Introduction
While attending seminary, I served as director of a college and career ministry. Seminary is the academic, the educational side of training. It is the study of the Bible, of the doctrines of the Christian faith, of the history of the church, of the relationship between Christianity and other religions. My work with single adults (on the other hand) was an “internship,” a chance to fit theology into real lives. It was the practical side of preparation for pastoral service.
Because I was involved with singles, my mentor often reminded the whole staff how he disliked weddings. “At a wedding, no one listens to the pastor! All they think about is the bride and how beautiful she is. Give me a funeral any day – death focuses minds on listening to the preacher!”
He was right! It is just about impossible to hear the pastor on the wedding day. There is too much excitement; more significant people are involved and more important realities are taking place than what I say. And yet there may be no honor greater for a pastor than officiating the marriage of a man and a woman. From the giddy silliness of the couple in pre-marital counseling to the rapturous joy in their faces as they are brought together by the bride’s march down the aisle, a wedding is an event of virtually unsurpassed hope and happiness in our lives. It is profoundly significant, therefore, that Jesus chooses a wedding at which to begin revealing his glory by performing a miracle which points to his being the solution to sin and sadness.
Now it may appear, at first reading, that Jesus “just happens” to attend, “just happens” to hear of the depletion of the wine, “just happens” to perform this miracle at this time. Such an interpretation would be a mistake.
Our family watched President Bush’s State of the Union address in January. Regardless of which side of the aisle pleases you, no one watching could miss the care with which the camera captured both Mr. Bush and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. There were moments when Republicans burst forth in thunderous applause – and Ms. Pelosi did not twitch a muscle. At other times she clearly approved of the President’s promises. Her responses did not “just happen.” Every smile, every grimace, every clap, and every refusal to approve, defined and described the Democratic position. She spoke as clearly without words as the President did with them.
More momentous by far is every action of Jesus. No situation catches him unprepared; there are no events for which he does not provide a premeditated and positive presentation of his character, compassion and commission. And this wedding is no exception. Far from “just happening,” Jesus intentionally chose this event, not simply to fill some water jars with wine, but to fill this miracle and all marriage with meaning. Good wine – God’s glory – signs asking: “Will we believe in the overflowing joy and contentment found in Christ alone? To hear that question of the signs, first please note…
1. We Must Greatly Value Marriage as a Good Gift of God (John 2.1-2)
You may recognize the traditional words: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in holy matrimony…. God himself, while mankind was still without sin, created the first marriage. The LORD God said: ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’ God then created Eve out of Adam’s own substance and brought her to him. The LORD further honored marriage by his presence and first miracle at a wedding in Galilee. And he confirmed marriage as a divine covenant, not to be severed, when he declared: ‘What God has joined together, let not man separate.’”
In spite of the familiarity of the opening words of the ceremony, cultural observers have speculated that marriage is passé and will soon be recognized as unnecessary. God disagrees. God insists that marriage is to be held in honor among all people, (not just the church) and that the marriage bed must be kept pure and undefiled. God claims to have created this institution and that he alone can define its members and meaning. God decrees marriage as the first and central building block of any stable and healthy society. And Jesus, by attending this wedding and performing his first miracle here, not only honors marriage, but reminds us to do the same.
We do not know all the wedding details from this time. We do know that the ceremony usually took place in the evening, after a great feast. Then friends and family led the new couple in a torchlight parade through the village, allowing everyone to wish them well. Instead of a honeymoon, they would have an open house for as much as a week, where they were treated as king and queen. Living lives of much difficulty and poverty, this event was the one great celebration most people would ever have. And God attends.
Two observations.
First, God is delighted with a joyful and merry faith. There are Christians whose demeanor and appearance communicate that true religion must make men melancholy. Of course it is accurate that worldly dissipation does not become a follower of Jesus. But it is equally true that a sad and sorrowful countenance misrepresents the faith. I have no doubt that some Christians today would disapprove of Jesus’ attending this wedding – seeing as how it focuses on wine, women and song!
J. C. Ryle: “A cheerful, kindly spirit is a great recommendation to a believer. It is a positive misfortune to Christianity when a Christian cannot smile. A merry heart, and a readiness to take part in all innocent mirth, are gifts of inestimable value. They go far to soften prejudices, to take stumbling blocks out of the way, and to make way for Christ and the Gospel.”
The Lord attends the most lavish celebration of his day.
Second, God is concerned with the most physical aspects of our existence. Some suggest that true religion is spiritual and not to be tarnished by flesh and blood concerns. Churches, for example, which assign the clergy to celibacy pretend the body is less holy than the soul. But God is in not offended by our physicality. The great leaders of the return to the Bible at the time of the Reformation all married – Zwingli in 1522, Luther in 1525, and Calvin in 1539. They practiced what they preached – Christ’s death and resurrection redeems both soul and body. God cares about your marriage.
I am aware of two extremes which deny the goodness of marriage.
One is feminism, which observes that women do not need a man to be complete. This philosophy derides those who would be satisfied with a husband, a home and a happy family. According to this view, contentment is found in self-fulfillment not in sacrifice for another’s success.
The other extreme is chauvinism, which claims that men do not need an equal partner and best friend to be complete. They deride him who honors his wife, suggesting that contentment is found in ruling one’s home as a mighty lord rather than serving as a sacrificing savior.
Both are wrong because both deny the goodness of God in creating marriage.
