The Wedding at Cana

THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:2And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. John 2:1-2

Today's Gospel fills out the first three accounts of the Epiphany of Christ, the manifestation of God to the world: the visitation of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus, and the Wedding Feast at Cana. Remember, the message of the Epiphany season is the message of the coming and showing forth of God in Christ, revealing that this man Jesus is much more than a man, he is fully Divine as well, the God-Man sent from heaven to fix and restore a broken world.

Epiphany is about revelation, the uncovering of that wonderous mystery: "to make all men see (says St. Paul) what is the dispensation of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden in God" (Ephesians 3.9) Epiphany is not about the showing forth of God in his works, but the showing forth of God in himself: the showing forth of God in Christ, who is "very God from very God." The very life of God himself, the mystery hid from the beginning of the world, is made manifest in our midst.

Now, this unfolding of God in Christ develops unfolds like a telescope, each subsequent revelation building upon the last, growing in meaning and clarity, like a seed which sprouts, then buds and blossoms into a beautiful, radiant flower. Likewise, the miracle at Cana expands the Divine revelation of Jesus' sonship at his baptism on the banks of the Jordan, which further elaborates on why gentile, Eastern Magi, followed a star to worship and gaze upon an obscure child born in a manger.

Today, we see the flower of Divine revelation beginning to bloom; the picture is getting clearer and more apparent as to who Jesus really is. For, today is the first time in which the glory of Jesus is revealed. Before we continue, let me clarify what this means. People sometimes struggle to understand what John means in saying that in the miracle performed at Cana, the Lord's 'glory' was revealed. We are to understand that in exerting his Divine power in the changing of water into wine, Jesus revealed his God-ness; disclosed his Divine nature. The glory revealed is the Divine Glory of God. This is why I said that the flower of revelation is beginning to bloom. For this miracle is the very first time our Lord shows his cards; that he is much more than a man.

I would wager that most people (whether Christian or not) are very familiar with this story. We most likely think it's pretty straight forward and easy to follow. Jesus is at a wedding, they run out of wine, so Jesus turns water into wine and saves the day! Oh, and the result of his performing this incredible miracle? His disciples believe in him. Yes, this is the first miracle of seven miracles, or signs, recorded in John's Gospel. And yes, this is the first time the readers see that Jesus is no ordinary person. But, friends, there is much more going on here that John wants us to see and understand: what is being signified in this first miracle, and what does it mean to you and to me?

Now, chapter two of St. John's Gospel begins, "AND the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there." Let's first develop the Creation theme. Well, to begin with, John tells us that the following miracle story is occurring on the third day. Which begs the question, the third day from what? You see, chapter two is an immediate continuation of the events of chapter one. So, to begin with, let's jump back into chapter one and count the days.

At the end of the prologue at verse eighteen in chapter one, St. John begins his Gospel in verse nineteen, writing, "And this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "who art thou?" This is day one. Verse twenty-nine reads, "The next day (day two), he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" Verse thirty-five "The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" the first two disciples, one of whom was Andrew, decide to leave the Baptists' ministry and follow Jesus. This happens on day three.

That night they lodge with Jesus, and the next day (day four), we see Andrew bring his brother Cephas to the Lord, who changes his name to Peter. Day five begins at verse forty-three, when Jesus finds Phillip and he, in turn, runs to get his brother Nathanael. Then, Jesus and his companions set off for Galilee, accounting for the sixth day. Finally, we come to the seventh day, when Jesus and his disciples attend a wedding feast at Cana in the region of Galilee.

John has framed the beginning of our Lord's salvation work in the context of a week, seven days. Which should immediately cause us to think of how his Gospel begins. Verse one, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And then he speaks about "all things being made," and about "light and darkness." That's all in the prologue of Johns Gospel, all this language taken from the creation story in Genesis. So why is John retelling the Genesis story? Why does this first of seven miracles happen on the sabbath day of his Gospel week recounting the beginning of Jesus’ ministry? Well, John is showing us that Jesus is the Divine re-creator.

Jesus and his disciples are attending a wedding, and behold the wedding party runs out of wine. And in verse six, Jesus acts, "And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;)"

In this miracle we the recreative power of Christ by changing the simple element of water into wine. By this very first of seven signs recorded in John's Gospel, we are learning that Jesus is more than a man. We’re learning that He is God, and furthermore, that he has the power of recreation. You see, Jesus didn't produce wine from thin air, waving a wand over the six empty clay jars and 'poof' they're filled with choice wine! No, think of it, he took a created thing- water- and transformed it, transfigured the water into the best wine human lips have ever tasted: recreating a created thing into something new.

