Second Sunday after Epiphany—Christ the True Bridegroom
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him (John 2:11).
We’re in a season of the Church year called Epiphany. This word means to appear, reveal, or manifest something.
On the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord, the Church hears the Gospel account of the Magi coming from the East—so Gentiles coming to worship the Lord Jesus. These Gentile sages, wise men from the East, come to worship the King of the Jews, while King Herod and all of Jerusalem—God’s chosen people—are troubled by the fact that their King has finally come. That’s what Matthew 2 tells us (Matthew 2:1–3).
When these Magi from the East come to King Herod, they say, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2). And then it says King Herod and all Jerusalem with him, when he heard this, were troubled. They didn’t rejoice—they were troubled.
In the Epistle for the Feast of Epiphany, we hear St. Paul say these words:
“Brethren, you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel” (Ephesians 3:2–6).
These are the two chief truths that God reveals to us in the season of Epiphany.
One is that Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary, and that He is our Lord.
That’s the first one.
And then the second is that the God-man Jesus Christ has come to bring salvation to all people, whether they are Israelite by birth or they are a pagan, a Gentile.
Today in the wedding feast at Cana, we see both these truths on display.
First, we see that our Lord is truly God. He has the power over creation to such a degree that He can change water into the best wine without even saying a word or waving His hands. It’s important not to just gloss over this.
He takes something that in and of itself will never be wine. It lacks altogether what it needs to be wine. And so He creates, as Almighty God, out of nothing the rest of the ingredients needed to have wine.
He takes plain water and He, without waving His hands or saying a word to cause that in particular, by His almighty power, puts grapes somehow in there and the time needed for fermentation to make the best wine.
So He is divine—truly God—has power over creation.
And the second truth—His will toward mankind and what He comes to do—we see that our Lord Jesus is fixated on this one thing: manifesting His glory by stretching out His arms on the cross and gathering all people to Himself, all nations. That this is His hour He is waiting for.
That’s what our Lord was getting at when His mother tells Him about the fact they had no more wine. He says, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4).
He’s pointing out to His mother the fact that He didn’t come to be a mere beverage distributor.
Jesus would have His mother remember the words that St. Simeon spoke to her when our Lord was a newborn baby at the temple. Simeon said this:
“He blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, ‘Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed’” (Luke 2:34–35).
Jesus would have her remember the words He spoke to her when He was twelve years old, when she had been in great distress with His earthly father, Joseph, looking around for Jesus—twelve years old—in Jerusalem for three days at the Passover, where they couldn’t find Him. And finally they went to the temple and saw Jesus, this twelve-year-old boy, conversing with the teachers of Israel. And she goes up to Him, greatly distressed, and says, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously” (Luke 2:48).
And that twelve-year-old Jesus said to her, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).
And our Lord would have us remember what it means when He speaks of His hour arriving.
“My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4).
The week our Lord would be crucified, He said this:
“The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:23–32).
That’s His hour.
Our Lord Jesus is true God and true Man.
Our Lord is the eternal Son of God, sent by the Father to gather people out of all the nations on earth.
These are the great mysteries revealed to us in the season of Epiphany, and they are manifested to us beautifully at Jesus’ presence here at the wedding in Cana and the sign that He performs.
And we shouldn’t just pass over the fact that He’s at a wedding doing His first sign.
There are many prayers that have been written on marriage that make this point. I’ll quote one for you:
“Almighty, gracious God, who in the garden of Eden instituted the holiest state of marriage and at Cana in Galilee honored it with the first sign of Your beloved Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ…”
Also listen to the address used in the rite of Holy Matrimony in our hymnal. It says this:
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and before His Church to witness the union of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony. This is an honorable estate, instituted and blessed by God in Paradise before humanity’s fall into sin. In marriage we see a picture of the communion between Christ and His Bride, the Church. Our Lord blessed and honored marriage with His presence and first miracle at Cana in Galilee.”
The Lord Jesus honors marriage by His presence at the wedding in Cana and the performance of this first miracle.
Marriage is important to our Lord Jesus. It is why there are so many Scripture passages and even entire books of the Bible like Hosea and the Song of Solomon that speak of the relationship between us and God as a marriage.
The Lord established a marriage with the people of Israel first by taking our father Abraham out of his pagan parents’ house and out of their pagan nation (Genesis 12:1–3), and then formally through Moses on Mount Sinai after saving His people Israel from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 19–24).
But they broke this covenant. They broke this marriage vow.
The laws, the sacrifices, the ordinances, and the ceremonies of the old covenant could not ultimately free them from their sins once and for all, and they gave themselves over to worshiping the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).
Later this week, I encourage you to take a look at Ezekiel 16. It describes this in a beautiful way I won’t get into right now.
But they cast this aside—this marriage vow, this covenant—and that is what is signified in the wine running out at the wedding in Cana.
The covenant that was broken—it was faulty. This wine of the old covenant was only weak on account of our sinful flesh that had no desire or ability to keep it. And that’s why St. Paul says—and that’s what he means—St. Paul in Romans 8, when he says:
“What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin” (Romans 8:3).
When this marriage of the old covenant fell apart—not because of the One who gave it, but because of our weak, sinful flesh—our Husband did not abandon us or cast us off forever.
