Second
Sunday after the Epiphany (January 19, 2020)
“Without
Wine There is No Joy” (John 2:1-11)
INI
“They have no wine,” Mary tells her Son. It’s all gone. Ran out.
How embarrassing for the host.
How uncomfortable for the groom and his bride. Shameful, really. This is something that should never happen at
a wedding banquet, especially a first century Jewish one.
No more wine, folks. Sorry.
That which gladdens the heart is gone.
That’s what the Bible says about wine.
Psalm 104:15 says that God has given us “wine to gladden the heart of
man.” It lingers on the palate, warms
the heart, and enlivens conversation. It
is a First Article gift of God that we can enjoy in moderation, not to excess,
as Proverbs 20:1 warns us, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and
whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”
It also has medicinal uses. Paul
told Timothy to “use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your
frequent ailments” (1 Tim. 5:23). Wine
also has its place in religious ceremonies in the Bible. It was mixed with some of the offerings in
the tabernacle. Many years before that,
Abraham enjoyed bread and wine with Melchizedek, priest of Salem, where
Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and in response Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of
the spoils of his recent battles.
They have no more wine. Taken away.
The hosts are shamed and embarrassed.
The guests now squirm awkwardly. That
which adds to the joy of the festivities is gone. Even the ancient rabbis used to say, “Without
wine there is no joy” (Barclay, John, vol. 1, 97).
Is your wine gone?
I don’t mean how full your wine rack is at home. I’m talking about what gives you joy. Has it been taken away? What shame and embarrassment might you be bearing
today that has stolen your joy? Do you
squirm awkwardly here at this feast because of something that is not right in
your heart, your family, your circle of friends? Because of a guilty conscience? You know things should be better. You know how you would like things to
be. Instead, there is much disorder and
sadness in your life.
“They have no more wine,” says
Mary. Jesus seems to imply at first that
it’s none of his business. “Woman,” he
says to his mother, “what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus has come to do more important things
than to fix a shortage of alcohol at a wedding reception. His hour was still to come … his hour of
being glorified by the Father when he would be lifted up on the cross to die
for the sins of the world, then raised to life again on the third day. As an interesting side note, John states that
this wedding occurred “on the third day.”
Is this a wink and a nod to that joyful day of Easter? Perhaps.
Or it could simply be noting that Jesus’ promise in the previous chapter
that the disciples would see “greater things” was soon fulfilled here in the
context of a wedding feast.
“What does this have to do with me?”
Jesus asks. And yet he goes ahead and
does something anyway. Jesus enters into
the circumstances of this family to restore their joy and to take away their
shame and embarrassment. He cares about
the details of their life. He enters
into the circumstances of your life. He
is present for you. He cares about the
details of your life, although don’t expect him to help you if the bar at your party
runs out of drinks. Nevertheless, Jesus
cares about the little things.
He
cares about the little people … little in the eyes of the world, that is. This first miracle of Jesus is performed, not
in the limelight of Jerusalem amidst royalty and in the sight of Roman rulers,
but rather in the quiet, out of the way, small village of Cana in Galilee,
among people whose names we do not know other than Mary the mother of our Lord. We don’t even know the name of the bride and
groom.
But changing water into wine is not how Jesus gives
us joy and takes away our shame. This
event of changing water into wine is called his first “sign” by which he
“manifested his glory.” It’s so much
bigger than just caring about the details of our everyday circumstances. It’s another Epiphany. It’s about Jesus revealing that he is the Son
of God, the Word made Flesh, whose Word has creative power. It’s about the beginning of something new
here at the very beginning of his public ministry. It’s about the breaking in of the Messianic
age. It’s about the revealing of the
Kingdom of God.
When the prophets describe the time of the Messiah,
they often talk about it as a time of abundant wine. Amos says, “the mountains shall drip sweet
wine, and all the hills shall flow with it” (Amos 9:13). Isaiah says, “Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price” (Is. 55:1). Joel
says, “the threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow
with wine and oil” (Joel 2:24). And this
Messianic age is a foretaste of the eternal wedding feast where Christ is the
Bridegroom and his Church is his Bride.
Again, from the prophets … Isaiah says, “On
this mountain the Lord of hosts
will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of
rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the
covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all
nations. He will swallow up death
forever; and the Lord God will wipe
away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away
from all the earth, for the Lord
has spoken” (Isaiah 25:6-8).
John begins his Gospel with “In the beginning,” echoing
Genesis and the creation. But that
perfect creation didn’t last long. Satan
tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God, bringing sin and corruption and death into
the world. Adam and Eve hid in guilt and
shame, yet God promised that he would one day send a Savior. Now, John declares in his Gospel that a new
beginning is here. A new creation is breaking
into the world in Christ and through his redeeming work. John the Baptist points out Jesus as the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus calls his disciples to be his witnesses. And here at this wedding feast our Lord does
his first sign, pointing himself out as the one who has come to start something
new.
How does he do it?
He tells the servants at the banquet to fill with water the stone jars
used for purification. These large jars
were there for the use of the guests at the feast. According to Jewish ceremonial laws, it was
necessary to wash your hands thoroughly before each meal and between each course. If this was not done, your hands would be considered
unclean. Not just soiled with food, but
unholy. It would be an offense against
God. So now, Jesus takes the water of
the Old Covenant and replaces it with the wine of the New Covenant. And it’s the good stuff ... way better than
what was being served before. Way more
effective. Way more permanent.
This was the first of Jesus’ signs that point him
out as the promised Messiah. And throughout
his earthly ministry, he will continue to perform signs that identify him as
the Messiah … making bodies whole, casting out demons, stilling storms, walking
on water, raising the dead. The Lord of
Epiphany manifests himself to us as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. He is the one who came to fulfill all the
demands and commands of the Old Covenant, to free us from the bondage and the
condemnation of the Law, and to shed his blood for us at the cross, where the
New Covenant in his blood was put into effect. Now all who trust in him and in his shed blood
at the cross are brought into his kingdom.
The jars were filled to the
brim. There was wine enough for a seven-day
feast. That’s how long wedding celebrations
usually lasted in those days. And in
Christ Jesus, there is a superabundance of grace and mercy for you. There is wine enough for eternity. He has come to restore unto you the joy of
your salvation because your sins are forgiven.
Your guilt is taken away and your shame is covered.
He cares about you and all the little details of
your life. You are important to
him. He is present with you and for you.
And he is present for you today. He gives us wine to enjoy, and bread … which
are his body and blood. As we partake of
this Sacrament, we step once again into Christ’s new creation. We taste his forgiveness on our lips. This is a foretaste of the eternal wedding
feast where nothing will ever again be able to steal our joy away from us.
INI
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