READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Exodus 33:12-23
Romans 12:6-16
- St. John 2:1-11
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. (Eph 1)
Who speaks to you on this day from His Gospel, saying:
Now usually, when I treat this Gospel of Jesus, I prefer to poke at the false idols of the teetotalers. When seeking the wisdom of Jesus for today, I saw in His Word another instance. While Jesus is enjoying the party and makes more wine for the party that ran out, I think the Word reveals something different. Though Jesus brings joy upon joy, He brings it to those who do not have, in order that He be their complete and only joy.
Our English translates Jesus as saying, “When the wine ran out”, which can make sense if we are trying to convey that people were just fine before Jesus showed up. But in reality, the words Jesus uses here is more of a description of the entire party. Meaning, they had no wine to celebrate with in the first place. They were wine deficient. They were the party that lacked wine.
So when Jesus and His mother enter, St. Mary finds out and tells Jesus, not that they have run out of wine, but that they have none. The wine of joy and celebration that should be there is not there. Wine that makes glad the heart of man (Ps 104:15) and goes together with the bread, which is made for laughter (Ecc 10:19) is not where it should be.
But why should it be there? Didn’t our Introit just preach to us that God’s works towards the children men are terrible? St. Jacob agrees, for after he wrestled with God he proclaimed that that place was terrible, yet goes on to confess that the place is none other than God’s House, the gate of heaven (Gen 28:17). Why can’t he make up his mind? I thought God’s house was wonderful, not terrible.
Indeed God’s House is wonderful. Ps 34:9. He is full of abundance. In God there is no “running out” or “lack” of anything. If we are with Him we will have want of nothing. Likewise, when we do find that we are in need we can turn to Him or one of His followers and be lifted up by them. We will not be left in the pit, as Joseph was, we will be lifted up and filled to overflowing. Just, not at this wedding.
So what do we say when God says, “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need” (2 Cor 9:8) as we look at this wedding and as we look at our own lives of extreme lack? Do we conclude that God loves others more or “it could be worse”? What kind of unshakable faith is that?
Repent. It is not just abundance that God gives, but lack as well. It all depends on what God thinks you need. Abundance causes sin just as lack can. Even the great men of faith, listed in
Hebrews 11, [By faith] “…were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated (Heb 11:37). Destitute, meaning lack.
Indeed, we “have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;” (Dan 5:25-27) lacking, destitute, without. We have some moments of abundance and rejoice and give thanks to God for those, but the lack seems to outweigh the abundance. In our sin, we are completely lacking.
This, we would say is terrible and recall the words from our Introit. For you only just begin to act as though you would be godly and adhere to the Gospel, and see [that you make enemies], and, moreover, [you do] harm, wrong, and violence, and likewise [you give] cause for sin and vice, when you’re just trying to do good. (LC XV)
There are arrows of the devil that fly during the day and terrors in the night, when those who sin work their sin. There is pestilence in the darkness and destruction at noon (Ps 91:5-6). The “one who goes before” is the first to fall to the crafts and assaults of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature.
What does this have to do with changing water into wine? Shouldn’t we ignore the “terrible” lack and focus on the wedding, the guests, and the party that Jesus has invigorated with His miraculous sign?
We cannot. In the first place, God seems terrible when we encounter pestilence, terrors, and destruction. We cannot see His interacting with us in any other way but against us, when we must face those things. One, because we must face them, and two because He makes us face them, or allows them to happen.
Either way, the Presence that Moses prayed for does not seem to do its job as we thought. This is our sin. We can only think of “terrible” in relation to us: how much we are inconvenienced, how much we need to give, how much we suffer lack.
We never think that “terrible” could mean what God does to Himself.
The angels weep and cry at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. they cannot bear it, but they must watch as the Lord Almighty spends His own blood completely. He empties Himself, to fill us. Jesus comes to the Wedding at Cana because it is completely lacking. Then there is no question as to Who filled it with abundant joy and celebration, afterwards.
The coming of Christ Incarnate is the coming of fullness into the world dying of lack. There was no son to save Israel, so God gave His Son in the lacking womb of the virgin. There was no “glory to God in the highest”, so He gave a Savior in the city of Bethlehem. There was no faith in Israel, so He gave His Gospel to create it. The Cup was empty, He has filled it to overflowing with His Blood.
