John 2:1-11

2^nd Sunday after Epiphany

January 14, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Jesus was invited to the wedding. There will be no good marriage, no faithful marriage, where Jesus is not invited, where He is not present. Marriage takes work, but most importantly, it takes the work of Christ in sharing His grace, mercy, and peace to His people.

So how do you invite Jesus to the wedding? How is He part of your life at home? To answer this, we must look to the words of Jesus’ mother.  A problem arose, so Mary approaches Jesus. This wasn’t a complaint, but it was the request of someone who knew that Jesus could do something. “They have run out of wine.” This was not Jesus’ fault, nor was it His responsibility, but He would be the solution.  “Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come?” In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ hour comes upon the cross, when God will glorify His Son. Here, Jesus is just beginning His ministry, performing His first miracle with the purpose of displaying His glory.  Though Jesus seems to speak harshly to her when she presents the issue of no more wine, she does not lose faith nor persistence but simply says to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

These are words of faith. She does not know what Jesus will do, but she knows her son. She knows His compassion, and she knows the needs of her neighbors as they begin their marriage. Jesus does not disappoint. He meets their needs by turning water into wine. This miracle is no magic trick, which means that He isn’t changing the meaning or purpose of His creation. Rather, it shows the Creator working in His creation for the good of His people.  He shows His glory, His divine majesty, according to His pleasure. He provides what it lacking because of sin. He provides not just the minimum, but the quality, overabundance of good.

In Psalm 104, the Lord says that He makes wine to gladden the heart of man.  We know that wine can be used for both good and bad. The Lord would have it be for our good and to point us something greater. Our Lord chooses wine, that which makes glad, as the vehicle for the gift of His blood. That blood shed upon the cross fills our cup of blessing, poured into the faithful in the Holy Sacrament. What makes man’s heart glad becomes the means of heavenly gladness, for in the Sacrament we taste and see that the Lord is good, that is forgiving, that He is gracious and merciful and brings salvation. It will be brought to fulfillment in the marriage feast which is to come, where we will lack no good thing, but are joined together with the Lord forever, where not even death will us part His people from Himself.

But where there is no faith, no discernment, of the body and blood of Christ present, where there is no repentance over sin, it brings forth judgment. God forbid anyone here treat this miracle so lightly and misuse it so severely. Where God works His miracles, it is serious, as is that work which He does in marriage.

God’s Word is clear when it comes to marriage – it is the lifelong union of one man and one woman. It is the Word of God which turns water into wine, and a man and a woman into a one flesh union.The Lord wishes us to honor and cherish marriage as a divine and blessed estate because, in first place, He instituted it before all others. He created man and woman separately for the purpose of helping and serving one another, bringing forth two out of one flesh, and then united the two into one flesh that they might live together in God’s grace.

Secondly, marriage provides the foundational relationship of our society, the place where faith and service to God and our neighbor are primarily lived out toward husband and wife, the children they raise and bring up in the fear and love of the Lord. With marriage and family, God teaches us to serve the world, to promote the knowledge and faith in the Gospel, godly living and all virtues, to fight against evil and the devil. Marriage promotes faith in God and trains us to love our neighbor through all kinds of work, service, trouble, pleasure, hardship, cross, and trial.

Thirdly, in marriage we see a picture of the communion between Christ and His bride, the Church. Our Lord blessed and honored marriage with His presence and first miracle at Cana in Galilee. No matter how much people nowadays want to despise it, reject it, twist it, redefine it, or think little of it, God acknowledges His own work in joining together a man and a woman into one flesh, and He loves it. 

For all these reasons, marriage is not be entered into lightly or inadvisably, but reverently, deliberately, and in accordance with the purpose for which it was instituted by God. Because marriage has its foundation in creation, was instituted by God, and is loved by Him, and that Christ Himself honors it, it ought to be near and dear to everyone. God sanctified the holy estate of marriage. He will bless all who love Him, trust in Him, and abide in His Word, though because of our sinful nature, it is not easy.

So, if you are single, live patiently and celibately in that estate, using your time and efforts to serve God and your neighbor. Do not live nor pretend to be married when you are not. That is a lie, and it is adultery.

If you are married, be content with the spouse the Lord has given to you. Don’t covet someone who is not your spouse, that is idolatry.  Do not long to separate what God has joined together. If you are a husband, love your wife as Christ loved the Church, sacrificing everything for her, regarding her as the most beautiful woman in creation.  If you are wife, submit to your husband as the Church submits to Christ, serving him with honor and the respect.  This is good, this is right, this is godly, for it is from Christ, and it directs us to Christ. The Christ who displays His glory in His miracles, who gives His life for His bride, the Church, who dresses you with the wedding garment of His righteousness, who carries you across the threshold of eternal life, who provides an overabundance of that which is best, the Gospel, that gladdens the heart for eternity.

So whether married or single, your life together in relationships with others flows from Jesus, His over abundance in giving something better than good wine, but the life, forgiveness, and love of God. Our marriages and our homes, whether married or single, are to be little masks of the joy of eternity with God that is for you, who are invited to the wedding to feast with the Lord.