On their 50th wedding anniversary, a couple summed up the reason for their long and happy marriage. The husband said, “I have tried never to be selfish. After all, there is no ’I’ in the word ‘marriage.’” The wife said, “For my part, I have never corrected my husband’s spelling.” Of course, the husband is “correct” – there is no “I” in marriage, no selfishness will make a godly marriage. So it is a fact that, while marriage done God’s way does not guarantee the maximum profit in this world, it does promise the grace and blessing of God in assisting you to be Christ-like and in fitting you for the celebration in heaven, the marriage feast with the Lord. By attending this wedding, Jesus asks, “Do you believe God gives marriage as a good gift because he loves you?” Then delight in the wife of your youth and serve your husband with gladness. Marriage is for our mutual benefit and joy.
2. We Must Greatly Value All the Good Gifts of God (John 2.3-10)
The Rabbis had a proverb: “Without wine, there is no joy.” Wine was essential to the wedding celebration, not so the guests could drink to excess, but because it symbolized the abundance of happiness that was the potential benefit of the unity of man and wife. Let me show you the three pieces of the puzzle.
First, from Genesis 2.18: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Apart, man and woman lack something essential; together they could be complete. Marriage was designed by God to give happiness, wholeness, fulfillment.
Second, Psalm 104.14-15: “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man….” Wine is one of the good gifts, designed by God, to give happiness and joy.
Third, from Song of Solomon 5.1: “Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!” Love produces an effect similar to wine’s intoxication.
Here is the fitting together. Wine, because it gladdens the heart, came to symbolize the happiness that was the design of marriage. Wine is itself a sign of the promise of God’s goodness available those who love their spouse and serve them wholeheartedly.
With that background, we feel the weight of Mary’s distress: “They have no more wine.” It is almost as if she said, “They have no joy.” While Mary seems to have little thought of the kingdom, she knows Jesus’ ability to solve life’s problems.
Let’s think, however, about Jesus’ response. Jesus could have made really cool, clear, clean water – he made wine which gladdens the heart. He could have made a cheap wine, one with less risk of being drunk in excess – he made the best wine ever tasted. Jesus could have made a small batch, a few gallons might have given every guest a nice glassful – he made over 120 gallons of the finest ever fermented!
This is a living parable of the richness of God’s grace! God is not stingy; God’s goodness is not sparing; God’s grace is not slight. In stark contrast to the limits and laws of the wineskins of the old covenant, Jesus (quite literally) pours in the wine of the new.
Leon Morris, captures the meaning behind Jesus’ action: “This particular miracle signifies that there is a transforming power associated with Jesus. He changes the water of Judaism into the wine of Christianity, the water of Christlessness into the wine of the richness and fullness of eternal life in Christ, the water of the law into the wine of the Gospel.”
Jesus is preaching (without words) of the delightfully intoxicating power of the gospel of grace. “Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love of God!” Jesus knows your needs. He is fully aware that he created you for happiness and that life in this fallen world is not the way it is supposed to be. But he says, look around at the shocking goodness of God poured into your everyday lives and realize that those are but shadows of his favor, witnesses of his kindness. Because “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,” we value those gifts. At the same time, we look up the beams to the Son who shines from above, and we know that it is he for whom our souls long. Will we bless God for all his good gifts?
3. We Must Greatly Value Jesus, the Messiah of God (John 2.11)
A young man has just become a Christian and was reading his Bible while waiting for the city bus. Every now and then would exclaim, “Halleluiah, Praise the Lord.” A skeptic heard him and came and asked what he was reading. The new believer said, “I’m reading how God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could go through – it’s a miracle!” The skeptic answered: “Do not believe everything the Bible tells you. The truth of the matter is that the water was only 6 inches deep – it was no miracle.” The young man nodded in disappointment, but kept on reading as the skeptic walked away feeling proud of his victory. Suddenly the young man shouted out, “Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!” The skeptic returned: “What is it this time?” The young Christian excitedly said, “This one is a real miracle, God drowned the whole Egyptian army in 6 inches of water!”
There is no escaping the miracles in the Bible. The God who changes water into wine every day by a slow process, simply chooses here to do so by setting aside the laws of time. That is why C. S. Lewis said, “Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”
In a sense, everything God does since the fall is a miracle. It is a reversal of course we have placed the world on by our sin and rebellion. The wages of sin is death; left to its own fate, the world and everything in it would crash and burn in a sea of sin and suffering. It does not because of God’s promise of redemption.
Since the fall in Genesis 3, God’s people have been taught to look for a Messiah, one chosen by God to provide redemption and restoration. Now he has come. And he proves his claim by changing water to wine. It is a sign, a miracle which points to the power and presence of God. But it is not just any miracle. It is a miracle of gladness.
Any miracle could have proven that Christ is God in human flesh. Jesus chose that which speaks of God’s making his people happy. Marriage and wine – here in the Shadowlands they are signs of God’s favor. One day they will mark a greater reality. One day those who belong to Christ will see him like a bridegroom, coming to his own, and there will be eating and drinking with Jesus in heaven.
Do you believe Jesus when he says, “Behold, I make all things new?”
John 20.30-31: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
4. Conclusion
A settler heading west came to a river that had no bridge. It was winter and the river was frozen, but the man was afraid to trust himself to the ice, because the river was a great one and he had no idea of the thickness. With infinite caution, he crept and crawled, little by little, working slowly and carefully on his hands and knees, until he managed to get halfway over. Suddenly he heard – singing from behind. He cautiously turned, and saw a man riding in a sleigh drawn by two horses, singing as he went! One man knew the ice and went with joy and confidence. The other was unsure and afraid.
This sign is a miracle made to give your faith an object which is good and gracious, loving and kind, caring and joyful.
The messiah is come – “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; he comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found.”
