"Water into Wine"
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The
Holy Bridegroom, Jesus, comes to His bride, the Church, and so what better
setting to do His first sign (in John’s Gospel, miracles are called signs) than
at a wedding feast? People are making marry,
libations are flowing freely, joy, laughter, celebration! But there’s a problem. A huge problem. A big humiliation is about to take
place. The wine has run out. It’s only the third day and this shindig is
supposed to go on for seven days!
One
wonders if Mary wasn’t related to the bride or groom since she tries to
intervene. “They have no more wine,” she tells her son. But Jesus hasn’t come to earth to keep the
party going. He hasn’t come to rescue us
from every embarrassing situation. He
hasn’t come so that we would be in a partying mood 24/7. This life is filled with bitter gulps of sour
wine. Where children, that God has
created, are destroyed in abortion.
Where the worth of a life is measured in what one can or can’t do
instead of measuring their worth by God who creates them and dies for
them. Jesus doesn’t want to be the life
of the party, but he comes for the life of the world. He’s come to save the world from its sins; to
go to the cross so that the sins that weigh you down would taken from you. So that you would be set free from the life
of bondage to sin that we’ve been placed under.
“They have no more wine,” Jesus’ mother
informs Him; but, His hour won’t come until He’s delivered into the hands of
sinful men and be placed on a cross.
Still, Mary has faith in her Son and is relentless in her petition. “Do
whatever He tells you,“ she commands the servants of the wedding
feast. And so, Jesus fulfills Amos 9:14,
“I
will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the
ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their
wine…”
Jesus answers His mother’s request. He keeps the party going. On the third day of the wedding feast, the
same day that God created the vegetation, including grapes, the same day that
Jesus is raised from the dead, Jesus does His first sign. John records, “Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of
purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they
filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out
and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When
the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know
where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew) the
master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the
good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you
have kept the good wine until now.”
What
a statement by the master of the feast.
The best has been saved for last.
This life is filled with disappointments, disasters, murdering of
children, measuring the worth of a life based on external things. There’s no doubt that this world is messed up
but Jesus comes to drink down the cup of the Father’s wrath in its fullest for
the world; for you. His hour of glory comes
on the cross, where things change. On
Calvary’s hill, there isn’t any water used for ceremonial washing, but water that streams from His side that
spills on the ground of this fallen world.
The same water that cleanses you, washes you clean in baptism. Wine doesn’t flow from our Lord’s side, but
life-blood that cascades in a cleansing stream onto a world full of death. Jesus changes water into wine at the
beginning of John’s Gospel and at the end, water and blood flow from His sacred
body. I’ve seen artwork depicting this
water and blood flowing from Jesus; the water is flowing right into the
baptismal font, the blood into a chalice.
Truly God has
saved the very best for last for you. “The Law came through Moses, but grace
and truth through Jesus Christ.” And you, as baptized believers, are privileged
to taste and see that the Lord is good, to sample His vintage, and have a
foretaste of a marriage feast that never ends but goes on forever in Paradise.
You’re part of it; you’re in on it; you have a seat at the heavenly wedding
banquet. Like those surprised guests at Cana in Galilee who got to drink wine
from heaven that day because Jesus was among them, today, you receive a
foretaste of that wedding feast to come.
“His disciples believe in Him.” They
trusted Him; they took Him at His word. Notice not everyone believed in Him –
not the guests, the wine steward, or even the bride and groom. There are many
in this world who don’t know what Christ has done for them. There are those hurting because of their
sins. Mothers and fathers hurting because
of they chose the death for their children instead life. Doctors whose consciences are vexed because
of the lives that they’ve taken. We must
bring to them the balm of His Gospel.
That even abortion, murder, and even your deepest
and darkest sins have been covered with the blood that flows from the cross.
At Cana in
Galilee, on the cross, here in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, Jesus manifests
His glory for faith. He’s here to feed you with the Bread of His Body, to
gladden you hearers with the wine of His blood for the forgiveness of your
sins, to bring you joy overflowing and unending, so that you would believe on
Him and live forever in the eternal Marriage Feast. Amen.
The peace of
God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
