January 14, 2007 - The Second Sunday after Epiphany
“This, the first of His signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples trust in Him.” (St. John 2:11)
In the Gospel of John, everything Jesus does is a “sign,” a visible Word revealing who He is and what He has come to do. So it is with the wedding at Cana, Jesus’ first “sign.” Everything there points to something more. It happened “on the third day.” Great things seem to happen “on the third day,” don’t they?
It happened in lowly Cana of Galilee, the north country of which Isaiah spoke: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”
It happened at a wedding, the picture of YHWH’s covenant love for His people, as a Groom and His Bride. It so happened that this wedding ran out of wine, well before its time. Jesus seems to be reluctant to do anything, and will not let His mother boss Him around. Still Mary is confident and full of faith. Her last words recorded in the Scripture are good words for our ears, too, “Do whatever He tells you.”
He tells the servants to fill six stone jars with water, jars that were used for ritual washing. And then He instructs them to draw some out and bring it to the steward of the feast for his tasting. Washing water becomes wedding wine, the best vintage of the wedding. The steward of the feast says much more than he ever might have imagined: “You have saved the best until now.”
Jesus is the One who is greater than Moses. That is John’s point. “The Law came through Moses, but grace and truth through Christ Jesus, our Lord” (St. John 1:17). With Moses, there is no joy, only ritual washing water unfit to drink. With Jesus, there is joy in abundance, 180 gallons of vintage joy overflowing at a marriage feast that has no end.
The rabbis said that in the age of the Messiah, one bunch of grapes would yield 1,000 barrels of wine. This first sign at a wedding feast in Cana declares the same. With the coming of Jesus in the flesh, the age of the Messiah has come, the marriage Supper of the Lamb is at hand, and there is joy overflowing. Truly God has reserved His best vintage for last, and has uncorked His finest in the incarnation of His Son Jesus.
Signs are not ends in themselves. They reveal Jesus for faith. His disciples trusted in Him on account of the sign. We have greater signs than this one: Water that is baptismal washing; wine that is the Blood of Christ.
“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:9)
“Come, friends, and share the Feast; Here drink the wine supplied by Him who is both Guest and Host - For us, the crucified.” (Lutheran Service Book, #408)