IN CHRISTIAN HOMES TRIALS ARE THERE, BUT CHRIST IS THERE
Sermon Text, St. John 2:1-11 (v. 3-5).
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.”
Lord this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us – and our home life – by the truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ, blesses us in our trials:
The thing that bothers us in this story of Christ’s miracle at the wedding is the awkward exchange between Jesus and His mother, Mary. It’s a discordant note. We aren’t bothered by the wedding couple’s embarrassment of the wine running out, like we are with these words between Mary and Jesus.
It’s like we wish to forget what we heard, as if we accidentally overheard something that we weren’t meant to hear. But we were meant to hear it! It’s written down for us, by the same man – the disciple John – who said many things in Jesus’ life were not written down, but “these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that, believing, you may have life in His name”(Jn 20:31). So this conversation, that we can’t unhear, is in some way necessary to help you believe that Jesus is the Christ.
The conversation we’re talking about is when, in the middle of the wedding feast – with a long way to go yet – they ran out of wine and Mary was told about it. Apparently this was a relative or neighbor whose son or daughter was being married – Cana was not far from Nazareth – and Mary, who was between 45 and 48 years old now, is looked to for direction or for answers, and perhaps she even helped organize the event.
She then went to Jesus and simply said: “They have no wine.” She doesn’t even ask a question. She is so much better than we are in our prayers, when we so specifically make requests that we practically tell the Lord exactly how to answer: “Do this, don’t forget to do that, let it be by this date,” etc. Mary’s words show that she has a trust that just by showing the need, Jesus’ mercy will do the rest. He will answer the unspoken prayer, even.
But then what did Jesus say to His dear mother? “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” Some more literal translations even have Jesus saying: “What do we have in common, woman?” or “What do I have to do with you?”
What a thing to say, we think. It sounds rude. Wouldn’t it make Mary turn red in the face, embarrass her in front of others, lower her in the esteem and respect of these villagers? After all she did for Jesus, carried Him in her womb, endured the scorn of others, made that trip to Bethlehem – and then to Egypt! – raised Him, taught Him, and it seems that Joseph, who isn’t there, has been dead for some time, so she also carried the burden of being a widow and single mother. Only recently had Jesus, the Light of her life, left home to begin His mission and ministry. That was a hard parting! She’d been told by Simeon that a sword would pierce her soul. She was excited, in helping to prepare this wedding feast, that she would see her Son today. And now these words from Him! It’s as if His words were a sword piercing her soul.
But actually, His words were not rude. They sound so to us. But in first-century Galilee, to address her as “Woman,” was actually highly respectful. Every time Jesus says this it’s an expression of esteem, like when He said: “O woman, great is your faith!” On the cross, when one of only seven sayings of His are given to His mother, He says to her – with great tenderness – “Woman, behold your son,” as He gives her into the disciple John’s care. So here when He says, “Woman,” He isn’t being rude or harsh.
In fact, Jesus refuses to speak in the son-mother relationship because there is another relationship that takes precedence: Savior to sinner-in-need. If He would have addressed her, “Mother …,” He would have been speaking merely as her son – half a Savior. But He’s speaking fully as her Savior. He isn’t only the light of her life; He is the Light of the world.
He was doing what was best for her. His first miracle could not come because His mother directed Him to act. It could only come because God His Father told Him to act. He spoke of “My hour” which was yet to come. This is the hour of His suffering and death. This first miracle is connected to that. Mary wants Him to do something. What He will do to help, will be to die on the cross for the life of the world.
He is being Savior – Mary’s Savior – when He says: “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” In the light of His cross and resurrection, all this would be clear. But at the time it sounded like a rebuke, like Jesus saying No to his mother. This had to be hard for her, a bitter pill. Martin Luther says of this moment: “This is where faith stands in the heat of battle.”
This gospel lesson presents not just bad things happening – because the rain falls on the just and the unjust, unbelievers as well as Christians suffer losses, even if it’s just embarrassment as this wedding couple and their parents might feel – but this gospel reading is about where you expect there to be good things, joys, and lack of worry, such as at this wedding; and suddenly those hopes and good feelings “run out.”
