John 2:1–11

¹On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. ³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." ⁴And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." ⁵His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." ⁶Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.^{1 7} Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. ⁹When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, "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." ¹¹This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

Rich men...poor men. Pharisees...Sadducees. Elegant clothing...wedding gowns. The food was exquisite. The wine, the best money could buy. Old men...young men. Exhilarating music. The dance floor was alive. Shepherds...carpenters. Good cheer and joyful laughter filled the air. Everyone was having fun. But then, suddenly, it all came to a halt. The laughter ended. The good moods turned sullen. The food lost its flavor. What happened? The wine ran out. As if the tap whence the wine flowed was also the tap from which flowed good feelings, joy, and happiness.

Then as suddenly as it all came to an end, it returned. Gallons of wine started flowing back in; wine even better than the first. The merriment resumed. The party came back to life. It was Jesus' first miracle.

Think about it. Jesus' inaugural miracle: making wine at a wedding. Doesn't this strike you as a bit shocking? It does me. This is his first miracle, the one in which he goes public and shows who he really is. The one which cries out, "That's the guy, right there, the one named Jesus, he is my beloved Son. He's the one who will bring salvation." So you would think that such an important miracle would be something important like healing a sick person, feeding a hungry person, casting out a demon, or bringing a dead person back to life. But instead he goes to a party and fills the guests with wine so they can make merry. At best it seems odd. What is perhaps his most important miracle turns out to be such a trivial affair.

But, strange as it may seem, this is the absolute best venue for this first miracle. Indeed, it almost has to be so. This first miracle announces the marriage of God and his people. That Jesus, God's Son was getting married. That Jesus had come to take for himself a bride, his people, the church. Rather than being a trivial affair, this miracle was the most important of all.

The last prophet before John the Baptist was Malachi, some 400 years earlier. God had not spoken to his people for 400 years. But now he broke the silence. He says in our Old Testament reading: "For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet." Here, at a wedding, God chose to break his silence. You see, for the people of God, the greatest agony is God's silence. It is better for him to punish you, to chastises you, and to reprove you, than for him to be silent. At least he would still be speaking to you. But when God gives you the silent treatment, it means the relationship between you and God is broken. It is as if your wife or husband stops talking to you. It is gut wrenching agony. You know something is wrong, but you don't know what. You know he is angry, but you have no way of fixing the situation without communication.

But now God broke his silence. That in itself was a reason for joy and excitement as the crowds followed Jesus around from town to town to get a glimpse of him and hear his preaching and see his miracles. They may not have known exactly who he was, but one thing they did know was that he had been sent from God. They knew that God had broken his silence.

How did they know that? Because at a wedding, in the town of Cana, he changed water into wine. And because he did, his glory was manifested and the disciples believed him. "I will not keep silent; I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a burning torch." Jesus is our righteousness and salvation, and in Cana the light began to shine forth as a burning torch. A light so bright that the nations saw his righteousness. A light so bright that all kings saw his glory, especially those who followed his star to Bethlehem.

God could keep silent no longer. He broke his silence and spoke at Cana. And the word he spoke was "Jesus." Jesus is God's Word. Not just the messenger. He didn't come merely to tell us what God was saying. He didn't come merely to preach about God or his love or mercy. Jesus is the Word that God spoke. Jesus is the love of God in the flesh. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." John 1:1,14. Jesus is the Word God spoke, "In many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son..." Hebrews 1:1-2. Jesus' birth, his perfect life, his suffering and death, his resurrection and ascension, is the Word that God is telling us.

However, one might wonder, why was God silent in the first place? God's silence means that the relationship between him and his people was broken. Only sin can break that relationship. God describes the relationship as a marriage. He calls Israel his wife. He calls us his bride. God's silence meant that we had broken our marriage vows. We have been unfaithful to him. We have committed adultery by loving other gods; the gods of this world. Mammon, money, pleasure, comfort, self-indulgence, our possessions and wealth. We have gone after status, power, and prestige. We seek after health and long life. We seek happiness and good feelings. That's why we need wine at wedding parties. That's why so many want to dump liturgical worship and seek a worship experience filled with rousing music, entertainment, and happiness. But God is not our first love. At best he is in second place in our lives.

And so, because we have not feared, loved and trusted in God above all things, First Commandment, but have been unfaithful to him, our name has become: Forsaken and Desolate. Once he called us his bride, his wife, but we became Forsaken and Desolate. The marriage relationship ended in divorce. We are at fault. We were unfaithful to him. And we feel it in our gut; the worries, the sufferings, the illness, the old age, the trials of life, as if the wine has run out. The celebration has ceased. And we are sorry. We confess, dear Lord, that we are sinners, and have grieved your heart as an unfaithful wife. Lord, for the sake of the suffering and death of your Son, look not upon our sin and unrighteousness. Lord, cast us not away from your presence. Do not take your blessing from us for we would surely die.