Jesus is the Man Who is lacking on the cross. Not of Himself, but He absorbs all the lack in your life and everyone’s life who ever lived. And when He empties Himself to take on your lack, “the Lord’s eyes looked upon him for good, and he raised him up from his low condition” (Sir 11:12) of death and burial.
In your sin, you are an empty can that rattles. Crying out in your iniquity. Jesus covers that rattle, taking it away, and filling you to the brim. Your purification in front of God is accomplished, by faith alone. Jesus absorbs wrath and woe, and you are laid in green pastures. Jesus eats the bread of sorrow and tears, you eat heavenly bread. Jesus drains the cup of condemnation, you drink from the Cup of Blessing.
He leads you to Cana’s true feast, which is here offered in His Word and Sacrament. He chooses to fill you, an empty vessel, in order that He be all in all. Faith follows the Good Shepherd’s voice and it goes this way.
If you could see how many knives, darts, and arrows are every moment aimed at you, you would be glad to come to the Sacrament as often as possible.
Take advice and have others pray for you, and do not stop until the stone be removed from your heart. Then, indeed, the distress will not fail to become manifest, and you will find that you have sunk twice as deep as any other poor sinner, and are much more in need of the Sacrament against the misery which unfortunately you do not see, so that, with the grace of God, you may feel it more and become the more hungry for the Sacrament, especially since the devil plies his force against you, and lies in wait for you without ceasing, to seize and destroy you, soul and body, so that you are not safe from him one hour.
But since we are baptized and received into the Christian Church, all from youngest to oldest should also enjoy this communion of the Sacrament, in order that we may serve and be useful to the Lord’s Church; for we must all indeed help to believe, love, pray, and fight against the devil. (LC conclusion).
Thus, God is terrible in His works. So terrible that He becomes man, suffers, and dies at the hands of empty sinners. The death of God is terrible, but the Resurrection of God is that much more wonderful. For in His terribleness, we find mercy and the Bread and Wine of peace, which surpasses all understanding.
Who speaks to you on this day from His Gospel, saying:
“When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him,
“They have no wine.”
Now usually, when I treat this Gospel of Jesus, I prefer to poke at the false idols of the teetotalers. When seeking the wisdom of Jesus for today, I saw in His Word another instance. While Jesus is enjoying the party and makes more wine for the party that ran out, I think the Word reveals something different. Though Jesus brings joy upon joy, He brings it to those who do not have, in order that He be their complete and only joy.
Our English translates Jesus as saying, “When the wine ran out”, which can make sense if we are trying to convey that people were just fine before Jesus showed up. But in reality, the words Jesus uses here is more of a description of the entire party. Meaning, they had no wine to celebrate with in the first place. They were wine deficient. They were the party that lacked wine.
So when Jesus and His mother enter, St. Mary finds out and tells Jesus, not that they have run out of wine, but that they have none. The wine of joy and celebration that should be there is not there. Wine that makes glad the heart of man (Ps 104:15) and goes together with the bread, which is made for laughter (Ecc 10:19) is not where it should be.
But why should it be there? Didn’t our Introit just preach to us that God’s works towards the children men are terrible? St. Jacob agrees, for after he wrestled with God he proclaimed that that place was terrible, yet goes on to confess that the place is none other than God’s House, the gate of heaven (Gen 28:17). Why can’t he make up his mind? I thought God’s house was wonderful, not terrible.
Indeed God’s House is wonderful. Ps 34:9. He is full of abundance. In God there is no “running out” or “lack” of anything. If we are with Him we will have want of nothing. Likewise, when we do find that we are in need we can turn to Him or one of His followers and be lifted up by them. We will not be left in the pit, as Joseph was, we will be lifted up and filled to overflowing. Just, not at this wedding.
So what do we say when God says, “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need” (2 Cor 9:8) as we look at this wedding and as we look at our own lives of extreme lack? Do we conclude that God loves others more or “it could be worse”? What kind of unshakable faith is that?
