This sermon was preached by our second year seminarian, Samuel Bohnet. Listen to the sermon here.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. No reason is given for this action of God. No one makes God do anything. So why did God create the heavens and the earth? Well, the answer comes later in the creation account. God created man in His own image and likeness. Man is the object of God’s love. The earth was perfectly created to sustain man’s life, and the heavens were perfectly designed to declare the glory of God. And everything was good when God created it, except one thing, it was not yet complete. It wasn’t complete because man was alone. And even though everything else was very good, there was one thing that was not good. So God created a woman, a perfect complementary partner for the man, and He blessed both the man and the woman with each other in the holy union of marriage. This first wedding, it’s hard to imagine how much joy and celebration there must have been. God Himself was the officiant. And all of creation was there to witness its crowning jewel, marriage, man and woman in perfect harmony with one another.
But then the wine ran out. The deceiver, Satan, came and deceived Eve. She sinned and disobeyed God’s command. Adam followed in his wife’s sin. And because of their sin, these two perfect humans who previously had fit in perfectly with the world and they knew their place in creation, they were ashamed of themselves. instead of looking in love at one another and at God, they looked down at themselves and were ashamed at what they saw. And so, in their shame, they sewed together fig leaves to cover themselves, both from each other and from themselves and also from God. Of course, it doesn’t work. You can’t hide from God. God immediately saw their shame and He asked them about it. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. No one takes responsibility. Doesn’t it sound so familiar? The first sin gave birth to more sin. And because of this, God in His righteousness and goodness and in His justice, He cursed man, He cursed woman, and He cursed the world on their account.
Thousands of years later, you can read this in 2 Kings 4, we read about another marriage. We don’t get to see the wedding celebration. We pick up at a moment of crisis. The husband dies. His wife has left a widow, and even though their marriage had been blessed by two children, a creditor was coming because they had incurred so much debt that the creditor was going to come and take the two children to be slaves to pay off the debt. The wine had surely run out.
And in today’s Gospel reading, we read about another wedding, this time at Cana of Galilee. There are more details given about this. And the wine ran out yet again. This might not sound like such a big deal nowadays. If the cash bar at your wedding runs out of alcohol, it’s slightly embarrassing, but nobody’s going to hold it against you. But back then, this was a big deal. It’s your responsibility as the bridegroom to make sure that the wedding is sufficiently supplied with wine. The shame of running out of wine would last with them forever. Their wedding would forever be a source of shame for them.
But the stories don’t end when the wine ran out. Even though all of creation was infected and corrupted by Adam and Eve, the pinnacle of creation, by their sin, the Creator stands unchanged. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So who is this God? If Jesus stays the same, we need to know what His character is. And what the message is today is the goodness of God. The goodness of God drives everything he does. It was the goodness of God that motivated Him to create the heavens and the earth for man. It was the goodness of God that motivated Him to create a woman for the man. And it is still the goodness of God, who created all things, to recreate us, to save us from sin and its effects.
God’s goodness first applied to Adam and Eve. Even after cursing them, He then curses the serpent, and He says that the promised seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. This promised Savior would come and rescue them from their sins. And Adam and Eve, for all their guilt and all their shame, were saved and justified by faith in this promised Savior, still thousands of years in the future. And if that was all that God gave them, it would have been more than they deserved. But He gave them more. God recognized the hostile state of the world toward man. Creation was previously perfectly suited for mankind, but now there are thorns and thistles and angry animals that are threatening them. And so God gave them animal skins to replace their inadequate fig leaf clothing. He gave them skins to protect them from the new sinful world and to prove His goodness to them. After all, Adam and Eve had doubted God’s word when everything was perfect. How much more would they doubt his word about a promise that wouldn’t even be fulfilled for another several thousands of years when the world was hostile to them? And so God proved His goodness with a sign, with a gift. Our God who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much.
Again. In 2 Kings chapter 4, the widow feared God. It said that her husband and her were both God-fearers. And she knew and trusted in the same promise that was made to Adam and then later elaborated on to Moses and to Abraham and to David. And so she trusted in God’s goodness. Still, losing your husband, is a lot to take in. And it would be even worse to have your two children taken from you to be someone’s slaves. People have lost faith in God’s goodness for far less. And God cares both for her salvation, for her faith, and for her physical well-being here on earth. And He proved His goodness by miraculously supplying oil to her. She goes to the prophet Elisha and Elisha speaking on behalf of God, tells her to go and gather as many containers as she can and pour the small amount of oil that she has into each of them and it miraculously fills all of these containers. And it’s so much oil that not only is she able to pay off her debt by selling it, but she even has enough to live on afterward. This is God taking her husband’s place. She’s lost her physical earthly bridegroom. And so God comes in as the heavenly bridegroom. Of course, He always was the heavenly bridegroom. He always gave her salvation because of her faith. And this is what the prophet Isaiah is talking about in our reading today when he says, “You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married” (Isaiah 62:4). Again, our God who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much.
