Text: John 2:1-11
Facebook live: If Christ is involved, it’s always good!
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
A wedding can be a wonderful and joyful time. Man and woman, joined in holy matrimony with family and friends together celebrating this blessed event.
If you’ve been involved in planning a wedding, the details at times can seem overwhelming.
If everything goes well, it can be remembered with fondness. If not, the incident involved can have short term or even long-term effects.
In our Gospel lesson for today we hear of an - incident at a wedding; One that our Lord’s mother Mary attended. We also learn that Jesus was invited and with His disciples as well.
This could have been quite a large affair for Cana of Galilee and Jesus and His disciples themselves might have been a sizeable group.
Now at some point Mary makes the statement:
“They have no wine.”
Now this might have been a result of poor planning on the part of the host or just possibly inviting too many guests but none the less … no wine.
Mary, the mother of our Lord calls out a need to Jesus. Maybe she had some hand in the preparations, or was close friends with the family. But at some point, and in some way, she knows of the problem that they face.
Mary presents the problem to Jesus. It’s a prayer of lament.
“They have no wine.”
It’s been quite some time since that 12-year-old boy of hers had stayed behind in Jerusalem as the family traveled home following the feast of the Passover and Mary - treasured up in her heart even what the angel’s visitation had said concerning her son.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:32-33
“and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
It is a call, it is a lament, in prayer, from the mother of our Lord, knowing that whatever the problem, if Jesus is involved, he can do all that is needed and what is asked for according to his will.
Jesus came for those in need. He came to fill the need of those left in bondage to sin.
So, what comes next may sound and short, unloving, and harsh coming from the mouth of our Lord to his mother Mary:
“Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
Mary was maybe going beyond her responsibility as both a guest and friend at this wedding and … we might assume that it wasn’t her responsibility to fill the needs of the wedding’s host.
But there was a problem and it may have just been a lament in what seemed hopeless to the one where hope abides and abounds
Jesus asks the question …
“Woman, what does this have to do with me,
His words, though rebuking, really are asking Mary:
“What do you and I have to do with this?”
But we can know:
If Christ is involved, it’s always good!
You and I also come to our Lord in prayer, lamenting the problems of our life, not having a solution, and praying that the Lord will intervene for our benefit.
Other times we don’t come to the Lord at all because we think, “This isn't important, or God doesn't need to be bothered with my petty concerns.”
Too often those who need God the most, and are in needful situations, fail to think of Him or - ask for Him at all.
At times, we Pastors who are in the business of bringing God’s care and comfort to those in need are often the last to know of a member, in the hospital or those having brokenness in the home or other concerns in this life.
Sometimes we are not even asked to help, not called upon … and not involved.
5 [Jesus’] mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
What if we regarded the word of God with such faith?
The working of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the everyday lives of his people brings salvation and peace. Mary knew to trust in what He would say and do.
The jars used for purification rites and ceremonial washings in Jewish life were large and it’s not very important the number or the size. They were all filled to the brim. What God fills anew leaves no room for what was before.
The miracle was certainly evident to all involved.
The servants, who gathered the water to the brim as it were, knew what they had put in those jars and those who had tasted the water turned into wine knew as the master of the feast exclaimed:
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
Just as Jesus does with the means of grace where He dispenses his gifts to us through the common things of water and word, bread and wine; and in our lesson today:
He uses common servants - to fill common jars - with simple common water - to this common wedding where man is joined to woman and where God, through this blessed union of husband and wife, fills His creation with His children whom He came to redeem.
God, in Christ, has brought the peace that passes all human understanding to you too through the simple common element of water connected to His word of promise.
He has washed you clean, not with a washing that cleanses, for a time, but through the transforming bath in baptism - takes away the sins of the world for eternity!
You are clean! You are washed! You are forgiven!
You will be His forever, because you are that new wine in Him that is poured forth daily - by faith - as you remember all that He has done for you.
