January 19, 2025 ☩ The Second Sunday after The Epiphany
Jesus turns water into wine, foreshadowing His saving work upon the cross. His sign reveals His purpose.
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John 2:1-11 (& 13-22)
“Signs as Miracles or Revelation”
We are slowly peeling away from Christmas season, now in this season after the Epiphany. Yet, the imagery of presents with beautiful wrapping paper, bows, and bells still is firm in my mind. Consider those presents during Christmas. We admire their décor, but we know something exciting is hiding within. Holy Scriptures offers us the same excitement. There is a beauty on the surface of the stories that does help us to know God and His Son. Yet, when we peel back the layers, we find something deeper at work through the strategic accounts of Jesus’ life by the Gospel writers. Today, we find this so palpably at work.
Today’s Gospel tells us this lovely story of Jesus’ first miracle, or as John refers to miracles as “signs.” Jesus turns water into wine so that a celebration may continue and he exceeds expectation. The wine wasn’t low quality, just enough to qualify as a celebratory beverage for the wedding feast, but it was much higher quality as the chief steward remarks.
John, as you may recall, has a high Christology and, overall, a high theology. He reveals the Divinity of Jesus in extravagant terms so that we can begin to break free of the earthly terms by which we understand the world, and, more importantly, salvation through Jesus Christ.
So, if we consider that John tells us this account of a miracle with some greater purpose of telling us something about Jesus, what is it that John wants us to know? Let’s peel off the wrapping paper and see what John reveals to us about Christ Jesus.
This passage opens with “On the third day…”. I’m sure this is a familiar phrase— “on the third day, He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures”— recalled in our Creed. Could this account of John be telling us about the crucifixion and resurrection— that which is what the signs and miracles begin to point us towards. Only in the second chapter of John’s Gospel which extends for a total of twenty-one chapters, and he is already foreshadowing the way to the cross for Jesus.
We can take a look through this entire account and see parallels to the work of God’s saving Grace through Christ Jesus. Wine running out is a fearful and dreadful experience for folks hosting and celebrating a wedding ceremony. Imagine even running out of cake to give to wedding guests. Imagine orchestrating an Easter egg hunt and there are not enough eggs for the children. How appalled would a groom and bride feel if they hadn’t enough of the necessary traditional components of a wedding?! When falling short of expected cultural customs, we often find some measure of self-disappointment.
Take John’s high view on this topic. What would it feel like if Jesus was crucified and there was no more a Teacher and Healer like no other ever again? Would it not yield a sinking feeling even greater than running out of a beverage or dessert that we were responsible for providing and is expected of us? Imagine what fulfillment the apostles had being first-hand witnesses to such miracles, or signs as John calls them – objects become something new, people are physically healed and restored to community life, and life is brought forth where death once had been found. Losing the source of such power would be devastating.
Jesus provides even more, even when He is thought to have been taken from the world. God’s Grace and care of humanity is established and made known when Jesus sends forth the Holy Spirit to remain with us. When our spirits feel as though they are running out, from where do we find our spirits renewed? The answer is in the Holy Spirit that Jesus provides. We might have a period of feeling in darkness, just as the apostles did during those grueling hours commencing upon the cross through the burial in the tomb and discovering an empty tomb. We, like the apostles, might feel at a loss for words having once felt goodness and now experiencing it having slipped away.
John wants to keep us aware of Jesus’ return, the ‘sign’ of all signs, where Jesus the author of life restores Himself. The second half of chapter two in this Gospel emphasizes Jesus challenge to the people to “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” [John 2:19]
Recognize the Good News John shares.
First, Jesus refers to his body as a temple. Temples are holy places, cared for with intentionality and treasured. Our bodies are gifts from the Creator, and we should treat them with the same care in language and in usage. May we recognize our inherent holiness.
Second, Jesus fills jars used for purification to continue celebrating a feast. The use of jars of purification indicates a purposeful renewal offered through the Christ. That renewal leads to not inferior, nor equal, but better spiritual strength. Such a gift of spiritual strengthening comes forth even when we feel empty or as though we have run out of spirit. Through Christ, we can be restored better than we once had been.
Third, Jesus shared his power of generosity, of renewal and encouragement when He changed water into wine at the request of His Holy Mother, Mary. As special as this sign was, it was the wrapping paper hiding the gift revealed at the cross. Through the cross, Jesus tells the world that no earthly power can stop His Spirit from being present for those whom He loves.
May our Lord be quick to purify and fill our souls whenever we feel we have ‘run out.’ Amen.
