Sermon for 2nd Sunday of Epiphany – The First Sign preached at the Eucharist, Sherborne Abbey on Sunday, 19 January 2025 by The Reverend Robert Green (Isaiah Ch 62: v 1 – 5; John Ch 2: v 1 – 11).
I would like to begin on a personal note as today would have been my wife’s birthday, and it is rather special that we have just heard about a wedding in our Gospel reading.
The changing of water into wine at a wedding in Cana in Galilee is described by John as the first of Jesus’ signs revealing His glory. Not only is it a straightforward account of a Jewish wedding, but many of the details are full of symbolism. Right at the outset we are told it was the “third day”. Immediately we are reminded of the Resurrection which took place on the “third day”. Our faith is only possible because Jesus rose from the dead. Once we are prepared to see these symbolic references in the story, the whole account has so much more meaning. Jesus’s mother is there- she is not named- and the disciples have been invited. Could this be a reference to the Church? Mary appears to have some involvement. Is this in fact a relative’s wedding? Cana is not far from Nazareth. Then there is a catastrophe. The wine runs out. What a humiliation! Can you imagine what a social disaster this is? Mary tells Jesus that they have no wine with clearly the expectation that Jesus could do something about the situation. Jesus’s response appears to be rather abrupt and not very kind, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me”, and translators have wrestled with an interpretation of his answer, It is something like: “Lady, let me handle this in my own way. My hour has not yet come”, and yet despite this rather off-hand reply, Mary’s response is to instruct the servants: “Do whatever he tells you”. Already Mary is recognising Jesus’s authority.
Isn’t it interesting that the first ‘sign’ that St. John records in his Gospel is a wedding in a Jewish village. Yes, there is a miraculous element in the account, but here we are in the midst of great celebrations in a village community. Whatever quantity of wine was originally provided was not enough, perhaps there were more guests than was expected, and as the text tells us the guests were by this time possibly ‘a bit worse for wear’. What a way to start a ministry!
But let’s get back to what happened next. There were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, that is for washing hands and feet, and the cleaning of utensils, and by this time a quantity of this water had been used. Notice the number of water jars, one short of the perfect number seven. Numbers in St. John’s Gospel are often symbolic, as in the 153 fish caught in one of the Resurrection appearances, so is not this imperfect number 6, a possible reference to the ultimate inadequacy of Judaism? These jars were not small. Each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus tells the servants to fill them up to the brim, and draw out some to take to the chief steward. When he tasted the water that had become wine, he was very impressed for the wine was not some inferior batch, but of the very best. We now have somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of wine! Or if you prefer between 540 and 810 litres! Now I like my wine very much, but there is a limit. What are we to make of this? Once again there are two points to make about this detail in the story. First, the wine was of the very best, and secondly there was abundantly more than enough. The deeper meaning is that once Jesus comes into life, there comes a new quality which is like turning water into wine. Without Jesus life is dull, stale and flat; when Jesus comes into our lives, life becomes vivid, sparkling and exciting. Without Jesus life is drab and uninteresting; with Jesus, life is thrilling, wonderful and exhilarating. No wonder after this experience the disciples believed in him.
Finally let us pause to reflect on God’s choice of weddings and wine as signs of glory. When we leave this abbey this morning, would people mistake us for wedding guests? For party-goers? Why not? Did we ’do whatever he tells us? Did we see his glory and believe?