The Good Wine - An Epiphany Sermon for Sunday January 19, 2025
GOSPEL: John 2:1-11
The holy gospel according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Turning water to wine at the wedding at Cana is described as the first of Jesus’ signs. Through many such epiphanies, Jesus reveals that he bears God’s creative power and joyful presence into the world.
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the person in charge of the banquet.” So they took it. 9 When the person in charge tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), that person called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
SERMON (ELW p. 206)
The assembly is seated.
I was born and raised in Calgary,
so when I moved west of Edmonton twelve years ago,
I didn’t know about any of the local restaurants.
Of course I had eaten at the chain restaurants
and knew what to expect from them,
but you can’t just eat at the chains.
The best food is almost always found at the local spots.
I can remember the restaurants I’ve tried and enjoyed.
I can also remember that one restaurant that was …
pitiful.
It was a lunch buffet in Spruce Grove
that was fit for a slop bucket.
Actually, No,
I take that back, I don't want to offend slop buckets,
even the pigs would send that food back,
It was that bad.
You might not remember every good meal you’ve eaten,
but you’ll remember the bad ones.
If you have a family reunion in June
and it snows,
You wont remember the ham and potatoes,
you’ll remember the snow.
If you attend a funeral with the most hopeful message
and it is 35 below zero,
you’ll remember the cold,
not the message.
If you attend a wedding
and they run out of food or wine …
that’s what you’ll remember.
It would be devastating and beyond humiliating
to run out of wine at a wedding feast.
Wedding culture in ancient times isn’t quite like today.
The wedding feast was not just a one night affair
with a buffet,
too many speeches,
and last call at midnight.
It is quite likely in ancient times
that a wedding feast would last for days.
Guests to the wedding
may be traveling long distances.
Some may have access to a donkey for the travel,
but these poor people do not know
the joys of airplanes and Uber.
In that time,
there may have been a need
to continue the wedding celebration over a week
because guests would be coming and going:
and the celebration of two people joined together -
having their union blessed by God -
is something worth celebrating -
it is only fitting that the celebration
keeps going on and on.
Further to this, weddings were drinking parties
and wine was the drink of choice
to celebrate something so grand.
Running out of wine could have been humiliating
because it exposes the family’s lack of planning,
and lack of foresight
for how much wine to have on hand.
But the real humiliation was economic.
After all, Weddings are expensive.
A little boy asked his father,
“Daddy, how much does it cost to get married?”
And the father replied,
“I don’t know, son, I’m still paying for it.”
Wedding feasts are not cheap,
and running out of wine exposes the family’s poverty,
and their inability to afford a wedding celebration,
Their marriage would have began on a terrible note.
They would be honeymooning around the rumour mill.
It would be shameful and humiliating on many levels.
When God’s people feel shame and humiliation,
be it due to poverty or illness,
gender, race,
simple things we have no control over,
God’s work brings about the reversal
of that shame and humiliation.
It happened by the simple words of the mother of Jesus:
“Do whatever he tells you.”
Grace upon grace happens
when you listen to Jesus
and do whatever he tells you.
And Jesus literally saves them
from their shame and humiliation.
Jesus shows them grace upon grace.
Jesus brings them the good wine.
But Jesus’ gift of good wine
is not just for the newly married couple.
According to Professor Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez
“In those days food and wine were not served indiscriminately to the guests sitting at the same table.
It was based on their social status.
Some guests got the cheapest wine
-- a mixture of wine, vinegar, and water --
like the one Jesus was offered on the cross (Luke 23:36),
while others drank grand reserve.
The good news is that Jesus’ wine is for everybody.”
Jesus brings grace upon grace
for all the people at the banquet.
All are invited to taste and see that the Lord is good.
all are invited to share in the abundance
And what an abundance it was.
6 stone water jars,
holding 20-30 gallons each,
filled to the brim with water turned into choice wine.
We’re not talking about a couple boxes of the cheap stuff
we’re talking 300 gallons of fine vintage
That’s 1500 bottles of Grigio,
6000 full glasses of the best cabernet,
not just for the bridegroom and his inner circle,
but for all the invited guests.
There is even more symbolism and intention in this story
that we ought to notice.
Note the language John uses.
This is no miracle.
This was the first of Jesus’ signs.
John talks about Jesus’ signs
because signs point to something:
The wedding at Cana points to who Jesus is
and what grace upon grace looks like.
Cana says Gods grace can be experienced,
and it is abundant.
You can taste God’s grace,
you can be refreshed by God’s grace;
you can be complete in God’s grace.
Another symbol: There were 6 water jars -
a number that is incomplete,
7 is the number of completion,
like the story of the 7 days of creation
by God’s Word.
There are 7 signs of Jesus in John’s Gospel:
Jesus completes what is incomplete.
completeness with Jesus, the Word of God,
leads to abundance for all.
But The most important little symbol in this story,
is that this sign happens on the third day.
We know the third day.
on the third day Christ rose from the grave
death is defeated on the third day
new life happens on the third day
the kingdom of heaven happens on the third day.
The wedding feast at Cana
happened on the third day after John declares
“behold the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world”
The third day after he saw the Holy Spirit
descend on Jesus like a dove.
The wedding feast at Cana
tells us about what resurrection looks like,
what death defeated looks like
what new life looks like
what the kingdom of heaven looks like.
In the words of Tim and the Glory Boys,
The Kingdom of God is a party!
It’s a celebration with the choice wine,
that lasts beyond
our greatest celebrations.
It is a feast where
our shame and guilt and humiliation
don’t get in the way.
It is a feast where all the guests drink the good wine,
regardless of your social status.
Whether you’re one of Jesus’ closest followers,
or one of the servants
or just a wedding crasher,
By God’s grace we all are given the good wine.
Today, we too are given the good wine,
and I’m not talking about the Manischewits
we keep in the back room.
We share in Holy Communion;
Holy Communion is our wedding feast,
and Jesus is here.
We put a few ounces of wine in the chalice,
a sip in a little plastic cup,
but the chalice is overflowing.
The cup is overflowing
with grace upon grace
because Jesus is here.
When Jesus shows up,
our world is turned upside down.
Shame is replaced with glory.
The stewards, the servants
receive the good news first
before the honoured guests.
The one receiving hospitality
ends up providing for the hosts,
God invites unexpected guests
to participate in God’s mission
of providing an abundance of grace for all.
When Jesus shows up,
when we do whatever Jesus says,
there is an abundance for everyone.
And Jesus shows up in ordinary problems,
in ordinary places,
and, with Jesus,
the ordinary just doesn’t look like it used to.
The ordinary looks like abundance for all.
In the ordinary,
we can find grace upon grace.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
