The truer and greater bridegroom
Readings: John 2. 1-11
*Bridegroom is just an older way of saying Groom.
Our reading today is in many ways a familiar passage. We all know the story of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana. But sometimes overfamiliarity with a passage can mean we’re not paying close attention to the details and miss things, and it can mean that we lose the wonder of what is happening here.
Have you ever wondered about the slightly strange way that John finishes the account of this miracle? That this is ‘the first of his, Jesus’, signs’. Have you ever thought that wording a little odd? Not the first of his miracles or wonders, but signs.
Here’s the thing about signs, they don’t so much exist for their own sake do they, they’re always pointing you to something, directing you to something else. You may feel it’s a rather frivolous thing to do, turning water into wine at a party, particularly as his first miracle, but whilst it addresses an immediate need, as do all of his miracles, they also point to something else, something bigger.
So what do we see in this miracle, in this passage? What is it pointing to? There are a few but I want to focus just on two this morning.
The first is his covering over of this couple’s shame. Jesus is at this wedding and suddenly the wine runs out. It’s worth noting at this point that weddings in the first century middle east weren’t like today. They’d go on for many days, often the whole village would be invited, they were great celebrations with many days of feasting and festivity. And partway through these celebrations the wine runs out. It may seem a fairly minor deal to us but in that era in that honour and shame culture this was scandalous, this would be the talk of the village for years, it was a matter of great shame that you had not provided enough for the festivities, that your guests weren’t provided for.
And so, whilst appearing reluctant at first, Jesus very quickly springs into action, providing though the water new wine, wine that is better than the old. Now we could dig into that but instead notice how Jesus does this quietly, he doesn’t make a fuss, the steward assumes this is the bridegrooms doing, and Jesus makes no moves to correct him. The servants know, the disciples know, but that’s as far as it goes. Jesus saves this couple from shame, and instead brings them praise and glory.
This is no accident, whilst his time has not yet come, nevertheless he steps into the breach, bearing their shame, and bringing them honour instead. And once his hour does come, at the cross, he will do the same for us, take upon himself our shame, and give us instead the honour and glory that is his.
Jesus will not let us be put to shame, he will not allow us to be found humiliated in the end. If we do as he tells us to do, if we put our faith and trust in him and what he has done, he will not let us be put to shame, he will not allow us to be humiliated, found to have come up short. What are you ashamed of? What if it came to light would make you crawl away into a dark corner and never want to come out again? Something you once said, a mistake you’ve made, maybe even part of your inner monologue. Jesus has come to take away our shame. Once we are his, he takes away our shame, and gives us his glory. Much as a bride and groom at their wedding take on each others debts and riches, he has taken our debts and our shame, and we have received his riches, his glory.
That’s the first thing that this miracle points us to, the one who takes upon himself our shame so that we can receive his glory.
And here’s the second thing this points to. The abundant grace of God.
Have you ever wondered just how much wine Jesus has provided for the remaining festivities? I have, and a few years ago I did the maths. Our passage today tells us that these water jars hold 20-30 gallons each, let’s go with 30. There are 6 jars here so that’s 180 gallons, sounds like a lot doesn’t it. To put that into a more understandable metric that’s the equivalent of 908.5 bottles.
That’s an absolutely ridiculous amount of wine. It’s ludicrous. I’m not sure even the booziest wedding running for a week could get through that much wine. Whilst this couple were about to run out, there is absolutely no chance of that happening now.
I wonder how you picture God? Is he rather miserly? Stingy? Is he like the cosmic Scrooge who will give just about what is needed and not a jot more? Who will give us just enough to keep us going, keep us on side, but rather begrudgingly?
As we were reminded at Christmas, when we see Jesus we see God, he is the exact image of God, there isn’t someone else hiding behind the curtain. And what do we see in this the first of Jesus’ signs? Abundant generosity, an overflow which cannot be exhausted, near reckless giving.
You see God in his forgiveness of us hasn’t merely provided enough to just get us across the line. His mercy isn’t near to drying up and if we mess up one more time that’s it, he’ll smite us. Do you fear that God’s patience will wear thin? That his mercy and forgiveness will run dry? That perhaps you’re the one who will finally reach the end of it? It isn’t possible. His love for you, his readiness to forgive you, his mercy towards you, his grace given to you, it’s as abundant and inexhaustible as the wine at this wedding, no matter how hard we try, we will never come to the end of it.
As the writer of the book of Lamentations puts it ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness’. If you think you’ve used up his mercy, his love, they renew every day, you’re not running off the dregs of yesterday, they’ve been renewed today. The abundance of God’s gifts aren’t stored away, locked up and out of reach, instead as we reach to him, he pours them out in abundance upon us.
Now that isn’t to say we should take advantage of this. Do things our own way, sin as much as we wish for he will forgive us anyway. To do so is to misunderstand what God has done for us, to make light of Christ’s sacrifice for us. This is abundant grace, not cheap grace. When he calls us to holiness, when he calls us to renewal of life we should heed that call, hear it and obey, do whatever he tells us remember.
He has come to save us from all that causes us harm, so why would we deliberately run after that which harms us and ignore his warnings. But in our faltering attempts to follow him faithfully, in our stumbling and falling we should not fear, our salvation depends not on us, but upon him, depends not on our resources but upon his. And his storehouse never runs dry.
So knowing this, having seen these signs let us take them to heart.
Let us not try to clean ourselves up, sort out our lives and deal with our shame before we come to Jesus, come to God. For then we never will for we will always find ourselves short. But Christ has come to make up that shortfall. He has come to take our sin and shame away and give us his glory, wrap us about with his goodness like a cloak.
And let us not live in fear that in all our struggles and wrestling with sin he will abandon us, give up on us and walk away, that his love for us will run out. That his forgiveness and mercy will run dry. If that’s you this morning hear this, you can no more come to the end of his love and forgiveness, mercy and grace, than you could drink the ocean. Your mess and brokenness causes him not to run away from you in disgust or fear, but to run towards you in compassion and care.
For at the wedding at Cana we meet the better and truer bridegroom, the one who will do away with his bride’s, his people’s, shame, and who will pour out his riches upon us in abundance.
Amen.