2nd Sunday after the Epiphany
Text: John 2:1-11
New Wine!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
Dear hearers of the Word made flesh, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. This text overflows with good gifts; God’s good gift of marriage; God’s good gift of wine; God’s good gift of a sign, and God’s Gift of gifts, the Word made flesh!
Dr. Luther in preaching on this text said that young people should pray for a pious
spouse (that is a devout spouse who believes in Christ and gives love and forgiveness based on receiving Christ’s love and forgiveness). Luther said that young people should not be ashamed to call upon God in this matter. If a spouse is God’s gift and not our achievement, we need God’s help in beginning this foundational relationship
in life. So, young people, turn away from the fleshly idols of our time and keep on praying for a godly spouse.
Not all will marry. In Christ a single person is complete. But whether single or married we are to honor marriage. We are to pray for chastity in singleness for ourselves and others. We are to pray for faithfulness in marriage for ourselves and others. God will not permit us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. To our culture, saturated with sexual immorality, fascinated with the falsehood of same-sex relationships, Jesus’ presence at the wedding of Cana speaks a loving and healing word. Marriage, between a man and woman is God’s good gift! God in the flesh honors it and we are to do the same.
Wedding celebrations in that time and place could last for days, even a week. They involved considerable provisions of food and drink. To help celebrate God’s good gift of marriage at Cana, the wedding couple served their guests God’s good gift of wine. Dear Christians, never agree with those who call wine an evil thing. Such talk is really idolatry, putting oneself above God. Such talk comes from Satan, not the Holy Spirit. The abuse of wine in drunkenness is sin (Prov. 23:20; 31; I Cor. 6:10; Eph. 5:18). But wine itself is a sign of God’s love and blessing (Deut. 7:13; Is. 25:6-8; Psalm 104: 14, 15). Wine is God’s good gift!
That brings us to the wine in our text. Describing this miracle later, John said, this, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. Now John does not speak of signs as we think of them. Often we think of a sign as a mere symbol standing in the place of something else. But for St. John the word “sign” means something that is linked with and reveals something else, hidden from ordinary sight. The Greek word for “sign” here could be translated as “mystery” in the same way that “mystery” in Latin is translated as “sacrament” in English.
So these signs in Holy Scripture reveal and give something you wouldn’t otherwise know or recognize. A “sign” is therefore something like a gift from God waiting to be opened. Martin Luther taught that God gives signs as something visible for our faith to hold on to. So it is that the Lord’s holy gifts of Baptism and His Supper are signs, mysteries, Sacraments. They are gifts from God continually to be opened and received.
What a good gift of God this first sign of Jesus was. At the beginning of time God spoke and it was so. He gave the sun to shine and water to refresh the earth. He formed vines to grow and yield grapes. These plants with seed in them that produce after their kind are not the accident of a fairy tale called evolution. God created them and then He created man to care for the vines and produce wine. But truly fine wine takes years. By the natural means God has given, shortcuts in time yield only sour wine or vinegar. Yet, at Cana, it an instant, Jesus created the fullness and sparkle of rich, smooth, well-refined wine. At Cana, in an instant, the Word made flesh gave what He desired to make and give, just like He did when the world was new.
This was the first of His signs, His mysteries. Invited as a guest, He soon became the host. Up to this time He had never performed a miracle. Here He spoke the first words that Scripture records after His baptism by John. In other words, these are the very first words of Jesus in His public work as our Redeemer that God reveals to us.
They may not seem like beautiful words, but hear them again. His mother said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Now when Jesus refers to His hour in the Gospel according to St. John, it is always a reference to His impending crucifixion. For example just before His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday Jesus said, “Father the hour has come, glorify Your son, that the Son may glorify You” (John 17:1) (See also John 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1).
So the hour when the wine ran out is somehow a pointer to the hour when Jesus life would run out, the hour when He would willingly lay down His life on the cross. The reason is this: the things of this world all run short and ultimately fail us. Because of the destructive entry of sin into the world, things are always draining away, decaying, needing to be replenished. Our rebellion against God has brought a curse on the good gifts God created for us. They simply do not last!
