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Sermon
for 2 Epiphany Year C, 18/01/2004 Based on Jn 2:1-11 By Garth
Wehrfritz-Hanson, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church & chaplain of the Good
Samaritan Society’s South Ridge Village, Medicine Hat, Alberta On
occasion, teachers have the great privilege of learning something profound
from their children. Once a teacher asked her students: "What is your
favourite Bible story?" Well,
as you might guess, many of them liked the old classics--you know, David and Goliath,
Jonah and the whale, and Jesus walking on water. However, one girl answered:
"The wedding at Cana." The
teacher was curious about her answer, even though she has a hunch that maybe
the girl liked this story because of turning all of that water into wine. But
alas, the teacher didn’t really want to go there for fear that she might be
promoting drunkenness. Yet, in the end, her curiosity won the day, so she
decided to take a chance and ask the girl why she liked the wedding of Cana. The
girl’s answer pleasantly surprised her teacher, and was most theologically
profound: "I like it because I want to have Jesus at my wedding
too." The
girl’s answer is correct, since it emphasises that Jesus is not removed from
the living of our lives--rather, he is most accessible and wants to be
present as we live and celebrate every stage and event of life. Those
of you who have read and studied the Gospel of John may know that there is
always a deeper--often symbolical or mystical--meaning in this Gospel.
Today’s gospel is certainly no exception, since there are many deeper,
symbolical meanings in this story of our Lord’s first sign at the marriage
feast at Cana in Galilee. Today I invite you to explore with me three deeper,
symbolical meanings in this passage, which speak to the truth of our lives. First
of all, we see Jesus is able to celebrate the joys of life with other people.
Even though he was
true God, he didn’t cut himself off from all the different aspects of human
experiences. Here Jesus was, along with his disciples, sharing in the joys of
this festive occasion at the wedding of this unnamed couple in Cana. Could
the couple have been John himself and his wife? Perhaps, but we don’t really
know for sure. Regardless of the couples’ identity, we know that Jesus was
there and celebrating with the people. In Palestine, a wedding was really a special occasion.
The wedding festivities lasted for a whole week. The wedding ceremony itself
took place late in the evening, after a feast. After the ceremony the young couple
was conducted to their new home. They were taken by as long a route as
possible so that as many people as possible would have the opportunity to
wish them well. But a newly married couple didn’t go away on a honeymoon.
They stayed at home and for a week they kept open house. In a life where
there was much poverty and constant hard work, this week of festivity and joy
was one of the supreme occasions. It was in a joyful time like this that
Jesus gladly shared, and made provisions for it to continue. 1 Sometimes
people have the wrong idea about Jesus and about Christianity. Some people
are offended by the notion that Jesus could actually be joyful, smile, laugh
or even have a sense of humour. But John is telling us in our gospel today
that Jesus could be joyful and celebrate the life and the joys of other
people. John is reminding us once again that Jesus was a human being like
us, sharing our experiences. Therefore, if Jesus could celebrate like
this, so can we, his followers. Our Christianity cannot be put into a
straight-jacket, whereby we cannot be joyful, or smile, laugh, or have a
sense of humour. Christianity is not a killjoy that’s so austere and gloomy
that we have to wear a sour look on our face all of the time. Our Lord was
joyful and gives us joy too. Do we see and experience his joy in our lives?
If we do, then we will have a deeper, more meaningful experience of life and
of our faith journey. Second,
this sign takes place at a wedding feast. For the Jewish people to eat and drink with other people
epitomized their hospitality, and was an expression of their love and
acceptance of others. And, for the Jew to drink wine was to be joyful and to
be alive because wine is the symbol of life. However, in the East, wine was
not drank to get drunk. In fact, drunkenness was a disgrace. They drank their
wine in a mixture composed of two parts of wine to three parts of water. 2
Therefore,
for John, this sign of turning the water into wine would point ahead to
the water and blood of our Lord on the cross. In addition to this, it may
also symbolize the two sacraments of the church, baptism and holy
communion. In addition to this, John very skillfully hints that it may
point even further ahead to the messianic banquet when Jesus will eat with
all members of the kingdom in the age to come. This is hinted at when
John tells us that Jesus did this sign on the third day; which refers
to the day of his resurrection that opened up the age to come. This
makes even more sense when we consider the fact that numerous early Christian
paintings and sculptures associate the Cana sign with the feasting of God’s
redeemed in the age to come. Just
as our Lord manifested his glory by showing his love and hospitality in the
sign at Cana; so, in our eating, drinking and feasting, we need to express
our love and hospitality to others. In the earthly, human act of eating and
drinking, people were drawn closer to our Lord and his love. We too can share
the love and hospitality of our Lord with others in this same earthly, human
act of eating and drinking with others--as we do every time we celebrate Holy
Communion and as we do after worship at our fellowship hour. Third,
we see that this sign is an expression of God’s abundant grace. The riches of our Lord’s grace are
limitless and cannot be exhausted. God’s grace is full and overflowing. John
tells us that there were six stone jars each containing twenty or thirty
gallons. He also says that Jesus commanded the servants to fill them all
to the brim with water. John mentions this point to make it clear that nothing
else but water was put into them. When the grace of Jesus comes to us
there is more than enough for everyone and still much more left over. At
that point in the wedding festivities, the people surely could never drink
one hundred and eighty gallons of wine. no need on earth can exhaust the
grace of Christ. God’s grace is more than sufficient for the people at the
wedding feast at Cana and for you and me. Not
only is this grace full and overflowing, but its quality is always first
class, always the best. When our lives have become boring and mundane,
Jesus enters in to make our lives new, exciting, and worthwhile. Life
with Jesus is like the water turning into wine at Cana. Just as wine brought
joy to the people at Cana; Jesus brings joy to us and we can give this joy to
others. And, as the best wine was served last; so our lives of serving our
Lord will be rewarded at the last--at the close of the age. Furthermore, as
this wine is the symbol of life; our lives have been made new; we have been
given life in Christ by eating the bread and drinking the wine of Holy
Communion; in return, we are freed to go out into the world and share this
abundant life in Christ with others. Amen. 1 See Wm. Barclay, The Gospel of John, Volume 1
Chapters 1-7 (Burlington, ON: G.R. Welch Co. Ltd., 1975), pp.
96-97. 2 See, Ibid., p. 97. |
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