Delivered January 20, 2013
Our Gospel lesson this morning is the
famous story of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding. To begin our study
of this passage, I need to answer some basic questions in order to understand
the historical backdrop of the story. This wedding takes place in Cana, which
is a town in northern Galilee not far from Nazareth (Jesus hometown) and
Capernaum (the hometown of several of Jesus’ disciples and Jesus’ Galilean base
of operations.) So it is in Jesus’ neighborhood. Whose wedding is this? We are
not told. There has been wild speculation on this point. One is the idea that this
is Jesus’ wedding. You may have heard of the tiny 4th century papyrus
fragment written in Coptic recently discovered that mentions Jesus’ wife. It is
being called "The Gospel of Jesus' Wife." The most recent update on
that is that we can’t conclude anything from that tiny fragment. We don’t know if
it is a forgery or how old the fragment is or anything about it. It is being
evaluated by biblical scholars at this point. An even crazier idea about the
Cana wedding is that this is not only Jesus’ wedding but he was marrying Mary
Magdalene, who was from Magdala, a nearby town. That is not what is happening
here. There is no evidence whatever that Jesus was married. It clearly says
that Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding; they were not in the
wedding. It is likely though that either the bride or groom was a relative of
Jesus, because Jesus’ mother Mary seems to be involved in the preparation. So this
was likely a family wedding in the next town which Jesus was attending.
While at the wedding Jesus does a
miracle; he turns water into wine. Different gospels use different words for
miracle. The Gospel of John uses the word sign. It says in verse 11 “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana
of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”
The Gospel of John actually has seven signs, starting with this one and increasing
in importance and dramatic intensity until culminating in the seventh sign of
raising Lazarus from the dead. These seven signs prepare the reader for the
greatest sign in the gospel which is the resurrection of Jesus.
The use of the word sign for miracle
in the Gospel of John is significant. A sign points to something beyond itself.
A lot of people get caught up in the supernatural aspect of it – struggling
whether such a thing can really happen or not – and they miss the whole point. A
sign points to something beyond itself. It is like people debating the true
nature of a road sign whereas they need to follow the sign to where it points. That
is what is important. Words, ideas, doctrines, stories are signs that point
beyond themselves. This sign – like all the signs in John’s Gospel – points to
Christ, so that people might come to believe in Him. “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested
His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.” So don’t get sidetracked
with trivialities in this or any of the miracle stories. They are meant to
teach us something about Christ. What does this story teach us? Where does the
sign point us?
1. First, it points us to spontaneous
spirituality. Jesus demonstrates spontaneity in this story. Jesus goes to the
wedding simply expecting to be a guest and nothing more. Then his mom comes up
to him and tells him they have run out of wine. Jesus in effect replies, ‘What
does this have to do with me, mom?” The
text literally says, “Woman, what does
your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” You can’t miss
the tone of irritation in Jesus’ voice. Some commentators and preachers try to
explain this tone away. It doesn’t seem worthy of Christ to act like this. But
we have to remember that Jesus was human too. He got irritated sometimes. He
got irritated with his mom sometimes. I know none of you here have ever gotten
irritated with your mothers, but Jesus did on occasion. And this is one of
those times.
Mary wants Jesus to do something to
fix the problem. The problem was loss of face, which was a serious thing – and
remains a serious thing – in the Middle East. A person’s sense of self-respect
and dignity was very important in that culture and time. You might remember a
story in the news in early December. Two Australian radio broadcasters made a
crank call to the hospital in London where Kate Middleton, the Duchess of
Cambridge, was hospitalized for severe morning sickness. They pretended to be
Queen Elizabeth. There was no switchboard receptionist on duty that early in
the morning (5:30am), so the call was answered by a nurse, Jacintha Saldanha. Saldanha
transferred the call to the nurse treating the Duchess, and there was a lengthy
conversation. Later on the call was revealed to be a hoax, which was broadcast
on the radio and went viral on the internet. Later on the nurse in anguish and
remorse took her own life. Why would she kill herself over this? It wasn’t her
fault. It wasn’t intentional; she was fooled. She mentions why she killed
herself in her suicide note. Even though there were some other issues, this
radio prank was the precipitating event that prompted her suicide. Part of this
was the fact that this woman was an Indian, born in India. She had a very
different cultural standard of what was culturally acceptable and what was not.
This event was so mortifying for her that she ended up taking her own life.
Back in Galilee in Jesus’ day, it would have
been mortifying - extremely embarrassing - for the host family at a wedding to
run out of wine. It might not seem to be that big a deal in our culture, but it
was very different in that culture. The person in charge would feel like they
could never forget nor forgive himself or herself. It would have been a family
disgrace. Because this was likely a wedding of someone in Jesus’ extended
family, it would have meant loss of face – loss of respect and social standing
and dignity – to the family. It was a big deal. Big enough for Jesus to feel
like he had to something. He didn’t want to intervene. He tells his mother that
his time had not yet come, which simply means that it wasn’t the time to start
doing miracles and thereby calling attention to himself. But after responding
to his mother in this brusque manner, Jesus gave it a second thought; he
decided it was time to let the world know who he really was after all. So he
provided wine in in a very unique manner.
Jesus is our example in this, as in
all things. Not by turning water to wine but in acting in a spontaneous manner.
