January 17, 2010 — Second Sunday after the Epiphany
“No Concern is too Small for God” — Vicar Mankin
Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download. (Right Click)
Grace, Mercy and Peace be unto you from our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our sermon text for today is from the gospel of John which was previously read.
Our lesson is on one of the most famous weddings in human history and we don’t even know the name of the bride or the groom. We only know the name of two guests on the guest list and that the catering wasn’t all that well planned out. It sounds like this wedding needs help, in fact it sounds like they could use a miracle. Thank God they got one. The word miracle is used a lot today. Slogans like, “This product is a miracle of the modern age.” are thrown around all of the time. But what comes to a Christian’s mind when we say, “it’s a miracle”. Do we think of a healing, someone being raised from the dead, or maybe even a river being parted? Turning water into wine so that some obscure couple in the 1st century wouldn’t be embarrassed doesn’t leap to the forefront of my mind. Yet there is more to this wedding account (that is only found in John) than meets the eye. It shows us that,
NO CONCERN IS TOO SMALL FOR GOD.
How often do we think our problems are too small to “bother” God? It’s hard think of ourselves or friends or family when we think God should have His mind of bigger problems like the tragedy unfolding in Haiti. Our concerns in this life are simply too small for God to bother with. This type of thinking can lead to a pretty small God. But our God is not small, He is big beyond comprehension and He cares about every aspect of our lives. Luke tells us “But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Luke 12:7a) Mary, Jesus’ mother, understood that God cares about every aspect of our lives. In fact her faith in Jesus almost seems belligerent. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John2:2-5) The wine ran out, so what? Serves them right they should have planned better. Thankfully, this wasn’t Jesus reaction, His reaction was more loving than mine. He replied to her request, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” (By the way “woman” was not a term of disrespect, in Jewish culture.) Jesus was concerned for the Bride and Groom, after all He had come to the celebration of their marriage, but He was also concerned about accomplishing things in their proper time, in accordance with the will of His Father. Yet Mary was undeterred by His words and in what appears to be an almost overzealous display of confidence tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” We know that when we pray to God we can receive one of three answers, yes, no, or wait. Thankfully Jesus who could not, by His nature, break the commandments and honored His mother’s request, despite His objections. This must have been an awkward spot for Jesus to be in, He wanted to honor His mother but He also had to do the will of His Heavenly Father. However I don’t think that Marry was necessarily being out-of-line, I think she just knew her son. After all she had raised Him for 30 years; she knew how compassionate and loving He was. God became man because He had compassion for us, this miracle would have been in keeping with that compassion and love. Jesus cares about every detail of our life. He didn’t want this couple to be embarrassed at their wedding.
It is only fitting that the first recorded miracle of Jesus’ public ministry would be at a wedding. The Word (The same Word who came into the flesh as Jesus) announced Adam and Eve husband and wife at the first wedding. Earthly weddings are a symbol of that more profound mystical union between Jesus and His bride, the Church. Christ is present at every Christian wedding. And He cares about every aspect of our lives. No detail is too small. And how did Jesus provide for this couple in need? He gave them a 3 dollar bottle of wine He picked up at the gas station and headed home. Of course not! He provided for them in abundance, six giant stone jars, that we believe held about 30 gallons of water each, that’s 180 gallons of wine. Wedding feasts in those days often would last a week, guest would come and expected to be provided for, for days. Jesus turned a huge quantity of water into wine, and not into poor or cheap wine but we know that from the master of the feast it was the good wine, the best wine. (By the way what does this say about the use of grape juice for communion?) Jesus provided for them in quantity and quality. And He did all of this right before the eyes of the grooms servants. He took ordinary water and made it extraordinary in abundance and in quality. No detail is too small for Jesus to care about in a big way and He is still caring for us every day. He gives us life in abundance.
Jesus, our bridegroom, orders His servants to bring ordinary water, and bread and wine that through His words are turned into the extraordinary forgiveness of sins in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And through these acts we are incorporated in to the Church to be His bride. It is a miracle each time it happens. And Christ preforms this miracle over and over not out of obligation or duty but out of compassion and love. He does it for His bride while rejoicing. In our Old Testament lesson we heard, “For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall you God rejoice over you.” (Is. 62:5) Through the miracle of the sacraments Jesus is richly providing for us in abundance and quality. He is maintaining us and making us holy. So that on our wedding day, when Christ returns to claim us has His bride, we will not suffer embarrassment, we will not be found wanting. Jesus is so richly providing for us in quantity and quality, that when our works, our fruits, are found lacking and that when pressed are found to be nothing but water. Jesus will turn them into the best wine, so that when the master of the feast tastes them he too will proclaim to the bridegroom that this is the best wine. It is only through Jesus that we may produce good fruit. St. Paul tells us in Ephesians, Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Eph. 5:25-27)Christ is providing for our marriage feast in heaven.
Earthly marriage is but a mere representation of a heavenly spiritual reality. And like when a young couple decides to wed the two begin to prepare for the feast. They scrimp and save and sacrifice so that they might bring forth their best to share with their friends and family so that their joyous union may be celebrated. The Church and Christ are also preparing for that joyous day when all of creation might share in our joy of becoming part of God’s family. But we are a poor bride, we have no wealth to bring, we have no dowry to give, the only thing we have to offer is that for some miraculous reason when Jesus looks at us he finds something beautiful. Not something beautiful about us but something beautiful in what we can become. We are like a lump of coal being formed into a diamond. Jesus looks at us and sees past our ugly black sin that leaves its filth on all that it touches, we are a dirty black rock that deserves to be tossed in a fire and consumed. But when Jesus looks at us He sees the most beautiful and precious diamond. Through the quantity and quality of His love and compassion we are being compressed and reformed into His beautiful bride. We are being made perfect in every aspect no detail is too small. Our Bridegroom cares about every need of His bride. He wants to know our hurts and our wants. He is the perfect fiancé; he cares about every aspect of our lives. When we have doubts no matter how small, He wants to hear about it and to reassure us of His love. When we have needs he wants to provide for us. When we make mistakes and take our focus off of Him all we have to do is ask for forgiveness and He will freely give it. His grace is in such quantity and of such quality it is truly humbling. We are more precious to Him than His own life, He laid down His life for His bride, so that we might be redeemed.
So be of good cheer no matter what your problem in life may be no matter if your sin is small or great Jesus cares. And not only does He care he is the only one who can do something about it. If He can turn water into wine, He can turn we sinners into His bride. Amen.
