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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Where do you look for the glory of God? Do you look for the glory of God in a perfectly functioning three‑branch government, with an immigration policy and other policies that you favor? Do you look for the glory of God in a congregation of a certain size, with a pastor who does things just the way you want him to do them? Do you look for the glory of God in an ideal family, with family members who are perfectly healthy? Where do you look for the glory of God? In the Gospel Reading appointed for this the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Jesus manifested His glory by miraculously changing water into wine for a wedding at Cana in Galilee—what the Divinely‑inspired St. John calls the first of Jesus’s signs—and, by that sign, Jesus’s disciples believed in Him. As we consider the Gospel Reading this morning, we realize that “Jesus’s signs manifest His glory for faith in Him”.
Today’s Gospel Reading comes early in St. John’s Gospel account, days after John the Baptizer on two separate days identified Jesus as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36), and after two of John’s own disciples began following Jesus, apparently both finding their brothers and bringing them to Jesus to follow Him, too (John 1:40-42), and after Jesus commanded Philip to follow Him and Philip found Nathanael and invited him to come and see Jesus, Who promised Nathanael that Nathanael would see great things (John 1:43‑51).
As we heard, on the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, which was Nathanael’s home town (John 21:2). The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus also was invited to the wedding, and His disciples, likely the six He had gathered to Himself just days earlier. After Jesus’s mother brought to His attention that the wine had run out, Jesus miraculously produced more wine, apparently better wine than the wine that they had been drinking. One moment the servants were drawing out water, and the next moment the master of the feast was tasting wine. From where that wine came, the master of the feast did not know, but the servants who had drawn out the water knew, and apparently also the disciples knew. The miraculous sign manifested Jesus’s glory, and, as a result, His disciples believed in Him, as they were intended to do.
How do we think that we come to believe in Jesus? Do we wrongly think that by our own reason or strength we believe in Jesus Christ our Lord or come to Him? Do we wrongly think that we rationally consider all the “gods” or religious traditions that are out there and then pick the one that makes the most sense to us? In today’s Epistle Reading (1 Corinthians 12:1-11), the Divinely‑inspired St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that, when they were pagans, they were led astray to mute idols, however they were led. But, St. Paul says the Holy Spirit leads one not to curse Jesus but to confess Him as Lord. Apart from such work of the Holy Spirit, we are as ignorant of Jesus as the master of the feast and the rest of the guests were of the origin of the wine, and so ignorant of Jesus we would remain dead in our trespasses and sins. We need a manifestation of Jesus’s glory in order for us to believe in Him. So, led by the Holy Spirit’s manifesting Jesus’s Glory through His Word and Sacraments , we confess our sins and trust God to forgive our sins. When we so repent, then God forgives our sins. God forgives our looking for His glory in the wrong places. God forgives our wrong thinking about how we come to believe. God forgives all our sin, whatever our sin might be. God forgives our sin for Jesus’s sake.
Most of the time Jesus may have looked like an ordinary man, but Jesus was God in human flesh. Jesus’s divine and human natures were united in Him in such a way that, working through His human nature, He personally could change the water into wine. The miracle gave a glimpse of Jesus’s true glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). But, the greatest manifestation of Jesus’s glory was later, when His “hour” came with Jesus’s passion, His death on the cross for your sins and mine, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension into heaven (John 12:23; 13:1; 17:1). Jesus’s hanging on the cross may not seem very glorious to us, but the theology of the cross is that things are not always as they seem! Death is life! Defeat is victory! When we, like the disciples, believe in Jesus, then God—out of His great love, mercy, and grace for the sake of Jesus—forgives our sins, and Jesus’s life and victory are ours.
Our Almighty God is certainly above means (Pieper, I:459). Jesus could have had winged heavenly creatures fly flagons of wine to Cana (confer Kretzmann, ad loc John 2:6-11, p.417), but Jesus did not do so. Jesus chose to work through means, the means of the servants, His words, the water, and the wine, and Jesus binds us to such means (Pieper, I:459). Jesus’s called and ordained servants read and preach His Word to us all, and those same servants apply that Word to us individually with water in Holy Baptism, with the touch of their hands in individual Holy Absolution, and with bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar that are Jesus’s own Body and Blood, given and shed for us, for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Apart from these means, we do not look for Jesus’s glory nor think that we come to believe in Him. Apart from these means, we do not expect God to forgive our sins or to give us Jesus’s life and victory. And, we are sure that the same Jesus Who turned water into wine for a wedding at Cana in Galilee is able to work through these means, such as giving us with wine His holy blood (confer Nocent, 1:301, who cites St. Cyril of Jerusalem).
A wedding at Cana in Galilee was the occasion for what St. John calls the first of Jesus’s signs, and many pastors, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther apparently frequently among them, have used the Second Sunday after the Epiphany with this appointed Gospel Reading as an occasion to preach about marriage. Today we might remember that marriage is a holy estate instituted by God, but we might also remember that one’s being married is not absolutely necessary, certainly not for one’s being content in this life. As today’s Psalm reminded us (Psalm 128; antiphon v.5), God can and does bless marriages with children, even children’s children, especially when we do not try to prevent Him from doing so or do not cut those lives short in the womb, or end our own or others’ earthly lives before God Himself does. More importantly, Jesus may have chosen a wedding as the occasion for this particular miraculous sign because, as today’s Old Testament Reading reminded us (Isaiah 62:1‑5), marriage reflects His relationship with His Bride, the Church. In His Church, as we heard in the Epistle Reading, Jesus gives people manifestations of the Holy Spirit for the common good. And, in His Church, no matter the afflictions He permits us to face, we have His joy and peace.
To be sure, God can and does reveal His glory in a less-than-perfectly-functioning government, in faithful congregations of any size, and in less-than-ideal families. Things are not always as they seem! Servants, Jesus’s Word, water, and wine are much more than they seem to be. Using them, “Jesus’s signs manifest His glory for faith in Him.” By His grace, we who repent and believe receive His forgiveness of our sins and forgive others the sins they commit against us. As today’s Psalm put it, “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.”
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +