Lack [Epiphany 2; St. John 2:1-11]

Jesus speaks to you, today, revealing His will and desire for your life, even as He says,

“When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’”

Now I am going to do one of the things I said I would never do in a sermon. I am going to run with an analogy. The analogy here is that the wedding has run out of wine; boo-hoo.

As pithy and ridiculous a problem as this seems, I am going to extrapolate. Not only is this wedding feast out of wine, but they are severely lacking in it. A necessary component of a wedding party is not there and when you knock the keystone out of an archway, the arch falls down.

This lack, the human nature possess. The keystone; the image of God GIVEN in Creation, is not there. In your sin, you do not have a leg to stand on. Thus, your life and everything in it is crumbling apart.

For today, we will stick with the strength of man and how it is crumbling. (I said I was extrapolating). Among the things which humans lack, is the Image of God, lost in the Fall into Sin and now passed down from parent to child. This corruption of your very DNA, inhibits any and all basic goodness you try to enact upon the world.

As St. Paul says,

“For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”(Rom7:19)

You see this in the sad estate of marriage. First of all, even in Jesus’ time, a man could not even keep his wife from adultery. Thus, he makes the excuse of divorce. In our time, this still happens, but we are so weak that now it is the law of the land. Before, it was for infidelity, but now it is for any and every reason imaginable.

Another example, in their own failure at keeping their children safe, the families of Newtown, CT have filed two lawsuits: one against the school and one against the firearm company who made the gun that shot up the school. As if those children deserved any worse, their parents are too weak to take responsibility and so they sue, sue, sue. What they miss is that its not just one person or company that’s to blame; everyone is.

And the list goes on. Any and every excuse you can think of, gets you out of your responsibility, because you are lacking. You are lacking in strength, among other things, and so your love for God and others has failed.

Thus, in your lack, you attempt to make up for it either by substitution or misdirection. You are not strong enough to continue to love your children, so you place other people in charge of them. You do not have what it takes to continue to be a husband, no matter what, so you blame others for your failures.

Repent. This severe lack corrupts your entire being and everyone else’s as well. However, it is not just something that can be magiked away. You can not just make a law or pass a judgment to cover it up neither can you work at to get better.

No, this wedding at Cana was in dire straights, as all weddings are. One night of happiness and then a lifetime of failures. Jesus was a part of the celebration, telling us that marriage is something to celebrate and that we should be glad.

But, Jesus was also a part of the lack. In fact, He took on the form of a servant; the form of one lacking. He was born of a virgin and made man. Thus, this lack in you, Jesus takes upon Himself. As God’s Son, He was:

“…born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Gal.4)

Being born and baptized to fulfill all righteousness, Christ comes to serve us His holy redemption, in that He buys us back from this corruption within us. All of our sin, all of our failures, all of our weakness is His and He makes His way to the cross to destroy it forever.

This is the great Epiphany. That Jesus is doing something new; something foreign to our thinking and acting. That God is speaking as one of you so LISTEN TO HIM.

Listen to the true Son who obeys His parents and God in all things. Listen to the true Husband, who lays down His life for His Bride that she might be pure and undefiled. It is not that this wedding was lacking in wine; it was lacking in the cross.

This wedding; incomplete without the true sacrifice of the true Bridegroom, did not have the Blood of Jesus sanctifying every inch of ceremony and celebration. The sacrifice of Jesus, offered to you all here, is the promise in marriage fulfilled.

The redemption that Jesus works out on the cross, is given to you, redeeming your lack in every sense of the word. Thus, in every sense of the word, you are full. The Lord “prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

Having been baptized in the righteous waters of the Font, the overflowing streams of Living Water flow through you and death is washed away. Having heard the Gospel and believed, lies and false hope are burned away by Truth. Having feasted upon the true Body and true Blood of Jesus, perfect fullness courses through your body and you are forgiven.

Dear Christians, you are witnesses to the Lord’s Epiphany. For it is here, in front of you His people, that He manifests Himself in the flesh. It is here, in His Word and in His Sacraments, that we find true fullness and forgiveness for all that we lack and fall short of.

There is no sense in running after false ideals, blame, or comfort in tragedy. For all things come from God and God has sent His Son to us. Jesus has been sent to speak to us, to wash and bind our wounds, and to take on our transgressions, even in the midst of our acts of sin.

 What the wedding and the entire world lacks, is Jesus. You have Jesus fully and Satan does not understand, but all you suffer in this life has an end. Not just on the last day, but in Christ crucified today; given and shed for you.