Epiphany 2-St. John 2:1-11

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.

‘When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”’ (Vv. 3-4)

Mary shows her faith in this passage. She remembered all those things from the infancy narrative (St. Lk. 1:26-45; 2:22-38) and from when Jesus was twelve and stayed in the Temple (St. Lk. 2:41-52). She remembered all those events of which Luke tells us, Mary treasured all these things in her heart. The trouble came with what Mary expects of Jesus.

Jesus had just been baptized and so was inaugurated into the public portion of His life (St. Lk. 3:21, 22). Jesus was no longer a young child who was sent this way and that by His mother fulfilling errands. He was no longer subject to her demands in the same way. Mary has not quite grasped that at this point. She still sees Him as her little boy.

Jesus means no disrespect to His mother. He is simply making such a point clear to her and the others with Him. Yet, Jesus still fulfills the fourth commandment and honors His mother (Small Catechism I).

Do any of you remember that time in your life when you were just beginning to step out on your own? You had begun to be your own public person, no longer connected to either of your parents? Well, this is the point at which Jesus and Mary find themselves in. It probably took you a bit to gain your bearings when it came to your adult responsibilities. It probably took your parents just as long to understand this also.

When Jesus responds to His mother’s expectation with ‘what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”’ (V. 4) He means no disrespect. Jesus is only telling her that it was not her place to tell Him what to do when it came to His calling. In this, Mary was not Jesus’ mother. Rather she was just another sinner in need of His forgiveness.

Isn’t this the height of comfort to know that Jesus own mother is not treated any differently than you or me?

Mary can be forgiven for her assumption. I would suspect most of us in a similar situation would think the same thing. After all, Jesus had just been very publicly baptized and so this would seem a good opportunity to continue that work. This seemed to Mary to be a good time to show forth His majesty and announce that this carpenter-teacher was really God in human flesh.

We are reminded in this that God’s timing is not always the same as yours or mine. That is what Jesus is trying to communicate here. He is not saying that it would be bad to help this couple out of their embarrassing situation. Rather, Jesus is saying that He is working on a different timetable. He is working on a divine schedule.

‘What does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”’ (V. 4)

Did you catch it? Probably. Mary did when Jesus told her these words. Jesus did not tell her “no”. Instead, Jesus told her, “not yet”. So, in response, Mary does not order her Son around. Mary simply tells the gathered servants, ‘“Do whatever he tells you.”’ (V. 5) Mary understood what Jesus was getting at. She knew now that her Son was no longer the young lad that she ordered around with messages for Joseph or other errands. She understood that it was finally time for Jesus to enter into that work which His Father had sent Him into the world to accomplish.

Mary learns here faith. She learns that her Son, Jesus, is the Son of God.

‘Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.’ (Vv. 6-9)

This embarrassment that the bridegroom and bride would have suffered at being found without enough wine for the expected seven-day feast was enough for Jesus to step in and be merciful. Mary had left it to Jesus to decide what He would do. Jesus chose here a way, privately, to show His mercy but not to step forth publicly as the God-Man.

In this, Jesus shows us that His primary goal in coming in the flesh was as a mercy journey. Christ’s coming in the flesh for you and for me was because His ‘mercies never come to an end’ (Lam. 3:22). Even in this small thing, this preserving of the joy of the marriage feast, Jesus not only blesses the couple with His presence. Jesus also preserves their joy. So, Jesus does not tell anyone what He was doing. The servants probably thought that what they were being told was quite odd. However, as servants, it was not theirs to question.

So, sometimes, it is not my place or your place to question why things happen the way that they do. We simply do as these servants and trust our Savior to know what He is doing. We do what the official does in regard to the healing of his son by Jesus a little bit later, the man took Jesus at His word. (cf. St. Jn. 4:50) We trust that when we do as Jesus has ordered us, it will be what the master expects.

Unlike those servants, you and I know that our Savior is a merciful Savior and God. We know that He loves us as a bridegroom His bride (cf. Is. 62:5). We know then that He will care for us in both the small trials and the great trials of life.

Because we see Jesus being concerned with the relatively minor embarrassment of running out of wine at your own wedding, so we know He will be concerned with the greater troubles of life. We know because of this passage in John that our God will always look after us. You are His adopted son and so the Father loves you as He loves His own only-begotten Son (cf. Gal. 4:4-7).

When life gives us trial. When we find ourselves without work set adrift seemingly in life without that anchor to give us understanding of our place in society. It is a truth that many people, at least in this country, define themselves by their job. They see themselves as having worth because they are gainfully employed.

We may all know that this is not the truth, but it does not change how some view themselves. In this, Christ will also see us through. He will provide us with the ability to redefine ourselves or He will provide you with a new job. Our loving God will provide whatever it is that each of us needs when trials come.

This bridal couple learns faith. They learn that Jesus is the Son of God.

As I said before, Jesus gave this couple a precious wedding gift. First, He did this by accepting their invitation. After all, it is a sad thing when you throw a party to have the people you most want in attendance to decline. Beyond this, Jesus solved for that couple an embarrassing problem. Finally, Jesus chose that day of all days, and that event as the occasion for His first miracle. When we read of a miracle being performed in the New Testament, the Greek word always refers to a sign given that people might believe. That is, a sign pointing toward Jesus, the Messiah. Only unbelievers refuse to accept such an obvious sign[1].

We see this also in the words of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians of our Epistle lesson. Paul begins His words about the gifts of the Spirit by speaking first of the gift of faith. We hear Paul’s words: ‘I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says, “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit’ (1 Cor. 12:3). Here we see a comparison of the unbeliever on one hand and the believer on the other. So in this way, we see this to be true in the case of Jesus’ disciples. He had at least five: Peter, Andrew, John, Philip, and Nathaniel.

These men already had put their faith in Jesus. If they had not, they would not have been following Him. This event provided to strengthen that seed of faith. As John writes: ‘This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.’ (V. 11) So also, with our own baptism, you and I have been given the same gift of faith through the working of the Holy Spirit (Small Catechism II: 3rd). ‘He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.’ (Ps. 40:3) We trust that our Savior and Brother, Jesus, will see us through the both the great trials and the small.

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.

[1] Sermon Studies on the Gospels, Series C Northwestern, p. 74.