Sermon - Epiphany II - John 2:1-11 - 2018

“On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.” It really is quite remarkable that the first miracle that Jesus performs during His earthly ministry is at a wedding. This says quite a lot about who Jesus is and who Jesus came to serve.

Jesus’s first miracle could have been in front of kings and rulers, but it wasn’t. He could have performed His first miracle in front of the the theological elite, the priests and pharisees, but He didn’t. Instead He performed His first miracle at an ordinary wedding, in service of ordinary people. Jesus is the beloved Son of God who has come to serve everyone, even the most lowly and ordinary people. What’s more, Jesus came to serve us in our ordinary lives. 

God isn’t just the God of unusual and extraordinary circumstances. But He is our God who desires to serve us even in the most basic, fundamental, boring at times facets of life. While we may only seek Him out for big events, like Christmas and Easter,  Jesus seeks us out even on plain, ordinary, boring days. Even in something as basic as marriage. 

Today’s gospel reading is a great reminder that Jesus is active in our marriages. In fact, God has instituted and sanctifies marriage for our preservation and as a sign that reveals His glory. In Genesis God created man and woman, Adam and Eve, and He made them specifically for each other within the confines of marriage. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””

God created marriage as an earthly institution for our benefit. Right there in Genesis we hear of God’s great blessing of marriage, namely, “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” The fruit of the womb, children, are the fruit of marriage. God has given married couples the capacity to procreate, God has given husbands and wives the authority to be co-creators with Him. Children are a blessing from God, not a curse, not a burden, but a blessing. 

God blesses fathers and mothers with children, because this is the system God has set in order to care for and raise children. God purposefully created two distinct sexes, men and women, both with unique capabilities and skills by which they may raise a family. Neither fathers nor mothers are superfluous, both have essential qualities and duties that pertain to caring for the family.  

For this reason the family, made up of father and mother and children, is the basic foundational building block of life on earth. It’s not some big complex convoluted system, but God has created it so simply with parents and children. For these reasons God sanctifies marriage, He declares it to be a holy calling. When parents feed, clothe, and teach their children, they are doing the Lord’s work, a holy chosen vocation. 

Yet we can observe even within our own households that these things don’t always hold together so beautifully. Sin, which Adam and Eve ushered in, has corrupted even this most blessed estate. Husbands and wives often don’t love each other as they should, wives taking the husbands’ role as the head of the household, and husbands lording themselves over their wives or just being lazy. 

Within procreation unfortunately many wombs are left barren, sometimes because parents despise the blessing of children. For this we ought to repent: for treating children like a burden or a curse, or looking at them as objects. Children are not a burden, but a blessing our Lord says! We shouldn’t scowl at parents for having many kids, or for having kids that make scenes or misbehave, we should help and support them in their blessing. Even if that means not shaming the unwed teen mother, but forgiving her and helping her. 

Other times wombs are left barren due to no fault of the parents, but because God has not chosen to bless the married couple in that capacity. They’ve done nothing wrong. God is the one who opens the womb, God is the one who creates the children, God is the one who blesses and we are the ones who receive. Different blessings are given to different people; if children, then rejoice and take care of your kids, if not with children, then rejoice and assist others with their kids. 

Now in recent years, marriage is even more under attack. There is a war on fathers and mothers, where marriage is redefined and made into something it is not. Marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman. Anything else other than that says that God’s plan is not good enough and that children don’t need both a father and a mother. 

But God’s plan for marriage is perfect. It’s not broken, it’s not outdated, God’s plan for marriage is the way by which He cares for us today in a very real and personal sense. Anything that attacks God’s plan of marriage is sin, not just against God, but sin against fathers, mothers, and children. Premarital and extramarital sex, living together, no-fault divorce, contempt of children, spousal and child abuse, abortion, all of these things and others contribute to attacking God’s perfect plan for us in marriage.

But just because sin has struck the estate of marriage, doesn’t mean that it’s no longer good. When Jesus chooses to manifest His glory at a wedding celebration, He sanctifies all marriages and declares that they are still a blessing for us today. Not only is marriage a means by which God cares for spouses and children, but marriage itself is a sign that reveals God’s glory. “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”

The Apostle Paul was correct when He said that “"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” While God’s earthly blessings for us in marriage are so profound and multitudinous, it is an even greater blessing that marriage is a sign also that points to Christ and the church.

While our earthly marriages are totally out of line at times, our heavenly marriage with Christ as the groom and we the church as the bride, is the perfect picture of marriage. In this marriage, Christ loves His bride so completely. Though we are unholy and unworthy of His affection, He still showers us with His love. We are the abusive and lazy spouse, yet He never turns away from us and instead offers up His own body on our behalf. He sacrifices Himself to atone for our sins against Him and each other. Jesus’ love is genuine for you. Though He abhors our evil deeds, He pays for them with His blood and He still holds fast to us and celebrates His love for us. 

He doesn’t hesitate or skimp to prepare a great celebration for His bride, the church. Instead He prepares a feast to celebrate His marriage to us. For that Galileen couple He miraculously made well over 100 gallons of wine from water. But for us He prepares an even greater marriage feast. St. John declares in the book of Revelation: “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.”

In that last day, a great marriage feast shall be prepared and we shall be presented before our groom, pure and clean. Yet in the intervening time, He has prepared a table before us, He has served us not just the choicest wines and the fanciest artisan breads, but He feeds us His own body and blood.

Upon this altar, He turns not water into wine, but under the form of bread and wine He declares this is my body and this is my blood. Here in this sanctuary, your bridegroom presents Himself before you and gives you a foretaste of the heavenly marriage supper. So don’t despise this marriage supper or think you’ve had enough of it, but receive this supper with joy and excitement! Your bridegroom is not offended by your presence, but He desires to bring you into His presence continually!

For these reasons, hold marriage in high regard, for Christ Himself has instituted it for your good. He blesses you with marriage upon earth and He uses this earthly reality as a sign to point us ahead to the greater reality and promise of a heavenly wedding feast where our voices will peal out with joy that He spares no expense for our salvation.