The Wedding At Cana

The fact that our Lord did His first miracle at the wedding. (3. What does a wedding signify for the Christian faith?) A wedding emphasizes the sanctity (sang-ti-tee ) of that covenant. Weddings matter. Public covenant matters. The ceremony matters; it always has. People who are married make a public covenant before God and before people. Marriage is a condition of life designed by God, ordained by God, and authenticated in an open, public covenant. It is the highest and noblest and best of all human relationships. No other human relationship is as wonderful as marriage.

It is called in the Bible “the grace of life.” It is the most wonderful and most blessed of all common graces. What we mean is a common grace: A grace, gift from God to all people without regard to whether they believe in Him. That’s a common grace. For example--the beauty of the world, a sunset, sleep, health, a good meal, falling in love--are all the common graces, the epitome of common graces is marriage. It is the best gift that God can give to humanity. Any society that honors marriage; a covenant made and kept between a man and a woman. It will prosper. It will be safe. It will be secure. It will know peace. It will have a minimum of crime.

On the other hand, any society that fails to honor marriage as a covenant, open covenant between a man and a woman for life, that diminishes marriage, that fails to honor marriage, is corrupt, is doomed to chaos, turmoil, evil and judgment. Where marriage for life is not honored, where the covenant vows between a man and a woman are not kept, immorality abounds. Immorality overruns the culture. Our Lord honored marriage by attending and doing His first miracle at a wedding.

The Roman Catholic Church has decided that marriage is a sacrament because Jesus was at this wedding . The Roman Catholic doctrine of the sacrament and the sacrament of marriage is based on John 2, that Jesus was at a wedding. Verse 2, both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding, as well as the mother of Jesus being there from verse 1. Based upon that, the Roman Catholic Church has developed the concept that marriage is a sacrament. Marriage is one of the sacrament.

Now what do you mean by a sacrament? According to Roman Catholic backgrounds, there are 7 sacraments; they are:(4) Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Holy orders, penance, Anointing of the sick, and Matrimony. Marriage as a sacrament, like the other sacraments. Now I’m happy that the Roman Catholic Church puts a priority on marriage. I’m glad that they want people to be married.

Jesus lived thirty years in Nazareth in this little town with a few hundred people, and He’s about to step out into the world. Thirty years of absolute obscurity in private life, and now He’s going to begin public ministry, and the bridge from His private life to His public ministry is a miracle for His family and friends. This happened for His family and His friends, they were the first ones who were to recognize that He is the Creator God. It’s a family and friends miracle. And the celebration is in full swing. Everybody’s having a wonderful time. That’s the party.