John 2:1-11; Ephesians 5:1-2, 22-33; Genesis 2:7, 18-24
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord simply loves weddings! After crowning His six-day’s work with the creation of man – male and female He created them – He joined them together in the one-flesh union of marriage and blessed them that they should be fruitful and multiply. It was at a wedding that Jesus performed His first miracle and manifested His glory, turning the water of purification into the finest of wines. In the Revelation we are given to see our glorified Lord, a Lamb standing as though slain, wedded to His Bride the Church. From the very beginning, it has been God who joins together; and from shortly thereafter, it has been man who separates.
Thus, Jesus blessed the wedding at Cana with His presence. He wanted to be there as two of His beloved children were made to be one. Our Lord simply loves weddings! But the wedding party had run out of wine. How many marriages today are at risk of running out of wine? What God created as holy and a fruitful blessing has become bittersweet and fraught with lies, deception, sorrow and pain because of man’s sin. What was to be a brilliant image of the union God would have with man has become but a dim reflection. For, more than our fragmented marriages between husbands and wives, it is our marriage with God that has run out of wine. This Jesus came to restore, but His hour had not yet come.
Jesus’ hour, in John’s Gospel, is the appointed time of His passion and death on the cross. It is a time that will not be forced upon Jesus apart from His will: His life is His to lay down, no one takes it from Him. When His mother informed Him that the wedding party had run out of wine, Jesus replied that it was not a matter of concern between them now, for it was not yet the time for the shedding of His blood. Nevertheless, Mary instructed the servants to do whatever Jesus told them. It seems that Mary, who pondered the mystery of her son in her heart all her days, urged her son along His destined path to the cross so that He would perform this first sign and manifest His glory.
For, Jesus’ glory was manifested, not primarily in the miracle of changing water into wine, but Jesus’ glory was manifested in this first glimpse of His hour of passion that was yet to come. The water in those six stone jars was for the Jewish rites of purification. It was water that had been set aside to purify the wedding party from their uncleanness that Jesus changed into wine. Amongst the sadness and the shame of this wedding party that had run out of wine, Jesus began to take the curse of man’s great divorce from God upon Himself and to fill its place with joy and life, the finest of wine. For, the glory of Jesus is not manifested primarily in wonders and miracles, but the glory of Jesus is manifested in the Lamb of God’s self-offering on the cross.
The wedding of Adam and Eve was an image of man’s wedding with God. That was the first day. Succumbing to temptation, tasting the forbidden fruit, man became the whore and divorced God in adultery. That was the second day. But, on the third day, there was a wedding. The third day is the day of resurrection, the Lord’s Day, a day upon which the sun will never set. Jesus came to turn man’s sorrow and death into joy and life. He came to fill what the Law demands of us to the very brim, and not with mediocrity, but with the finest works, obedience, and love. He came to lay down His life for His friends, the greatest expression of love possible, that they might be restored unto God and live.
Jesus’ first sign at the wedding of Cana points us squarely to the greatest sign, the sign of Jonah, that is Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection on the third day. For, it was from Jesus’ riven side upon the cross that was brought forth His Bride the Church. From the side of the New Adam was brought forth the New Eve in water and blood.
Grant and Sarah, it is still the Third Day, the Day of Resurrection, as we gather here to celebrate, give thanks, and to ask the LORD for His blessing upon your marriage. This is the New Cana, where the Lamb of God stands as though slain, still bearing the marks of His Calvary as glorious life-giving scars. And, the master of the feast, Satan, is stunned, knowing not from whence this precious wine comes (though you know) saying, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Marriage is not easy, but it is blessed by God, and it is an image of one flesh union the LORD desires to have with you, His Bride, the Church. In marriage you have the opportunity to attempt to love unconditionally, agape, even as you have the opportunity to forgive, and to receive forgiveness, when the best you can muster is eros or phileo. That’s ok. Draw your love, your mercy, your forgiveness, your patience, your hope, your peace, and your joy from the everlasting source of all those good things, Jesus Christ. Our Lord simply loves weddings! And He will bless your wedding, He will bless your union, and He will make you a blessing to others to the glory of His Holy Name.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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