Sermon Tone Analysis

| Jan. 14 | Second S. a. the Epiphany | Is. 62:1-5 | Psalm 128  | 1 Cor.

12:1-11 | !

John 2:1-11

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Title:  The Sign of Salvation

 

Theme:  “But you have kept the good wine until now.”

I grew up in the 50’s, and one of my favorite television shows was a drama that was hosted by Rod Serling.

Each week the show would begin with creepy music and an introduction that said something like this: /“You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.

A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination.

That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, The Twilight Zone!” /

 

As I explained to the kids this morning, we are surrounded with signs.

Signs give us directions, instructions, warnings, and information.

Signs stimulate our mind, emotions, heart and, perhaps even our soul.

From the very beginning of human creation, signs have been a part of our lives.

In our Church Year, we have entered the Season of Epiphany.

Epiphany is all about signs that communicate God’s plan of salvation to us in new and different ways.

During the next few Sundays as we move toward the Season of Lent, the signs of Epiphany will direct us to the God-Man, Jesus of Nazareth, as He begins His ministry among the people of Palestine.

Open your eyes and ears and minds to these signs from God given in Jesus.

Prepare yourselves to meditate upon Jesus in the soon to come Season of Lent.

The wedding feast at Cana.

Today our Gospel text is the first miracle or sign of Jesus as He began His ministry after being baptized by John.

The Gospel of John in most English translations uses the term “sign” instead of the more familiar “miracle.”

For this event, sign might be more appropriate because it seems that nothing much of significance really happened.

Jesus changed some water into wine.

Big deal, compared to what He would do later in His ministry!

If John was writing to people in an effort to convince them that Jesus was the living Son of God, why begin with just a sign?

Why not a great miracle?

Because John’s Gospel seems to tell the story of Jesus’ ministry as a spiral.

Jesus begins His ministry with a sign at a wedding attended by family, friends, guests, and some of His disciples.

As time passes, His teaching, preaching and healing, being repeated and elevated, increases in scope and impact.

Please look for this in the coming Scripture texts from Luke during the next few Sundays.

Let’s consider the time of this wedding at Cana.

The people of Galilee were a people living within the Roman Empire.

There was peace, for sure.

But the Pax Romano was maintained by the point of spears and the blades of swords.

The people of Palestine were subject to pagan laws and rituals, and could be forced to do whatever was demanded of them by the occupying forces.

To refuse was to court death.

Why had this happened to “God’s chosen people?”

 

·        Israel has become a harlot; the leaders and many of the people are in open rebellion against God.

·        Because of their unbelief, Israel has not heard from God for over 400 years.

·        Israel has been consistently occupied by pagan foreign powers.

·        The people are divided in their beliefs and practices; their hearts and minds have grown cold.

·        Survival of the nation is the focus of the current leaders, because they think that the nation is the “son of God”, and somehow God will rescue His “son.”

·        In summation, Israel is in bondage to sin, to foreign authorities, to pagan beliefs and practices, and to a complete misunderstanding of God’s plan of redemption.

·        The wedding that was consummated between God and the people at Mt. Sinai has ended in divorce.

The wine of celebration is gone, and the people have been left thirsting for the wine of new life that can only come from God.

If any of these reasons for the suffering of the Jews sounds familiar, it’s probably because many of the same things could be said about our culture today, and specifically about our Christian culture.

But there was at least one event during which the people of Jesus’ day could really celebrate, and that was a wedding!

The marriage ceremony of a bride and bridegroom brought great joy to families, friends, and the village where they lived.

Some marriage celebrations used to last for a week if the families were wealthy.

On this day, in the small town of Cana, Jesus comes to a wedding.

Someone from his family must have been a relative, or perhaps it was His new disciple Nathaniel, who was from Cana.

Jesus came to enjoy the day, to relax from His long journey back from the Jordan River.

But while at the wedding, Jesus’ mother informs Him that the wine has run out.

You can imagine the scene, mother and Son communicating without words.

