The Second Sunday after the Epiphany – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 2:1-11
In Christ Jesus, who does not reject us for our sins but nourishes and cherishes us as members of His holy body (Eph. 5:29-30), dear fellow redeemed:
We expect that Jesus would perform His first public sign in the heart of Jerusalem, perhaps in the temple, so all the higher-ups would know the Messiah had come. He could have done something magnificent like the transfiguration of His appearance, flying from one place to another, or putting food on everyone’s table or money in their pockets. Or His first sign could have been in His hometown of Nazareth, so all His neighbors would realize who He really was.
But Jesus did not choose Nazareth or the Holy City. He chose Cana, a little town in Galilee about nine miles north of Nazareth. And the occasion for His first sign was a wedding. A common Jewish custom for wedding feasts at this time was a seven-day celebration. The fact that the wine ran out does not automatically mean the guests at this wedding drank more than usual. It could mean that more guests had arrived than anticipated.
Running out of wine would have certainly changed the celebratory mood of those who were present. And it would have been an embarrassing way for the bride and groom to begin their life together. The situation concerned Jesus’ mother Mary enough that she brought the problem to her Son. “They have no wine,” she told Him. Jesus’ reply is surprisingly blunt: “Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
We’re not sure what Mary wanted Jesus to do. But her message to the servants, “do whatever He tells you,” indicates that she thought He might do something. We can’t forget how Mary treasured up all the things she heard and saw about her special Son through the years and pondered them in her heart (Luk. 2:19,51). Now that He was a grown man, she was waiting for Him to take the next step, to reveal who He really was, who the angel Gabriel told her He was—the true Son of God (Luk. 1:35). His recent calling of Galilean men to be His disciples certainly had her thinking that something was about to happen.
But Jesus was not going to be forced to act by His mother whom He loved dearly. He told her as a twelve-year-old that the plan was not in her hands, “Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” (Luk. 2:49). And He reminded her of the same thing now, “what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” And at this point in the account, Mary, after speaking to the servants, steps aside.
Soon after this, Jesus quietly asked the servants to fill six large stone jars with water. When this was done, He asked them to “draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” Could they tell that the water’s color had changed? Could they smell the aroma of wine? Did they comprehend what had just happened? Whether it struck them in the moment or later on, these eyewitnesses could only conclude that Jesus had powers unlike anyone else they knew or had heard of. That’s certainly the impact this sign had on the disciples. The evangelist John who was almost certainly present at the wedding reported about himself and the other disciples that they “believed in [Jesus],” that He was the Son of God incarnate.
So Jesus saved the wedding celebration. He saved the bride and groom from embarrassment. Their joy-filled union was the occasion for His first public sign through which He “manifested His glory.” Of all the places and ways He could have revealed His divinity, He chose a wedding celebration, the formation of a new home through the marital union of husband and wife.
While it might not be what we expect, a wedding was a fitting place and way for Jesus to start His public work. Marriage is the first building block of society and everything that exists within it—from home to church to state. God instituted marriage before the fall into sin, so He saw that it was “very good” even for a man and woman who lacked nothing. Marriage was a gift for them, and it was the means by which God would expand the human race.
Adam and Eve had the first and only perfect marriage. Adam rejoiced that the woman made from his rib was “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). The end of Genesis 2 includes this note, “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (v. 24). They had a marriage without shame, without any sin. They perfectly loved one another and perfectly served one another.
But then they gave it all up because they wanted to have more. They brought sin into Paradise. Immediately after falling, they played the blame game, pointing their fingers at each other instead of themselves. But God did not destroy them for their sin or take them away from each other. He gave them a promise that would hold them together and give them hope. From the woman would come an Offspring who would crush Satan’s head (3:15).
That particular woman was not Eve but the virgin Mary, and that particular Offspring was Jesus the Christ. What Adam and Eve destroyed, Jesus came to restore. He came to rescue the human race, and with it, His beautiful institution of marriage. Marriage can never be in this life what it was before the fall into sin, but it can be more than the world considers it to be—much more.
