A sermon on John 2:1-11 for the Second Sunday after Epiphany. Delivered by Pastor Caleb Strutz.

As we continue on our Epiphany journey, the first three events we’ve come across this Epiphany season are all closely related. Some of our hymns last week and this week tied together and juxtaposed the visit of the magi, the baptism of Jesus, and the water turned to wine. These three events are kind of the basics of the Epiphany season. But of these three, the one we see today, the water turned to wine, definitely seems the odd one out. It doesn’t seem like it’s as big of a deal, it doesn’t have the same great significance. But we see in our final verse why this event belongs in Epiphany. By this miracle, Jesus “manifested His glory,” that “manifest” is that word Epiphany. Jesus begins doing miracles with something a little more low stakes, the wedding at Cana isn’t earth-shatteringly important. But we see that the Messiah is manifested even in minutia, even in the small details, and that in spite of human meddling, Christ’s concerns are fulfilled.

I. Human Meddling

Most miracle accounts are pretty straightforward, pretty easy. There’s a problem, Jesus solves it, hooray. But this one in particular presents a number of difficulties. To get maybe the most obvious one out of the way first, what is Jesus doing providing 120 to 180 gallons of wine for a party? We’re not teetotalers, but that seems a little excessive.

There’s a couple of things to keep in mind here. Water wasn’t usually sanitary for drinking, so wine was the default beverage. And Jewish weddings could last up to a week, and this couple seems pretty well off because they have stone jars instead of clay and some servants so there’s probably a decent number of people here. Plus there’s nothing saying they drank it all at the wedding, many commentators will talk about this abundance of wine as Jesus’ wedding gift to this couple that they could sell or use later.

From the master of the feast’s comment, we shouldn’t assume that people are getting drunk. He’s describing what’s generally the case, and the whole point of that statement is that things are different at this wedding. There’s no reason to assume that this wine was doing anything else than “mak[ing] glad the heart of man,” as Psalm 104:15 says. Alcohol definitely has a salutary, beneficial use.

And, of course, bigger picture here, it would be ridiculous to think that Jesus would allow this miraculous gift to be used for evil. Jesus isn’t going to let the cup that He gives cause any harm.

The bigger difficulty, I think, is in Jesus’ dialogue with His mother. It reads really harsh and jarring. But we have to remember that it’s hard to read tone in a written text and difficult to completely capture certain idioms in translation.

It seems like Mary’s coming from a good place. She’s obviously more than just a guest, she’s really close to this family and privy to what’s going on behind the scenes. So she has a problem and she turns to Jesus, that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do. So why is Jesus so off-putting here?

Part of it has to do with how we interpret these words or imagine how they were said. “Woman,” seems pretty harsh to us, but Jesus also speaks to Mary on the cross, “Woman, behold your son!” (Jn 19:26). “Woman” seems to be the normal way for Jesus to address women in His ministry, so it’s not harsh. But it’s not particularly endearing either, it’s a little odd for a man to address his mother this way, there’s a bit of distance and formality.

And when He says, “what does your concern have to do with Me?” this is a Hebrew idiom written in Greek that’s hard to capture in English. He isn’t saying, “Pfft, not my problem.” It’s not that harsh. And He obviously goes on to do something about it. But there is a bit of a rebuke.

Jesus isn’t just Mary’s Son anymore. He’s left home, been baptized by John, and started gathering disciples. His relationship with His mother has changed. Yes, He’s still her Son, but He’s also the Messiah, and that office is not bound to this relationship. Her concerns aren’t necessarily His anymore.

It’s pretty clear that Mary is expecting a miracle. Not that that’s a bad thing, but she doesn’t have that kind of say. She doesn’t get to decide when or how that happens. The Christ has His own concerns, His own timeline that will not be dictated to.

And here’s where we find ourselves so often, trying to interfere with the work of God. So often we look around at what’s happening in the church, in the world, in our personal lives and we’re not happy with the job that God’s doing. We think He should be doing things differently.

We’re unsatisfied with God’s plan. Why does it involve so much hardship and suffering? Why does it involve so much weakness and sacrifice? If I was in charge, I’d be doing things differently.

That’s not to say that’s what Mary’s doing, she’s doing it a lot better than we are. She’s concerned primarily about others, she trusts that Jesus can and will help and clings to that even after this slight rebuke. How often do we only look out for ourselves? Doubt the plan in its entirety? Turn away when we are corrected? We try to meddle in the plans of God and only expose our unbelief.

II. Christ’s Concerns

The difficulties with this text don’t stop there. Why does Jesus say, “My hour has not yet come,” and then immediately go on to do something about it? I think the clearest answer is that they’re not entirely out of wine yet.

Our translation says “they ran out,” but the Greek could maybe be phrased a bit more accurately that they were running out, getting close, but not bone dry just yet. Jesus’ hour to manifest His glory would come and it would come soon, just “not yet,” and Mary clings on to that. Jesus is waiting for His timeline. He’s going to provide but when there’s an actual need, not just a predicted or forecasted need.

And even though Jesus does provide the wine, He does help them out, it’s clear that His primary concerns lie elsewhere. Mary’s concerned about how this party’s going to go and sparing the newlyweds embarrassment. Jesus is concerned about manifesting His glory to His disciples to increase their faith in Him.

And this is the case with all the miracles. Jesus sees a human need and meets that need and has mercy and pours out blessing, but that always fits in to the bigger picture. It always takes Him one step further down the plan of salvation.

The first “hour” of Jesus’ ministry begins here with His first miracle. But He’s always looking forward to His final hour. As He predicts His death, He says “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified” (Jn 12:23). As He prays in Gethsemane, He says, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You” (Jn 17:1-2).

Jesus’ ministry is one of manifesting His glory. And He does that in miracles. But He does that most of all in His death. It doesn’t look like it. It looks like weakness and defeat. Certainly not a plan a human would have come up with. But on the cross, in His final hours, we see the manifestation of His glory.

Here is where we see not only His power, but His mercy. We see His power in willingly submitting Himself to death so that He may manifest His mercy. Through Jesus’ suffering and death, your sins are forgiven. Your meddling is pardoned. God’s plan is accomplished. By forgiving sinners, He glorifies Himself. By showing grace, He manifests His glory.

So we see how Jesus gets involved in the nitty gritty for a greater purpose. He endures suffering and death, He submits Himself to the cross to forgive our sins and glorify Himself. But not just on the big scale, on the small scale. He gets involved in a wedding and supplies more wine and spares them embarrassment to manifest His glory. And this is a helpful corrective to our meddling.

We shouldn’t be afraid to bring any and every request to God, no matter how big or how small, Jesus has shown care and willingness to get involved. But this can’t come from a place of pride—that we somehow know better—or a place of doubt—that we think God is currently doing something wrong. But we turn to Him in faith and hope, we cling to His promises, and always pray, “not my will, but Yours, be done” (Lk 22:42). And we trust that His will will be done, but on His timeframe. The hour will come, just maybe not yet. Jesus meets the need when the need arises, not when we’re worried about what might happen. But Jesus gets involved, even in the little stuff. He cares and shows compassion. And He does so to manifest His glory, that we believe in Him. Amen.