You can almost hear Jesus say “Why me?  It’s not my time.”

Mary says to the servants “Do whatever He says,” knowing that He will obey her.

And six stone jars of water suddenly contain the very best wine that is usually served first.

Jesus uses this unexpected opportunity as a sign, an epiphany, for the benefit of His family, those gathered for the wedding, and especially for His new disciples.

Perhaps Mary coming to Jesus to seek His help was God’s way of moving Jesus the man to begin the journey that would ultimately take Him to Jerusalem one final time.

This small town in Cana could have been the place where Mary, the mother of Jesus, moved her Son to act on behalf of a family in need.

This epiphany of Jesus would be the first sign that the Kingdom of God had indeed arrived as He had promised, but in a way that would be very surprising.

I see four signs of the Gospel in this story.

First Jesus coming to this wedding feast affirms that God has come to meet people at the basic level of family—the beginning of a lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman.

Jesus affirms the created intent of God in making man and woman.

/“And He answered and said, "Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, //5 and said, `FOR THIS CAUSE A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND SHALL CLEAVE TO HIS WIFE; AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'?

//6 "Consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”/

The second sign was that His attendance at the wedding was Jesus giving His body to the people, His body that would be humiliated upon the cross, His innocent body that would be pierced with nails and spear and filled with the sins of the whole world.

His righteous, innocent, and perfect.

Body would be humiliated for our sake.

And to remember and consume Him, he tells us to John 6:35 (ESV) 

    Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and

 

 "Take and eat; this is my body, given for you."

The third sign was the turning of the water that was used for cleansing the outside of the sinful bodies of His people into the sweet wine of the forgiveness of sin.

This sign was that His very own blood would be poured out into the hard stone bodies of sinners for the forgiveness of their sins.

To be filled with the sweet wine of the shed blood of Jesus is to be redeemed into the family of God once again.

whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

The sign of the wedding at Cana finally points to the sign that we have before us today, the sign of the cross of Christ.

His earthly throne was made of wood, and angry men nailed Him there because they could not bring themselves to believe in Him, even though all of Gospel His signs point directly to the Father.

The cross becomes the sign that we all have to face, the sign that stands at the crossroads—one leading to eternal life with Christ, and one leading to eternal separation from Christ.

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

The effect of this miracle is noteworthy.

It marked the beginning of a ministry accompanied by supernatural power; and it proved so convincing to the new disciples that they "put their faith in him."

The deed helped confirm the conclusion they had drawn from their previous interviews with him: Jesus must be the Messiah.

What we are called to do as disciples in Christ is to proclaim the Good News that has been given to us in word and deed.

We can do this by affirming God’s created design for family, by offering our bodies to touch those in need, by speaking the truth in love to fill the hearts and minds of the lost with the sweet wine of Christ’s surprising presence, and to always be pointing to the cross, the throne of Christ.

He has done it all for us, and in response we become His signs to a world that He desires to redeem.

As Lutheran Christians today, we, too, have put our faith in Him.

And in doing so, we have the daily opportunity to be walking epiphanies for Jesus.

Whatever word is used, there is no doubt that something significant happened that identified Jesus as being more than just a man.

And that is the purpose of an epiphany—as a sign that points to Jesus as the very Son of God who come into the world clothed in flesh for the mission of bringing God’s saving grace to a hopeless and helpless humanity.

Jesus had come to bring about conversion: water to wine, sinners to saints.

And this latter miracle of transformation occurred in almost complete obscurity.

People get so used to consuming the wine of the world that brings eternal separation from God, that when the wine of the Gospel is presented, they are unable to taste that which brings eternal life with God.

From the beginning, God has never held back.

He has always presented us with the best wine, that which is sweet and pure and gives us eternal life.

It is we who decide to drink instead the polluted wine of the world that brings sin, suffering and death.

The great Good News continues to be that God’s sweet wine of life in Jesus Christ is available, right now, for those who will drink of Him, our Savior.

Give, and it will be given to you.

A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.