Water into wine, an epiphany of glory and of joy

Sermon for Epiphany 2

Romans 12:6-16 + John 2:1-11

I know that you Christians were glad to hear again today the Gospel account of Jesus’ first miracle, when He changed water into wine at that wedding feast in the town of Cana. You’re always glad to hear the word about Jesus, aren’t you?, no matter what it is—the things He did and the things He said during that brief time when He walked the earth, among that blessed generation that got to share this earthly life with God in the flesh for a little while. You’re glad to hear about Jesus because you already know Him and love Him, because you know how much He loved you, how much He desired your salvation, how much He did so that you could escape eternal condemnation and have eternal life. You’re glad to hear how Jesus changed water into wine at a wedding feast.

But some might wonder how relevant it really is, with all that’s going on in the world. Does it do any good for those who don’t know Jesus, to hear about this one-time miracle of changing water into wine? Does it affect how a person approaches life or faces the trials of today? It really does, if you pay attention to it. In fact, Jesus chose this as His very first miracle, as a sort of introduction of Himself to the world, to show those who were paying attention not only what He could do, but who He truly was, and the purpose of His life and ministry. Here in this unique miracle of changing water into wine, we’re given an epiphany of Jesus’ glory as the Son of God, and of the joy He came to bring.

The apostle John tells us about the very first things Jesus did as He began His ministry. First, He was baptized by John the Baptist, as we heard on Wednesday, where He was revealed as the Son of God by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Then He went out into the wilderness to fast and be tempted for forty days. Then He came back, was revealed by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, chose His first five disciples, and then headed straight for Cana with them, to this wedding to which they had all previously been invited.

Was it a coincidence that they had all been invited to this wedding that had obviously been planned for some time? Of course not. It was all part of God’s plan to begin revealing Jesus to His disciples. At a wedding, showing that marriage is good, and that celebrating marriage is good, and that even including wine as part of that celebration is good.

Throughout the Old Testament, wine is almost always treated as a blessing from God and as something that “makes glad the heart of man,” as it says in Psalm 104. Now, we all know that wine, like any of God’s blessings, can be abused. But it can also be used well, to make glad the heart of the Christian who gives thanks to God for all His many blessings, including the fruit of the vine. Jesus’ attendance at that wedding was an endorsement of God’s good gifts to His people, including marriage, including celebration.

But the celebration was about to be diminished a little bit. They ran out of wine at the wedding reception. It wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, of all the miracles Jesus would perform over the next three years, this one would seem almost inconsequential and unnecessary. But Mary was troubled by the wine running out, so she mentioned it to Jesus, seeming to expect Him to do something about it. What she expected, we aren’t told. But His response to her was a gentle scolding: What have I to do with you, woman? Calling Mary “woman” was not at all disrespectful in that context, but it does reveal a distancing that has taken place, now that Jesus has stepped out of His home and into His role as the Teacher of Israel. Jesus would never again speak of “His mother” by that name. In fact, on a later occasion, when Jesus was told that His mother and brothers were outside looking to speaking with Him, He said, Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.

The other thing Jesus said to Mary is the most important part. My hour has not yet come. Which hour is that? On several occasions during His ministry, usually when people were trying to kill Him, it says that they were unable to harm Him, because “His hour had not yet come.” But finally, when Holy Week arrived, at the very end of His earthly ministry, Jesus said, Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, referring to His death, resurrection, and ascension. The wedding at Cana wasn’t the hour when Jesus would fully reveal His glory as the Son of God and as the Savior of mankind. He wouldn’t do anything so visibly as to reveal His divinity to everyone in Israel, or even to everyone at the wedding. But to the eyes of a few chosen people, including His first disciples, Jesus would begin to reveal His glory as the Son of God.

Mary didn’t know what He would do, but she suspected He would do something, so she ordered the servants to do whatever He told them. What He told them was to fill up six large stone pots with water, each one holding about twenty to thirty gallons. That’s a lot of water! Then He told them to draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. When he tasted it—the water that had suddenly been changed into wine—he was amazed. Not at the miracle itself—he didn’t know where the wine had come from—but at what he thought was the strange behavior of the bridegroom. He called the bridegroom over and said, “Normally people bring out the best wine first, and then the inferior wine once the guests are drunk. But you have saved the best until now!”

So what’s the point of this miracle account? John summarizes it for us at the end: This was the first of the signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. Jesus did all sorts of miracles throughout His three-year ministry, from healing the sick to casting out demons to raising the dead. But this one was one of a kind. He revealed His glory as the Son of God by taking water and, with a word, turning it into something entirely different, and not just different, but better, something that doesn’t only sustain life, but that makes glad the heart of man. It’s a miracle of creation, the supernatural manipulation of molecules, something only God can do. But it was only known to the servants and to Jesus’ disciples, and that was the point, that Jesus’ disciples should begin to see His glory, to see Him, and to believe in Him, as their God, so that they could later be eyewitnesses of His glory, so that you and I might believe in Him, too.

This miracle account does point us to Jesus as our God. It is an epiphany of His glory, of His divinity. But the miracle tells us even more than that. It tells us of Jesus’ kindness. It tells of His mercy. It tells us that He came to bring joy, not only to that wedding party, but to fallen mankind, to give gifts to sinners instead of the punishment we deserve for our sins. It tells us of His generosity, how He gives His gifts not in meager measure but in superabundance. It teaches us that He has good gifts, the best possible gifts, in store for those who believe in Him: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation, the peace of having God committed to helping you as your God, the joy of life forever in His glorious and loving presence. The miracle at Cana is an epiphany of joy.

That joy is intended for all, it has been earned by Christ for all through His death on the cross, and it’s given freely to all, just as all that wine was given freely to the guests at the wedding. But it comes only through faith in Christ Jesus. If you’re still seeking joy in the sins that God hates, you’ll find that those things don’t actually lead to joy at all but to shame and emptiness, guilt and condemnation. If you think you can have joy in the passing things of this passing world, you’ll find that joy like that will always run out before the end, like wine at a wedding feast. But if you seek joy through Christ, in the forgiveness He offers, in the life He offers, then true joy will be yours, because it’s the very thing He came to give, that we all may have life, and have it in abundance. Trust in the One who was willing to change water into wine at a wedding feast, to show His disciples that He was God, and that those who follow Him will have joy that knows no end. Amen.