The wedding at Cana gives us a similar account of the same activity of God. The wine ran out, but Mary, the mother of God, trusted in Her Son’s goodness. And she comes up to him and she brings the matter to His attention. And this is a somewhat bizarre exchange, so let’s unpack it. She comes up to him and says, “They’re out of wine”. And Jesus says, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). That’s kind of a strange response. “They’re out of wine”. “My hour has not yet come”. What is Jesus saying here? Is He saying, “I don’t care. I have bigger fish to fry”? Well, what do we know about God? And what do we know about Jesus? Because Jesus is the son of God. He’s the same God who provided for Adam and Eve, for the widow, and performed all the Old Testament miracles for the well-being of His people and to strengthen their faith, to give them salvation from sin and death. So does Jesus not care? Well, obviously not. If you paid attention in the gospel reading, and even maybe if you didn’t, you know how the story ends. Jesus will solve their problem. So what is He saying here? This question, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come”, is worth asking. Because what Jesus is doing is He’s putting his miracles into perspective. He’s pointing to his hour. And His hour is when He is crucified on the cross to save us from our sins, to offer himself as a sacrifice, to bear all of God’s righteous wrath and punishment that would be directed at us, at you, but to bear it on Himself and to reconcile God with man. The wine doesn’t do that. Providing wine for this family does not atone for their sins. In the same way that providing animal skins did not atone for Adam and Eve’s sins, or providing oil for the widow in 2 Kings did not atone for her sins. But what they do is they reveal His goodness. They reveal that God cares. And that’s why it says that He “manifested his glory” (John 2:11) because God manifests His glory whenever He reveals His goodness. “And his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11) because of the miracle, yes, they saw His divine power, but especially because they saw His goodness. This is again what Isaiah is talking about, when He says, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory” (Isaiah 62:1) The glory of God is in the salvation of man.
Perhaps the wine has run out in your marriage. Perhaps the initial joy and celebration has been worn down over the years by external stressors in your own and your spouse’s sin. Perhaps you husbands have failed to love your wives as Christ loved the church. Perhaps you wives have failed to honor and submit to your husband in all things, even as the church submits to Christ. Perhaps through disrespectful and destructive words, you have torn down your house instead of building it up. These sins have real consequences and real pain that everyone has borne to some degree, whether directly or from another person’s marriage. That doesn’t make marriage any less of a blessing. But these earthly blessings of God often require some effort. Work is not a result of the fall. Remember, even before Adam and Eve sinned, God gave Adam work to do, in tending the garden and naming the animals. So work is not a result of sin. And there are examples for us in these stories that I’ve told you of people that put effort in with these earthly blessings. The widow and her sons have to go and actually fill the containers. They have to follow the prophet’s instructions. The servants at the wedding have to fill these huge jars with water to be turned into wine. And these are excellent examples to follow. Remember also Mary, who when she sees a problem, she goes to Jesus to solve it. What an excellent example! And again, the servants follow Mary’s instructions and they do whatever Jesus tells them to do.
Shouldn’t we also do the same? Shouldn’t we also do whatever He tells us? Because Jesus cares for your wedding just as much as he cared for the wedding at Cana. So listen to Jesus’ instructions. He might not miraculously turn water into wine, but spiritually, He can turn an unhealthy marriage into a good marriage. He’s done far greater miracles. So listen to Jesus’ instructions in the Bible. And remember, you aren’t a miracle worker. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). That’s what the psalmist says. But how does God build your house? He gives you instructions. He fills your mind with instructions for what you ought to do. He does this. through His Word. You can receive God’s instructions for how you ought to live your life through His word. Listen to what He says. He fills your heart with godly desires to do, to desire good things. And He strengthens your hands to act according to the good instructions and the holy desires that He has put inside of you. Most importantly, He gives you eyes of faith to look at the cross, because the cross is the glory of God. This is the salvation of man, and it’s our comfort, because the glory of God is the salvation of your souls. And all of you, including those of you whose marriages have been broken by death or divorce, should take comfort in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married” (Isaiah 62:4).
As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. No marriage is ever perfect, but the love that Jesus has for you is. Jesus manifested His glory first at Cana by proving His goodness, and the ultimate manifestation of Christ came at His hour as He hung on the cross. Follow the disciples’ example and trust in His goodness. It applies to you just as much as it did to the wedding at Cana. Jesus died to take away the guilt and shame of your sin because He loves you, because He is good. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit in baptism because He loves you. And Jesus every week here gives you His own body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins because He loves you. Surely the wine that we have now is better than what was served at the first. Jesus looks after your earthly life, including your marriage, because He loves you. Let us pray again the words of Psalm 128, “Blessèd is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!”
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Comments