“A Miraculous Change”
Text: John 2:1-11
1-19-2025
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. In today’s Gospel reading, St. John reports the first miracle of Jesus’ ministry: turning water into wine. Now, you have to admit that all of Christ’s miracles are fascinating to read about. We enjoy them because it’s like watching the guy in the white hat ride into town, turning a bad situation into something good. Of course, we recognize its more than that because Jesus was combating the forces of evil along with our sin and the damning consequences. But when you compare this miracle to the rest, it just doesn’t seem to fit the same mold. I mean, all the other miracles of Jesus corrected a serious problem that was causing people to suffer. He healed the sick and the lame. He cast out demons. He calmed the storm. He raised the dead. And He fed the 5,000. Changing water into wine seems more like a really good magic trick. Seriously, other than causing a major embarrassment for the bride and groom, who was being hurt by the wine running out?
Sadly, though, that kind of reasoning misses the actual point behind this miracle, and all the rest for that matter. You see, quite often folks look at the miracles and think that it was simply Jesus showing His divine power over nature, over demons, over illness and debilitating handicaps, and over death. Others think it was just Jesus showing His compassionate side by helping needy and hurting people in a bad situation. While both of those things are true, it doesn’t get at the much deeper spiritual implications and lesson for us in these miracles. Perhaps this “unconventional” miracle will force us to discover what the real purpose was behind it, and all the others. In the process of uncovering that truth, hopefully we’ll understand the intended message and as a result, our faith will be strengthened.
In order for us to really grasp that message, we first need to understand what was going on. And it’ll also help us dispel some silly myths that only detract from the miracle that took place. Okay, so John says Jesus and His disciples were invited to this party. They weren’t wedding crashers, as some claim. And the presence of 13 additional guests isn’t what caused the wine to run out. Someone had miscalculated when they planned this party, which in those days wasn’t hard to do. You see, a wedding reception back then lasted about a whole week! And it was the groom’s family that was responsible to supply the food, the drinks, and the music every day. {I don’t know why I didn’t insist on this Biblical tradition when my 2 daughters got married!} Anyway, it was a major social blunder for anything at the party to run out. In fact, I read one scholar who said that the groom could even face a lawsuit if something like this went wrong. Regardless, he’d usually ask someone to oversee the festivities to make sure everything ran smoothly. That way he could enjoy the party. Kind of like when we ask a host couple or, better yet, a wedding planner to do this at our modern wedding receptions.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, seems to have been more than just another guest because she was aware and quite concerned that a problem had arisen. Since Cana and Nazareth were so close in proximity it might have been a relative’s wedding. Considering what she knew about Jesus being divine, it’s no surprise that she brought the dilemma to Him. Now, don’t take Christ’s response to her as kind of “mind your own business” statement. Rather, it was a reminder to Mary that He would handle things according to His perfect timetable. In other words, no one and no thing were going to rush God’s plan, even in something so small as this. As you can see by her words to the servants, she trusted that He would do something about it.
And He did. Jesus had the servants fill the 6 stone jars with water. John tells us these were there “for the Jewish rites of purification.” Folks, this wasn’t simply for washing the dirt off their hands before eating. As we see elsewhere in the Gospels, this was to purify them of their contact with sinful people and things. It was a ritual washing with spiritual implications. These jars and their purpose are a significant piece of the puzzle so hang onto that for later. Once the jars were filled, Jesus had one of the servants take a sample to the master of the feast. Even though no one had seen it happen, the Lord caused a miraculous change to take place. That simple water had become wine. Not just a little, but a whole lot. Like around 120-150 gallons. That’s a lot of wine! Remember that for later also.
When the master of the feast tasted it, he was astounded. Not because it had been water a short time ago. He didn’t know that. Rather, he was amazed because it was a very fine quality wine. I’m not a wine snob but like this guy, I can easily tell the difference. Anyway, he’s surprised that the groom would hold back the fine wine until later. It only stands to reason that you serve the good stuff first and the cheaper wine later because after a few drinks, people don’t really notice or care. But this was all backwards.
It’s really sad and quite ridiculous to see the theological gymnastics that some Christians will go through in order to deny that it was actually wine that Jesus created. Some church bodies are opposed to “evil alcohol” and so, they have to deny that it really was wine He made. Their argument is that Jesus would never make wine that people might abuse and get drunk on. Really? Then I guess He didn’t create cattle because people can overeat prime rib. It’s silly. Any gift from God can be abused. We are to receive them all with thanksgiving and enjoy them with moderation. Besides, the fact it was extremely good wine is an important facet of the lesson in this miracle, so it’s foolish to discard it because of someone’s personal dislike of alcohol.
Okay, so now we’re ready to go back and discover the faith-messages in this miracle. St. John tells us that this was the first of Jesus’ signs whereby He “manifested” His glory. What does that mean? Well, this is the Epiphany season in the Church year, right? The word epiphany comes from the same Greek word that “manifested” does. It means to reveal something. Epiphany is when we celebrate Jesus being “revealed” as the Savior; the Son of God. In other words, this miracle was meant to reveal to us something significant about Christ and His mission. So, let’s look at those facts that I told you to hang onto and see if we can discover what they teach us.
First of all, our lives are very much like that wedding party. Despite all our good intentions, efforts, and planning, we still mess things up. We try to be a good parent, a good spouse, a good neighbor, and a good Christian. Unfortunately, we quickly find that we’ve failed and let people down. Worse than that, we’ve hurt them. It’s our sinful nature that causes it all. We want to be rid of that. And along comes somebody who tells us we can if we just follow their method of purification. They tell us to try harder to control our sinful impulses and we’ll eventually remove all the sinfulness from our lives. The Jews had the purification ritual, which supposedly removed the sin that they had come into contact with. The problem is that all the washing and scrubbing in the world couldn’t remove the sinfulness that was inside of them. And that’s precisely what Jesus came to do for us. It’s significant that He changed the water reserved for this rite of purification into something new. Likewise with our need to be purified. The new purification that Jesus supplies is caused solely by His actions, not our human efforts. He took away the legalism and replaced it with something that brings joy to our hearts through His cleansing forgiveness.
Like with the miracle at Cana, in the Sacraments, He uses plain old water, wine, and bread. And yet by His power they are miraculously changed. The water of Baptism becomes a life-giving flood of forgiveness and creates faith. By His command, the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper become His very body and blood, which also brings us forgiveness and sustenance for our souls. As when Jesus turned water into wine, no one sees these miracles happening with their eyes. They are an unexpected surprise. Like that wine at Cana, He gives us an abundance of forgiveness that gladdens our hearts. In fact, with Jesus supplying it we’ll never run out of. And not only that, like the wine He created, He gives us His very best.
If we stop there, however, we’ll miss the whole point behind these miracles that Jesus continues to do through His means of grace. All of it is intended to bring about a miraculous change. It’s a miraculous change that He alone can make happen. This miraculous change is that by His mighty power He transforms us lost and condemned sinners into children of God. And the miracle continues each and every day. As we recognize our sinfulness and confess it to Him, He purifies us of all our sins so that we can enjoy that fine wine of His love and mercy. Jesus performed that miracle at Cana in order to reveal Himself to His disciples so that they would believe and trust in Him as the Savior. And now He has given you a great epiphany as He has revealed Himself through His Word and Sacraments so that you too may believe and trust in Him. May the Holy Spirit keep our faith strong so that we continue to do so throughout our days here on earth. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!