The Heavenly Bridegroom

THE THIRD SUDNAY AFTER EPIPHANY

On this 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, another piece of the majestic mosaic of the incarnate God, Jesus Christ, is being added in today's Gospel story of the wedding feast at Cana. We've followed the Magi by the leading of a star to the Christ-Child lying in a manger. With Mary and Joseph, we have sought and found a twelve-year-old Jesus in his Father's house. Last Sunday, the Greater Joshua (Joshua) emerged from the wilderness and was baptized by his cousin John to fulfill all righteousness and inaugurate a greater exodus from sin and death. Today, Jesus has been invited to a wedding feast to enjoy and share in the nuptial celebration of one man and one woman united by God in Holy Matrimony.

The Season of Epiphany is about revelation, the uncovering of the wondrous mystery of God becoming flesh, appearing for the salvation of the world: "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 Wisdom of God, a mystery hidden since before the beginning of the world.

Now, this revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ is progressive, each subsequent revelation building upon the last, growing in meaning and clarity as it expands, like a seed which sprouts, then buds and blossoms into a beautiful, radiant flower. Similarly, at Cana, the Divine revelation of Jesus' sonship announced at his baptism is magnified, elaborating on why Eastern Magi followed a star to worship and gaze upon an obscure child born in a manger. Today, the flower of Divine revelation is beginning to bloom; our mosaic is taking form, week by week, as the picture of who Jesus really is growing clearer. And today, for the first time, we see a manifestation of his glory.

People often struggle to understand what St. John means in saying that the Lord's 'glory' was revealed in the miracle performed at Cana. In the miracle of changing water into wine, he revealed his Divine nature, His God-ness if you will. The glory revealed was the Divine Glory of God, a glory rightly attributed to the God-Man Jesus Christ. 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.

Often when this passage is brought up, many focus on Jesus' changing water into wine with the flick of his wrist and gloss over the rest of the passage's details. It's a fairly easy account to follow... But, friends, there is much more going on here, things of greater significance which John wants us to discover and understand.

Let's begin by developing the Creation theme. 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." John tells us that Jesus performed his first miracle on the third day. Which begs the question, the third day from what? Well, if we go back to the beginning of John's narrative, to verse 19 in chapter 1, we will discover a total of seven days occurring between Jn 1:19 and the account of the wedding miracle beginning at chapter 2 verse 1.

Follow me if you will. At the end of the prologue in chapter one, St. John begins his Gospel account at 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 [John] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Verse thirty-five reads, "The next day [day three] John was standing with two of his disciples," one of whom was Andrew, who seeing Jesus, leaves the Baptist and follows him.

That very night they lodge with Jesus, and the next day (day four), Andrew brings his brother Cephas to meet Jesus, who changes his name to Peter. Day five begins at verse forty-three, as Jesus finds Phillip, and he, in turn, runs and gets his brother Nathanael. Then, Jesus and his companions set off on a journey to Galilee, accounting for the sixth day. And 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 start of Jesus' Messianic work in the context of a week, seven days, which should take us right back to chapter one, verse one, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John then speaks of "all things being made" and about "light and darkness." All of this creation language and imagery leaping from the opening of John's Gospel. Why is the Apostle retelling the Genesis story? Why does this first of seven miracles happen on the sabbath (the 7th) day of John's Gospel? 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 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."

By this very first of seven signs, we learn that Jesus is more than a man. In fact, He is God who wields 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' the overflowing with choice wine! No, think of it, he took an existing, 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.

Build the picture in your mind: Jesus is standing over the jars, hovering over them if you will, as did the Divine presence of the Spirit 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." By the Holy Spirit and through the agency of the Son, chaotic matter and torrential waters were formed into something intelligible, something vibrant, alive, and beautiful.

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 is He who also recreates!

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, repairing the shattered pieces of His very own image-bearers back together again. Transforming sorrows into joy, forging laughter from suffering. The redemptive ministry of Christ was revealed on the seventh day by helping a desperate wedding party in need of more wine.

And what is the significance of these events occurring on the seventh day? Returning to the book of Genesis, Moses tells us that towards the end of 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 the man to fall asleep, and Eve, the woman, is created out of Adam's side. He then wakes up; that would be the morning of the seventh day.

Then, the very first wedding in human history occurs when Adam awakes and 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 bringing shame and death into human existence.

With this backdrop in place, let's return to Cana. A wedding is taking place on the seventh day. There is a man (Jesus) and a woman (his mother). Now, we aren't supposed to think of Jesus marrying his mother. Rather, John wants us to see in Jesus the man and Mary "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 will sacrifice everything for, even his very own life. Because the Bridegroom has come to forever unite himself to the Bride through the sacrifice of himself.

And here is the genius in John beginning the Cana wedding story on "the third day" But wait, Vicar, I thought you said the wedding occurred on the seventh day." Yes, I did. It is the third day from the fourth day, the seventh 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 is the resurrection of Christ.

So, why bring in the third day? Because death and resurrection must happen before the true wedding, the marriage feast of the Lamb can occur. Jesus must suffer, die, and rise again to bring His Bride the Church into marital union with Him and feast at the heavenly banquet because he is the heavenly Bridegroom. And this Bridegroom is not only the Creator but the Re-Creator as well, Jesus is the author of the New Creation, prefigured here by turning water into wine, and the Bridegroom is still recreating, even as I speak, by turning Stoney hearts into hearts of flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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 remake the Bride into what she was always intended to be (what you are intended to be): the mirror image of Jesus himself. And he is by the Spirit recreating you from glory to glory.

In a moment we will partake of the Eucharistic cup of blessing, the third cup, which Jesus blessed and instituted as the means by which we partake of his life-giving blood until he returns for his Bride to take her where he is now. The eternal age, the 8th day, when sin is no longer allowed to run rampant, evil subdued, and Satan banished forever. And, when our bodies are raised and united with the soul, we will adorn the heavenly garment and partake in the true wedding to which all earthly ones are meant to signify: our perfect and eternal union with the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then, at the marriage supper of the Lamb, we will finally partake of the cup of consummation, the fourth cup, of which on the night of the Passover Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God." Friends let us adorn ourselves in righteousness, as the wise virgin whose lamp is full. For the Bridegroom is coming for His Bride. Beloved, hear and receive the revelation given to St. John, and hold on to hope, for "Blessed are they who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 16:9). Amen+