“He thus revealed his glory.” He thus reveals his glory. Sermon on John 2:1-11 for Epiphany 2, January 14 & 17, 2016

1. In our Catechism lessons on the Creed, “I believe in the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints,” we talk about testing churches (including our own) to see if what they teach is in line with the Word of God. In the last few years, I’ve had the class do an exercise in evaluating. We watch videos of different preachers on YouTube (on the Internet). I try to pick one preacher that is pretty close to us when it comes to doctrine, and one that isn’t. We did this last week. Strangely, both preachers made reference to the Gospel for today, Jesus at the wedding of Cana.
2. Here’s what one of them said. “God is the God of acceleration, speeding things up, making things happen that you didn’t think would happen. …. This year you’re going to see some quick works, some unusual things, things you’ve been dreaming about, suddenly, they will fall into place. …. [Jesus changing water to wine at Cana] was a miracle of acceleration. What should have been a long process, Jesus did in a moment of time. God can take you where you want to be in an instant.”[1] I’m not quoting this preacher so I can pick his sermon apart. I’m quoting him because in our hearts, this is the way we all would like it to be. We would like instant solutions to our problems. I remember hearing a sermon on prayer in which the preacher said, “God is not like a soda-pop machine where you put a couple prayers in the slot, push the button for what you want and out it comes.”[2] I’m afraid that preaching about God’s promises and power in that way will be more damaging to faith than helpful. God does promise to help, guide and bless, but he blesses when he wants, according to his timetable, in line with what he knows is for our eternal good. 

I. “He thus revealed his glory”

1. With Jesus at the wedding of Cana, we do indeed see Jesus accelerating things. But first, we see him slowing things down. Mary comes to Jesus and says, “They have no more wine.” And Jesus’ response might surprise us, “Woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.” Did Mary expect Jesus to run into town and buy wine, or was she expecting him to do what he did? We know she pondered all the things about Jesus miraculous birth, the announcement of the angels and everything else. She knew something was going to happen because she told the servants “Do whatever he tells you.” At that moment, the time was not right for Jesus. He waited. We don’t know why—St. John doesn’t tell us. Perhaps Jesus was waiting for more people to become aware of the problem. Perhaps he was waiting for all of his disciples to be present so that the miracle would do what he wanted it to do: “He thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him.”
2. “He thus revealed his glory.” Most of the time, Jesus hid his glory. Our artists always depict Jesus with some kind of glory. Sometimes we see Jesus painted with a halo or a serene look on his face that no one else has. Most of the time his glory was hidden. It was hidden at the very beginning. The shepherds did see the glory of the Lord—perhaps it was like the pillar of fire surrounding them like a large glowing ring! But when they saw the baby Jesus, he was wrapped in swaddling cloths, much like any other baby would be (See Ezekiel 16:4), but his bed was an animal’s feeding trough. With him the glory was hidden. That was his humiliation—he didn’t use his power as the one and only Son of God all the time. From the last verse of this lesson, we see that Jesus didn’t use it at all at this point. “This [was] the first of his miraculous signs.”[3] His time had not yet come.
3. Jesus’ miracles always had a double purpose.
   1. The first was to help someone in need. Wine at a wedding seems to be more of a want than a need, doesn’t it? If they ran out of wine, it makes me think this was toward the end of the wedding feast. Jewish wedding feasts could last several days. So, perhaps halfway or more through the celebration, Jesus produces about 150 to 180 gallons of wine. More than they would have needed. The newlywed couple could have sold the extra—and wouldn’t have had trouble selling it because it was the best kind of wine. He was providing for their needs. So it was with the other miracles. The healing of the lame, paralyzed, blind, deaf and the raising of the dead—he was providing for their needs as both our human and divine Savior—helping and befriending his neighbors in their bodily needs, and doing what only God himself could do.
   2. That’s the second purpose of his miracles. Revealing his glory. He didn’t perform miracles just to show off[4]. He was helping people in their needs and also showing his hidden, divine nature. St. Paul tells us that faith comes from hearing the message (Romans 10:17). The miracles showed the disciples and the people that Jesus had the right to say the things he was saying. That’s the reason why Jesus didn’t perform miracles when his enemies asked him to. In the second half of John chapter 2, Jesus drives the merchants out of the temple and the chief priests said, “What miraculous sign will you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” He didn’t perform any then because he knew they wouldn’t believe him anyway. Later they plotted to kill Lazarus to destroy the evidence of Jesus’ miraculous sign of raising him from the dead. The disciples put their faith in him. They knew who he was. They had heard his Word—John’s preaching that Jesus is the Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the World, Jesus own claim that he is the Son of Man—the fulfillment of the vision of Jacob’s Ladder as the one linking God and humanity, heaven and earth (John 1:51). The miracle simply backed up the Word that they had heard.

 II. He thus reveals his glory.

1. “He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” What Jesus said about himself was glorious. What the disciples saw Jesus do was glorious. What about us? What do we have? Ink and paper. Words on a page or words on a screen. Is that any less glorious? It’s all here isn’t it! In a way, we have more than the disciples did. They were walking with Jesus day by day as his ministry unfolded. We have the whole story unfolded in front of us. We know how it ended—how the hidden glory was hidden even more in the suffering and death of Jesus. We know the purpose of it all that was hidden from them. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:8) because he was bearing our griefs and sorrows and taking the punishment we deserved (Isaiah 53:4) so that we could have peace with God and be counted as his children (John 1:12). The third day he rose again to show us that he is indeed the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), and to fill our hearts with hope for the place prepared for us that where he is, we shall be also (John 14:1-3). This is the glory that is revealed to us on the sacred page. He thus reveals his glory so that we can put our faith in him.
2. As our Lord and God, now seated at his Father’s right hand, he is over all things, governing all things for the good of his church, his people, you and me (Ephesians 1:22). For instant or accelerated success? Sometimes yes. But even at the wedding of Cana, it was in his time. In all things, he’s working for your good. Do not be discouraged because you don’t see glory, success and solutions five minutes after you pray. Jesus is your compassionate Savior who knows your needs (Hebrews 2:14). The wedding of Cana shows us that he knows and cares and will act. The lives of Jesus and his early disciples shows us that we have to go through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of heaven (Acts 14:22). In prayer we put all things in his hands, knowing he can do more than we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). In this life we can expect blessings. Sometimes the blessings are hidden. Sometimes the blessings come after a long wait. Sometimes the blessings have to wait until Jesus delivers us from evil once and for all when he takes us out of this world of sorrow to himself in heaven. The wedding of Cana shows us who Jesus is. He is the Word who was with God in the beginning, and just as he once made all things out of nothing by saying “Let there be,” he can change water to wine, simply by saying “Fill them up.”

Amen.

[1] https://youtu.be/cU0b6fgjFkY

[2] Vicar Paul Jenkins, Summer of 2007.

[3] And this is the reason why some of the ‘other gospels’ or ‘lost books of the Bible’ were rejected in the early church. The (false) Gospel of Thomas makes claims of early childhood miracles which contradict  John 2:11, and the miracles it describes were self-serving and out of character for Jesus.

[4]…which seems to be what is happening in the (false) Gospel of Thomas.