Sermon on John 2.1-11 (wedding at Cana)

Sermon on John 2.1-11 (wedding at Cana)
Originally given 21 January 2024 at St. Alban’s Church, Coventry

Audio for sermon

‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’

Whenever I read this quote from Jesus, I find it somewhat confusing and, as a mother, slightly irritating. If Jesus says ‘my hour has not yet come’ then why does he end up performing the sign of turning water to wine? And does he have to get so mouthy with his mother about it? If it’s not time for the rest of the world to know who Jesus is, why does he end up fixing the problem of the wine running out?

Before answering those questions though, let’s back up a bit. Four weeks ago, we celebrated the birth of Christ, and in today’s Gospel reading, we heard about the beginning of Christ’s ministry…Kids really do grow up quickly, don’t they? Joking aside, I wonder what Mary must have thought about the start of her son’s ministry, and if she questioned his seeming shortness towards her. In John’s Gospel we don’t have the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, or the birth narrative, or the song of Simeon. The wedding at Cana is the first time we are told of the mother of Jesus, and she’s not even given a name. My time in theological college taught me that remaining nameless in John’s Gospel is meant to be an honour, so we shouldn’t take it as an insult that Mary isn’t named here. But I do find it interesting that she’s only mentioned twice in the Gospel of John: The first time in today’s reading, with the wedding at Cana being the start of Jesus’ ministry, and the second time at the foot of the cross, the end of Jesus’ ministry. And at that point, along with the disciple whom Jesus loved, she is still nameless.  

So we find the mother of Jesus at the start and end of his ministry. You could say she forms the bookends for Jesus’ ministry, and as a book lover I can tell you there is a foundational necessity for bookends. I admit, I am quite a fan of Mother Mary, partially because I view her as a raging feminist like myself. I don’t buy into the culture of Mary meek and mild, because I don’t think you could be meek or mild to say yes to God, facing the possibility of public shame or death. Another reason to celebrate Mary, besides the obvious that she is the Christ-bearer, is that we could say she was the first disciple. Of course she wasn’t called by Jesus like Andrew or Peter or Nathanael, but she was already a follower of Jesus before his time had come, before anyone else knew who he was. When Mary said yes to God in her Magnificat, she was saying yes to following God and yes to following Jesus. This would make Mother Mary a model disciple.

So what does a model disciple do? She tells Jesus the wine is running out. Mary identifies a problem, and then goes to tell Jesus the problem. She doesn’t instruct Jesus as to what the solution might be, she just observes there is a problem and tells Jesus knowing that he will have the solution. In fact, she is so confident that Jesus will have a solution that she tells the servants to do as he says. There is no doubt for Mary that Jesus will fix this problem. And the cheeky response doesn’t even make her bat an eye!

Some of you have heard me talk about my church dad who my boys called Uncle Tony. Uncle Tony was a faithful Christian and a model for my own faith. He once told me that when he was younger if he faced a difficult situation he would always sing to himself ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’. This song says all our troubles can be taken to Jesus in prayer. So Uncle Tony and Mother Mary both knew that for any problem, Jesus was the solution. Or, as Karl Barth is claimed to have said, ‘Jesus is the answer, what’s the question?’

In any case, we know that we must bring it all to Jesus. We must tell Jesus the wine is running out. But where is the wine running out? Is the wine running out in your home? Is it running out in the Church? I think we can all see the wine is running out in the world. This week is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and it feels like now more than ever the world needs both prayer and unity. From natural disasters to war-torn countries, the world is desperately thirsty for Jesus. So what can we do? Well, like Uncle Tony, take it to the Lord in prayer, and like Mother Mary, tell Jesus the wine is running out.

Of course, Jesus may not respond how you’d like. He might say that it’s not yet time. This is hard to hear. They say the three answers to prayer are ‘yes’, ‘no’, and ‘not yet’. Anything other than an immediate yes is hard for us to hear, because we have our own time for things, what we think is the correct time. And our time is not always the same as God’s time, but rest assured, God is always in time. God knows when the time is right, even if we may feel a bit impatient. At the wedding at Cana, Jesus provided the wine at a time when the steward commented that the good wine was saved for the last, so Jesus knew when the most effective timing would be. As it is with all things in life. All we have to do is take our troubles to Jesus, and he will have the right solution at the right time.

Go tell Jesus the wine is running out, and he will make sure the best is yet to come.

On Exodus 4-6

God gave Moses signs that would be used so people believed him when he said God’s commands. Moses then returned to Egypt to ask the pharaoh to let the Hebrews go out of Egypt. On the way, Zipporah, Moses’ wife, circumcised her son in order to prevent Moses from being killed. Then, God told Aaron, Moses’ brother, to meet Moses in the wilderness. Moses told Aaron what God had instructed so Aaron could then speak on behalf of Moses.

Although there are several things that happen in this chapter, I want to comment on the circumcision. Even though God made a covenant with Abraham that his sons would be circumcised on the eighth day, the Hebrews were in Egypt for four hundred years, and enslaved for the majority of it, so many of the traditions could have easily fallen out of practice. Another possibility is the fact that Moses spent so much time in an Egyptian household that he may have not realized his son needed to be circumcised. Regardless, God’s covenant with Abraham established that anyone who didn’t circumcise his sons would be cut off. Therefore, Zipporah saved Moses’ life when she circumcised her son. Thus, a woman is once again responsible for the rise of Moses.

Moses and Aaron went to the pharaoh to ask him to let the Hebrews worship their God for three days in the wilderness. Pharaoh refused and ordered the taskmasters to be stricter on the Hebrews, claiming they were being lazy. The foremen of the people of Israel then appealed to the pharaoh, but the pharaoh didn’t relent. After that, the foremen accused Moses and Aaron of making things worse for the Hebrews and Moses asked God why this evil had been done to his people. God told Moses that He would deliver His people out of Egypt and instructed Moses to tell the pharaoh to let the people of Israel go. Once again, Moses doubted his abilities, but the Lord continued to instruct him to bring his people out of Egypt. Then, there was a genealogy of Moses and Aaron, who were descendants of Levi. It concluded with the same quote from Moses, when he doubted his abilities.

There is a lot of doubt in these chapters: The people doubt Moses, Moses doubts God, Moses doubts himself. Through all this doubt, God continues to proclaim His promise that He will bring Israel out of Egypt. Even though we have to struggle sometimes, God always has a plan for us in his time. God makes all things good in His time. Even though the Hebrews are struggling, they will prosper and be freed from Egypt in God’s time. This is hard for some people to understand. Why can’t God just fix everything immediately? Why do people have to struggle? God cannot simply swoop down and save us from our sorrows, because that would contradict our free will. Also, in the absence of evil, we cannot know good. Thus, without the evils of pain and struggle, we cannot know to goodness of love and success. Therefore, sometimes we have to experience pain so we can eventually revel in the glory of God’s love and goodness. Personally, I have had a lot of struggles in my life. Before I looked to God, I couldn’t find meaning in what I experienced. However, since I have established a healthy relationship with God, I see that many of those struggles were what finally led me to happiness. There are some struggles that I still don’t understand, but I believe all will be revealed in His time.

These are my thoughts on Exodus 4-6.