The Epiphany of the Wine, January 18, 2015

The Epiphany of the Wine

 Isaiah 55:1-5, John 2:1-12

January 18, 2015

Grace Presbyterian Church

Rev. Dr. Richard E. Miller

 

Introduction  This morning I’d like to share some thoughts about four things:

1. A wedding that ran out of wine and how the problem was solved.
2. What this meant to the bride and groom and the disciples of Jesus.
3. How this wedding gives us a refreshing image of Jesus.
4. What this event means to us today.
   The Wedding  The wedding to which I refer took place about 2,000 years ago in Cana, a little village of about 200 people about four miles from Nazareth. Included as invited guests were Mary, the mother of Jesus, along with Jesus and his disciples. There is no mention of Joseph so he either had to stay back at Nazareth and work or he was no longer alive. No doubt, everyone in the two villages knew each other and many were related to one another. It is most likely that the guests had been together at many weddings in the past.
   Wedding Tradition  Now let’s look at the wedding itself. The first thing to note is that weddings in Jesus’ day were a lot different from weddings today.
   Instead of going on a honeymoon, the bride and groom held an open house for seven days of continual feasting and rejoicing with their guests. Every day they wore their bridal garments. They had crowns of flowers on their heads and were addressed and treated as royalty. Guests would come to the wedding feast in the morning, stay until evening, and then go home to sleep. The next day they arrived again, and stayed until evening, and then went home to sleep. This continued for seven straight days. Today parents think its rough hosting a wedding reception that lasts a paltry three or four hours. Here we are talking upwards of ninety hours of being the “host and hostess with  the mostest.”
    
    
   Prepare for Daughter’s Wedding  Parents started preparing for their daughter’s wedding the day she was born. Each year of her life, when they would ferment their family’s barrels of table wine, they would make one extra barrel and set it aside for their daughter’s wedding.
   Since girls usually got married by the time they were sixteen years of age, parents would have set aside sixteen barrels of wine for her wedding. The barrels set aside in her early years are now superbly aged. At the wedding, these would be served to the guests first, leaving the more recent wine to be served later.
   Everyone knew Jesus   Now let’s look at Jesus for a moment. First of all, everyone at the wedding knew him. They didn’t know him as the Messiah. Instead they knew him simply as Joseph and Mary’s son. They had watched him grow up as a toddler, a young lad, a teenager, and now as a mature man of about thirty years of age. No doubt many of the guests were boyhood friends. 
   Different Image of Jesus  As I read the story of this wedding, it revealed a completely different image of Jesus than perhaps we’d ever thought of before. Think about it for a moment. Our usual perception of Jesus is as a person teaching and preaching, such as the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes. We think of him as a man healing the blind and the lame, casting out demons, chasing out money changers from the Temple, and raising people from the dead. But at this wedding, he is walking around with a glass of wine in one hand, laughing and shaking hands with the other guests. He’s greeting his friends with a hug and eating the food provided with great delight. In other words, he’s acting just as we act at wedding receptions. This does not trivialize Jesus, but rather makes him more approachable in our prayer life.
   Wine Ran Out  Now back to the wedding that Jesus was attending. After four or five days of celebrating, it was discovered that there was no more wine. To run out of wine was a social disaster since proper hospitality, especially at a wedding feast, demanded a superabundance of both food and drink. If either ran out, the family and the young couple would never live down the shame.
    
   Mary tells Jesus  When Mary heard about the problem, she walked over to her son and said, “They have no more wine.” I’m not sure what she expected Jesus to do. After all, Jesus couldn’t run down to the local convenience store and buy more wine, could he?
   Water into wine  But Jesus saved the day! And this is how he did it.  At every wedding were always large pots of water each holding about 25 gallons. The water was used for two purposes.
   Because guests walked on dusty roads with open sandals to get to the wedding, water was used to wash the feet of the guests when they arrived. Second, the law of Jewish ceremonial washings dictated that hands had to be washed in a certain way before eating. Thus an ample supply of water was necessary at any wedding celebration.
   Jesus told the servants to fill six of the empty water pots to the brim with water. Then they were to draw some out and take it to the steward of the wedding reception. The steward was responsible for the smooth running of the meal. It was his duty to taste and approve the wine before it was served. When he tasted the water the servants brought him, the water had turned into the finest wine. The steward was amazed. He said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
   And so Jesus changed six stone jars of water into wine. Now that is about 150 gallons of wine! No small accomplishment.  And it was far more than was needed.
   Why Did Jesus Perform this Miracle? Now why did Jesus perform this miracle? The most obvious was to save the family from the shame and embarrassment of running out of wine. The steward, the bride and groom and their guests were clueless as to where the abundance of wine came from. Jesus didn’t walk around and say, “Look at this great wine I made!” However, his disciples knew. And by so doing, Jesus for the first time revealed his divine power and glory to them. And from this time on, the disciples believed in Jesus as the Messiah. This was God’s Epiphany.
    
