A June Wedding:
The Best Guest Yet
John 2:1-11
June is the month of matrimonial bliss for brides everywhere. Open the Sunday “Living” section of the newspaper and you encounter the many faces of blissful brides adorned in their nuptial best accompanying the announcement of their recent marriage. June is the most popular month of the year for weddings. I suppose with school out, generally great weather, and loved ones able to schedule vacations, most brides just figure June is the best month to get married. So in honor of June brides everywhere, may I be so bold as to offer “A June Wedding” to our congregation as an opportunity to reflect on some of the passages of the Bible that include weddings or wedding imagery.
I have had the opportunity over the last fifteen years to officiate numerous weddings. I’ve seen a lot of stressed out brides, and I’ve even seen a few drunk grooms. I have seen a few irate mothers, and few put out mothers-in law, and yes, I’ve also seen a few clueless fathers. The important thing for fathers to remember—just write the check. I have seen a lot of sweet, touching moments, and I’ve seen more than a few humorous moments. But I don’t think there have been any more humorous than the pastor who had been counseling with a couple he was to be marry. During the wedding rehearsal, the groom pulled the pastor aside, handed him a neatly folded $100 bill, and said, “Look, I’ll give you this $100 if you’ll change the wedding vows. When you get to me and the part where I’m to promise to ‘love, honor and obey’ I’d appreciate it if you’d just leave that part out.”
The next day arrived and the wedding proceeded in course until the pastor got to the part of the groom’s vows. The pastor looked at the young man and said, “Will you promise to bow down before her, obey her every command and wish, serve her breakfast in bed every morning of your life and swear eternally before God and your lovely wife that you will not ever even look at another woman, as long as you both shall
live?”
The young groom’s eyes grew wide, he gulped hard, leaned in to the pastor and said, “What happened? I thought we had a deal.”
The pastor reached into his pocket, retrieved the $100, handed it back to the groom, pointed to the bride, and said, “She made me a better offer.”
I performed a wedding yesterday for my youngest brother. Most brides stress out for one reason—they want everything to be just perfect. They want the flowers perfect. They want the bridesmaids dresses to be perfect. The want the groom to be perfect. They want the music to perfect. And, honestly, a lot of work and not a little money goes into making the perfect wedding. You can imagine the disappointment when something goes wrong. Jesus and his disciples were the guests at just such a wedding as his earthly ministry began. As it turned out, Jesus was more than just another guest, though. He was the best guest yet.
In first century Jewish culture (and to a large extent still today), weddings were important events, not just in the life of the families involved, but for the community. It was so because the wedding provides not only the joining together of two families to create a new one, but in the Jewish mind provided the imagery for messianic celebration and joy. Whenever a Jew reflected on what the arrival of Messiah would be like, they thought about banquets, and the wedding banquet was the foremost model that came to mind. No, weddings were not the one day affairs we have now with the bride and groom whisked away for their honeymoon. Weddings were week-long affairs for family members and close friends of the bride and groom. The loving couple spent the entire week surrounded by family and friends celebrating the marriage. And the host, traditionally the groom’s family, had to be hospitable. It was Jewish tradition. You fathers who have paid for your daughter’s to get married—you know what it cost for that two hour Saturday afternoon affair. Think what a week-long celebration would end up costing, and count your lucky stars.
So imagine the embarrassment of the host family when they commit the great social faux pas of running out of wine. We’re talking major embarrassment here. They would be the source of gossip at the grocery store and coffee shop, and can you imagine the horror when the beaming new bride showed up at the beauty salon. How those women can gossip! This would not be quite the modern equivalent of either the bride or groom not showing up for the wedding, but it would be close, for hospitality was a center piece of Jewish culture in the first century. Not only that, but wine was a symbol of joy, and if they couple had no wine, that meant there was no joy in their marriage.