Just think about this picture: Jesus is standing over these jars, hovering over them if you will, as did the Divine presence at the beginning of the world, when "the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." God, by the Holy Spirit and through the agency of the Son, took into his hand's chaotic matter, and the deep waters and from them shaped the whole created order into something intelligible, something vibrant, alive, and beautiful. You see, St. Paul tells us that Jesus is the Author of Creation, "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him." And what St. John is telling us today is that He Who created can also recreate!

Beloved, this is exactly what Christ has come to do; the restorative mercy of the Lord displayed in his first miracle. Jesus left the glory of heaven to recreate and transform humanity back into his very own likeness, to make us sons and daughters of God, to turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, to reconstruct the shattered pieces of His very own image-bearers back together again. To transform sorrows into joy and forge laughter from suffering. This great ministry of Christ first revealed by helping a wedding party desperately in need of more wine on the seventh day of John's Gospel.

And what is the significance of these events occurring on the seventh day Gospel Sabbath? To answer this, we have to once again return to Genesis. Moses tells us that towards the end on the sixth day, God created Adam, forming him "of the dust of the ground, and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life." Then, God causes Adam to fall asleep, and Eve, the woman, is created from Adam's side. Adam then wakes up; that would be the morning of the seventh day.

And on the seventh day occurs the first wedding in human history as Adam says to Eve, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man." Moses then explains, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." But, friends, we know how this story plays out. They transgress God's law and bring death and shame upon themselves and upon their posterity.

With this in mind, a wedding is taking place in Cana on the seventh day. There is a man (Jesus), and there is a woman (his mother). Now, we aren't supposed to think of Jesus marrying his mother; rather, John wants us to see in Jesus and in "the woman" a new humanity: the perfect man and the perfect woman. And what's more, Jesus is the Bridegroom, and Mary as a type of the church is the Bride. And this picture of Bridegroom and Bride points to Christ's love for his church, a love so deep, so incredible, a love he is willing to sacrifice everything for, even his very own life. The Bridegroom has come to forever unite himself to the Bride through the sacrifice of himself. This is what Cana reveals about our Lord.

And this is why John begins his wedding account on "the third day." But wait, Vicar, I thought you said that this is the seventh day?" Ah, yes, it is the third day from the fourth day, but John wants us to make a connection to the third day as well. Of course, the "third day" to which all four of the Gospels refer to is the resurrection. So, what is the Apostle telling us? He's telling us that resurrection must happen for a true wedding to take place. Jesus must suffer, die, and rise again before the Bride can be brought into union with Him.

There is so much more that if time permitted, we would explore: the sabbath representing the eighth day which points to the eternal sabbath of rest; the steward drinking of the new wine prefiguring resurrection life brought forth by our Lord drinking the cup of sorrows; how the old dispensation of ritual cleansing symbolized in the six clay jars are eclipsed by the cleansing of Christ's blood; so many wonderful truths and mysteries to discover.

But today, we have learned that the transmutation of water into wine reveals our Lord as possessing the power not only as Creator but as the Re-Creator as well. This miracle, therefore, is the Epiphany of Jesus as the Lord of a New Creation, prefigured here by turning water into wine, that work of re-creation which He is doing today, even as I speak, for the salvation of souls and bodies.

Simple elements like water pass silently beneath the power of His blessing: His servants bear forth: water becomes generous wine. So baptism exalts the souls and bodies of men from the Kingdom of Nature into the Kingdom of Grace, and the Holy Eucharist is the means by which our whole nature is being built up into the nature of Christ, elevated from one step to another, "Changed from glory to glory."

Friends think of your baptism. You were brought into union with Christ by being buried with Him in the waters. And if it were not for the breaking of his actual body and the shedding of His most precious blood, you would not enjoy eucharistic fellowship either. Christ had to die and be raised again to recreate the Bride, to remake her into what she was always intended to be: the mirror image of himself. And he is doing a recreative work in you.

Thus, at a marriage supper was revealed the great truth of that union between the Lamb of God and the Bride by which the virtue of the Incarnation of the Word is hospitability extended to fallen human nature. And so we are we taught, that in the miracle of elevating lowly elements such as bread and wine into sacramental substances, and by the regeneration and edification of souls through their operation, that friends, Christ is still "manifesting forth His glory" in every generation, and giving cause for us his disciples to continue to believe in Him. So that we may have life and have it abundantly. Amen+