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2025-01-19 Epiphany 2

ELC





Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!


Way back in 2003 I was in Ukraine. I was still in Seminary. Myself, a fellow student and a Professor were there together. Dr. Threinen was doing some teaching in conjunction with the Ukrainian Seminary that Lutheran Church-Canada was instrumental in setting up. We were in a small farming village which was quite different than Canada. Instead of people living on their farm land as we do, the people all lived in a village with the farm land connected around it. Imagine a flower, like a daisy. The village was the yellow part in the middle and the white pedals were the farmable land. But at this time, the village wasn’t busy with farm stuff. But it was buzzing with activity! There was a wedding! And not just the average wedding, it was the local Pastor Oleksiy who was tying the knot so the whole community was fired up to see the celebration of the Pastor with his new wife! Because we were there, we were graciously invited to attend. And let me tell you, all those “Ukrainian Wedding” stereotypes are true! Eating and celebrating that goes on and on and on! Dish after dish they brought the food out. Unbelievably delicious. Beef, chicken, fish, pork, pastas, everything made by hand. We were doing our very best to eat everything they brought us, lest we offend their generosity! A difficult cross to bear, let me assure you! At one point though, this woman came up to our table and was speaking rather forcefully. This area of Ukraine is Russian-speaking and we had a translator assisting us. She kept hollering at us and I was starting to panic, thinking we had made some kind of cultural faux pas! Did I leave my elbows on the table? Was I eating with the wrong fork?! What was the problem?? I asked our translator, “Slavic, is this woman mad at us?? Did we do something wrong?!” “Mad? Why would she be mad? She ask if you want more potatoes!” Crisis averted!


Across pretty much all cultures on earth, weddings take place. And, they are big deals. No expense is spared, even for the poorest of people. Even to this very day such celebrations are taking place. Not too shabby for an institution that is nearly as old as dirt itself. Go all the way back to Genesis and you see the origins of the modern 80 Billion Dollar Wedding industry: “Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (2:18). From a creation that God said was good and very good, He realizes that being alone is not good. People are designed to live in community, together. Certainly there are some successful hermits and recluses, but by and large people are very social. We’ve invented “social media,” for crying out loud, connecting with others 24/7 and texting each other hither and thither! Community and togetherness. It’s what we are designed for as human beings. And God Almighty has blessed us with relationships to help us through this life.


In Las Vegas, the wedding and divorce capital of the world, there is a sign prominently displayed that says “Wedding Rings for Rent.” Most of us would chuckle at such a sight. But increasingly, our world has come to view marriage exactly like this, as something temporary. I would say that this comes from our “throw away, test drive society.” We go to Tim Horton’s, get our coffee and chuck the cup when we are done, when it has fulfilled its usefulness or gets cold. Or, when we want to buy a new car, we go to the dealership and take it for a test drive. It only makes sense, right? We want to learn as much as we can before taking the plunge and making the big investment. But here’s the difference, folks: people aren’t cars or cups of coffee. Relationships are not consumable, throw-away goods! This is critical to understanding how we can have lasting marriages and friendships as Christians.


But by and large, people don’t view marriage as God intends. And God intends it alright. In fact, one of our first Scripture readings to kick off the Epiphany season is our Lord Jesus doing His first miracle. And the context of that first miracle? Exactly! It was at a wedding, as we heard in our Gospel text today. It was very much an “Epiphany Party” as Jesus reveals His glory and power as He displays His first ‘public’ miracle of changing water into wine. At that greatest celebration, Jesus is showing us that God loves weddings and marriage. God Himself designed marriage so that we might not be alone. And, He intends that the marriage relationship be permanent for one man and one woman. He says so in Matthew’s Gospel: “He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (19:4-6).


So let’s look at the situation in Cana. The first cue that something is up is the opening verse: “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee” (JN 2:1). It’s not the first day or the second day or any of the regular days that end in ‘day,’ it was the third day. Right off the bat there is a “resurrection tone.” Just as Christ our Lord rose from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion, that wonder of wonders and miracle of miracles, His first sign, as St. John tells us, has the same quality. Something miraculous is going to take place here on the third day. And speaking of “here,” geographically, this is taking place in Galilee, a spot with lots of Gentiles. The message of the Gospel will be advancing from the Hebrews out into the nations. And much like my story from Ukraine, Jesus and His disciples and His mother are all invited to come to this wedding celebration. It’s a grand ol’ time, but all of a sudden disaster strikes! Calamity ensues! The hooch tank has run dry! “They have no wine” (JN 2:3) Mary tells Jesus.