The bitter pill comes when you’re engaged in things you know are God-pleasing – keeping a Christian marriage and a Christian home, hearing and learning God’s Word and giving first place to Him, serving in your vocations, working hard and doing your best, honoring the authorities, etc. – and then you suffer bitter losses and reverses. The excitement of the wedding day gives way to selfish arguing and blaming. A child receives nothing but love at home but meets with rejection at school or on the playground. Sicknesses come, with worries. Your path in life seems blocked. Others have good things and successes that you don’t. Untimely deaths come. You needed that person, God gave him/her to you, why take them now?
But this is not the bitterest pill. The most bitter part is like in Mary’s case, when you go to the Lord and as far as you can tell, He doesn’t answer. Luther says that by His words Christ made the distress worse for Mary than it was before. This happens to us too. Our distress is not just that a bad thing is happening; it is that God is our Helper, and sometimes it seems no help is coming. This is where we as Christians have a different trial than unbelievers. Christians have prayer. Christians have Christ who is there like at this wedding, who makes Himself available to help and to be prayed to. We come to Jesus like Mary did, confident He will listen to us. And then what? Sometimes, nothing. There’s silence. No change, and sometimes things get worse. It feels as if Christ says: “What does your concern have to do with Me?”
We know we aren’t just innocent victims in life. You can’t claim to deserve anything good. In fact, by your sins you deserve nothing but punishment. You admit it when you confess your sins. This truth comes back to you, so in your guilty conscience you might hear Jesus saying: “What do I have to do with you?” You look around and see everything going wrong, you look at yourself and see all the wrong that you do, and conclude: God must be angry with me.
This is where Luther says that Mary is our teacher and example. We talk about Mary’s great faith in response to the angel Gabriel, when she said: “Let it be to me according to your word.” But here at Cana is where her faith shines. When it seems that Jesus says No to her, and she acts as if it’s a Yes! She does not judge by how it feels. She believes in Jesus’ kindness and mercy above all else. Notice, there’s no hesitation; right after Jesus’ hard saying, we hear this: His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
For my money, this is the real miracle, the real epiphany: what Jesus does to produce this faith in Mary, how He removes every earthly prop and leads her to cling to what her Savior taught, and trust it whether felt or not (ELH #226:9). This faith is the real miracle, the faith that clings to Jesus, and no matter how she feels, she trusts what she can’t see. She acts as if He said Yes to her.
Mary’s example teaches that in life you do not judge from how it feels or how you feel. Christ will not say No to you. He cannot. He has said Yes to you on the cross. It’s always Yes. His cross speaks his Yes to you and to every sinner, every time. It says He loves you, period.
He may say No to a prayer, that you shouldn’t have that yet. He’ll surely say no to sinful wishes, things that are against God’s will. But He to you, yourself, He only says Yes. He only is Yes: God’s Yes and Amen, to you! He is for you. That’s what Mary knew. We hear it in the Lord’s Supper: “for you.”
This is what we need to know! This is why you come to church. To hear Jesus say Yes to you. To found your faith on His Word, not on your feelings. God is not angry with you. God loves you! Husbands and wives, He loves you! Parents and grandparents, He loves you! Children, He loves you! Singles, divorced, widows/widowers, young adults, teens, He loves you!
It isn’t that He just tolerates you, or that in good behavior you keep from doing things that make Him angry. He approves of you! He is pleased with you! Even when you fail and give in to sin, even when you do your best and it fails, you do not fail Him. You never do.
For Christ did it all for you. He took all your sin onto Himself, and in a beautiful exchange gives His perfect innocence and righteousness to you as your status before God. He turns all your water into excellent wine, the very best, so that He presents you to God as someone whose faith, life, and love is pleasing to Him for Jesus’ sake. This is not what we think on our own; this is what the Scriptures teach. This is what His Word declares of you. This is what you believe. This is the faith His Word puts into you. Cling to this truth.
Don’t be surprised that even in your home life, even in the little things, your faith will be sorely tried. But that’s why Jesus is there: to help you in every corner of your life. He’s there for your to keep coming to Him with your needs, especially to cling to Him for dear life. He’ll never fail you. Amen