God called Jesus to do this at this time. Jesus had to be open to the leading
of God, and not do his own will, but God’s will. The same is true for us. Too
much of our lives – and especially religious life - can be planned. Churches
and Christians are famous for that. The spiritual life in many respects cannot
be planned. It is by nature spontaneous, a living expression of the Holy Spirit
working in and through our lives. This sign points us to a spiritually
spontaneous way of living, transcending our pre-planned mentality, overcoming
our natural reluctance to do things the way they have always been done, and
being open to God mixing things up whenever he wants.
2. Second, this sign points us to the
celebration of spiritual cleansing. Verse 6 says, “Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the
manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons
apiece.” These were huge ceremonial pots used for ritual cleansing. Jesus
transforms ritual containers into wine dispensers. That is a very symbolic act.
Ritual purification was very important in the Jewish religion of the time. Jews
were continually ritually cleaning their hands and ritually cleaning their
bodies, which all symbolized the cleansing of the soul. Christianity is also about
the cleansing of the soul. We talk about cleansing from sin. We understand
Jesus’ death as accomplishing a sacrificial cleansing and forgiveness. We
understand that all the ritual sacrifices and purifications of the Old
Testament were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. That is what this sign is pointing
to.
We move beyond ritual cleansing, to spiritual
celebration. Once Jesus filled these waterpots with wine, they could no longer
be used for the ritual. Jesus was saying that something new was happening here.
Elsewhere he talks about his gospel being new wine put into new wineskins. In
reading this story we might not realize what a radical thing Jesus did. By
transforming these ceramic pots from ritualistic containers to wine dispensers,
Jesus made it impossible for the wedding guests to any longer use them for the washing
ritual. He was making an old pattern obsolete by reinterpreting it and using it
for something new. He does the same thing with the Passover Meal later at the
Last Supper, turning it into the Lord’s Supper. Specifically at that meal he
reinterpreted the wine of the Passover to mean his blood, which was cleansing
in a way that the blood of Passover lambs could never be.
As Christians we don’t have to keep
going through ritual or sacrificial cleansing any more. We have been made whole
and made holy by Christ. The Lord’s Supper that we celebrate each month is not
a resacrificing of Christ; it is a remembrance of the once for all time
sacrifice on the Cross. The confession of sin that we do in prayer corporately
each week and privately in personal prayer is not a plea for forgiveness over
and over again. It is a celebration that our sins have been once and for all
forgiven. A lot of people have the misconception that Christianity is about carrying
around a burden of sinfulness and guilt. It is not. It is just the opposite. It
is the end of sin and guilt. We never have to feel guilty again. As believers
in Christ, we celebrate freedom from guilt and sin. The burden is lifted and we
never have to take it on again.
Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon may
be the place where "all the women are strong, all the men are good
looking, and all the children are above average." And we might think our
children or grandchildren fit that description. Mine are certainly all above
average! But when we assess our own lives, might not feel that way. But that is
because we are looking at our lives from a human perspective. We must remember
that when Jesus makes something, it is never ordinary. We were made by God in the image of God. That
is extraordinary! We are remade into a new creation by Christ; that is
extraordinary. As the saying goes, ”God don’t make no junk.” God does all
things well. God made this glorious creation out of nothing. Genesis says that
God made humans from dirt and formed us in his own image. He recreated us and
redeemed us in Christ to be extraordinary vessels of his glory and grace.
Furthermore he saves the best till
last, just like in this story. As we get older some people think they are not
as good as when they were younger. Perhaps our bodies are not as strong as they
once were, and maybe our memories are not as sharp as they once were. But in
other ways we are better than ever. Remember that wine gets better with age. When
Jesus gave the teaching about new wine in new wineskins, he said, “And no
one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the
wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must
be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” But then he also added
these words, “And no one, having drunk
old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’” Old wine is better. The wine that Jesus
served at this wedding tasted like old wine, which is the best wine. When people
get older, they get better. I know we live in a youth obsessed culture, were
youth is celebrated and aging is a decline. But historically in all cultures
age has been valued and celebrated as the best. God does great things in our
lives at all ages and especially true in the later age. At least that is what I
am counting on!
4. Fourth, this sign of an earthly
wedding points to points to a heavenly wedding. The image of a wedding is used
repeatedly by Jesus in the Gospels as well as in the Epistles and Revelation.
The significance of this story of the wedding in Cana goes far beyond the
marriage of a Galilean couple. Jesus may not be the earthly bridegroom in this Gospel
story, but he is the heavenly bridegroom elsewhere in the NT. In that same
passage in Luke 5 that I quoted about the new wine and old wine, Jesus says, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom
fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the
bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.” Jesus is referring to himself. It is the same
in his parable of the ten bridesmaids. He sees himself as a groom. The apostle
Paul compares the union of Christ and the church to that of husband and wife.
John describes the church as the Bride of Christ. Revelation describes the
wedding supper of the Lamb (who is Christ) at the end of history.
This whole story of turning the water
into wine at the wedding in Cana points to a bigger story, a cosmic story. It
is about a greater transformation than the chemical composition of H2O into
fermented grape juice. The great hymn says, “From heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought her and for her life he
died.” That is what this story is really about on a symbolic level. It is not
just about the transformation of water. It is about the transformation of our
lives and the transformation of the whole universe by Jesus Christ. Just like
Jesus transformed the water into wine, so does he transform us. And he
transforms the heaven and earth into a new heaven and new earth. This Gospel story
is not just a magic trick done by Jesus at a wedding. This is a symbolic
transformation. Our lives become something entirely new and different in the
hands of the Savior. Our lives are remade by the love of Jesus Christ for us
and for the world. May this transformation be a living reality in our
experience.
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