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Thought for the Week 17 January – 2nd Sunday of Epiphany
John’s
gospel is the only Gospel to tell the story of Jesus’ first miracle. I wonder
how many of us don’t know the story of how the water was turned into wine? I
should think that of all the miracles Jesus performed this must be one of the
best known – this and the raising of Lazarus. But like the miracle of Lazarus
is it understood? It’s a miracle from which symbolism and hidden meanings can
be extracted almost at every sentence. John’s
intention throughout his gospel is to proclaim the deity of Christ and why he
had come and this miracle points to Jesus as the incarnate God. Throughout
John he refers to a sign rather than a miracle, thus emphasising the
significance of the act rather than its marvel. For John these signs point to
Jesus as the incarnate God. If you look at chapter 20 verse 31 John clearly
sets out why he has written this Gospel “These are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you
may have life in his name.” And the
verses which are inevitably read at our 9 Lessons and Carols service as the
last reading, Chapter 1 verses 1-14, set out what John wants to show; and if
I may remind you of verse 14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling
among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came
from the Father, full of grace and truth.” No messing about with John –
straight in with Jesus’ baptism, the calling of the first disciples in
Chapter 1 and then this “sign”, this miracle at the beginning of Chapter 2. Controversy
has been rife in the Christian church, certainly since the Enlightenment,
surrounding the reality of miracles. Did they really happen, or are they the
work of the active minds of the gospel writers to convince their readers of
the truth of what they were writing? Many theologians have pooh poohed the
idea of miracles and put them down to the active minds of the writers. Personally
I call in aid the writer of the 4th gospel, Luke. Firstly, why
would anyone, wanting to be believed, pepper their account with such off the
wall events as miracles. Their very nature is such to call into question
their truth, and therefore the whole truth of the gospel. Secondly Luke was a
scientist, a doctor, not one given over to exaggeration or tall stories.
Finally Luke, and John, for that matter, in other words, says “…. since I
myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning it seemed
good also to me to write an orderly account so that you might know the
certainty of the things you have been taught.” So if the miracles didn’t
happen, and Luke has twenty-one in his gospel out of thirty five, Luke is a
liar and we can’t really believe anything he has written or John for that
matter. So
what is a miracle? It is surely something extraordinary, something supernatural,
which overturns the natural sequence of events with no scientific explanation,
and in the Christian context is by the power of the Divine, through a medium
or by direct intervention, for the purpose of realising the working out of a
Divine plan. Intellectually, it is without rationale. Why do those who
suggest such things are from the imagination of the gospel writers so want to
limit the power of God? It is Jesus
who tells us at Matthew chapter 19 verse 26 “….. with God all things are
possible” And
so water gets turned into wine at Cana in Galilee – and not just any old wine
but that of the best quality. It’s
an interesting miracle because of two things at the very least. It is one of
only two occasions in Luke’s gospel that his mother is present – the other is
at the foot of the cross at his crucifixion. So Luke has her there at the
beginning of Jesus’ ministry and at the end. The other matter for
consideration is the strange response he makes to his mother that “My time
has not yet come.” At various times throughout his ministry he uses this
expression – then when it does come, on the cross his mother is there. As Tom
Wright says in his excellent commentary “That event, for John, is the
ultimate moment when heaven and earth meet. That is when it takes all the
faith in the world to see the glory hidden in the shame; the creative Word
present as a weak dying human being.” But
we get ahead of ourselves. First
let’s look at a wedding in Israel at Jesus time. The whole village would
attend the wedding – which is probably why Jesus, his mother and disciples
are there – and it would last for three days to a week. There would be water
in huge jars for the guests to wash before eating, and there would be wine to
drink and, as the master of ceremonies of the wedding points out, the best
wine is used first. If anything were out of order, like the wine running out,
then this would bring embarrassment, ignominy and shame upon the family. So
in this story the wine running out was potentially catastrophic for the
family and the newlyweds. But Jesus was on hand and he uses the occasion to
point to who he was and to bring glory to the One who sent him. As a
consequence we are told that his disciples put their faith in him. Superficially
that’s the story of the miracle; the wine runs out, Jesus takes water and
turns it into a very palatable wine and the family is saved from potential
shame. It reveals Jesus’ power over the forces of nature, that is to say over
the water and his ability to turn it into wine. As a first miracle it would
make his followers sit up and take note for the future, it shows him having a
power beyond the normal and reflects his glory. However there is another
interpretation of this miracle, which I do not believe to be farfetched, particularly
if read in conjunction with the next section, which deals with Jesus clearing
the Temple of the money changers and sacrificial animal merchants. In that
story Jesus is in fact saying there is no need of further sacrificial
animals, no need therefore of Temple moneychangers. It will no longer be
necessary to purchase sacrifices in the future for he is the revealed one and
only sacrifice to be made and even so, once that sacrifice has occurred the
temple of his body will be raised within three days. Let’s
look at the symbolism that can be found in this miracle – it’s a bit like
peeling an orange once we take off the obvious skin we find underneath the
richness of the fruit. It’s interesting that the first sign takes place at a
wedding for Jesus subsequently became known as the bride of the church. But
first of all, ask ourselves the significance of the opening phrase “On the
third day……” Sounds familiar? We say in the creed “On the third day he rose
from the dead…….” And what about the words uttered by his mother to the
servants “Do whatever he tells you”? In John 14 we read “If you love me you will obey
what I command.” And in 15 “Greater love
has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command.”. Then
we need to remember that Jesus’ ministry was to the Jews, to the lost house
of Israel, not the Gentiles. Why the lost house? Because the Israelites were
God’s chosen people to communicate the love of the one true and eternal God
to all people. They didn’t, they kept God for themselves as it were, became
ritualistic and legalistic, forgetting God’s love for his humanity. They
divorced themselves from God, which is how God saw it in Malachi 2. So
basically the Israelite nation, the Jews, had lost their way. Supposing
we relate the Israelites to the old wine that had run its course and was no
more doing what it was intended. Indeed it had become watered down to such an
extent it was like water. Suppose the new wine, which Jesus miraculously produces
from water, is his teaching, then the master of the banquet, God, says the
best wine has been saved till last. And what is Jesus teaching? It’s the Law,
it’s the Prophets, just as God intended with love, compassion and
understanding for the best wine is a fulfilment, not the abolition, of the
Law and Prophets. In
fact through this miracle, through this sign as John calls them, Jesus is
pointing the way to himself as the expected Messiah, the choicest, the best,
wine. John’s
gospel in this miracle sets out what it’s all about. At one level it is
straightforward, simple in its message at another it is complicated, with
hidden meaning and challenging. John wanted to show that Jesus was the long
awaited Messiah, was part of a Trinitarian Godhead, witness the opening
verses of chapter 1,. Was God incarnate ready to die for humanity that we
might have life and have it more abundantly in that relationship with the
Father that he the Father wanted us to have with him. When we acknowledge
Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, and mean it, then the Holy Spirit dwells
within us for as Paul writes his letter which we read this morning, “……….. no
one can say ,’Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.’ Originally heaven
and earth met on the cross but thereafter heaven and earth meet in the heart
of the Christian who says Jesus is Lord. That is the situation that John
wants those reading his gospel to be in, that is the situation that John
wants us, you and me, to be in, to exclaim “Jesus is Lord”. Amen. Mel
Fancy: Reader, Anglican Chaplaincy of Midi-Pyrénées & Aude To return to main Thought for the Week page, click X at top right to close this window. |