Instead, He promised a new marriage, a new covenant—the best wine that had been stored up in His heart before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)—He was going to give in the fullness of time to us, saving the best for last.
Scripture says in Hebrews 8:
“For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:7–13).
That’s Hebrews 8.
These massive jars at the wedding in Cana were not intended to hold wine. And the kind of stone that they were probably made out of is very porous, so putting wine in them ruined them for the purpose for which they were designed.
They were set apart for ritual purification—a custom that flowed out of the old covenant requirements for the purity of the people of God, to wash themselves clean of the filth of unclean people, places, and things (cf. Mark 7:3–4).
This was all according to the old marriage that was becoming obsolete.
And so our Lord, in His first sign as our Bridegroom, comes to a wedding and honors it with His presence. He takes these jars that were set apart for ritual purification according to the old marriage and fills them with the best wine.
And in doing so, He shows us that He has come to establish a new marriage, a new covenant, in which His Bride will be gathered from both Jew and Gentile according to a better promise that will purify them once and for all, making ritual purification obsolete.
That promise is established when our Lord Jesus is glorified on the cross. There He stretches out His arms to draw us to Himself (John 12:32). There He gives His body and pours out His blood for your forgiveness (Matthew 26:26–28).
And just like Adam was put into a deep sleep and God formed his bride from his side—from his rib (Genesis 2:21–22)—so our Lord fell into the sleep of death. His side was pierced, and blood and water came out (John 19:34) to cleanse, sanctify, and prepare His Bride—the Holy Christian Church—you and me—once for all, His beloved Bride.
“When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, ‘Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now’” (John 2:9–10).
And that is who your Lord Jesus is—true God and true Man.
He has all authority. He governs all things and can create out of nothing. And He cares for giving us the very best in all situations—even something as mundane as running out of wine at a wedding.
We’ve been talking about the implications of God’s Word in Ephesians 5 through 6 in Family Catechesis right after Divine Service for the past few weeks. This section is where St. Paul has given us instructions to wives, to husbands, children, parents, workers of all kinds, and employers. We are still working through that today, so if you want to stick around, I encourage you to do so.
But one thing I want you to take away from what our Lord reveals at Cana, as it relates to what we’ve been talking about in Family Catechesis, is this—the words of His mother, our Lord’s mother: “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5).
You cannot do this according to your sinful flesh, and so it will never be perfectly fulfilled that you will do whatever He says on this side of glory, because you’re always going to have sin clinging to you.
But the Lord has given you the best wine—better promises—a new and eternal covenant in His blood (Luke 22:20). And He has done this for your salvation, so that you might begin—that you might make a beginning, very weakly—but make a beginning in submitting yourself to His Word, submitting yourself to Him as your true Husband in fear, love, and trust.
And bringing this to what we’ve talked about with the Table of Duties in Ephesians, this includes how you conduct yourself when struggling as one under authority or struggling as one who has been given authority in this life.
Both ways, your Lord Jesus—true God and Man—has given authority to those who rule over you (Romans 13:1).
Your Lord Jesus, whose true glory is to be lifted on the cross for your salvation, to draw you to Himself, to pour out His blood to wash you clean, and rise to give you eternal life—He is the One who has placed that authority over you in this life.
This One is He who governs both the good in your life and the adversity. He will never give you anything but the best—exactly what you need—for you to be brought to Him in His Kingdom on the Last Day. It will never be anything other than that—the best—the good you receive from Him or the adversity.
To those given authority, our Lord says that when you are faced with disrespect and disobedience in your office, He says these words:
“Husbands, dwell with them with understanding” (1 Peter 3:7).
“Do not be bitter toward them” (Colossians 3:19).
“Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven” (Colossians 4:1).
“Give up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him” (Ephesians 6:9).
To those under authority, our Lord says that when you are faced with a ruler that doesn’t carry out their office faithfully toward you—through laziness or apathy or abuse or violence or whatever unfaithfulness they’re exhibiting to us under an unjust authority—our Lord says this:
“Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:18–25).
“Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the Word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear” (1 Peter 3:1–2).
“Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality” (Colossians 3:22–25).
Your God, Husband, and Savior honored marriage with His presence at Cana. He has established the callings of this life, whether it be the ruler or the ruled, the master or the subject.
And you, dear Christian, can labor faithfully in these callings, knowing that He loves you dearly and desires nothing but your good. He orders and directs every circumstance of your life with your good in mind. He doesn’t even let a sparrow fall from heaven apart from His will for your good (Matthew 10:29). And He will judge justly on the Last Day.
Leave it to Him to make it right when you suffer injustice. Leave that to Him, while you rejoice in hope and are patient in tribulation (Romans 12:12).
Let us pray: Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank You for instituting Holy Matrimony to keep us from unchastity and other offenses. Send Your blessing on every husband and wife, that they may not provoke each other to anger and strife, but live peaceably together in love and godliness, receive Your gracious help in all temptations, and raise their children according to Your will. Move us all to walk before You in purity and holiness in our various callings, whether as rulers or subjects, to put all our trust in You and lead holy lives on earth, and in the world to come enjoy eternal life; through Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
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