   Why at a Wedding?  Why would God choose to reveal the divine nature of his son through such a common place event as a wedding reception? After all, the star which led the wise men was quite spectacular. And the descent of the dove at his baptism with a voice from heaven was equally impressive. I’m sure that Jesus could have performed a far more spectacular miracle. Yet Jesus performed his first miracle at an ordinary wedding reception. Not very imaginative to say the least. However, this is the way Jesus revealed the greatness of God time after time throughout his ministry. He met the people in the every day events of their lives.
   In their need for food, he fed 5,000 with a few loaves and fish. 
   In their need for health, he cleansed lepers and healed the blind and crippled. He helped his disciples catch fish, and he cast out demons from the common people. In other words, he met the needs of the people where they were with great revelations of his power and love.
   What Better Place than a Wedding?  So what more appropriate place than the joyful exuberance of a wedding? Over the centuries, wine has been a symbol of gladness and jubilation. I read somewhere that there is a child inside each of us that God made for exhilaration - for shouting and singing and dancing and playing and skipping and running and jumping and laughing.
   When is the last time you shouted and sang and danced? When you skipped, ran, jumped and laughed. If not physically, at least inwardly? To be filled with the Spirit means to be filled with a spirit of joy and delight. But sometimes we forget to show the joy that we have with Jesus in our lives.
   The story is told of a little girl who came running into the kitchen one morning, lighthearted and smiling as little children can be. She noticed that her mother had a dour expression. She said, “Mommy, aren’t you happy?” The mother replied, “Why certainly I’m happy.” “Well,” said the little girl, “you certainly haven’t told your face yet.”
   Jesus wants us to enjoy him and one another  I read that there is a church in west London that serves wine instead of coffee after every Sunday service. So instead of asking “regular or de-caf” the question might be: “Merlot or Zinfandel?” Although I’m not suggesting that we begin doing the same here at Grace, but in a way such a practice reflects the fun and joy that Jesus wants us to have with him and with each other.
   Just as we was mixing with the crowd at the wedding in Cana, so he wants to move among our lives, greeting and hugging us and wanting to catch up on all the news.
   Nothing Gloomy about being a Christian  The Wedding at Cana demonstrates that there is nothing gloomy about being a Christian. Jesus wants us to enjoy our time with him and our times with each other.
   Our catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” Answer: “To glorify God and enjoy him forever.” [Question one of the Westminster Shorter Catechism] So perhaps we should ask ourselves, “Am I enjoying God today?”
   Some people awaken in the morning and say “Good morning, Lord!” Others wake up and say, “Good Lord!  Morning!”
   Jesus Cares about Every Detail of our Lives  I believe that the miracle at the wedding at Cana means that if Jesus cares that they ran out of wine, he also cares about everything that happens in the ordinary events of our lives - at work, at home, at school, at leisure. He cares if we can’t find our glasses, or if our back aches, if our children have problems, or if we’re having problems paying our bills. Jesus is able, if we let him, to take such events that we take for granted and change them into events flavored with a full bouquet of the finest wine.
   Power to Transform Lives   I also suggest that his miracle of turning water into wine also demonstrates that he can take ordinary, everyday people like you and me and transform us into new creations - from water into fine wine.
   Paul put it this way: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” [2 Corinthians 5:17] That’s water into wine.
   “You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” [Ephesians 4:22-24 NRSV] That’s water into wine.
    
   No matter who we are, no matter what we’ve done, no matter how much we have hurt other people, just as Jesus changed ordinary water into wine, so he can take us and change us into new men, women and youth who can begin enjoying life more than ever before and thus enjoy God more than ever before.  And remember one more thing. When we die and enter life eternal, we’ll know more than ever before that Jesus has saved the best ‘till last.
   Amen.

John 2:1-12  NRSV

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."  Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there a few days.  

 
Isaiah 55:1-5 NRSV

Ho, everyone who thirsts,

   come to the waters;

and you that have no money,

   come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

   without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

   and your labour for that which does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,

   and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me;

   listen, so that you may live.

I will make with you an everlasting covenant,

   my steadfast, sure love for David.

See, I made him a witness to the peoples,

   a leader and commander for the peoples.

See, you shall call nations that you do not know,

   and nations that do not know you shall run to you,

because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,

   for he has glorified you