THE GREATNESS OF A CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE AND HOME

At the very end of John 1, Jesus calls His 5th disciple, Philip, who then goes to find his friend Nathanael sitting under a fig tree. Where Nathanael’s sitting shows that he was waiting for the Messiah, because it was written in the prophets that when the Messiah came, he would inaugurate a kingdom of peace in which every man would “sit under his fig tree” (Mic 4:4). Nathanael was waiting for the Messiah, waiting to see the kingdom of peace.

But when Philip tells him the Messiah is here, and He’s from Nazareth, Nathanael responds with doubt: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” he says. Then he meets Jesus, who says He saw him sitting under the tree – when He was far off! Nathanael suddenly exclaims: “You are the Son of God!” – he believes in Him. Jesus tells him, “you will see greater things than these.”

New disciple Nathaniel can’t wait to see these “greater things.” Then Jesus is invited to a wedding in Cana, since His mother Mary is involved in it, and He takes along the six disciples He has called so far: Andrew, Peter, James, John, Philip, and last of all Nathaniel, who’s waiting to see the “greater things” Jesus promised. Nathaniel likely wondered, “A wedding, that’s so basic. What ‘great thing’ can there be to see at a wedding?” We’re about to find out.

Sermon Text, John 2:1-11. On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the

water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Lord, give us thankful hearts for what You give us in our marriages and in our homes. Bind us together in the unity of holy love, Your love for us. Amen.

In the name of Jesus, who declares our marriages and homes good, and glorious, dear saints:

So, for most of the time at that wedding in Cana, Jesus looked like any other wedding guest. But there was a crisis. John says the wine “ran out.”

Apparently Mary – whom John respectfully calls “the mother of Jesus” – was told that they ran out of wine. It may have been a relative or neighbor whose son or daughter was being married – Cana wasn’t far from Nazareth – and Mary, who’s 45-48 years old now, was looked to for direction, or for a solution. Mary at least knows that Jesus wasn’t just any wedding guest.

She goes to Him and says: “they have no wine.” She was presenting the situation, for Him to do something about it. She just shows Him the need, and trusts Him to answer the unspoken prayer. But Jesus doesn’t do that, not right away. He gives a startling response to His mother: “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

It sounds harsh to us. But to say “Woman …” to her was actually respectful. Jesus isn’t treating her request as trivial or small, but important. He refuses to speak in the son-mother relationship, and insists on another relationship taking precedence: Savior to sinner. To answer her by saying, “Mother …,” would be speaking merely as her son – half a Savior. He’s speaking as fully her Savior. This is the first sign that “greater things” are indeed happening. His first miracle won’t come because His mother directed Him to act, but only because God the Father wants Him to act. He spoke of “My hour” yet to come – which is His suffering and death. Mary wants Him to help. What He will do to help, will be to die on the cross for the life of the world.

Jesus waited awhile. Then He instructed the servants to fill the waterpots with water, but by the time they got the water to the master of the feast, it was already wine. This was a miracle, as John says, the first of Jesus’ “signs” – signs of who He really is, not only man but God. The water in the vessels obeyed Jesus’ voice as He who created water and wine, as God of all creation.

The disciples saw this. One of them, John who is writing this, writes earlier in his gospel: “We beheld” – were eyewitnesses of – “His glory.” He says here that already, as they saw what just happened, “Jesus manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.” They were eyewitnesses that Jesus had uncovered His divine glory, as God. He treated a wedding – the starting point for that marriage and household – as something great and glorious.

This is what God wants to teach us today: that a Christian marriage and a Christian home – your marriage, your home – are great and glorious.

He has to teach you this because your marriage doesn’t feel glorious. But it starts with how things do fail and when it isn’t glorious. It’s this way in the gospel account too. When Mary said to Jesus, “they have no wine,” because it had run out, in some way the occasion would be marred by sadness.

There’s an analogy here to our home life. It’s the devil, ultimately, who brings about sadness and makes things run out. The devil is always trying to wreck Christian marriage and the home. He does this by attacking marriage in the culture that we live in, so that what God forbids the world says you must approve, what God wants in marriage the world mocks. The world’s expectations for love and marriage influence Christians’ expectations.

But most of why we doubt our marriages and homes are glorious has to do with our own sinning – self-inflicted damage The ones you sin against most are in the home, those you love best. Whom do we take for granted? Who’s hurt by our thoughtlessness? As you put your interests first, whose wishes get sacrificed? Whose needs are forgotten when you’re self-focused? Most of your sins are in the home, as husband or wife, parents and children.

So you are tempted to think that your marriage and home are not good, certainly not great or glorious. Jesus’ miracle at the wedding says differently.

Jesus turning simple water into “the good wine” is an example of how He takes away everything that fails, everything that’s wrong, and in its place He produces only the best, only what’s good and glorious. This Bible account shows that Christ comes to your marriage, to change all sadness into joy that lacks nothing but is perfect and complete, and never runs out, it’s eternal.

How does He do it? Through the forgiveness of sins. He came to be the Bridegroom, to make you – the Church, and each Christian – His holy bride. He did this by shedding His holy blood for you, for everyone, to bring reconciliation with the Father. In Ephesians 5:25-27 it says that each day, in spite of your sins, He presents you to the Father, declares you to be, holy and without blemish, without spot or stain. And declares that you are “glorious.”

This is your hope as a Christian couple or family. He purifies everything you’ve done with your bodies, He purifies everything you’ve done in your marriage, there’s a clean slate every day. So that everything sinful, all the damage you think you’ve done in your marriage, to your children, against your parents, it’s all completely gone and vanished as far as God’s concerned.

This speaks to what He takes away. But in its place He also puts into you His holiness. The Holy Spirit – the one who brings Jesus to you and thus to your single life, to your marriage, to your household – sanctifies you. The Spirit fights against the sinful flesh – works from the outside in the Word and the Sacraments, so that He dwells inside you. He puts into you, creates in you: cleanness, so that He brings out of you holy desires, words, and actions.

What this looks like is that He brings you to love your chastity, your marriage, your family as Christ does. So that now you take Jesus’ lead to fight for it like He does, with His help. You take seriously the things that work against a good conscience, against your marriage, against a happy home – such things as blaming, making excuses, or refusing to forgive, or dismissing language that’s crude or is demeaning to women, going along with society’s redefinitions of God-created gender roles, or viewing content that is contrary to God’s purpose for sex and marriage – and you refuse such things entrance into your mind and home. When you faithfully do this as a Christian, this is the Holy Spirit bringing Jesus – unseen – to bring forth His glory in you.

But don’t miss this from today’s gospel, that when the Holy Spirit brings Jesus to you, what He brings into your life – whether married or single – through giving you a clear conscience, is this: He brings joy. Jesus is the Bringer of Joy for you. He delivers joy to you. Through giving you a clear conscience, He makes you able to live in joy, and thus in contentment. This is the kingdom of peace that Nathanael was looking for. We have it! What joy!

The hymn we sang has a final verse, an extra verse for us, which I’m going to give to you now as a closing prayer to Jesus:

Come Thou who spreadest joy and gladness,

Forever bide with me and mine,

And bring to those who sit in sadness

And gloom of death, Thy light divine;

A voice comes from my soul within:

O Blesséd of the Lord, come in!

Amen!

(Magnus Landstad, “When Sinners See Their Lost Condition” v. 9)