Jesus Wine is a Foretaste
John 2:1-12
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text for this morning comes from the Gospel lesson. There is a wedding feast. Jesus, Mary, and his disciples have been invited to join in the celebration of one man and one woman being join together. They make the pledge to love, honor, cherish, and respect one another. We love to be able to go and celebrate this wonderful mystery of the two becoming one flesh.
We also know how much time it takes to plan a wedding. We know all the little details that have to be made just right for a wedding. There is decorating the church. There is outlining the service and the music. There is even the reception that follows. Then you have the clothing and the food. Yes, you even have to plan how much wine there is. All the things that go into this celebration. There is much expense and much effort put into all the details.
Everything is supposed to planned out. Now take all that planning and preparation not just for the hour long service and the three to five hour reception, but over the course of an entire week. There has to be food and wine for these people to come and celebrate the two becoming one flesh for an entire week. The guests do not go home after the toast or dance is over. It is not a small group that gets together later to help open presents, but the entire village, community, and extended family remain.
You have to provide not just one festive meal, but three meals per day over the course of a week. This is not even counting the additional snacks and hors-d’oeuvres that one might add. It is a full week of celebration. And you definitely do not want to run out of food or wine.
This is where we get to our text. The feast is starting to run out of wine. This wedding feast is starting to lack some of the necessities that make up a feast. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” She turns to Jesus, because she knows that he can do something to solve this problem.
And Jesus said to Mary, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus does not see this as his problem to solve. He did not come into the world in order to provide wine at a simple feast, or wedding banquet. Jesus comes to die for the forgiveness of sins, and it is not time for him to die yet. Yet, Mary said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
And the servants listen to her, even though she is just another invited guest and so is Jesus. These servants of the feast are going to do whatever Jesus tells them. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the [purification] jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
These jars are used for people to be purified. These are the jars that would traditionally be filled with water. The water from these Jars would then be used to preform baptisms. They would use them to cleanse their body of dirt, as well as make people ceremonially clean. Jesus tells them to fill the Jars, and the servants do it. They do not ask why, or even wonder what must come next.
Mary tells Jesus to do something and Jesus honors his mother and does it. The servants are told to do something, and they do not ask why or for what purpose, they just do it. You have been told to do a lot of things, and yet we continue to ask why.
Why must we go to Church? Why should I honor my parents? Why should I obey the government? Why shouldn’t I commit sexual immorality? What is so wrong about homosexuality? Why can’t I have sex before marriage? Why is it so important that I not talk about my neighbor, even if I am telling the truth? Why shouldn’t I hurt or harm is reputation? If he didn’t want me to tell everyone, he shouldn’t have done it.
It is not our duty to ask why, it is our duty to obey. We are called to obey the master of the feast. We are to listen to the commandments of our heavenly father. We are to listen to the words of Jesus. And when then servants listen to Jesus and obey what he tells them. They take what they have drawn from the jars and serve it to the master of the feast.
The master of the feast goes to the bridegroom and complains. He tells him, “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.”
We are called to obey. We are called to bring forth wine, but the wine that we bring forth is lacking. The wine we produce is poor wine at best. All our good works and acts of love and devotion are but weak wine. But Jesus produces the best wine.
This wedding comes to join two individuals together to become one flesh. They are called to love each other, but Jesus shows the greatest love. There is no greater love than this that one would lay down his life for another. Jesus sacrifices himself for his bride. He pours out his very blood for her. Jesus washes her with that blood for her purification. He has washed you in his blood in the waters of baptism.
Similarly, he pours out his blood for you to drink. There may be Mogen David or whatever wine on the altar now, but Jesus pours out his very blood for you to drink. He offers that as a foretaste of the feast to come.
Here in the purification jars, Jesus has offered to them the foretaste of the feast to come. He offers them wine that is like none other. This is not wine produced by sinful flesh, in order to be consumed for intoxication. The very blood of Christ is shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.
When you are lacking, or out of wine, When you are bringing forth your best, which is still weak, poor, or miserable wine, Jesus still brings the best. Jesus shows up at this wedding feast to bless it with a foretaste of the feast to come. He likewise offers you that same foretaste, as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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