Repent. It is not just abundance that God gives, but lack as well. It all depends on what God thinks you need. Abundance causes sin just as lack can. Even the great men of faith, listed in
Hebrews 11, [By faith] “…were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated (Heb 11:37). Destitute, meaning lack.
Indeed, we “have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;” (Dan 5:25-27) lacking, destitute, without. We have some moments of abundance and rejoice and give thanks to God for those, but the lack seems to outweigh the abundance. In our sin, we are completely lacking.
This, we would say is terrible and recall the words from our Introit. For you only just begin to act as though you would be godly and adhere to the Gospel, and see [that you make enemies], and, moreover, [you do] harm, wrong, and violence, and likewise [you give] cause for sin and vice, when you’re just trying to do good. (LC XV)
There are arrows of the devil that fly during the day and terrors in the night, when those who sin work their sin. There is pestilence in the darkness and destruction at noon (Ps 91:5-6). The “one who goes before” is the first to fall to the crafts and assaults of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature.
What does this have to do with changing water into wine? Shouldn’t we ignore the “terrible” lack and focus on the wedding, the guests, and the party that Jesus has invigorated with His miraculous sign?
We cannot. In the first place, God seems terrible when we encounter pestilence, terrors, and destruction. We cannot see His interacting with us in any other way but against us, when we must face those things. One, because we must face them, and two because He makes us face them, or allows them to happen.
Either way, the Presence that Moses prayed for does not seem to do its job as we thought. This is our sin. We can only think of “terrible” in relation to us: how much we are inconvenienced, how much we need to give, how much we suffer lack.
We never think that “terrible” could mean what God does to Himself.
The angels weep and cry at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. they cannot bear it, but they must watch as the Lord Almighty spends His own blood completely. He empties Himself, to fill us. Jesus comes to the Wedding at Cana because it is completely lacking. Then there is no question as to Who filled it with abundant joy and celebration, afterwards.
The coming of Christ Incarnate is the coming of fullness into the world dying of lack. There was no son to save Israel, so God gave His Son in the lacking womb of the virgin. There was no “glory to God in the highest”, so He gave a Savior in the city of Bethlehem. There was no faith in Israel, so He gave His Gospel to create it. The Cup was empty, He has filled it to overflowing with His Blood.
Jesus is the Man Who is lacking on the cross. Not of Himself, but He absorbs all the lack in your life and everyone’s life who ever lived. And when He empties Himself to take on your lack, “the Lord’s eyes looked upon him for good, and he raised him up from his low condition” (Sir 11:12) of death and burial.
In your sin, you are an empty can that rattles. Crying out in your iniquity. Jesus covers that rattle, taking it away, and filling you to the brim. Your purification in front of God is accomplished, by faith alone. Jesus absorbs wrath and woe, and you are laid in green pastures. Jesus eats the bread of sorrow and tears, you eat heavenly bread. Jesus drains the cup of condemnation, you drink from the Cup of Blessing.
He leads you to Cana’s true feast, which is here offered in His Word and Sacrament. He chooses to fill you, an empty vessel, in order that He be all in all. Faith follows the Good Shepherd’s voice and it goes this way.
If you could see how many knives, darts, and arrows are every moment aimed at you, you would be glad to come to the Sacrament as often as possible.
Take advice and have others pray for you, and do not stop until the stone be removed from your heart. Then, indeed, the distress will not fail to become manifest, and you will find that you have sunk twice as deep as any other poor sinner, and are much more in need of the Sacrament against the misery which unfortunately you do not see, so that, with the grace of God, you may feel it more and become the more hungry for the Sacrament, especially since the devil plies his force against you, and lies in wait for you without ceasing, to seize and destroy you, soul and body, so that you are not safe from him one hour.
But since we are baptized and received into the Christian Church, all from youngest to oldest should also enjoy this communion of the Sacrament, in order that we may serve and be useful to the Lord’s Church; for we must all indeed help to believe, love, pray, and fight against the devil. (LC conclusion).
Thus, God is terrible in His works. So terrible that He becomes man, suffers, and dies at the hands of empty sinners. The death of God is terrible, but the Resurrection of God is that much more wonderful. For in His terribleness, we find mercy and the Bread and Wine of peace, which surpasses all understanding.
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