To teach us about the greatness of marriage, Jesus likens it to His union with the Church of all believers. Ephesians 5 says that as the Church acknowledges Christ as its Head and submits to Him, “so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands” (v. 24). And as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, this is how husbands should love their wives (v. 25). When this happens by the grace of God, when neither spouse points fingers and both spouses make sacrifices for each other, then we catch a glimpse of the blessed union of Christ with His Church.
Sometimes a self-sacrificing love can be found in marriages between unbelievers. But more often the view of marriage in the world today is that it exists for my personal fulfillment, and if I am not happy, if my needs are not being met the way I want them to be, then I am going to walk. And then there is the growing number of couples who think marriage is “nothing but a piece of paper,” a formality, which is “not nearly as important as a shared expression of love for one another.” The devil attacks the best gifts of God, and that’s what he is doing to marriage today.
It isn’t just unbelievers who are affected by his lies and temptations. Satan especially works against marriages of Christians, and he has done damage among us too. He tempts us to selfishness, unkindness, jealousy, manipulation, hurtful words, and hurtful actions. He tempts us to look outside of our marriage to get what we want. He tempts us to think that happiness should be the primary concern in our marriage instead of faithfulness and sacrificial love.
But Jesus is active in our marriages too. Despite our sins against Him, He has not turned His back on us. We might get frustrated with each other, but He does not get frustrated with us. He loves us perfectly. As ugly as we know we look in our sin, He declares His bride the Church to be “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing… holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). This is because He cleansed us in Holy Baptism “by the washing of water with the word” (v. 26). He joined us to Him. He paid for our sins. He covers us in His righteousness. He keeps no record of our wrongs.
This is sacrificial love. We sinned against Him, but He took the punishment in our place. We were unfaithful to Him, but He willingly carried our guilt to the cross. We deserved eternal death, but He died to win us eternal life. Your sins against your neighbor, including your spouse, are sins against Him—and He forgives you. He forgives you, which moves you to share that forgiveness with others. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
The first sin happened because of a breakdown of marriage. The first sign that God had taken on flesh to bring salvation to the world took place at a marriage celebration. Marriage was not perpetually cursed by Adam and Eve, so that it should be avoided at all costs. Marriage is eternally blessed by God, so we should embrace it and give thanks for it as a great gift. Whether or not you are married today, you came from a marriage. You had a father and a mother. You know what a gift a healthy marriage is. You know how important marriage is for the home, the church, and the state. It is the human foundation on which everything else rests.
And that’s why Jesus is particularly interested in the home. He gives husband and wife to care for, help, and encourage one another. He gives children through their union, so that children have stability, so they are provided for, and so they receive training in the saving Word of God. He gathers the family around His Word, so we set our hope on His promises and grow in love for God and one another. Where His Word is, Jesus is present. He says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Mat. 18:20).
Jesus is present in holiness and power turning sorrows into joys, pain into pleasure, hardship into contentment. Whatever is brought into our homes because of sin, He transforms by His grace like the way He turned water into wine. Keeping His Word at the center of our home and our life together is how we know our family will be blessed, even if the future does not go the way we plan or expect. Jesus is with us drawing us closer to Him and to one another and giving us hope—hope in this life and hope for the eternal life to come.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from a work by a 10th century monk)
The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Ephesians 5:15-21
In Christ Jesus, our Bridegroom, who serenades His bride with sweet words of His love and forgiveness, and whose bride responds with songs of praise from her smitten heart, dear fellow redeemed:
In the year 231 while Christians were under persecution in the Roman Empire, a baby named Agatha was born to a wealthy Christian couple. When Agatha was in her early 20s, a government official pursued her both for her beauty and for her family’s wealth. Agatha refused him; she had made a vow to remain unmarried out of devotion to Christ. The government official resolved to break her will. He ordered her to be sent to a brothel where she was abused for a month. But when she returned, Agatha still refused him.
