Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text (John 2:1-11):
On the third day there was wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When 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 and 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.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In the reading we just heard, Jesus is invited to a wedding. And Jesus blesses it.
And he not only blesses the couple, he blesses everyone who comes to the wedding.
The amount of wine that Jesus gives is the equivalent of something like 8 or 900 bottles. This is an amount that couldn’t have been consumed at any wedding reception in one night. It’s almost as if Jesus wants to bless the wedding celebrations a little bit too much.
And it’s good wine. We read: “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have saved the good wine until now.”
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Jesus encourages people to celebrate at weddings! Weddings are a great occasion to celebrate. Weddings are a gift to people, they are a gift – because they give people the chance to celebrate, they are gift to families, they are gift to communities. This miracle that Jesus performs in turning the water into wine, is not just any miracle, it is his first miracle. It is the miracle where he breaks out of anonymity, it’s the first thing that makes him famous. Once he was a nobody that nobody knew. And after this, he is a somebody – he becomes known. And he does this by blessing a wedding.
And no wonder! Cultures, countries, cities, towns without weddings are sad cultures, countries, cities, and towns. Because when there are no weddings to celebrate, then people either celebrate everything or they celebrate nothing. If people go to another country, and are able to attend a wedding, it would always be a highlight of their trip. It would be something they would never forget – seeing all the customs, the ceremonies, the dresses, the suits, and everything that is unique to that country.
All of us who are here today should not take for granted what is going on here on this occasion here in this little church today. It is the beginning of a new future, a new family, a new house, a new home, a new life. And so we should celebrate it! We should see it as a highlight of our trip. We should see it as highlight of this week, this month, this year. For you, Samantha and Stephen, and your families, today will be a highlight of your entire lives.
And that is why Jesus, who is invited to the wedding, blesses this occasion with such a wonderful miracle of changing the water into wine.
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If we are going to understand what it means that Jesus blesses a wedding, we have to know, of course, what a marriage is. We have to know what it is that Jesus is actually blessing.
Many people don’t what it is anymore, and that means as well, that there are less people around to support married couples and to encourage them. Never mind – don’t let that be a hindrance to you. Today you have come here as a man and a woman to be publically and permanently united into the closest fellowship, the closest communion of body and life.
“A man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are not two, but one flesh.”
A wedding doesn’t just involve you, it involves everyone. It involves you leaving your fathers and mothers. It involves your fathers and mothers giving you up, to encourage you in you marriage and not to obstruct your marriage. If your parents want to shoot you like arrows into the future, they have to be sturdy and stable bows. It involves friends, community, society, [(even the government!) to strengthen and encourage you.
So marriage is a public thing.
It is a thing between a man and a woman – because only a man and a woman will complete each other in such a close fellowship of body and life.
Stephen, there will be times when the only complaint you will have about Samantha is that she’s a woman, and Samantha, there will be times when the only complaint you will have about Stephen is that he’s a man. You can’t pretend that you’re the same. You can’t pretend that you’re not human beings. But this wedding today, the two of you are brought together in all differentness: not only your difference in personality, your difference of opinions, your difference of the way you do things, your different lives, but also the difference of your bodies.
So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Now when you look at your life, there is no place for the word “I” anymore. Everything now is “we”. Stephen, if you want to know what’s best for your life now, then think what is best for Samantha. Samantha, if you want to know what’s best for your life, then think what is best for Stephen. St Paul says, “Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.” Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. And also, wives should love and respect their husbands as they do to themselves, and to their own bodies.
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When Jesus blesses a marriage, he blesses you when your cups are full and he blesses you when the wine runs out. It’s amazing in this reading how there is so much celebration at this wedding, and at the same time, we see and feel the embarrassment and the shame of the fact that there was no more wine.
We all grew up with the fairy-tales that end with the prince and princess living “happily ever after”. Living happily ever after is not a fairy-tale. But we have to understand how it happens.
In the church, when we give a blessing, we always give a blessing with a cross. The blessing of Jesus comes with the suffering of Jesus. And you will have suffering. Don’t ever expect a marriage without suffering, because there isn’t such thing. Why do you think we even have vows which say: “for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health”? Jesus blesses your marriage when the cups are running over, and also when the wine has run out.
Because you should always remember that Jesus is invited to your wedding. He is invited to your marriage, and he promises to bless your suffering with new love, with a mature love, a love which is different and renewed from last month, which is different and renewed from last five years, from the last ten years, from the last 20 years. And when grapes are squeezed, when grapes are crushed, and let to ferment – then the rich, mature wine comes out. But even more so, a rich, mature wine can even come out of plain old water.
A marriage without suffering is a fake marriage, it is a marriage that is not worth your attention, it is not worthy of you. It is beneath you. Remember that even Jesus rose from the dead when he was stone dead in a tomb for three days.
In marriage you’re stuck together now! And there’s going to be wine, and there’s going to be water, but never mind, there will always be the blessing of Jesus!
And where there is the blessing of Jesus, there is always too much of his blessing, too much that we can’t take it all in at once. Jesus blesses the wedding at Cana with too much wine, with too much celebration, so that not only your cups are running over, but also the cups of everyone who is here, charged and ready for a toast to the bride and groom.
And may it be my prayer today, and also the prayer of all the people here today that every day of your married life together will be a day when you look back on every day that has come before it, and say with a grateful and thankful heart, “Jesus, my Lord and my God, you have kept the good wine until now.”
Amen.
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