This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder John 2:1-11. The English Standard Version extends the cluster to include verse 12 and supplies it with the heading “The Wedding at Cana.”
The title is descriptive, not theological. But, as I’ve said in several earlier columns, John is a theologian.[1] He wrote his gospel to teach us how to get better value from the writings of his Christian contemporaries.
In today’s passage, John tells us Jesus, his mother, and his disciples went to a wedding banquet, perhaps in his mother’s extended family. There wasn’t enough wine. Jesus’ mother pointed this out to him. He seemed annoyed. But she knew he would do something. She told the servants to do whatever he told them. He pointed them to six huge water jars which were used by the Jews for ritual washing. He told them to fill the jars with water. He told them to take some out and serve it to the emcee. The emcee declared that it was excellent wine.
What theological truths, what truths about the nature of God, does John wish us to learn from his story?
Reflecting on this passage, Bible scholar Thomas Brodie wryly wrote:
“Jesus didn’t turn water into vinegar at a funeral.”
His point is that John deliberately chose a joyful occasion to introduce Jesus’ first public speech, act, and sign.
In 1525, Martin Luther published a 5,000-word sermon[2] about today’s passage.[3] In it, he says that since the emcee said the better wine should’ve been served first, it’s likely that people drank too much at banquets. He then makes a pointed remark. He says:
“Christ allows [worries about drunkenness] to pass, and we likewise should let it pass and not make it a matter of conscience. They were not of the devil, even if a few drank of the wine a little beyond what thirst required, and became merry; else you would have to blame Christ for being the cause by means of his presence, and his mother by asking for it; so that both Christ and his mother are sinners in this – if the sour-visaged saints are to render judgment.” (Link)
Now, I’ll move on to consider Jesus’ first response to his mother. He said to her, “My hour has not yet come.” Why did he say that?
In John, unlike in the other gospels, Jesus spends most of his time in Jerusalem and Judea. But the wedding is in Galilee. Perhaps Jesus thought he should wait till he got into Judea to begin doing signs.
John structures his gospel around “the hour.”[4] He often has Jesus saying, “the hour is not yet” or “the hour is coming” or “the hour has come.”
John also often describes things as signs. In a footnote, I’ve listed seven things John describes as signs.[5]
How is Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding a sign? Over the years, there’ve been dozens of suggestions. I’ll just recount five which I think are plausible.
First, the time of purity through ritual washings is over. What is needed is an infilling. What is needed is wine. Jesus supplies it. Jesus supplies the best wine, in the best setting. To refresh, to bring joy, to bring rest. Jesus supplies it for free. All you need to do is ask and obey.
Second, when Jesus turned the water into wine, he did what God does all the time. Bible scholar Andreas Kostenberger reminds us of what Saint Augustine wrote centuries ago:
“He who made the wine at this wedding does the same thing every year in the vines. As the water which the servants put into the water-pots was turned into wine by the Lord, so that which the clouds pour down is turned into wine by the same Lord.”
Third, perhaps the true miracles are the faith of Jesus’ mother that Jesus would do something, and the faith of the servants who dared to do what Jesus told them to. Imagine the risk they took, bringing what they knew to be mere water and presenting it to the emcee as wine.
Fourth, the sign shows the power of words spoken by the Word of God. This is why I titled this column “The Word speaks words and wine comes into being.” Bible scholar Francis J Moloney brings this out powerfully:
“The importance of the ‘word’ of Jesus emerges … The narrative depends on a series of encounters … where all that happens is the result of a ‘word’” (cf. vv. 3, 4, 5, 7-8, 10).
As the Prophet Isaiah put it long ago, God’s word will not return to him without accomplishing the purpose for which he sent it.[6]
Fifth, there’s a powerful link between “the hour” and “the wine.” Bible scholar R H Lightfoot captures it beautifully:
“… the hour [– which is not yet – is the moment] when He will give the true wine, i.e. unite men indissolubly with Him through His self-consecration in the passion (I7:I9-23), the hour of His glorification (13:31,32; 17:5) and of the dispensation of the Spirit (7:39).”
The hour is the crucifixion. It was no accident. It was no illusion. It was real. Next to the birth of Jesus, it’s the most important event in history. The cross is the throne of our King, who calls the shots. Our centre.
I conclude with this thought.
For centuries, Christians persecuted Jews.[7] Because they said Jews were responsible for putting Jesus to death, despite all the prophecies he fulfilled, and all the miracles he did. And because even after Jesus rose up from the dead, Jews refused to become Christians.
After the holocaust – in which the Nazis under Hitler killed over six million Jews – we are painfully aware of all the evils done to Jews. We are sorrowful over what our Christian ancestors did. I even wrote a column about it, titled Hypocrisy, meaning, and the special calling of Lutherans.
But should that shameful, painful, truth cause us to reject the message of the New Testament, written mostly by Jews, that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is the new wine?
I think not.
Peace be with you.
[1] Most recently, in What’s the meaning of “the Word became Flesh”?
[2] “Luther was a preaching machine. He preached an estimated 4,000 sermons in his lifetime, of which we have approximately 2,300 of those sermons preserved today.” (Link)
[3] Luther would rant against Pope Francis’ recent remark that a sermon or “homily,” should be no longer than eight minutes. See Pope Francis tells priests to keep homilies short as ‘people fall asleep’. (Guardian, 12 June 2024.)
[4] In addition to “signs” and “I AM” sayings.
[5]Jesus turned water into wine (John 2:1–12); long-distance healed a nobleman’s son (John 4:46–54); healed a long-disabled man at a pool (John 5:1–11); fed more than 5,000 people (John 6:1–15); walked on water (John 6:16–21); healed a man born blind (John 9:1–12); raised Lazarus after he’d been dead for 3 days (John 11).
[6] Isaiah 55:11.
[7] Martin Luther was a part of this. In my column Did the reformation succeed in the city where it began? I wrote about the Juden Sow, a depiction in stone on the church building in Wittenberg where Luther preached hundreds of sermons. It depicts a rabbi lifting the tail of a sow and two Jewish children suckling on the teats. Luther praised the depiction.
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