So the official gave her the option: sacrifice to idols or receive torture and death. As they led her to her prison cell that night, she went with rejoicing as though she was preparing for her wedding. The next day after boldly confessing her faith in Christ, she was convicted, brutally tortured, and killed. And her soul was ushered into the bright kingdom of her Bridegroom and Savior Jesus (summarized from And Take They Our Life by Bryan Wolfmueller, pp. 36-41).
This account is a clear illustration of what St. Paul writes in today’s reading. Agatha was careful about how she walked. She made the best use of her time in those evil days. She did not join the foolish official and his friends who rejected the Lord. She was filled with the Spirit and made melody to the Lord with her heart, even while enduring intense and terrible suffering. She was a faithful Christian who has received the crown of eternal life.
We do not face the same trials and torments as Agatha did, but the days are still evil. The days are evil because we live in a fallen world. We see all around us how people prioritize money and power over the Word of God and prayer. We see how they violate the Ten Commandments openly and boastfully. We see how people lie and cheat and manipulate to get what they want. We see how pride, hatred, and selfishness are encouraged. In his Letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote, “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (3:18-19).
We must look carefully how we walk in the world because it is easy for us to fall into these same traps. It is easy to go along with the ungodly—to speak as they speak, to do as they do, to think as they think. Our sinful flesh wants the riches and glories and pleasures that the world offers. We don’t want to miss out on things that could satisfy us. We don’t want to be singled out like Agatha was or suffer like she did.
But if we go the way of our sinful flesh, we will be walking away from Jesus. His way is not the way of personal comfort or worldly success. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mat. 16:24). We must “deny ourselves”—deny our natural impulses, deny our own plans, deny the temptations and promises of the devil and the world.
That is very difficult to do. Because it is so difficult, God has given us fellow Christians to help and encourage us along the way. This is how God has designed His Church. He has called us to support one another and serve one another. He has called us to join together in His worship. So many Christians today talk about their “personal faith,” and how they don’t need to be connected to any religious institution or group. They can worship and pray to God on their own, they say. But God doesn’t want them to be on their own.
Without the community of fellow Christians, we are at greater danger of temptations and attacks on our faith. Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” How should we do this? The next verse tells us: “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Jesus promises that when we join with one another to hear His Word, He is present with His blessings. He says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Mat. 18:20).
We need to help keep each other alert and watchful, ready for the devil’s attacks. Today’s reading specifically mentions drinking too much alcohol—“do not get drunk with wine.” Paul warned about sexual immorality earlier in the same chapter—“sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you” (Eph. 5:3). Christians are not to do these things, no matter how widely accepted they may be, or how uncomfortable it might be to say “no.” We do not serve the accepted norms in society. We do not serve ourselves. We serve the living God who made us and who has rescued us from the works of darkness.
This is the whole point. What Paul is emphasizing is that we should live like the Son of God actually took on our flesh to die for our sins. We should live like He rose from the dead in victory over our death. If He had to die for all my sins, why would I want to keep sinning? If He triumphed over my death, why should I have any concern about the promises or the threats of the world? Those promises and threats are empty as long as our King, Jesus Christ, reigns. And He reigns forever.
This message of Christ’s victory over sin and death for us is what brings us together and keeps us together. That is what you have called me to preach and teach every week and to distribute to you through Jesus’ Word of absolution and His holy Supper. This is the message we sing to one another in the words of the liturgy and in our great Lutheran hymns. This good news is sprinkled in our conversations and in the consolation and comfort we extend to each other.
We remind one another that Jesus has redeemed us from “the present evil age” (Gal. 1:4). He freed us from the devil who would have dragged us with him into hell. He freed us from the vain pursuits of this world which will all crumble and fall. He freed us from our own sinful flesh, so that we are destined not for death but for eternal life.
