Readings: Amos 9:11-15 | Romans 12:6-16 | John 2:1-11
Text: John 2:1-11
In the days of the Prophets, God used object lessons. Jeremiah presented signs of a ruined loincloth[1] and a broken clay flask.[2] Ezekiel shaved his head and beard and divided the hair in three portions.[3] Zechariah dressed as a foolish shepherd and threw his wages to the potter.[4] The Lord gave all of these object lessons to point ahead to what He would do in the age of Messiah. He taught the people that He would bring judgment for their sins and that He would restore the penitent.
But, now in Cana of Galilee, the Lord of Hosts Himself has come—in human flesh! He is fulfilling all that the Prophets had said beforehand. And the Incarnate Almighty God has been invited to a wedding with His mother and disciples. How amazingly…ordinary! He’s not drawing great crowds to Himself by teaching and healing; He’s just one of the guests.
Then comes the downer for this joyous occasion: They run out of wine. Mild panic ensues, but Mary has an idea. Here is the Man who is God’s beloved Son. Here is the kid who stayed behind at the Temple when He was 12, proclaiming God His Father. And surely God doesn’t want a wedding to run out of wine! “Jesus, they have no wine.” Do something to save the feast!
Some might just look at the situation that’s come up and blame the master of the feast. After all, it was his responsibility to make sure all the guests were provided for. Or maybe the father was too generous with his invites.
So, Mary’s request may have been misplaced. The head-waiter might have flubbed the catering. But regardless of those things, Jesus takes this for an opportunity to teach. He derails any distractions about why He became flesh and dwelt among us.[5] He uses this to manifest His glory through a sign.
For many years, the people of Israel had been longing for God to visit His people with deliverance. They longed for the glory days past of Kings David and Solomon, which hardly had any sign of them left. They also longed forward to the time when Messiah would come and restore David’s throne. They waited for that day when God had promised a greater glory than the first.[6] The sign that Jesus gives declares that the long-awaited day has come!
Like His Prophets before, Jesus gives a sign. But unlike the Prophets, He is already doing what the act signifies. It’s no more, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord.” It’s now “Behold, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased”[7] as we heard last week. There is no more waiting for the Messiah; He’s here! His messenger has already gone before His face—John the Baptist! John declared Him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin [John 1:29]. The Holy Spirit has descended on Him and remained, meaning that He is the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed Savior![8]
So, what is this sign that He gives?
“6Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9Then master of the feast tasted the water become wine.”
Under the Law of Moses, God had commanded many things. He offered blessing for all who kept His commandments, and curses for all who disobeyed.[9] Yet, all Israel had been reliably good at was disobedience. The six stone water jars stand for this: Six is a number of anticipation. God made everything in six days, but He rested on the 7th. Solomon’s throne had six steps leading up to it, because the “one greater than Solomon”[10] was still to come. God had commanded purification with water, but as soon as someone sinned again, they’d have to get washed up all over. These six stone water jars are waiting for their completion.
It’s the fulfillment which the Prophet Isaiah sang of in chapter 12:1-3:
1 You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
3With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Jesus announces: That day has come! The servants drew water from the jars at His command, and that water became wine—which signifies joy, as it is written “Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. The Lord answered and said to his people…The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.”[11]
In former days, when God would give a sign to the Prophets, He would accompany it with an explanation—lest people put words in God’s mouth! But with this particular sign, Jesus isn’t the one to give the interpretation. He lets the master of the feast explain:
“9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, ‘Every man serves the good wine first, and when people have gotten drunk, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.’”
Adam and Eve were kept waiting after they had sinned and God had promised to avenge them. Eve thought that their firstborn son, Cain, was that promised Savior: “I have gotten a man: the Lord!”[12], she said. She was ready for Christmas already, but soon found out how wrong she had been about her son.
And that’s the way it is with “every man” as the master says. We want the good wine up front. We want the satisfaction, the immediate gratification. We want to go from 0 to 60 in no time flat. You can see it all over: men and women want sex, kids, and buying a house all before marriage; people seek relief from their pain in drugs and alcohol; and we all get frustrated when God doesn’t solve our prayers when and how we want. This is the way it is with every man, getting drunk (so to speak) on satisfaction without any fear of or trust in God.
But that is not God’s way. He didn’t drop everything and clean up after Adam and Eve, but they were saved by faith in what He promised to do. He didn’t give Abraham the land of Canaan, and he died trusting in God’s Promise. He didn’t give King David a perfect kingdom, but David died believing that a Son of his would reign, “and of his kingdom there will be no end.”[13]
How much greater are God’s ways than ours! Indeed, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”[14] There at Cana, Jesus revealed the glory of God. And it was a greater glory than fixing all the problems we think are impossible. It was a greater glory even than having a perfect nation of Israel in the middle of a corrupt world. His glory is this: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”[15] His glory is His death for the sins of the world and His resurrection to eternal life—for you!
Jesus said to His mother, “My hour has not yet come.” The hour did truly come, however, when He was glorified on the cross. This spoke volumes more than a bright cloud in the Temple [Exodus 40:34-38]. Here, the Incarnate Lord Jesus made peace with sinners. He shed His blood for a harlot to make her His beloved and spotless Bride.[16] And in your Baptism, He took you out of the ash heap, doomed to die, and “cleansed [you] by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present [you, as a member of] the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.”[17] And today, as Luther aptly penned, “Praise we Him, whose love divine/ Gives His sacred blood for wine/ Gives His body for the feast—/ Christ the victim, Christ the priest. Alleluia!” (LSB 633:2)
In this saving glory of the Lord, rejoice! He is your Heavenly Bridegroom and You are His beloved Bride, now and for eternity!
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
[1] Jeremiah 13
[2] Jeremiah 19
[3] Ezekiel 5:1-4
[4] Zechariah 11
[5] John 1:14
[6] Haggai 2:9
[7] Jeremiah 23:5; Matthew 3:17
[8] John 1:29-34
[9] Deuteronomy 28
[10] Matthew 12:42
[11] Joel 2:18-19a, 24
[12] Genesis 4:1 (the direct object marker is often translated as ‘with the help of’ but this isn’t accurate to the Hebrew)
[13] Luke 1:33
[14] Isaiah 55:9
[15] John 12:32
[16] cf. Jeremiah 3:1, Ephesians 5:25-27
[17] Eph. 5:26-27
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