Not to worry, though, for Mary, the mother of Jesus, comes to the rescue. Apparently, Mary must have been related to the groom in some way, else why would she be worried about the family running out of wine? So she goes to Jesus (as mothers are want to do) and asks him to fix the problem. Why is it that mothers always think their sons can fix anything? I kind of know how Jesus must have felt. My phone will ring today, and it might be my mother informing me that “so and so is in the hospital over there so you ought to go check on them,” or, “I told Concord you would preach their homecoming next April, so put it on your calendar.” It’s like, “I’m your mother, now do what I tell you.” And just like Jesus, I say, “Awe! Mom. Why do I have to do that? I’ve got enough to do without you troubling me with all that.”
But Mary has confidence in her son, so she tells the servants to do what Jesus says, and Jesus, being the dutiful son, complies and instructs the servants to take the six stone water pots that are reserved for the traditional ceremonial purpose of washing guest’s feet and hands, and fill them with fresh water. The servants fill them to the brim, and Jesus says, “Now go take some to the master of ceremonies (for every Jewish wedding had one).
The master of ceremonies tasted the wine and was astounded. “Now, wait a minute,” he says. “Just a minute ago we were told you were out of wine, but now we discover you’ve actually been holding out on us. Now that everyone’s palate is dulled (maybe we should read that ‘half-drunk) you bring out the best wine. What’s with that?”
What is with that? John gives us the clue in verse 11—This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was Jesus’ first display of his glory. And his disciples believed in him. John calls it a sign, a symbol of something that points beyond itself. Until this sign, Jesus was just another guest at a Palestinian wedding. It was when Jesus was called upon to act that his glory was revealed, and brought faith to his disciples. It was a sign of Jesus purpose for coming into the world—the purpose of transformation.
Jesus came to transform the religious system, and this was his announcement. Those six large water pots were for religious purposes. We know they were because there were made of stone. Clay pots could be made ceremonially unclean, but stone could not. No Jew would eat without first washing his hands in the ceremonial fashion. A no Jewish host would be any host at all if water was not kept for just such a purpose. Jesus takes the old religious habits and transforms them into life giving, joy-filled vessels of grace. Let’s look at it another way. If those old water pots represented the old Jewish system of law then Jesus didn’t come to do away with that system, but to fill it (or should we say fulfill it) with grace.
And isn’t that always the way of Jesus? He is in the transformation business. Jesus brings glory to everything he touches. He transforms the useless into the useful. He transforms the lower into the higher. I think of a foot-in-the-mouth fisherman named Simon, a man given to impulsive reactions, as unstable as water, and transforms him into a rock (a Peter) of Christ-like character. I think of a quick-tempered disciple named John who was ready to call down fire from heaven on some inhospitable villagers, and transforms him into the apostle who said “We ought to love one another.” I think of a selfish, money-hungry, turncoat tax collector named Matthew, whom Jesus transforms into a selfless Gospel writer beloved by every age for the wonderful telling of the birth story of our Savior. I think of the demon-possessed Mary Magdalene who Jesus transforms into the first evangelist of the church. I think of that intellectual giant named Paul, who was the greatest menace of the early church. But Jesus revealed his glory and Paul was transformed from the church’s greatest menace to its greatest missionary.
And Jesus never changes. Jesus still transforms every life that surrenders to him, every gift we put in his hands. How does he do it? The same way he did it then. Jesus takes these common, ordinary elements of bread and juice, as ordinary as water, and transforms them into life-giving, joy-sustaining vessels of grace. We simply have to be obedient to his direction to glimpse his glory. Jesus calls us to “take and eat, this is my body, and do this in remembrance of me.” And he says, “take and drink, this is my blood, shed for the remission of sins for you and for many, and do this in remembrance of me.”
Look, the transformation didn’t come until the servants were obedient to the command. These old common elements of bread and juice are just religious elements until Jesus acts through his Holy Spirit to fill them with new life. And we share in that new life, and our faith is strengthened as we answer obediently when he calls to come and dine. When we do, we discover there is wine (I should say “grace’) in abundance—grace sufficient for every need.
And to think—Jesus was just another guest at the wedding until things needed transformation. Then he became the best guest. He is still the best guest yet!