Jesus did all this freely, for you. He is the Son for whom the Father gave a wedding feast, and you are one of the honored guests who is invited to attend (Mat. 22:1-14). In fact, as a member of Christ’s holy Church, you and all believers are His bride. You join the wedding celebration by faith in Him, wearing the beautiful wedding garment of your Bridegroom’s righteousness. He cleansed you of your sin in Holy Baptism, “so that he might present the church—so that he might present you—to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [you] might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27).
This message of cleansing and forgiveness in Christ is what causes us to rejoice. We breathe in the promise of God’s grace, and we breathe out His praise. Romans 10 says, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (v. 10). Or as we sing in Matins and Vespers, “O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth shall show forth Your praise” (Psa. 51:15). Through the Word, the Holy Spirit prepares us to confess God’s grace and mercy even in evil days.
This is what the apostles did after they were beaten for proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus. They rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for [his] name” (Act. 5:41). Paul and Silas did the same after they had been beaten up and unlawfully thrown in prison. At the dark of midnight with their feet in the stocks, they were “praying and singing hymns to God.”
In the same way, we also who are “filled with the Spirit, [address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” We sing in good days and evil days. We sing when we are happy and when we are hurting. We sing in our gladness and in our grief. We sing the promises of Jesus to one another. We remind each other that He loves us, that He gave His life for us, and that He will not leave or forsake us no matter what trials we must face.
We sing of our trouble, “The world is very evil, / The times are waxing late” (ELH 534), and we sing of our strength, “A mighty Fortress is our God” (ELH 250). We confess, “I pass through trials all the way, / With sin and ills contending,” and we sing of our comfort, “I walk with Jesus all the way; / His guidance never fails me” (ELH 252). Like Agatha rejoicing on the way to her torment and death, we press on with joy for the glories that await us.
The devil cannot stop our Lord from bringing us this cheer through His Word and Sacraments. And he cannot stop the Bridegroom from returning for His bride on the last day. This is why we sing, and why we will keep on singing. We will sing to encourage each other, to strengthen one another, and to give thanks “always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “Parable of the Great Banquet” by the Brunswick Monogrammist, 16th century)
The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 22:1-14
In Christ Jesus, who looks with compassion on the outcasts, the ugly, and the soiled, so they might become beautiful and pure in Him, dear fellow redeemed:
The wedding day is a few weeks away. Who do you suppose is most anxious about the details, things like the guest list, flowers, food, decorations, clothing? I’ll give you three choices: the bride, the mother of the bride, or the mother of the groom. It’s the women! And that’s okay—that’s why wedding celebrations are beautiful!
But these wedding planners and detail doers are not leading the way in Jesus’ parable about a wedding feast. In fact, no reference is made specifically to a bride or the mothers. This is about “a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.” And through this parable, Jesus wants to teach us something about the “kingdom of heaven.”
It is obvious that if you were a member of an earthly kingdom, and the king invited you to celebrate the wedding of his son, you would go. You would go either because you felt honored to be invited, or because you were afraid of what might happen to you if you refused. It is shocking to hear how the invited guests in the parable refused the king’s summons. Some of them even killed the servants who brought the message from the king!
This is nothing short of treason, a total rebellion against the king’s authority. They wouldn’t do this unless they thought he was powerless to do anything about it. Well they made a severe miscalculation. “The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”
Jesus spoke these words during Holy Week. He was talking about the Old Testament people of Israel, who through their history often rejected the faithful prophets of God and even killed many of them. For their rebellion against Him, God gave them up to their enemies. The people in the northern kingdom of Israel were either killed or enslaved by the Assyrians. And the people in the southern kingdom of Judah were later conquered by the Babylonians.
After seventy years in exile, God sent some of the Jews from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. The descendants of these returned exiles should have remembered what the Lord did for them, and learned to humbly trust and follow God’s Word. But now the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees were plotting how they might arrest Jesus and have Him killed. They were just as guilty as their forefathers, and even guiltier for rejecting the King’s Son in the flesh.
