Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign
John 2:1-12
January 14, 2024 anno Domini
So, which would you prefer a sermon on this morning? Ephesians 5 on wives submitting and husbands dying or John 2 which ends with 180 gallons of wine and the bridal pair heading off to the Bethlehem Hilton for the wedding night?
I’m going with John 2, but that doesn’t get you husbands out of dying or you wives out of submitting, as we will see.
What do we learn from this first miracle of Jesus at Cana? Well, the first thing to learn is that John never calls the miracles miracles. He calls them signs and there are seven signs in John. Signs are important, but not in themselves. They are important for what they point to. If you are approaching a busy intersection and there is a red octagon on the corner it’s telling you something. It’s not about the color red or its eight sides. It’s telling you people are zooming through that intersection – especially in Saint Cloud. You don’t have to believe the sign. The sign won’t hurt you, but the cross traffic could kill you. It’s up to you.
So, what is the sign of wine telling us? First it is a sign of sin. Whenever something goes awry in the world take it as a sign – you are a sinner. Why did they run out of wine? Because of sin. The father of the groom was a miser and cheaped out on how many cases of wine to buy. Or the guests, like guests so often do, drank far too many glasses of wine, and got drunk. I don’t think it,s hard to imagine drunkenness or greed being evident at a wedding banquet, in addition to a few other sins like lust and gluttony.
Jesus attends the wedding, and this too is a sign. Jesus loves weddings. He loves weddings because He loves children and children are the result of weddings. If you don’t believe that read Genesis when God performed the first wedding of a man and a woman and blessed their union with these words, “Be fruitful and multiply.” It’s also a sign that God opposes any sexual union apart from one man and one woman married to each other. Why? Because unions not of a man and a woman are unions of death. They cannot create children.
Mary comes to Jesus when she learns of the problem, “They have no wine.” This too is a sign. When you have any problem go to Jesus. He is always the answer. He might not be the answer you like, but you can trust Him.
That seems to be the case with His mother. Mary is not simply giving Jesus some information. She is asking Him to help, but His answer doesn’t sound helpful. Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” This too is a sign. While Jesus enjoys a good party, especially the wedding of a man and a woman, He hasn’t come so your life can be a party. He has not come to fill your cup with whatever you find your pleasure in. He has come for a particular time – My hour. That hour is the hour of His death.
He hasn’t come to pour out wine, but to pour out His blood. It is He who would be crushed on the cross, like grapes in a winepress, and by His blood being shed, the greatest joy and pleasure was released, because His death releases you. Your sins are forgiven. You are free. Your sorrow will turn to gladness. Your weeping to laughter. Your death to life, because His blood was poured out for you. Often in Christian art you will see an angel holding a chalice beneath the wounds of Christ, catching that precious blood of Jesus. He drank the dregs of His Father’s wrath so you could drink the wine of heaven – His true blood, His living blood, a real drink of real joy and real life. At Cana it’s not His time to die. His hour has not yet come.
It is likely Mary doesn’t understand all that Jesus will do. No one really did, until He did it, until He died and rose again, but she presses on with her faith in Him. “Do whatever He tells you,” she says to the servants. This is another sign for us – whatever Jesus says is for our good, so listen to Him. If the Son of God is willing to be crushed for your iniquities and allow His blood to be poured out for your sins, then “do whatever He tells you.” If He tells the servants, “These people are drunk. Order up some Ubers and Lyfts and get them out of here.” then that’s what the servants should do. If He says, “Fill the jars with water and take it to the Master” then they should fill and take. If He says, “Wives submit to your husbands” and “Husbands love your wives to death” do what He said. If He says to married couples, “Be fruitful and multiply” then do that. If He makes it clear that He knows people before they are born and considers them fully alive and human, then you should too. Look at how the wedding at Cana turned out – it’s a sign. If you believe Jesus died for your sins and you do what He says you’re going to be overwhelmed by gifts you don’t deserve.
The last sign (at least for this sermon) is found in the Master of the Feast’s comment to the Bridegroom. “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.” Is the master complimenting or criticizing the Groom? I believe criticizing. Would you serve prime rib after everyone gorged themselves on Big Macs? Would you bring out the Craft Beer after people have had four or five Miller Lites? You would be a fool to waste good food on gluttons or craft beer on drunks. The Master is mocking the Bridegroom. This is a waste. But that is what Christ the heavenly Bridegroom does. He learned it from His Father. It’s another sign.
The Father sends His Son because He loves the whole world, even those who hate and despise Him. His Son bears the sins of the whole world, even those who deny they have any sins. Christ dies to earn forgiveness for every sinner, even though many sinners will never believe in Him or come to faith. The world thinks God is a fool and sometimes even we struggle with His forgiveness. Thnink of some vile person like the guy who kidnapped, assaulted, and killed Jacob Wetterling. Did God give His Son for a guy like that? Yes. Was it a waste? I don’t know – not if we see the guy in the resurrection. Or maybe you look in the mirror of God’s Law and see your own sins of lust, coveting, drunkenness, and gluttony. Would God waste His forgiveness on me? For God it’s not a waste because He loves you. Love doesn’t measure how good the wine is or how many gallons to make. It just gives. The Father gives His Son for you. The Son gives His life for you. That’s the hour for which He came and you get a sign of that at the Wedding of Cana. in the name of Jesus. Amen.