His First Miracle Is Like Today's Miracle

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

January 14, 2018

ST. JOHN 2:1–11

His First Miracle Is Like Today's Miracle

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Does anyone ever really deserve wine?

Or for that matter, more wine?

Unlike our friends in other Christian confessions who teetotal, who never touch a drop of alcohol, we know that wine is a good gift from our Lord Jesus, the creator of dirt, rain, vines, and fermentation.

But we also know that to overindulge in any of God's gifts is sinful. This is particularly obvious with wine.

Since we are so prone to actively overindulge in God's gifts, whether wine or humility or money or family, we prove ourselves to be exactly what the Lord reveals to us about ourselves:

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. ROMANS 3:12 NIV 1984

So does anyone ever deserve wine, or any gift from the Lord? No, not really.

This is certainly true for us.

And it was true for the presumably tipsy wedding guests at Cana.

And it was true for the hapless bridegroom, who hadn't bought enough wine (he had one job, just one—make sure there's enough food and wine for the guests).

But our Lord risks being forgotten while His gifts are worshiped in His place. He makes possible His good gifts of wine and food and love. Even the version of love found in the weddings and marriages of those who don't trust in Him is only possible because of the true love that Christ has poured out for this world.

Since it seems like this was a family wedding, perhaps a cousin of His was the bridegroom (just a guess, though), His mother Mary comes to Him and asked for His help. (We might have reacted, “Mom, I'm not going to bail out cousin Enoch again. He's never prepared, even for his own wedding. It's his problem.”)

But Jesus isn't us. He is our merciful Lord, who gives us the opposite of what we deserve. But His answer to His mother seems brusque, and it's even curt in the original Greek, which literally goes: “What to Me and to you, woman?”

He rebukes Mary reminding her that God can’t be compelled with the law. Men don’t deserve wine. They have no right to complain. They don’t deserve mercy. They don’t deserve good things. God isn’t moved by their demands or wishes, but He is moved by their need.

Mary accepts the rebuke. She tells the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” She doesn’t know what He will tell them. He might not tell them anything. He might ignore them. He might tell them to go home, party's over.

Mary doesn’t know what He will tell them, but despite the rebuke, she believes and trusts that the Lord is compassionate. He loves weddings. He loves celebrations. He loves joy. She trusts that whatever He tells them to do will be good—even if it is unpleasant. Whatever He tells them to do will serve, ultimately, the good of His people.

That is faith. Faith expects good things from God. It trusts Him to keep His promises, to be our God, that is, to be on our side, for us, with us.

We faithfully wait on the Lord.

Now to our eyes His gifts take a while like wine, or a marriage. In most marriages Jesus usually doesn't bail out the husband who forgets the anniversary with a magical wrapped box of chocolates next to the garage door.

And the gifts that He does give often don't feel gifts: noisy healthy kids, too many clothes, too much stuff. The world laughs at marriage and says the answer is to run away, have some me-time, and drink some wine.

The answer isn't more of you, not more me-time, but more Jesus, more Communion with Him, more of His Words in your ears.

Do you have a spouse who won't listen? Take it to the Lord in prayer: ask Him to give you and your spouse ears and hearts to listen carefully to each other. Your spouse may listen; they may not ever seem to listen. But in your petitions don't think about how you will look to your spouse or to the rest of your family or to your friends. Do not worry about looking blameless or trying to prove that you are the one put upon by your spouse. Rather give them mercy—give them the opposite of what they deserve. If they seem not to listen to you, listen even more carefully to them. And in truth, your spouse, perhaps sitting next to you now, is thinking the same thing.

Repent. Turn to Jesus and be forgiven. And live in His mercy. And as a living person, be merciful in turn.

Marriage is hard. Life is hard. You need more Jesus. And so His first miracle performed at Cana is followed up by His miracle among us today: His blood and body is under His wine and bread for our forgiveness. He saves us with His Word with the wine.

Like the bridegroom we are unprepared and undeserving. But Jesus sees our need and gives us what we need: the gift of Himself.

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Thanks be to God!


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