It’s not the first time that water was miraculously transformed into something else. The first plague which God poured out on Egypt through His servant Moses was the transformation of water into blood. It was a sign of God’s wrath, a sign that let the Egyptians know that God was serious about saving His people, and that by the time all was said and done He would virtually destroy the Egyptians for refusing to let them go. The transformation of water into blood was a sign of God’s judgment and death.
But today we have recorded for us another account of a water transformation, only this time water is changed into wine. And it’s not done at the hands of Moses, but by the Word of Jesus. Furthermore, it’s no sign of death, judgment, and wrath, but rather a sign of God’s favor. It’s done at a wedding. It’s done to create joy in the hearts of the guests. It’s done to reveal Christ’s glory, the glory of the only-begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. As the Apostle John writes, “The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten God, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.”
And that’s what’s going on in the Gospel text for today. Jesus reveals His glory as He shows Himself to be Savior rather than Judge. His signs are not performed to reveal God’s wrath, but His mercy. He is not another Moses, but the Lamb of God, who has come to take away the sin of the world, to take away your sin. The Father has sent Him not to destroy, but to make all things new. It begins with this His first miracle, His first “sign.”
It’s a simple sign, really. We might expect that the first sign Jesus ought to have performed should have been that of raising someone from the dead or healing someone of their disease. Better yet, why not manifest His glory the way He did on Mt. Sinai with all the fire, smoke, and darkness surrounding Him? We forget, however, that when He did show up that way His people were terrified of Him. Even Moses himself trembled in fear at that sight. It’s not that Jesus won’t show Himself in this way again. But that will be at the end. Here at the beginning Jesus doesn’t want to reveal His Mt. Sinai glory, but His Mt. Calvary glory. The latter is a glory that is revealed in His humbling Himself to serve us, as He did the guests at this banquet, and to lay down His life as the ransom for our sins. This is the only way we can have joy in His presence - if our sins have been dealt with and we know that we have a gracious God, one who invites us to a wedding feast rather than casting us into hell.
By transforming water into wine at a wedding, Jesus shows that He wants you to have joy in His presence, rather than sorrow. He would have your heart be merry, rather than sad. The Psalmist writes that wine gladdens the heart of man. Jesus would rather you drink from the cup of salvation than the cup of God’s wrath. He is the only One who can give you the former, because He drank from the latter Himself on the cross, and He drank it to the dregs, so that there is no more left for you. Instead, He invites you to a wedding feast, the marriage supper of Christ and His Bride, the Church.
And the nuptials have already begun. Here at the altar you already have a foretaste of this banquet as you eat and drink of the Lord’s body and blood in His holy Supper. This is what Isaiah the prophet refers to when he writes, “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” “This mountain” is the new Mt. Zion, Christ’s Church, and the rich food and aged wine refers not only to His words of Gospel, but also His body and blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins, which He gives you to eat in this holy feast.
But Isaiah not only speaks of the feasting that we do now at the Lord’s Table and as we feed on His words by faith. He also speaks of the feast to come, when we will eat and drink with our Lord face to face in His kingdom of glory. “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” says the angel in the book of Revelation to the Apostle John. How blessed it would have been to celebrate with Jesus at the wedding at Cana! But how much more we are blessed now as we eat of the food and drink of the wine He gives us in His Word and Sacraments, and as we look forward to the day when we will enjoy the blessing of feasting with Him in heaven, where there will be no place for mourning, crying, pain, or sadness, but only rejoicing in God’s presence under His divine pleasure forever!
The Apostle John writes that when the disciples of Jesus saw what He had done, they believed in Him. And that’s why this sign is put before us His disciples today as well - that seeing the Lord manifest His glory through this the first of His miracles we too might believe in Him. To believe in Jesus is to put your trust in Him. It’s not only something that you begin to do at your Baptism, but something that you continue to do throughout your life. The Christian life is a life of faith from beginning to end. And the Lord’s signs are given, so that we might continue to cling to Him by faith, trusting that He has come not to condemn us, but to save us. In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus says, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only-begotten Son of God.” The miracle at Cana was a sign that not only showed the disciples who Jesus was, but also that He had not come to condemn, but to save. Magicians can certainly mimic such a sign using tricks, but the Son of God alone could truly change water into wine using only His Word. With such a sign He revealed Himself to be Almighty God in the flesh. But He also revealed that He loved and cared for His fallen creatures, even to the point of providing more wine for a wedding reception once they ran out. And He showed us the full extent of His love for us when He gave us the ultimate sign of that love by giving His body into death on the cross for our sins. His empty tomb today is the sign that He is now the victor over sin, death, and the power of the devil.
Now the Lord is in the business of transforming other things. He takes ordinary water and transforms it, when He adds His Name and His promises to it, turning it into the special water of Baptism. Through this water along with His Word He then transforms us, taking ordinary sinners and making us new creatures in Him. He also takes ordinary bread and wine for use in His holy Supper, transforming them by His Word, so that they are His body and blood, given us to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of our sins. These, too, are signs, signs that we have a merciful Lord in our Savior Jesus Christ, who came to take the signs of God’s judgment upon Himself. There at the cross Jesus suffered a number of the same signs of God’s wrath that were seen in Egypt as well as at Mt. Sinai. There was the sign of blood, the sign of darkness, the sign of the death of the Firstborn Son of God, and the sign of an earthquake. All these we should have suffered ourselves. But Jesus has taken them away, so that you might live under God’s grace, mercy, and peace, the signs of which are His Gospel, your Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.
God has provided many good things for us to enjoy in this life, including the good wine that comes from Napa Valley. He even gives that kind of wine to the wicked. Unfortunately, the good wine is often good enough for us; we are satisfied with it and don’t thirst for the really good wine which, when compared to all other wines, makes them taste poor. That is the wine which Christ provides for us through His Word and Sacraments. Here that wine flows freely today. Drink again from its wells, so that your heart might be glad in the presence of your merciful Lord, who gave Himself into death for you, so that you might feast with Him now and then again with Him face to face at the marriage supper of the Lamb when He comes to take you to your eternal home on the Last Day. Amen.