So the King extended His invitation beyond the original guest list. He sent His servants out to “the main roads” to gather “all whom they found, both bad and good.” This refers to the Gentiles, who were not part of God’s chosen people Israel. Now they were welcome at the wedding feast too.
But before we go any further, we have to be clear about what this wedding feast is. We see that it is entered by invitation only, that wedding garments are required for all the guests, and that the food is the best there is. This wedding feast for the King’s Son is the feast of salvation, the celebration of Christ’s victory over our greatest enemies—sin, death, and the devil. It is a feast that no one partakes of on his own terms or makes himself worthy to receive. Notice that the attendees included both those who were considered bad and those who were considered good. No one earned an invitation and a place at the feast; the King granted it.
But why is this feast of salvation likened to a wedding feast? If the King is God the Father, and the feast is for His only-begotten Son, who is the bride? The inspired Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5, answers that question for us. The last section of the chapter speaks of the husband as the head of his wife “even as Christ is the head of the church, his body” (v. 23). Then it says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (vv. 25-27).
These are some profound words. They describe Christ as Bridegroom and the Church as His bride. We often joke about husbands that they “married up” in relation to their wives. But that is not the case here. Jesus chose a bride that was not virtuous, not wise, not beautiful, and He joined Himself to her. Through this sacrifice of Himself, He gave His bride all that was His. His virtue became her virtue. His wisdom became her wisdom. His beauty and holiness became her beauty and holiness. His glory became her glory. If anyone has “married up,” it was certainly the Church in relation to Christ.
And who exactly is “the Church”? It is all those who are cleansed “by the washing of water with the word.” It is those who submit themselves and their eternal future to the safe-keeping of Jesus their Savior. Or to use the words of today’s reading, “the Church” is the ones who were invited by the King to His Son’s wedding feast. They came when the King’s servants called. They entered wearing the wedding garments supplied by the King. They have a seat at the King’s table where they enjoy His delicious food.
So you see that a bride actually does make an appearance in Jesus’ parable. The guests in glorious attire at the wedding feast, they are the bride! The guests are the Church of all believers, presented to Jesus “in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing… holy and without blemish.”
That is a description of you, dear friends in Christ. You were cleansed of your sins in the waters of Baptism and were clothed in the garments of Jesus’ righteousness. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). This is when you were called to the King’s feast, the feast of salvation. All that Jesus accomplished for you by His death and resurrection became yours. You were joined to Him at those waters. You became a member of His holy Church which is His bride.
And that means He has reserved a seat for you at His table in the eternal feast above. You participate in this feast now by receiving Jesus’ body and blood in Holy Communion—the holy “joining together.” You don’t see Him in all His glory, but He meets you here to strengthen you for this life and to prepare you for the life to come. Your partaking of the Lord’s Supper here is a dress rehearsal for the wedding feast in heaven.
But as you know very well, even though all are invited to the King’s wedding feast—even though Jesus died on the cross for all people—not all are found worthy to attend. Jesus said this about the unbelieving Jews who killed the prophets sent to them by God. They “were not worthy” because of their unbelief.
So the invitation was extended to outsiders to come. But when they came, one of them decided to attend the feast without a wedding garment. This was an insult to the King who was glad to provide these garments. Essentially the man was saying, “I don’t need the King’s garments. I’m just fine the way I am.”
That describes people who call themselves Christians, but who do not trust in Jesus alone for their salvation. They want to go to heaven on their own terms. Some of them place their confidence in the works they do. Others knowingly reject certain teachings of God but still expect to have God’s favor.
This is why we don’t automatically invite all Christians to our Communion table. We want to make sure we are in agreement about what we believe before we take Communion together. After all, we aren’t the ones in charge of this wedding feast. It is the King and His Son who are.
Jesus’ parable should be a huge eye-opener for us. Many decide that the feast of salvation is not worth their time. They ignore or they get angry at God’s servants sent to call them to come. And of those who do come, some want the King to submit Himself to them. Jesus sums up these warnings with the words, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
But you, dear members of the Church, are here today. You want to hear God’s Word of truth. You want the comfort of His absolution. You want to receive His body and blood for the remission of your sins. You don’t have something better to do than this. This is where you want to be. This is where Jesus meets you with His saving gifts.