Time races away, as does youth. Energy gets drained. Emotions get emptied. Food is purchased but soon needs purchasing again. Clothes and shoes keep wearing out. Cars rust and houses age and both need constant upkeep. Even our bodies fail us as eyes need glasses and then surgery and ears need hearing aids and joints need replacing and blood vessels grow narrow and on and on. And contrary to the fairy tale of evolution, mutations by and large don’t help us. They bring disease and deformity; they cause cancer and other cell disturbance that brings deterioration not advancement. Our bodies work their way toward empty and ultimately fail us in death. Like a flower that springs up in the morning by evening we are cut down and wither away. Heaven and earth are passing away. As the wine ran out at the wedding banquet, so the wine of our earthly lives is approaches empty as well.
When Jesus provided an overflowing, abundance of wine at Cana, He began reversing the draining force of sin so that there would be bounty once again. Just as Jesus used six stone jars in this miracle, so on the sixth day of the week, Good Friday, He broke sin’s curse. When His hour did come, He destroyed death by His own death on the cross. In the sacrifice of His flesh He did away with the temporariness and impermanence of the old order of things. As water and blood flowed from His pierced side, He brought about a new creation.
Truly of that hour it can be said, “He saved the best till last”. While His first miracle was changing water into wine, one of His last was making wine to be His blood for us to drink for the forgiveness of sins. As the wedding of Cana was on the third day so there was a glorious third day that followed after the hour of His glory. By Jesus’ power, the garden tomb sealed with a stone was not full, but empty. It was empty because the bridegroom lives to love His bride today. It was empty because the bridegroom rose to fill your future with a heavenly feast.
Dear Christians, you are so loved by Him! God rejoices over you as the bridegroom rejoices over His bride. As He brings you to His banqueting house today His banner over you is love. As He was present in the flesh to provide the needs for the wedding in our text, so He is present in the flesh to provide what you need. His grace doesn’t run out; there is always enough. You are never forsaken or desolate.
Whatever your marital status here the Lord delights in you as His bride, holy and without blemish. You will miss none of the eternal joys He has prepared for you.
You are His! Whatever sins have been in your past against His good gifts of marriage or wine or His holy mysteries, Christ cleanses you with the washing of water by the Word. Whatever emptiness there may be in your life today, Christ comes to fill you now with Himself. He is the new wine! He brings the new creation to you! “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb of God (Rev. 19:9). In the name of Jesus, Amen.
New Wine!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
Dear hearers of the Word made flesh, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. This text overflows with good gifts; God’s good gift of marriage; God’s good gift of wine; God’s good gift of a sign, and God’s Gift of gifts, the Word made flesh!
Dr. Luther in preaching on this text said that young people should pray for a pious
spouse (that is a devout spouse who believes in Christ and gives love and forgiveness based on receiving Christ’s love and forgiveness). Luther said that young people should not be ashamed to call upon God in this matter. If a spouse is God’s gift and not our achievement, we need God’s help in beginning this foundational relationship
in life. So, young people, turn away from the fleshly idols of our time and keep on praying for a godly spouse.
Not all will marry. In Christ a single person is complete. But whether single or married we are to honor marriage. We are to pray for chastity in singleness for ourselves and others. We are to pray for faithfulness in marriage for ourselves and others. God will not permit us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. To our culture, saturated with sexual immorality, fascinated with the falsehood of same-sex relationships, Jesus’ presence at the wedding of Cana speaks a loving and healing word. Marriage, between a man and woman is God’s good gift! God in the flesh honors it and we are to do the same.
Wedding celebrations in that time and place could last for days, even a week. They involved considerable provisions of food and drink. To help celebrate God’s good gift of marriage at Cana, the wedding couple served their guests God’s good gift of wine. Dear Christians, never agree with those who call wine an evil thing. Such talk is really idolatry, putting oneself above God. Such talk comes from Satan, not the Holy Spirit. The abuse of wine in drunkenness is sin (Prov. 23:20; 31; I Cor. 6:10; Eph. 5:18). But wine itself is a sign of God’s love and blessing (Deut. 7:13; Is. 25:6-8; Psalm 104: 14, 15). Wine is God’s good gift!
That brings us to the wine in our text. Describing this miracle later, John said, this, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. Now John does not speak of signs as we think of them. Often we think of a sign as a mere symbol standing in the place of something else. But for St. John the word “sign” means something that is linked with and reveals something else, hidden from ordinary sight. The Greek word for “sign” here could be translated as “mystery” in the same way that “mystery” in Latin is translated as “sacrament” in English.
So these signs in Holy Scripture reveal and give something you wouldn’t otherwise know or recognize. A “sign” is therefore something like a gift from God waiting to be opened. Martin Luther taught that God gives signs as something visible for our faith to hold on to. So it is that the Lord’s holy gifts of Baptism and His Supper are signs, mysteries, Sacraments. They are gifts from God continually to be opened and received.
What a good gift of God this first sign of Jesus was. At the beginning of time God spoke and it was so. He gave the sun to shine and water to refresh the earth. He formed vines to grow and yield grapes. These plants with seed in them that produce after their kind are not the accident of a fairy tale called evolution. God created them and then He created man to care for the vines and produce wine. But truly fine wine takes years. By the natural means God has given, shortcuts in time yield only sour wine or vinegar. Yet, at Cana, it an instant, Jesus created the fullness and sparkle of rich, smooth, well-refined wine. At Cana, in an instant, the Word made flesh gave what He desired to make and give, just like He did when the world was new.
This was the first of His signs, His mysteries. Invited as a guest, He soon became the host. Up to this time He had never performed a miracle. Here He spoke the first words that Scripture records after His baptism by John. In other words, these are the very first words of Jesus in His public work as our Redeemer that God reveals to us.
They may not seem like beautiful words, but hear them again. His mother said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Now when Jesus refers to His hour in the Gospel according to St. John, it is always a reference to His impending crucifixion. For example just before His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday Jesus said, “Father the hour has come, glorify Your son, that the Son may glorify You” (John 17:1) (See also John 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1).
So the hour when the wine ran out is somehow a pointer to the hour when Jesus life would run out, the hour when He would willingly lay down His life on the cross. The reason is this: the things of this world all run short and ultimately fail us. Because of the destructive entry of sin into the world, things are always draining away, decaying, needing to be replenished. Our rebellion against God has brought a curse on the good gifts God created for us. They simply do not last!
Time races away, as does youth. Energy gets drained. Emotions get emptied. Food is purchased but soon needs purchasing again. Clothes and shoes keep wearing out. Cars rust and houses age and both need constant upkeep. Even our bodies fail us as eyes need glasses and then surgery and ears need hearing aids and joints need replacing and blood vessels grow narrow and on and on. And contrary to the fairy tale of evolution, mutations by and large don’t help us. They bring disease and deformity; they cause cancer and other cell disturbance that brings deterioration not advancement. Our bodies work their way toward empty and ultimately fail us in death. Like a flower that springs up in the morning by evening we are cut down and wither away. Heaven and earth are passing away. As the wine ran out at the wedding banquet, so the wine of our earthly lives is approaches empty as well.
When Jesus provided an overflowing, abundance of wine at Cana, He began reversing the draining force of sin so that there would be bounty once again. Just as Jesus used six stone jars in this miracle, so on the sixth day of the week, Good Friday, He broke sin’s curse. When His hour did come, He destroyed death by His own death on the cross. In the sacrifice of His flesh He did away with the temporariness and impermanence of the old order of things. As water and blood flowed from His pierced side, He brought about a new creation.
Truly of that hour it can be said, “He saved the best till last”. While His first miracle was changing water into wine, one of His last was making wine to be His blood for us to drink for the forgiveness of sins. As the wedding of Cana was on the third day so there was a glorious third day that followed after the hour of His glory. By Jesus’ power, the garden tomb sealed with a stone was not full, but empty. It was empty because the bridegroom lives to love His bride today. It was empty because the bridegroom rose to fill your future with a heavenly feast.
Dear Christians, you are so loved by Him! God rejoices over you as the bridegroom rejoices over His bride. As He brings you to His banqueting house today His banner over you is love. As He was present in the flesh to provide the needs for the wedding in our text, so He is present in the flesh to provide what you need. His grace doesn’t run out; there is always enough. You are never forsaken or desolate.
Whatever your marital status here the Lord delights in you as His bride, holy and without blemish. You will miss none of the eternal joys He has prepared for you.
You are His! Whatever sins have been in your past against His good gifts of marriage or wine or His holy mysteries, Christ cleanses you with the washing of water by the Word. Whatever emptiness there may be in your life today, Christ comes to fill you now with Himself. He is the new wine! He brings the new creation to you! “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb of God (Rev. 19:9). In the name of Jesus, Amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
1/15/2007