We don’t see the big deal in our day of liquor stores on every corner. Dang, we’re out! Gotta run to the store quick, be right back, right? But there is a larger context in the works here. Running out of wedding wine was a social catastrophe. In a culture which placed such high value on public honor, to run out of wedding wine would wither the celebration and install a black cloud of shame over the family virtually forever. We know how much the title “Doubting Thomas” has stuck around for thousands of years, let alone a wedding celebration that has run out of fun! These parties lasted for days and the wine was expected to flow freely for the entire duration of the event. The townsfolk will think you cheaped out! Laughing stock for generations to come! How will they ever live it down?? So Mary comes to Jesus. Are you weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Take it to the Lord in prayer! That’s what Mary does here.


But Jesus shows perhaps a bit of reluctance. He says “Woman, what is this to you and me?! It’s not time yet.” His hour of grand Epiphany revealing hasn’t come yet. It’s only just beginning. ‘Woman’ here should rather be translated as “madam.” There is no sharp or flippant tone intended the way that we might hear this in our day. It’s polite, it’s formal and perhaps also has a dash of ‘distance’ with it. Like, “Mom, I don’t wanna get involved.” Or, at least, not publicly for everyone to see and marvel at. So He agrees to do it on the down low. Only a small hand full of people were aware that it happened: Mary, the disciples, the servants, and the caterer who made the announcement. That’s it. It’s a major shift in our Lord’s life as His ministry begins. He submits to His mother’s request out of love and respect for her, but He is also rebuffing her motherly authority over Him, calling her to take her place as one of His disciples. This is actually a huge shift and a lesson for us all. We bow the knee to Christ alone and submit to His authority. “Do whatever he tells you” are Mary’s words to the servants. They are words to us too.


Jesus, the author of life and creator of all comes to the aid of the newly weds in the village. There were the water pots sitting there, six of them, made of stone, amounting to around 200 litres or so. They were kind of like ‘sinks’ where all the wedding guests could wash their hands as the ceremonial part of the meal. Our Lord tells the servants to fill them right to the brim, absolutely chock full of the blessings of God! And then, it happens. The subtle-sign of the Kingdom of God unfolds for a select few to behold. The water “blushes” before it’s creator and becomes wine! And not just the average bottle of Baby Duck either! No it was more like a $500,000 bottle of 1992 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon! Or maybe a nice Argentinian Malbec! You get the drift. It’s top shelf stuff. It turns the caterer’s head anyways! “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!” (JN 2:10). With Jesus, the best is always yet to come!


We see in this miracle the ‘water of Judaism’ being transformed into the ‘wine of the Church’. Change. Transformation. That’s what the Kingdom of Christ is all about. Through the miracle of our Lord’s Word in the Scriptures, Baptism and Holy Communion, our Lord continues to change and transform us, His unworthy people. Through repentance, turning away from sin and embracing our Lord, we become more and more like Him, full to the very brim with His blessings. This is the greater aspect of marriage too. Man and wife becoming one, united together in wedded love and faithfulness. Growing together, complimenting and serving each other in mutual submission, “out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21). We fulfill the goal of selflessness as husband and wife live for each other. St. Paul keys in on this when he writes: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3).


And even further to this, we also have here the “big spiritual picture” of Jesus and the Church. He’s the groom and she is the bride. He is the husband who seeks to redeem and save His wife. And we Baptized Christians, are the bride. Jesus is and forever will be our prince charming! He clothes us with our white garments through the washing of the word and makes us fit for the celebration. And heaven, in this regard, is portrayed precisely a wedding feast and party! It’s exactly like most weddings you’ve been to. You have the ceremony and then there’s a big dinner with lots of eating and dancing and rejoicing. All your friends and family are there and the whole ordeal lasts until the wee hours of the morning. With heaven though, it is a party that lasts forever. It is eternal. And in this regard, just like the wedding at Cana, the best is yet to come for us. Right now, as we live with our Lord by faith, it is much like being engaged. We’re still waiting and preparing for the big wedding party. We know what is coming in advance and we get excited! We get fired up for that most grand of celebrations. We prepare and start inviting our friends and family to “taste and see that the Lord is good!” Amen!


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