"Looking for a Sign"
Given on January 14, 2007 at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL (Read by Mrs. Deborah Tucker, Licensed Lay Worship Leader); and at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, IL (Read by Mr. Martin Rowe, Licensed Lay Worship Leader).
Back when I was a boy, I remember vividly watching for my mother to come home after it was dark….The house we lived in had a large picture window that faced south, and if you positioned yourself just right, you could watch the major street that ran north and south, as the cars’ headlights came down the street.
Now way back then, in the old days, the cars all had just two big headlights (I’m dating myself here)….they didn’t have parking lights, or driving lights, or four or more headlights, like they do nowadays. No, just two big headlights.
So it was a challenge, watching the headlights moving north along the street, to see if the headlights we were watching matched the shape of our old car. (Sometimes, the shape of the headlights and the chrome grill made identification a little easier, because the headlights would reflect off the grill.) And, of course, once we thought we had a good match for the appearance of our car, we’d also watch to see if the car turned off onto our street.
So, we were looking for a sign: first, the sign of any car moving north, and then for a car whose headlights matched our car’s, and finally, for a car that would turn onto our street.
Why did we watch so closely? What was the significance of the sign we were looking for? First of all, the headlights meant there was a sign of life on those cold, wintry Nebraska nights….Moving headlights meant there was some sign of activity out in all that cold and darkness. Then, of course, headlights that matched the appearance of our car meant that someone important would be coming home. And, most importantly, once mom was home, the entire house seemed so much more bright and lively. So, we looked eagerly, my sisters and I, peering out the big picture window, looking for the lights that meant good things to us.
Our Gospel reading for today, from John, chapter two, fits very well into the scene I’ve just described from my childhood….for, in the season of Christmas, we’ve greeted the light of Christ as the divine light of God came into the world in Jesus’ birth. And, with the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6th), we have focused on the light of Christ shining out into the world, being made manifest (for that’s what Epiphany essentially means, an appearance, a manifestation), especially to the Gentiles. Jesus’ coming is the light we have eagerly looked for, for our anticipation of His coming is like the Wise Men from the East, who followed the light of the star that announced Jesus’ birth.[1]
As we begin now to move through the Epiphany season, each week we will focus on one aspect of Jesus’ manifestation in the world….Today’s Gospel reading deals with Jesus’ first miracle, in which He turned water into wine at a wedding in the town of Cana.
Today’s reading picks up some themes from the first chapter of John, specifically in verses one through 18….among the themes in today’s reading are the following:
- The creative power of God as we see it in Jesus Christ
- Peoples’ responses to Jesus Christ
- God’s glory, seen by those who witnessed the miracle.
Before we look closely at the passage for today, we would do well to remind ourselves of the importance in John’s writing of the signs that Jesus did, which testify to Jesus’ identity as the only begotten Son of the Father, sent by the Father into the world….Some Bible scholars today nickname the first 60% of John’s gospel account the “Book of Signs”, for in chapters two through 12, we see Jesus performing miracle after miracle, as testimony to Jesus’ power, Jesus’ divine power over creation, disease and death.
So, we begin by looking at the creative power of God, seen in Jesus’ acts…..In John 1: 3, we read that the Word (which is Jesus, John will tell us in chapter one, verse 17) created all that is….John’s words are “through Him all things were made, without him nothing was made that was made.” The implication is that the world and all that is in it was created by “The Word”, which is how Genesis 1: 3 (for example) relates the creation of the world: “and God said, let there be light, and there was light”. By speaking a word, creation came to be.
And so, it is entirely fitting that Jesus’ first miracle involved a demonstration of His power over the created order…by His changing of the water into wine, Jesus is able to change a substance (water) into a new substance (wine). We return to chapter one, and remind ourselves that Jesus is called “The Word” by John. Now, here in chapter two, we see Jesus creating the wine by the power of His word (“do whatever He tells you”, Mary said….John doesn’t actually articulate the words Jesus spoke, but hints at them by relating Mary’s instructions to the attendants).
Secondly, the responses of those who were present at the wedding are critical to John’s purposes in relating this event to us (for John is the only Gospel writer to include this first miracle at Cana in his Gospel account)….We begin with Mary’s actions….though she’s been rebuffed by her son, she knows that Jesus can provide for the needs that are at hand. “Do whatever He tells you”, she says……Notice, too, that the attendants do as Jesus instructs them: they fill the six stone jars with water, and then, they take a sample to the steward of the feast. Their faithfulness in believing Jesus can be seen in their willingness to take a sample of the water to the steward, for filling the jars with water would have been a routine task, required for the events of the wedding, and though we don’t know exactly when the water changed to wine, it wouldn’t have been a routine thing to take a sample of the water to the steward. So, the attendants were faithful and believing…...And, after the miracle has taken place, Jesus’ disciples, who had also been invited to the feast, believed in Him once they had seen His glory, revealed in this first miracle.
The first chapter of John tells us that some would reject Jesus, but others would believe in Him. John narrates the rejection this way: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God…” (John 1: 10 – 12)
Here now, in Cana of Galilee, we see people believing in Jesus’ power, and already, the pattern John establishes in chapter one is coming to pass.
The third aspect of today’s Gospel reading is to show the glory of God in the person and acts of Jesus Christ. John relates to us that the purpose Jesus’ first miracle is to show forth His glory (John 2: 11). As a result, Jesus disciples put their faith in Him.
Let’s return to chapter one, as we read the following words: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1: 14)
Now, Jesus begins to demonstrate the glory He received from the Father, in order that the world might believe in Him.
What lessons might we take away from our reading today? What does John want us “to get” from this event in Cana?
As I consider those questions, I think we might consider the following:
- The Lord we worship and follow still has power over the created order: Wow! We tend to forget just who Jesus is….We tend to think, many times, that He was just a “great teacher”, or a “nice guy”. We try to “domesticate” Jesus, trying to fit Him into a mold of our own making. But John’s Gospel, above all else, stands as witness to Jesus’ identity as the “Word made flesh”, who reveals the Father’s glory. John reminds us of Jesus Christ’s eternal-ness (if I can coin a phrase). John reminds us that the Christ is the one through whom “all things were made” (as the Nicene Creed puts it).
- Our response is critical: What if Jesus’ mother had dropped the matter of there being no wine? What if the attendants had not taken a sample to the steward of the feast? What if the disciples, having seen the glory of the Father, shown in Jesus’ action, had simply shrugged it off? Where would we be today? Most assuredly, we would not be Christians, believers in Christ, would we? No, their faithfulness has a direct link to our faith. So, too, is our response critical, not only to our own ability to become “children of God”, but to those who will follow us in the walk of faith.
- Seeing God’s glory in Jesus Christ: “Making the connections” is what reading Scripture is all about…By reading and coming to an understanding of God’s work in these holy pages, we are asked to come to the place of understanding just what God is doing in Jesus Christ….Near the end of John’s Gospel account, we read (20: 30 – 31) these words: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name.”
Sometimes, I think life is a lot like a cold, wintry night…we eagerly peer through
the window, looking for some sign of light, coming closer to us. For when we see that light and its approach, we know there’s life and hope in a cold and forbidding world. And, as we see the light coming closer to us, and we begin to recognize just who it is who is coming, we begin to understand the importance of that person to us, who is the source of life and light.
Jesus Christ is the Light of the World (John 8: 12), and those who believe in Him, and who follow Him, will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
So, Lord, enable us to see the identity and the glory of your only – begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that by believing in Him, we might have life everlasting.
AMEN.
[1] Matthew 2: 1 – 12 recounts the Wise Men’s search for Jesus.
