Changing Water into Wine: Changing the World into Thine
January 14, 2007
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesusf mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesusf mother said to Him, gThey have no more wine.h gDear woman, why do you involve Me?h Jesus replied. gMy time has not yet come.h His mother said to the servants, gDo whatever He tells you.h Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, gFill the jars with waterh; so they filled them to the brim. Then He told them, gNow draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.h They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then He called the bridegroom aside and said, gEveryone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.h This, the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him.
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Changing water into wine was more than a miracle. It was the first of Jesusf signs and it revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. They did not believe in Jesus just because he could do miracles, but because they saw in the miracle a sign, an indication of who Jesus was. The glory that they saw was not Jesus the miracle worker; they saw glory of Jesus the Savior. This is why in the Gospel Book of John, the miracles of Jesus are called signs rather than miracles, because they have the purpose of revealing who Jesus is. The miracles are signs that reveal the Kingdom of God. So today we are going to study this sign to see what signal Jesus is giving us.
This story is not a parable, but like a parable, we are to read it and understand something about the Kingdom of God. It was a wedding. According to Genesis Chapter Two, a wedding is a celebration of creation and is Godfs blessing on his creation. Genesis 2:24, gAnd the two shall become one.h Godfs blessing is the true source of joy in a wedding. Celebration is a time of eating and drinking. In the Old Testament, abundant wine is a sign of great celebration and so is a sign of the coming Messianic Age.
But in todayfs Gospel story, the wine gave out. The party was over. That is because the wedding was still part of the old creation, the old sinful world. The world is old, wearing out, decaying, and impure, because of sin. There is no hope that the joy of the old world can continue. Even the stone water jars were empty, with no water for the rite of purification.
People try to conceal the truth about the sinfulness and the goldnessh of this creation. In our text today, this concealing of the truth is drunkenness (v.10). gEveryone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink.h Drunkenness is a kind of faith ? a misguided, false faith ? born in sin and seeks to sustain our joy on the basis of a delusion or illusion. This drunkenness is a misuse of the blessings of the Old Creation, a misuse that denies that the blessings of the Old Creation are good things from God. People think they are okay when actually they are making themselves more and more impure. It is not only wine and booze, but it all the things we people use to anesthetize ourselves from ? to escape thinking about -- the truth of sin.
Why does the wine give out? Why is the world coming to an end? It is not a gnatural event.h It is not like global warming. The reason is given in the next chapter of John when Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, 3:17-21. gFor God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of Godfs one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.h The wine gives out because of Godfs judgment and condemnation upon this sinful, deluded world. God is withdrawing his blessings from the creation; it is the curse of Genesis 3 toward sinful people. The wine has given out. The jars for the rite of purification are empty. Nothing in this world can make us pure. The celebration of creation does go on, but no in fullness, the truth of its impending end is all around.
Jesus was invited to the wedding. Therefore this celebration of creation is different. At first, only his mother, Mary knows that he is the source for creationfs hope. But actually, the miracle of turning water into wine is not the solution to the problem, but a gsignh of the solution that is yet to come. The problem is not that the blessings of the Old Creation are lacking. The problem is that the blessings of the Old Creation are ginferior,h like the inferior wine that was served first at the wedding feast (10). Like the wine, the old solutions do not make purification. gMy time has not yet comeh (v.4) signals the miracle that will be the solution: His time will be the time of his death and resurrection. In his death and resurrection he takes the old dying creation to himself, purifies it in himself, and makes it new in himself.
The disciples of Jesus saw the miracle of the water changed into wine, and saw in it a sign of who Jesus was. By faith in Jesus, they participated in the New Creation. Faith is not an illusion or delusion, it is not drunkenness, but a clear response to the fact that God in Christ has grevealed his gloryh to save and redeem us through the cross. Like the wine at the marriage feast, faith sees what is ginferiorh and what is gsuperior,h it distinguishes between the blessing of the old creation and the blessings of Christ in the new creation. Faith sees both the blessings and the purposes and the plan of salvation of God in both the Old and the New Creation. Both are respected and enjoyed.
gYou have kept the good wine until nowh (10). The blessings of Jesus come at the end of todayfs Gospel story, but the Old Creation and its celebration are not cast off or cancelled. Jesus did not stop the party. On the contrary, he gives a reason for the party to continue, even as he gives us hope to continue until that day when God brings it to an end. True, the New Creation has its own feast ? the Eucharist, the Holy Communion. But as we celebrate the feast of Christfs death and resurrection, we exist in the Old Creation and celebrate the Old Creation with gusto. Christians still live in, render service to, give love to, and give thanks for life in the Old Creation. We learn to say with Mary, gDo whatever he tells youh (5). We know he will take care of everything. The wine of the New Creation is the wine that purifies in Jesusf blood, and its cup overflows forever in great, unending abundance.
Amen.