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The Third Sunday after Trinity – 24 January 2010
A few weeks ago, Emily took the kids to the zoo. Gunder’s favorite exhibition is the snake house and he is very bold to proclaim his bravery. However, on this visit to the snake house Mr. Python tested Gunder’s bravery. Mr. Python is normally a boring snake, but on this day Mr. Python was very active. It all began when he saw Shirley and he stealthy and very quickly slithered down from his tree and over to the glass where he began to stare Shirley down. He looked her straight in eyes then went high over her head, swaying from side to side always flicking his black forked tongue. Edith and Gunder thought this was great, Mr. Python was moving around. Gunder’s excitement, however, turn to fear in a matter of seconds, for Mr. Python noticed a larger, plumper snack and slithered over to Gunder and began to hungrily stare him down. There are times when Gunder is not very clear and heard to understand. This was not one of those days, he tugged on Emily’s leg with a pale face, bulging eyes and in a quiet voice said, “Mommy, I think it is time to go!”
There are places in Scripture that are hard to understand and there are places in Scripture that, just like Gunder at the zoo, are very clear. Some of Jesus’ miracles are hard to understand and some of them are quite understandable. Jesus’ miracle in our Gospel lesson, turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana, has a very clear meaning. John records, “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” (John 2:11) This miracle revealed Jesus’ glory and as a result of seeing Jesus’ glory the disciples put their faith in him. This seems straightforward and clear, however what does “glory” mean? We tend to see glory as fame, honor, and adoration, but this miracle did not bring Jesus fame or honor for it was a secret known only to Jesus, the disciples and the servants.
So what does ‘glory’ mean and how did this miracle reveal Jesus’ glory? In Scriptures, glory (when referring to God) is God’s active presence.[1] God’s presence or his glory led the Israelites through the desert in a luminous cloud. God’s presence, his glory, filled the tabernacle and temple. Peter, James, and John saw Jesus’ glory during the Transfiguration. The glory of Jesus’ presence blinded Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus. The same glory that Peter, James, and John saw during the transfiguration, the same glory Paul saw on the road to Damascus was revealed by Jesus’ miracle at Cana. It was a glory that revealed the active presence of God in the person of Jesus. As one commentator said, “This sign is said to reveal Jesus’ glory, that is, that God’s life-giving and joyful presence can be found in him.”[2] In order to understand how this miracle reveals not just the glory of God’s presence found in Jesus, but also that God’s glory is life-giving and joyful, we need to explore two small details in this story. Details we who live in gentile culture, two-thousand years removed from this historical story, often overlook: The Stone Water Jars for ceremonial washings and Jewish weddings.
There are two levels of symbolism found in the stone water jars used for ceremonial washing: the water and the jars themselves. In American we have grown accustomed to pure, clean, drinkable water. The earthquake in Haiti and the testimonies of missionaries in third world nations remind us that water can be deadly; the greatest source of pollution and disease. When Jesus asked the servants to fill these stone jars with water, he was asking them to fill the jars with a liquid not fit for human consumption, a liquid that could have brought death. Wine, on the other hand, brought joy and life. The alcohol in wine killed all the bacteria and disease in the water. When Jesus miraculously changed water into wine he transformed a drink of death into a drink of life. He thus revealed the glory of God’s presence in him for God alone is able to transform death into life, which meant that life, true life, eternal life was to found in Jesus.
If water was a vehicle for bacteria and disease one would expect that it would play a limited role in ceremonial cleansings, after all, how clean could water make you if you could not even drink it. Nevertheless, ceremonial washings were deemed so important in Judaism that the largest and most elaborate book in the Jewish Mishnah, Seder Tohoroth, deals exclusively with this subject and contains 1001 rules. Furthermore, there are two special tractates in the Talmud dealing with washing of hands and vessels.[3] John deliberately and purposely pointed out that the jars Jesus’ used for this miracle were jars used for ceremonial washings, jars filled with undrinkable, dirty water. His reason was he wanted these stone jars to be symbols for the Old Testament sacrificial, ritual, and ceremonial laws; laws that cannot give or create life, laws the author of Hebrews states made nothing perfect, being only shadows of something greater to come. (Hebrews 7:14, 10:1)[4] The ceremonial laws, in the hands of the Pharisees (and others), had become gross hypocrisies, an elaborate system unending, pointless rules that resembled the Minotoar’s labyrinth. This is why Scripture rightly states, “The gifts and sacrifices being offered [under the old law] were not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings – external regulations applying until the time of a new order.” (Hebrews 9:10) When Jesus used these ceremonial jars to transform the old, filthy, disease ridden water into pure, satisfying and life-giving wine, he revealed that he was the greater thing to come, that through him the new order that brought life was to be found. The glory of Jesus is that through him God has brought life, he has fulfilled the lifeless laws that condemned us to death and has become the source of grace that brings us life.
The glory of Jesus was also joyful; a joy symbolized in the setting of this miracle: a Jewish wedding. Jewish weddings were holy celebrations before which pious Jews would fast and confess their sins. Jewish weddings were also about joy. The wedding procession had supreme precedence over any other procession, including funeral processions and everyone who met a wedding procession was bound to rise up and joyfully follow. Jewish weddings were joyful events. In fact, a Jewish Midrash or commentary on Genesis claims that God spoke words of blessing over the cup at Adam and Eve’s wedding where the angels Michael and Gabriel acted as groomsmen and the angelic hosts sang the wedding hymns.[5] Weddings are joyful not just because marriage is one of the greatest institutions God has given, but because marriage is a symbol for God’s relationship with his people. The bride and groom on their wedding day symbolized the coming together, the union between of God, and his people. The New Testament writers continue this image describing the church as the Bride of Jesus Christ. Consider St. Paul’s words to husbands in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) The church is the bride of Jesus Christ, for whom he suffered and died so that through his death, his bride the church might be sanctified and cleansed. The institution of marriage points beyond itself to the joyful love of God who has given his Son to be our husband. Furthermore, heaven is portrayed the marriage feast celebrating the union between Jesus and the Church. Consider the moving words used to describe this event in Revelations: I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne says, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Revelation 21:2-4) All of our hopes, dreams, prayers, and desires will come to pass when the marriage between the Jesus and his bride the church is consummated at the great marriage feast of the lamb. How dull, how dreary, how joyless are many of our imaginations of heaven!
To conclude, the purpose of this miracle is clear: to reveal God’s glory through the person of Jesus Christ and the symbolism of the stone water jars for ceremonial cleansing and the wedding pointing us toward Jesus’ greatest moment of glory: the cross. The imperfect ceremonial washing with water symbolized our need for the perfect cleansing attained through the washing with the blood of Jesus Christ. The joy of weddings symbolizing the joy of Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross so that he may find joy in his pure, spotless, and eternal bride. Finally, while we wait for our marriage feast, let us take this small piece of bread and this simple cup of wine that our Husband has instituted on our behalf and let us pray that just as he transformed water into wine at Cana, so he will transform these simple elements into our spiritual nourishment and feed us with his joyful and life-giving presence.
[1] “Glory as seen in people takes the form of wealth, position, and power. The glory that God shows, however, is the reality of his active presence, linked with the quality of his acts themselves.” J. I. Packer, The Glory of God, New Dictionary of Theology.
[2] Ben Witherington III, The Wisdom of John, pg 79.
[3]Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Vol. 1, 40th printing, Eerdmans Publishing: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1965. 359.
[4] It should be footnoted that this was not the fault of the law, but of the people as St. Paul said, “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12) and as David said, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Ps. 19:7).
[5] Midrash on Genesis, section 8, quoted by Edersheim, pg 353.