He comes here through His Word and Sacraments to reaffirm His love for you. He comes to fight for you against the temptations and trials you face. He comes to provide all that you need to enter the marriage hall—His forgiveness, His righteousness, His life. Even though His bride—each one of us—may forget Him from time to time and pursue other things that seem more important, He does not forget us. He is perfectly committed to His Church; He is perfectly committed to you.
And you know it. You know that you are not invited to the feast because you are so important or so worthy to receive the King’s gifts. You are invited to the feast because The Gracious King Wants You at His Table. He does not look down on you for the rags of sin you have worn; He clothes you in the righteousness of His Son. He does not judge you for your many failures; He welcomes you to the marriage hall based on the perfect merit of His Son.
This is not a wedding you have to plan. You don’t have to worry about all the details that make everything just right. You are the honored guest. Everything has been prepared for you, and your merciful Lord is thrilled to serve you, His bride, both now and forevermore.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “Parable of the Great Banquet” by the Brunswick Monogrammist, 16th century)
The Second Sunday after Epiphany – Vicar Anderson sermon
Text: St. John 2:1-11
In Christ Jesus, who with His power turns water into wine, who speaks to you and comes directly to you in the means of grace, providing you with comfort, dear fellow redeemed:
Over the last few years, my wife and I have had our share of weddings that we have attended. Not long ago, we had our wedding to plan. As we get ready for a summer that has more wedding invites, we have found weddings much more enjoyable since we are done with the planning part. Our wedding was awesome don’t get me wrong, but the planning was stressful and it was only one day. In the text for today, a wedding is taking place, and they have run out of something important. Could you imagine the horror of a great celebration and then you ran out of wine? In the stress of the moment, we see how cooler heads prevail. There is only one person who can help out this situation. While there might be times where we think that no more could go wrong, Jesus is the one who is our help. The hour has come and Jesus performs His first miracle to reveal who He really is!
Jesus has been invited to a wedding. Just seeing this in our text, Scripture teaches that Jesus was like us. We don’t know who was getting married. We do know where it is happening, in a small town not far from Jesus’ home. His mother was there which means she may have known or was related to the couple. With His mother’s invitation, Jesus would have also been a guest. He also brought His disciples as well. Now this wedding has a serious problem, that they are running out of wine. This is not good! A wedding during this time period could take as much time as a week. This type of blunder would be very noticeable. The family would be a laughingstock and disgraced because of this. Thankfully, they have a special guest in attendance. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
How could this have happened? Did the management have the wrong numbers? If this is how weddings took place, then they should have known how much wine they were going to need. Even today when you make an invite list for a wedding, you take it to the catering company and you estimate how much you will need. The servants had to have trust in a man who they did not know. Jesus’ mother tells them that they should listen to Him. She trusts that Jesus can help. The servants do not know who He is. Since this is His first public miracle, no one knows how great Jesus is. Then when Jesus says, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast,” how do you decide who is the one to do this job? Who wants to bring the master a cup of water?
The first wedding that took place also had to worry about management. Adam and Eve were given a job to manage the Garden of Eden. God gave them an instruction to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam and Eve sinned, their sin affected everything. We see that today, weddings are not perfect, marriages are not perfect, and families are not perfect.
When Mary went to Jesus telling Him the problem, Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” This seems like such a devastating thing to hear. It seems like Jesus isn’t going to help, and so many times we take what He says here and we apply it to ourselves. We think that Jesus isn’t going to help us. We face many trials in this life. Children do not want to listen to our instructions. Children burning with anger that their parents are so strict because they won’t let us do what we want. Husbands not listening to wives to lend a helping hand, lacking leadership, and being lazy. Wives taking husbands to task and taking over his duties. It also may happen where we believe and dwell on that we are all alone in the world.
