2nd Sunday after Epiphany + John 2:1-11 + January 14, 2018

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory.” It is tempting to despise this first miracle of Jesus and think little of it. When we compare this first sign of Jesus to the miracles He would later perform, this one feels different. Healing a leper by touching him, exorcising demons from people, healing a paralytic with just a word, raising Lazarus from the dead, all these seem to be more in line with Jesus’ divine power. It also seems that the need that Jesus meets in this miracle is different from His later miracles. The leper, the demoniac, the paralytic, and the mourning sisters of Lazarus all have dire need of Christ’s help. They struggle against deformity, decay, and death. At this wedding in Cana, the need appears less serious. A man and a woman were married. They are so poor and destitute that they run out of wine during their wedding feast. This is a terrible situation, but it certainly does not seem to be of the same caliber as Jesus’ later signs. But we mustn’t think little of this beginning of Jesus’ signs or imagine that this is simply Jesus’ “warm up” miracle. John specifically points out that this is the “beginning of signs.” You can tell a lot about something by how it begins. By beginning His public ministry with this public sign, Jesus teaches us what we can expect from Him and what He does for us.

Consider Moses and His ministry. Everything you need to know about Moses’ ministry is laid out in His first public miracle as well. He stands on the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. The Nile River was Egypt’s source of life. It was how this ancient civilization managed to thrive in the desert. They irrigated their fields with it. The Nile flooded yearly and saturated the soil. Moses stands there next to it, “lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt” (Exodus 7:20-21). What once gave life now could only bring death. This first public miracle of Moses showed Pharaoh, and the world, that the ministry of Moses would be one of death and condemnation. He condemned the unbelieving Pharaoh and Egyptians. Later, after brining the Israelites our of Egypt’s slavery, Moses would become the Lawgiver, promulgating the Law from Mt. Sinai. In that his ministry was still one of death and condemnation. The Law of Moses condemns those who transgress it. The Law is good and holy, but when the Law is given to sinners it only incites them to sin all the more, as when you tell a child he isn’t to do something, that becomes the thing he wants most to do. The Law was given to show Israel their sin, for St. Paul writes in Galatians 3:22 that “The Scripture has confined all under sin.” The Law’s job is to convict sinners and show them how exceedingly sinful they are. The Law condemns sinners and kills them. This is why Paul calls the Law “the ministry of condemnation” in 2 Corinthians 3.

Turning the Nile into blood is a picture of Moses’ ministry of condemnation. The Law placed Israel in its prison house and still does the same for all humanity in the Ten Commandments. The Law shows us our sins so that we feel God’s wrath against us. This happens especially when we look at the Ten Commandments properly to see them not only as guiding our external behavior but our internal thoughts and motivations as well. The Law demands perfect love for God, so that we trust Him perfectly and joyfully at all times and in all circumstances, even suffering. The Law demands that we love our neighbor in the same way we love ourselves, so that it is not enough simply to not murder and not commit adultery and not steal. The Law legislates more than simply “do no harm.” It mandates perpetual love for neighbor. Many try to escape Moses’ condemnation by imagining the Law only makes an external claim on their actions and not their hearts, but this is only vain presumption. Still others see the depth of the Law and feel God’s condemnation and this leads them to despair because they realize that the Law was not given to earn righteousness and give life. Moses brings only death, condemnation, and sorrow to sinners by his ministry. For as glorious as Moses is, he can still only turn water into blood.

Now consider Jesus and the beginning of signs He did at Cana in Galilee. He is the One of whom Moses said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear” (Deuteronomy 18:15). He is like Moses. But He is far greater than Moses. Jesus stands next to “six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.” Somewhere between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and eighty gallons of water could be stored in these stone vats. It was a lot of water and it was water marked for Moses. It was water set aside for the purification rites of the Mosaic Law. Jesus tells the servants of the feast, “Fill the waterpots with water.” The servants fill them to the brim. He tells them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” He strikes the water with the rod of His mouth, which is His word, and changes water not into undrinkable blood, but wine. And not bottom shelf wine. But the best wine. The choicest wine. David wrote in Psalm 104:15 that God gives “wine that makes glad the heart of man.” Throughout the Old Testament, an abundance of wine is a blessing from God. Yes, it can be abused and often it is, but the abuse of something does not change the fact that God made it to be enjoyed. At the beginning of His ministry, Christ shows how different He is from Moses and how much greater than Moses He is. Moses turns water into blood, bringing death. Jesus turns water into wine, brining life, joy, and gladness. St. John sums it up in John 1:17, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Moses’ ministry condemns and brings death to sinners. Jesus’ ministry brings grace and life. He says this much in Luke 9:56, “The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them.” Moses laid a great burden upon the people, a law by which righteousness could never be attained. Christ removes this burden by living as our substitute under the full force of the Law. As our substitute He lives perfectly. He fulfills every regulation and every statute of Moses and does this with full trust in God His heavenly Father. All of His works for His neighbors flow out of pure love for them, untainted with the selfishness that so often taints our good works. Moses gave the law which shows men their sins so that they repent and look to God for mercy. Christ is God’s mercy to sinners. He earns a perfect righteousness for all mankind by perfectly working of the Law externally as well as from the heart. But He also suffers in His body and soul the pangs of death and all of God’s wrath upon the cross in our place. His life earns a perfect righteousness. His innocent, bitter sufferings and death satisfy all God’s wrath against sinful humanity. His message is not the demands of Moses, “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not.” His message is the sweet sounding news that God is merciful to sinners and does all things for them, so that all who believe in Him and trust Him for mercy receive all that His earned in His life, suffering, and death. Moses gives nothing but expects everything. Christ earns everything you cannot earn and offers it to you in the Gospel, promising you the forgiveness of every sin and His perfect righteousness as your own. All of it is yours not by works, not by doing, not by earning, but by faith.

This is the message that gladdens the hearts of men. Because we are justified by faith, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2). Moses offers no peace with God, only demands which we can never satisfy. Faith connects us to Christ and puts us “in Christ” so that Paul’s words in Romans 8:1 comfort the troubled conscience: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Christ has borne the full condemnation and wrath of God that the Law demands of us due to our sin. How could this not bring us joy? The Law tells us what God demands of us and shows us how far we fall short of God’s glory. The Gospel tells us how Christ fulfilled all the Law’s demands, so that all who believe in Him are credited with His perfect righteousness in God’s sight. The Law tells us that we are sinners and deserving of God’s wrath. The Gospel tells us that Christ has died upon the cross and satisfied every drop of divine wrath against sinners, and invites all men to take refuge in Christ by faith have their sins forgiven! The Law condemns every person for their sin. The Gospel points us to Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. If wine gladdens the hearts of men, how much more should we rejoice and be glad since we know that our sins are taken away through faith in Christ Jesus?

“This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory.” You can tell a lot about how something begins. This beginning of signs is about much more than turning water into wine. This beginning of signs is about far more than coming to the aid of two poor peasants. This beginning of signs is the manifestation of Christ’s glory, the same glory of which John wrote, “we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). When the Law condemns you for your sins, flee to Jesus, for He is given to you in grace. When Moses vexes you because of your sins, confess them to God and seek His mercy for Christ’s sake. Hear and believe those marvelous words, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2). Then rejoice and let these words gladden your heart, for in them you know that you have a God who is for you and not against you. In thanksgiving, strive to live the Ten Commandments, externally as well as internally with love in your heart. But do not let Moses rule your conscience. He has no place there. He is the one who turns water into blood. You, dearly beloved, belong not to Moses, but to the One greater than Moses who turns water into wine and brings forgiveness, peace, joy and gladness. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.