The wine ran out. This was a disaster for the bride and groom, it's a catastrophe for us spiritually. For wine throughout the Bible is a sign of God's blessing. When God looks upon you favorably, the wine flows freely, the crops abound, the rivers overflow. Wine is the sign of God's favor and blessing. So when the wine ran out, God's favor had turned away. The lack of wine was just another way in which God had become silent; in which he shows us our sin. It is a sign of our deeply rooted sin and unfaithfulness to him. Out text begins by saying, "On the third day there was a wedding." Three days, the time of Christ's death and burial. A sign of Jesus' death for our sins. A time for Jesus to lay dead in the tomb on account of our sins.

But he loved us. He could not tolerate things the way they were. He could not withhold his blessing any longer. He could not keep his silence. And in Cana he broke that silence. Appropriately, he broke that silence at a wedding. A wedding that by taking place three days later, was a sign of the resurrection of Jesus and the marriage of Jesus to his church. Here, with a miracle, he spoke his word of unconditional love. Here at a wedding, he spoke the word of salvation, "Jesus." Here, at a wedding, he spoke the word of righteousness that made us God's bride, "Jesus". Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the love of God made flesh. By changing water into wine, the glory of God is revealed. It was his Epiphany, his appearance on the world scene. By changing water into wine, the light of God's righteousness broke forth as brightness and his salvation as a burning light. By changing water into wine, Jesus is revealed as the giver of God's blessings; the one whose death on a cross would pay for your sins; the forgiver of sin; the liberator from Satan's oppression; the bestower of life. Lord, Jesus, for the sake of your bitter sufferings and death, look upon us with favor and give us peace.

To make the wine Jesus used water. For in water there is cleansing power. Notice, the water Jesus used was in jars which were for the rites of purification. He didn't get it from the faucet. He didn't use water for drinking. It was for the purification rites. It was the water of washing, cleansing, baptism, it was water to make us clean so we could worship God. Here in this water Baptism is foretold. Baptism in which we are cleansed and made holy in the eyes of God. Baptism where we are made righteous and are given salvation. Baptism where forgiveness is poured over you.

In Baptism, oh Lord, you call us by a new name. You no longer call us forsaken. Our land is no longer called Desolate. You call us by a new name, My Delight is in You, and Our Land is called Married. For in Baptism You took us as your bride. You have broken your silence and spoken a new name—the bride of Christ. We are no longer a forsaken and desolate bride. We are married and the Lord delights in us. "As a young man marries a young woman, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." And all this was announced to the world for all to see at a wedding in the town of Cana.

From this water of purification Jesus made wine. Wine, the sign of God's favor and blessing. Wine the drink of joy. Wine, in which the blood of Jesus is given to us in Holy Communion. Wine foretells the blood poured out on the cross. Wine foretells of the Sacrament of the Altar. God has spoken. God has sent forth his righteousness and salvation, and they come to us in Baptism and Holy Communion. Water and wine.

But, it was the custom at weddings to serve the best wine first. Then, when all are happy, too happy to care about the taste, they bring out the inferior wine. But Jesus reverses all things. His wine which came last was the better wine. It was superior wine. In fact, I would guess it was the best wine that has ever been tasted in all the world. The best was saved for the last. Perhaps it is because the New Covenant in Jesus is superior to the old covenant God made with Abraham. Or perhaps because Jesus is superior to the prophets who came before him. Or is it that the blessing Jesus brings to us is the greatest blessing of all. It's all of these things, and more.

In this world...in this life of toil and struggle. Sometimes it seems like the wine has run out and the party has come to an end. We are gloomy and sullen, the dancing of our younger years has stopped. The music has been turned off. Life has lost its flavor. The laughter has ended.

But the best wine is still to come. The best comes last. Rich men...poor men. Young men...old men. The eternal banquet is yet to come. American...European. African...Asian. Central American...South American. All nations come! All languages come! Jesus is coming again at the Last and will bring the greatest and final blessing of all. All the more reason we live our lives in joyful anticipation and wondrous expectation of the coming of Jesus. All the more reason we live as the faithful bride, keeping ourselves pure for him. Waiting in love and expectation for that wonderful day when he comes for his bride, when the wedding celebration begins and the wine will never run out. Amen.