Good Morning. Last week our Epiphany theme took us to Mark and the beginning of Mark’s record of Jesus Ministry. We saw there the showing forth of the glory (that’s what Epiphany means) of the Trinity at the Jordan River, and how Jesus showed His glory in humility by receiving a baptism for the remission of sins. Why? It identified Him with all of us who he has come to redeem.
John 2 similarly is John’s record of the beginning of Jesus public ministry. But there are many things in John’s Gospel that you have to dig for. It almost feels like John is writing at two levels. A wonderful clear Gospel for those who know just a little about God, and then this incredibly deep message that’s hard to understand without knowing or looking up all these Old Testament references John is constantly alluding to but never quoting.
We have a big one in today’s Gospel Lesson, which John says is the very first sign of Jesus Glory (Epiphany) is turning water into wine at a wedding. Many people, especially the temperance type in the past, get sidetracked with this passage. It is an interesting question when reading this account why John not only recorded this miracle and but he stressed it as the first sign of Jesus Glory. This is our big mystery this morning. What’s so important about this miracle?
The first clue is miracles in general. John only includes 7 of Jesus miracles. Also, John never calls them miracles, but SIGNS. Signs aren’t important in and of themselves, but ANNOUNCE something important. Warning! Careful! Look Here! At the close of his Gospel, John says Jesus did MANY other signs in the presence of the disciples, not written in this book;
but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
So, what’s important for us this morning is to figure out, “What does this Sign PROCLAIM about Jesus?” And the first place to look??? Context.
Since John writes later than the other Gospel writers, and assumes that you are familiar with Matthew, Mark and Luke when you are reading his Gospel, so he tends to cover different information, much more of Jesus private life with the disciples that the others didn’t cover. He also doesn’t worry about writing chronologically like the others, but he writes Thematically.
What immediately follows Jesus Miracle of turning Water into Wine? If you keep reading in John 2, we read … Jesus cleansing the temple… which takes place right after the triumphal entry… on Palm Sunday… right before the crucifixion. First clue. John wants to associate this sign with the Temple/Taber.
As for the wedding…Weddings in Jesus day, no surprise, are different from today. In our weddings, the bride is the prominent figure. She enters the stage last, after everything is prepared for her. She is arrayed in the finest clothes, and the whole congregation stands for her entrance, with every eye focused on her. In Jesus time it was the groom that is prominent. He is the featured one; the bride merely shows up for the wedding, in the same no one got excited for me when I entered.
Not only was the groom the featured person, but he also was responsible to finance and prepare everything. His skill in preparation would show if he was responsible and reliable, and able to be a good husband and father. And it was a lot to manage because wedding feasts went on for as long as a week, with relatives from both sides of the family joining together for a big celebration.
That’s why running out of wine was not a minor faux pax. It was a SIGN this man will not be a good provider for his wife and family. So what happens? Through Mary, they go to Jesus.
This is not my sermon, but it is important to see the willingness of Jesus to help with all our problems in life, not just “spiritual” things. It’s easy to look at it and say, hey, you ran out of wine, give them something else to drink. You’ll be a little embarrassed, but you’ll get over it. We may feel different, like it’s the biggest thing in the world, or too small to bother God with. But in either case, Go to Jesus. He is there for our every need, not just emergencies.
So how does Jesus handle it. In performing this miracle, he makes a SIGN pointing to himself as the true Bridegroom coming for His Bride. I need to show this. This is a common Biblical image in both the Old Testament and New Testament. Old Testament, it’s the prophets who emphasize it.
And since it’s the responsibility of the bridegroom to provide the wine, Jesus used the occasion of the wine shortage to reveal God’s plan of salvation and redemption to the world. This is as I said, hard to see without the Old Testament references. On the basic level, He takes an embarrassing situation, a situation of need and want, and turns it into a time of Joy and happiness.
But as I alluded to earlier, there’s this deeper image relating to the temple and tabernacle, which is less obvious without Old Testament context, but was definitely the most popular way in which it was preached by early Christian writers, What’s the weird thing that’s easy to overlook? We have 6 stone water jars. Why were they there? It wasn’t that people liked to have 25-gallon WATER jars around at parties where no one was drinking water.
They were a part of the Old Covenant Tabernacle rituals found in Deuteronomy 19. The idea was that, especially with the Tabernacle in the wilderness, God’s people needed to be clean to come into His presence, to come into His Holy Temple. The cleansing symbolized being clean spiritually.
And now, the Lord has come to dwell with his people, or literally tabernacle, which is John’s theme in John 1. But instead of having them ritually prepare by washing, God dwells with them as they are, and He lives with them and washes them. He has come to give them a true washing in His blood, and takes this Old Covenant practice, and changes what the sign points to, so that it points to Himself. It’s something he does quite a lot. Like at the Passover, which Jesus never got rid of. Jesus takes 2 signs of the Passover, the bread and wine, and says, do this now in remembrance of me. These signs point to me.
This is what makes John’s Gospel so special. On the surface you have a wonderful story which teaches us how Christ Cares for us in all our circumstances. We have Mary’s incredible line “do whatever He tells you.” But when we dig, and this is where we can use those wonderful cross reference in our Bible which are so important but can be ignored, we get two more great pictures, 2 great signs.
First, this miracle, this sign, points to Jesus as the Bridegroom, who fulfills all the Old Testament prophecy about a redeemer who comes to save his adulterous and wayward bride. Because He loves her. He comes to us and for us when we are lost and in need.
And the second sign, Jesus does this by washing us and cleaning us, using the pattern laid out to show us how it has been God’s Plan all along.
