The God who makes good wine in abundance

Sermon for Epiphany 2

Romans 12:6-16  +  John 2:1-11

The Epiphany season has us looking at various ways in which Jesus’ glory as the Son of God was revealed, even though He appeared to be just a man. The visit of the wise men, where He was revealed as the God of both Jews and Gentiles. In the temple when He was twelve, where He was revealed as the God who, though a human boy, knew the Scriptures better than all the teachers of Israel. His Baptism, where He was revealed to be the beloved, well-pleasing Son of God the Father and one of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.

After Jesus’ Baptism, He went into the wilderness to be tempted for forty days. Then He returned to the Jordan River, at which time John declared Him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world—an epiphany in its own right. And then just a few days later, Jesus and His mother and His very first disciples attended a wedding in Cana. That’s the epiphany we have before us this morning, where Jesus was revealed as the God who has power over the elements, and who uses that power—to do what? To make good wine at a wedding, and to make it in abundance.

Actually, Jesus revealed several things about Himself as the God-Man on that occasion. Let’s take a look at some of them.

You remember what John the Baptist was like, right? Lived alone in the desert. Dressed strangely. Ate strangely. Didn’t participate in society, except to preach to people who came to him out in the wilderness. John had been the teacher of Peter and Andrew, James and John, and maybe also of Philip and Nathanael, Jesus’ first disciples. How would He compare to John? How would the God-Man interact with the world?

As the first act of His ministry, He would attend a wedding and participate in a wedding feast. That tells us something about Jesus, and therefore, about our God. He approves of marriage, that is, of the lifelong union of one man and one woman. He instituted marriage, after all, and He still gives it His blessing. What’s more, He shows us that God wants to interact with us in our day-to-day lives. He’s happy to be present at our weddings and our celebrations, in the earthly joys we still experience, even though this earth is, in a sense, the devil’s territory and has more than its share of troubles. Even now, during our pilgrimage here in this valley of the shadow death, on our way to the new heavens and the new earth, God grants us moments of joy and happiness.

But the joy and happiness of that particular wedding in Cana was going to be hampered, just a little bit, because they ran out of wine early. Not a big deal, really. A little embarrassment for the bridegroom, possibly, for poor planning or for humble resources, a few disgruntled guests. Surely it wouldn’t be important enough for the God who had taken on human flesh to do anything about it!

Well, Mary thought that it might. But she overstepped. She informed Jesus that they had run out of wine, obviously expecting Him to do something about it. Now, if you think about it, if Jesus has the power to produce wine out of nowhere, then surely He doesn’t need anyone to inform Him of the problem. He certainly doesn’t need His mother’s advice, and His answer to Mary makes that very clear. Woman, what do I have to do with you? In other words, “You have nothing to do with how I conduct My ministry or with how I choose to use My divine power. You are My earthly mother, but you are no longer in a position to advise Me. My heavenly Father is the only Counselor that I need.” And so Jesus gently but firmly taught Mary her place, now that He had begun His ministry, now that He had begun revealing His glory as the Son of God. Christians throughout history would have done well to note this about the relationship between Jesus and Mary. Once she had done her job in raising Him, she no longer had a special role in His plan of salvation, and she has no continual role as the mother of God. She wasn’t allowed to be His adviser while on earth. Much less is she His adviser in heaven! She is our sister in the faith and a wonderful example for us in many ways, and that’s enough.

Jesus also added, My hour has not yet come. Which hour? Obviously He’s not talking about the hour for performing His first miracle, because that’s the very next thing He does. No, throughout St. John’s Gospel, Jesus is often telling His disciples about an hour that is coming, and it’s during Holy Week when He finally announces, The hour has come. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. The true glorification of Jesus would be in connection with His death on the cross for the sins of the world. That was the greatest epiphany of all. God wanted to reveal Himself to the world in the Person of His Son as the God who loves the world so much that He’s willing to be tortured, abused, and crucified in order to save us from our sins.

The hour of that great revelation hadn’t come yet. Jesus still had a whole three and half years of preaching and teaching to do first, and during that time, He would reveal His glory in bits and pieces, to a few here and a few there. He wanted Mary to understand that He was the One who would decide how He would reveal His glory and when. It wasn’t time to reveal it to everyone at the feast. But He would choose to reveal just a bit of it to His disciples (and to the servants).

So He told the servants to fill six stone jars with water, “up to the brim.” John is careful to give us the number of jars and the volume of each, which is estimated at 20 to 30 gallons a piece. Then He told the servants to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. There’s no hocus pocus here. Jesus didn’t even touch the water or the water jars. But by the time it got to the master of the feast, it had become wine. Shockingly fine wine. “The good wine,” to the amazement of the master of the feast, though his amazement came, not from knowing the source of the wine, but from the fact that the good wine had apparently been held back until the feast was almost over.

120 gallons of water changed by the will of Jesus into enough fine wine to fill over 600 wine bottles. That’s how Jesus chose to reveal His glory to His first disciples, His glory as the God who has power over the elements, and who uses that power to make good wine in abundance at a wedding. And they believed in Him.

So unlike John the Baptist, who came neither feasting nor drinking wine at all, ever! That’s how God wanted John to behave, as John’s primary message was one of Law, of accusation against the sins of the people of Israel. John’s message wasn’t primarily one of joy, but of sorrow—sorrow tainted with hope, but still sorrow over sin.

John was the forerunner, pointing to the Christ. What would the Christ be like? As we see in today’s Gospel, He would come with the good news, with the Gospel of peace and of joy, preaching forgiveness to the penitent as His primary focus and His primary purpose. Not that He wouldn’t sometimes preach the Law and accuse and condemn. Both the Law and the Gospel are divine teachings. But as St. John tells us in chapter 3, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

And so another great epiphany in today’s Gospel is the Gospel-oriented purpose of God, that our God is a God of love, a God of family, a God who cherishes humility, a God who makes good wine in abundance, that we may be encouraged to seek Him, and to trust Him, and to live with Him forever. May God grant it, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.