If Christ can turn the common water into the miraculous wine of our wedding story in Cana, He can also turn filthy sinners into washed saints through His word of promise in and through Baptism.
Jesus also will refresh us with His body and blood given for you in the sacrament of the Altar feeding us, sustaining us, and renewing our faith in his blessed work.
Whether the miraculous transformation of the water filled jugs into the finest wine served at the wedding in Cana or the blessed body and blood of our Lord in, with and under the bread and wine offered here - if Jesus Christ, is involved it’s always good!
He is the one who will never leave you but will sustain you through the trials of this world promising you, life eternal in his name where the comfort and peace of a home in His house is secured by the gift of faith in his blood shed for you!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
It is a call, it is a lament, in prayer, from the mother of our Lord, knowing that whatever the problem, if Jesus is involved, he can do all that is needed and what is asked for according to his will.
Jesus came for those in need. He came to fill the need of those left in bondage to sin.
So, what comes next may sound and short, unloving, and harsh coming from the mouth of our Lord to his mother Mary:
“Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
Mary was maybe going beyond her responsibility as both a guest and friend at this wedding and … we might assume that it wasn’t her responsibility to fill the needs of the wedding’s host.
But there was a problem and it may have just been a lament in what seemed hopeless to the one where hope abides and abounds
Jesus asks the question …
“Woman, what does this have to do with me,
His words, though rebuking, really are asking Mary:
“What do you and I have to do with this?”
But we can know:
If Christ is involved, it’s always good!
You and I also come to our Lord in prayer, lamenting the problems of our life, not having a solution, and praying that the Lord will intervene for our benefit.
Other times we don’t come to the Lord at all because we think, “This isn't important, or God doesn't need to be bothered with my petty concerns.”
Too often those who need God the most, and are in needful situations, fail to think of Him or - ask for Him at all.
At times, we Pastors who are in the business of bringing God’s care and comfort to those in need are often the last to know of a member, in the hospital or those having brokenness in the home or other concerns in this life.
Sometimes we are not even asked to help, not called upon … and not involved.
5 [Jesus’] mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
What if we regarded the word of God with such faith?
The working of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the everyday lives of his people brings salvation and peace. Mary knew to trust in what He would say and do.
The jars used for purification rites and ceremonial washings in Jewish life were large and it’s not very important the number or the size. They were all filled to the brim. What God fills anew leaves no room for what was before.
The miracle was certainly evident to all involved.
The servants, who gathered the water to the brim as it were, knew what they had put in those jars and those who had tasted the water turned into wine knew as the master of the feast exclaimed:
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
Just as Jesus does with the means of grace where He dispenses his gifts to us through the common things of water and word, bread and wine; and in our lesson today:
He uses common servants - to fill common jars - with simple common water - to this common wedding where man is joined to woman and where God, through this blessed union of husband and wife, fills His creation with His children whom He came to redeem.
God, in Christ, has brought the peace that passes all human understanding to you too through the simple common element of water connected to His word of promise.
He has washed you clean, not with a washing that cleanses, for a time, but through the transforming bath in baptism - takes away the sins of the world for eternity!
You are clean! You are washed! You are forgiven!
You will be His forever, because you are that new wine in Him that is poured forth daily - by faith - as you remember all that He has done for you.
If Christ can turn the common water into the miraculous wine of our wedding story in Cana, He can also turn filthy sinners into washed saints through His word of promise in and through Baptism.
Jesus also will refresh us with His body and blood given for you in the sacrament of the Altar feeding us, sustaining us, and renewing our faith in his blessed work.
Whether the miraculous transformation of the water filled jugs into the finest wine served at the wedding in Cana or the blessed body and blood of our Lord in, with and under the bread and wine offered here - if Jesus Christ, is involved it’s always good!
He is the one who will never leave you but will sustain you through the trials of this world promising you, life eternal in his name where the comfort and peace of a home in His house is secured by the gift of faith in his blood shed for you!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
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