2:1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
2:2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
2:3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."
2:4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come."
2:5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
2:6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
2:7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.
2:8 He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it.
2:9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom
2:10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."
2:11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
I look forward to this text each year during the season of epiphany. After all what better surprise is there than all that water being turned into exquisite wine at a wedding party. This text provides us with a beautiful picture of the manifestation of God's glory blessing the earthy things of life with a foretaste of the goodness that awaits. A wedding is an ordinary event - if you haven't been to a wedding recently you can likely remember a season of life when weddings dominated conversations and the calendar. All throughout the summer couples litter the lawn of the legislature with their entourages in tow; it is so ubiquitous that it almost fades into the background. But a wedding is a remarkable event - two people say 'yes' to one another in spite of the fact that they are sure to disappoint and fail one another and weather the uncertainties and suffering of life. At a wedding two people proclaim the truth that love is stronger than death and surrender to it.
The gospel of John tells the story of a wedding - there is
little description given for us to sink our imaginations into – no reporting of
what the bride wore and no detail of the food served. All that we know is that on day three of this
particular wedding they were running out of wine. Now most weddings have a little crisis of
planning - at our wedding there was no place for the groomsmen to sleep the
night before the big day and there was the small matter of parking meters in
downtown Edmonton – nothing too catastrophic.
But this is pretty profound miscalculation and you can imagine the
tension mounting under the looming crisis.
The family running around frantically trying to save the situation,
maybe calling on favours or trying to broker a deal; in the meantime perhaps
some quiet bickering and blaming going on here… I told you that wasn’t going to
be enough, you never listen to me… You
can almost hear it can’t you? Maybe you
have your own version of it! Even Jesus’ mother, Mary, gets in on the action
here whispering in the way that only a mother can: “Jesus, do something.” To which Jesus gives a layered perhaps even
chilly response: “woman, my hour has not yet come.” Jesus himself was fully immersed in the
complexities of human relationships he was also moving into a public life – revealing himself to the disciples, to the people.
In
the midst of weighty expectation and anxious fumbling around – Jesus does something. He tells the chief steward to fill the
pitchers with water and after this is done he instructs him to take a taste to
the master of the banquet. And what the
master tastes is wine - the best yet! The pitchers are full; the celebration is
on - relief washes over, joy is palpable – it is coursing through them. There is a new-ness that has come to the celebration
– water has become wine – where there was scarcity there is now abundance.
Jesus blesses the earthy stuff of life – like this wedding –
his glory is shot right through it. In
the midst of our own fumbling and weighty expectations and disappointments and
wild hope we can see it; it proclaims:
Christ transforms –
he makes all things new! And while he revealed his glory turning water into
wine that isn’t what transforms us, you see the water in those pitchers was
used for cleansing and it becomes wine - something altogether different,
something new - the symbol of Christ’s blood, his life; his love poured out on
the cross by which we can be made new. And
the cross that was recognized as a sign of death has been transformed -
Christians the world over wear it on our necks, hold it in our hands, place it
on our churches - because it has become the way of life. It is nothing less than utter giving, self
-giving, forgiving, freely given love. It
is this self giving love Paul is referring to in Ephesians 5 – when he says
husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for
her. And wives submit to your husbands;
respect them – there is a mutuality and a reciprocity here – a dimension to
this love that mirrors the agape love of Christ which passionately seeks the
well being of the other. When we love
one another like this we reflect the redemptive and creative love of Christ – a
love that can make beauty from ashes.
And here is why this matters because along with mountain -top moments like a wedding life has its fair share of dashed hopes, bitter disappointments and
sadness. And relationships are hard work – we too easily wound one another with words
or with silence by what we have done or left undone. We find ourselves in old patterns and habits
AND we long for new – ness. In Christ we have the proclamation – all things
are new.
Christ’s glory
proclaims that there is abundance in scarcity! He doesn’t fill the jars
half way – he fills them to the brim - all six jars; he feeds thousands on a hillside
picnic with the loaves and fish of a child and he will sit with a woman at a
well; the noon sun beating down and he will say to her: “Everyone who drinks of
this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give them
will never thirst; the water I give them will become a spring of water welling
up to eternal life.” As much as this
story whispers about Christ’s death and saving work on the cross – it speaks to
life! That is what the reference to the third day is all about - Jesus is
hinting at resurrection – he is declaring right there at that wedding - love is stronger than death! He is life! Life full and
overflowing! Do you hear the invitation: Come to the water all who are thirsty. You who have no money come, buy and eat. This
is the invitation of a generous God receive it – become it. Live a life so full of LOVE that it is
utterly compelling – offer water to those who have none, share what you have
been given. Live a life that does right by others – do justice. In whatever
scarcity you may face – remember that God makes streams of water flow in the
desert; that Christ is water – this is what Isaiah is prophesies and what
Christ proclaims.
