Watching Jesus at a wedding feast

Sermon for Epiphany 2

Romans 12:6-16  +  John 2:1-11

A friend called me this week. He has been watching the news, listening to people issue warnings about some nefarious schemes being carried out by some powerful people in the world, with dire predictions about the kinds of things we’re going to have imposed on us in the near future. He was very troubled over the state of the world, physically shaken by it. I said, yes, all those things could happen. Or maybe they won’t. Or maybe we’ll face trials that are completely unexpected, and even worse than what’s predicted. What should we do?, he asked. I said, just keep looking at Jesus. Watch how He reacted to mistreatment by His government and by the devil and by the powers of the world. Watch His behavior, in every situation. And remember that He still sits on His throne. I couldn’t think of any better advice to give. Melting in fear won’t help. Rising up and overthrowing the government isn’t what the Christian is called to do. But watching Jesus? Yes, that we can and should do.

Watching Jesus is what the church year is all about, following Him through His life, listening to Him, and learning from Him every step of the way. The seasons of the year give us focus for that watching. In this Epiphany season, we’ve watched the wise men visit baby Jesus in Bethlehem. We’ve watched Jesus devote Himself to God’s Word at age 12. We’ve watched Jesus step forward to be baptized, to be acknowledged and praised and sent on His mission by His Father in heaven. And today we watch Jesus perform His first miracle at a wedding feast in Cana. Aren’t there more pressing things going on in the world that we should talk about? Well, surely there were more pressing things going on in Jesus’ world, too, but He chose to attend a wedding feast that day, and to reveal His glory there, and to have it recorded for us in Holy Scripture.

The timing of this event is important. It’s Jesus’ very first act with His first five disciples, less than a week after John the Baptist had pointed to Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John, for his part, came “neither eating nor drinking,” that is, avoiding wine and avoiding weddings and feasts and celebrations, spending his entire ministry out in the wilderness, apart from society, preaching to whoever would come out and hear him. But Jesus came participating in all those things. Yes, He was serious about preaching and teaching, but by attending a wedding feast as the first act of His ministry, following His Baptism and temptation in the wilderness, He’s teaching us something about Himself and about the kind of people He’s looking for us to be. He hasn’t come to be a hermit or to change us all into hermits (or monks!), to abolish marriage and the family. The change He came to bring is a change of the heart, a change in our attitude toward sin, toward God, and toward our neighbor. God doesn’t mean for His children to avoid celebrations or family gatherings. He means for us to be a blessing at those gatherings. And so Jesus was.

The wine ran out early at this wedding feast. And Jesus’ mother Mary approached Him about it. They have no wine, she told Him. Some have suggested that Mary had some serving role at this wedding, which is possible, given her knowledge of the situation and her interest in doing something about it. The way she put it to Jesus wasn’t irreverent or demanding. But Jesus’ answer reveals that He wasn’t altogether pleased that His mother seemed to be looking to Him to do something about this minor inconvenience. Why do you involve Me, woman? Jesus wanted to make clear to His mother that, while her role as His mother continued, and He would continue to honor her as His mother, things were going to be different now. It’s telling that in both places in the Gospels where Jesus addresses Mary—here and at the foot of the cross—it’s “woman,” not “mother.” Her role as earthly authority over Him as her Son had come to an end. His role as the Son of God took priority. And she would have no place in guiding Him in the ministry He was now beginning. Only His Father in heaven would do that.

My hour has not yet come, He added. Just as John the Baptist had only a week ago pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, so Jesus, too, was focused on the sacrifice that lay ahead at the end of His earthly ministry, some three years or so in the future. That was Jesus’ hour. That’s when the Son of Man would truly be glorified. That was the mission. That was the goal, to suffer for the sins of all people, to give His life on the cross, to die the death that we all deserve, so that we might receive His life.

But, starting on that day, Jesus would reveal little glimpses of His glory along the way. Mary must have seen some indication from Jesus that He would do something, because she told the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. And what He said to them was amazing. There were six large stone jars standing there. He said to the servants, Fill the jars with water. And then He told them to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. And just like that, the water was changed into wine.

And fine wine at that! When the servants gave it to the master of the feast, he was amazed at how good it was, and how strange that the bridegroom had apparently reserved the best wine until this late hour of the feast. It was clear, at least to the servants and to Jesus’ disciples who were watching, that no tricks were being played here. Jesus didn’t even touch the jars or anything that went into them. But He revealed His incredible power over the creation, His unfathomable understanding of matter on a molecular level and His ability to manipulate it at will, taking simple water and changing it into something much more complex—not unlike the original creation, in which the Son of God participated, when, as Peter says in his second epistle, the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.

After hearing and watching Jesus for less than a week, after watching Him perform this astonishing miracle, revealing His glory as the Son of God, John tells us that Jesus’ first disciples believed in Him. But they would need to keep watching, because faith isn’t like a light bulb that’s either on or off. It’s more like a fire that needs tending. Over the next three years, the faith of Jesus’ disciples would grow stronger and weaker, and sometimes it seemed nonexistent. But they kept watching, and God sustained them and grew them into the apostles who now make up the foundation of the Christian faith, with Jesus Christ Himself as the chief Cornerstone.

You and I—we don’t get to watch Jesus with our eyes. We don’t get to see His miracles. We watch through our ears, which doesn’t sound as good, at first, until you realize that it’s not the sight of God but the Word of God that does everything. It’s the Word of God that brings us to acknowledge and repent of our sins. It’s the Word of God that reveals Jesus to us as our Savior from sin and that moves us to believe in Him. Next week, when we celebrate the Transfiguration, we’ll hear God the Father calling on to “Hear Jesus!”

So watch Him again today by hearing Him and by hearing the Word of God about Him. Learn about Him from this account of the wedding at Cana, that He did not come to destroy, but to save; not to make life bitter, but to season it with joy, even now, in the midst of all the bitter troubles that we face and have yet to face. You can get caught up in all the madness of the world. Better to get caught up in the life and in the Person of Jesus the Christ. Look up at Him! Watch Him! And be at peace. Amen.