the bridegroom and, I think, kind of called him by himself because, again, they were trying to keep this quiet.  And the steward said something interesting to the bridegroom:

“Everyone 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.”

Some of us may respond kind of uncomfortably to this, that the plan was to start the feast with very good wine and people would taste it and know that it was very good wine.  But as the evening wore on and they had more and more wine, the cheaper stuff would be phased in later, a kind of cost saver if nothing else.

This is one of those passages where part of the challenge is the tone of voice.  How did the steward say this to the bridegroom? 

Is it scoffingly?  “Why do this.  The guests have become drunk.  They are not going to enjoy it as much.”

Or is it just shock?  “Wow!  This is not how things are usually done!”

Or could it be a kind of admiration?  “This is amazing.  How generous!  You did not slip inferior wine to them…ever.  The good wine was served from beginning to end.  What a shock!  What an act of generosity!”

I think that is the point that is coming across here.

And then, well, the story ends.  We do not know how things went.  Presumably, it went very well.  Jesus had provided 180 gallons of very good wine.  This feast likely went on for some time, the family’s image saved in the community.  And not only saved but enhanced!  “Did you go to that wedding?  I hear they served good wine throughout the entire event.  How generous!  How indulgent!” 

Think of those people who have had wedding feasts that slipped the cheap wine in at the end.  They may felt embarrassed by this wedding of generous excess.

The story just ends.  And then the passage closes with this verse:

“Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

John's Gospel is organized around these signs.  The first part of John's Gospel is called the Book of Signs.  There were seven signs, and this was the first one.  Now it is interesting to note that it was called a “sign” and not, in this passage, a “miracle”.  Because we notice, in terms of the miracles Jesus did, it was not requested.  Mary kind of inferred it but, again, it was very quiet.  It was very discreet.  Nobody lowered a friend through a hole in the roof so Jesus could heal him.  Nobody called out to Jesus to be healed.  Jesus did not raise anybody from the dead.  It was not miraculous in the traditional sense.  It was not this moment of drama and great reaction of a crowd.  It was very quiet and very few people knew.

As the story unfolded, the bridegroom did not know.  It is a little confusing to me whether the steward knew.  I assume he would because he would know that the wine had run out.  He may have been surprised by this or where the wine had been stored the whole time.

Mary.  Jesus.  The servants.  The disciples.  In some ways, a very small group compared to a wedding

Feast.

But it was not called a miracle.  It was called a sign.  A sign of Jesus’ glory.  A sign of the kind of kingdom Jesus brought.  A sign of the kind of Messiah Jesus was going to be.  Quietly, discreetly.  The quality of the wine kept high throughout.  And not only was the wine restored to the feast, it was restored in an exceptional quality, in an exceptional quantity.

It was a sign of abundance.  The kingdom Jesus announced was first and foremost a kingdom of abundance…abundant love, abundant mercy, abundant compassion.  This is the kingdom Jesus brought and so this first sign demonstrated this, quietly, in some ways for the disciples only.  This was the Messiah they were following.  This was the kingdom he brought.

Thanks be to God

Be safe.  Be well.  God bless you all.

Pastor Greg