If our salvation was on us, we would run out of time. Our wedding would run out of wine. People will look and make fun of us. We can feel disgraced when we see the problems that happen in our homes. On our own we can find ourselves helpless. How can we fix the situations that we are in? How can we get more wine? Jesus’ mother knew who could help the situation. She tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.
Jesus’ hour has come, not because Mary said so, but because He chose this time. Jesus did not attack His mother when He responded that His time had not yet come. She had faith that He could help the situation. He did not tell her no. He told her not yet. Only God knows when the hour is. Jesus is also speaking about when His hour would come to die. His mother, not giving up, told the servants to listen to Him. Jesus brings blessings to this marriage with His miracle. He shows not just little Cana, but He shows you and me that He is the Son of God. He has the power to do all things. He turns water into wine. He fixes our situation, here on earth and forever in heaven.
The hour at hand is also that He would come into the world and die for your sins. There is joy in the world because the Son of God has come. The world sees this with his first public miracle. You see the comfort that Jesus brings to you. Your sins are forgiven. He is with you in your lowest points bringing you peace and joy. He takes your troubles, puts them on His back, and goes to the cross willingly for you. He rose from the dead, showing you that His Word is true and real. He came for your salvation. Jesus shows his mercy. He was not ignoring the problem at hand. He helped the wedding by turning the water into wine.
Our text teaches us how amazing this miracle is. “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.” The Jewish people had many laws and rituals. For the Jews, stone is an element that is pure. Jesus shows that He has the power to purify and that He is the great provider. This wedding now had an abundance of very good wine. At the command of Jesus, the servants take the water that was turned into wine to the master of the feast. This man can’t refute this account because He did not know that Jesus was performing a miracle. When he tastes the wine, he then exclaims how the bridegroom had saved the best wine for last. Jesus gives a wonderful gift to the wedding.
This first miracle highlights where the wedding had happened. This was not the governor’s or the emperor’s wedding. It was a couple who we don’t know their names in a little town of Cana. Why is this highlighted? Jesus doesn’t find anything that you do as insignificant. He is not embarrassed to grace you with his presence. The reputation of the wedding is kept safe with the miracle. Your reputation has also been kept safe through Jesus’ cleansing blood. Your reputation was condemning you to hell. It is now safe as Jesus takes away your sins. Moses was right that another prophet would be raised up like him. This prophet would not only speak the commands of God, but He would live them out perfectly for you. Jesus’ presence is a joy for you right here and now. In the means of grace, we see and hear Him all the time! He speaks to you through His Word. He comes directly to you forgiving your sins at the altar in Holy Communion. Through the means of grace, the Hour has come for each one of us.
As the bridegroom is given credit, Jesus reveals himself as the ultimate bridegroom who lays down His life for His bride. His bride is you and me and all believers. Jesus is an example of what a Christian marriage should look like. How He laid down his life for the church. He also shows children how to obey their loving father. He followed His willingly. Jesus shows us how He provided for a wedding on earth. He provided for it with great abundance. He provides for us a wedding banquet that is even greater. It is a banquet that will be celebrated for all eternity.
Since this was His first public miracle, the servants witness the miracle and the disciples believe in Him. How great it would have been to witness this miracle. To see the joy on everyone’s faces. We do have that joy. Jesus has provided us with many blessings. He has provided us with blessings here on earth, and He has provided us with the blessing of heaven that we couldn’t earn on our own.
As stressful as planning weddings can be, they are very special moments. When the hour is here and the wedding takes place, everyone is happy. Jesus reminds us how He is there with us in the stressful times and in the happy moments. We are not alone and He saves us. Our text teaches us who we want to put all of our hope in. He knew the plan that was needed for winning our salvation and He completed it willingly. We can rejoice and give thanks to God because the bridegroom has come, given His life, risen from the dead, and we will be present at the heavenly banquet forever. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from a work by a 10th century monk)