St. John 2:1–11
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The hymn we just sang, Of the Father’s Love Begotten, is a good one for Christmas, but consider how these words also work so well for Epiphany: Now He shines, the long-expected; Let creation praise its Lord Evermore and evermore (LSB 384:3). The Epiphany season is all about the shining of Jesus—the epiphany-ing of Jesus—the manifestation of His glory. And when the Lord of creation reveals Himself, then His creatures recognize Him and respond to Him by doing what He has given them to do. They praise Him. Praise is not only singing and extolling, but also action—living and doing what God would have His creatures do. Now He shines, the long-expected; Let creation praise its Lord. The water at Cana responded to its Lord and praised Him by becoming wine. Water and wine are the Lord’s creatures and they praise Him by doing what He has them do. The sun praises God by shining. Birds praise God by being birds.
And let’s not forget another creation of God that witnessed and benefited from our Lord’s first miracle: Marriage. Marriage is a creation of the Lord—male and female He created them… and they shall become one flesh (Gen. 1:27 & 2:24). So, in His first miracle, water and wine praised the Lord for the gift of marriage and for blessing it. The Bible tells us that wine is given to gladden the heart of man, and we certainly should be glad at weddings. Besides being celebrations of love, weddings are celebrations of life! Celebrations of the Lord who gives life!
A wedding gives us a glimpse of Eden—Paradise! where the Lord brought man and woman together and blessed them: Be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28)! A wedding is a renewal of God’s promise and blessing to create life. The husband and wife are pro-creators. God works through them. He loves marriage and He wants man and woman to find delight in each other. He loves children and He wants to bless families. The miracle at Cana confirms this. It shows that the Lord loves His creation and He loves to bless it. And marriage is a part of that blessed creation. The Lord loves fruitfulness and wine. He loves husbands and wives serving and enjoying each other. He loves the children that come from those men and women. He loves the beautiful world He made and He wants it to flourish.
And that is why the Church cares so much about things like marriage and birth, and all the things, good and bad, that affect marriage and birth. Because these things are intimately connected with the whole created order. God’s Law is not arbitrary or random. God’s Law is His will—it’s His design for this creation and life. What’s more, the design of God’s creation reflects who He is. Creation is fruitful and delightful because the Word Himself, who created all things, bears fruit and gives delight. And creation is orderly because God Himself is orderly.
Within the Holy Trinity, the three Persons are equal in glory and substance. Yet, there is order: God the Father is the Head of the Son, and this is good. That means Christ is the Head of His Bride, the Church, and this is good. And Man is the head of woman, and that is good. We heard this in Ephesians 5, but Paul also teaches it in 1 Corinthians 11: I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. This is not something for us to roll our eyes at, or sigh about, or be embarrassed about. Headship, authority are built into creation because that is who God is and so that’s how God creates and sustains and blesses life. We need to see the big, beautiful picture of God and His world.
And if we rebel against His order, we also sacrifice His gift of life for the sake of our own selfish ideas. We destroy His blessing. And this is exactly what the prevailing attitudes have done in the past century, and today we are seeing their devastating results. We try to sterilize and control the love between a man and a woman, so we can seize this precious gift and twist it for our own selfish and perverse lusts. We suppress and even kill the life that God wants to give in the womb. We try to take the strength away from our men and boys to subdue them, and we try to take the beauty away from our women and girls to make them more like men.
And what do we have from at least a century of this? Disease, murder, rape, abuse. Fewer children, fewer families. The younger generations are smaller than the ones they will be replacing. That’s a fact, and it will have consequences, for society, for the economy—we’re already feeling it in the church, with not enough pastors to supply all the churches. Many fathers have vanished from the home, and many of the fathers that remain aren’t sure what they’re supposed to do. There is dishonor for men and shame for women, and people just keep using each other for momentary gratification.
We need to recover God’s good design for His creation. We need men to be men, strong and noble, and women to be women, life-nurturing and gentle. Should men also be gentle, and are women also strong? Absolutely, but not in the same ways. They are not interchangeable. Men and women are different—this includes the differences in our physical bodies, but it also goes beyond physical differences. We have different virtues, different qualities. God created us this way, He has given us different things to do, and this is good.
We need husbands and wives to receive God’s blessing to be fruitful and multiply. And all of us, whether we have children or not, or whether our children are grown and moved out, we should cherish them as a real gift and blessing from the Lord, and should hold up the raising of children as one of the greatest works you can possibly do in this life. This is why hundreds of thousands of Christians march for life and pray to end abortion. It’s not because we care about a particular political side, but because we know and love God’s design for life.
And this is also why the Church cares about sins like fornication and divorce, homosexuality, transgenderism, and feminism. It’s not because the Church is just the morality police. We’re not out to ruin everybody’s fun. The Church is on the side of creation, humanity, beauty, life, human flourishing, human enjoyment. We know what is good, what God has created, what He wants to give us. When we keep His Law, when we live according to His design, we are joining into that big, beautiful riot of life that God has made for us. When we do that life is better and God’s blessings are given.
And so, by taking our place in His created order and gladly doing what He has given each of us to do, we are praising our Lord. We are acting like that water turning to wine. Jesus blessed the water, and He used it to bless the marriage. He showed His glory as the Creator, Giver, and Savior of Life. And His creatures, both the water and the bridal couple, responded in praise and thanksgiving.
Some of you with good memories might be thinking, this sounds like a sermon from last year. Well, you’d be right. And I’m glad you paid attention. And if you don’t remember it, that’s fine too. That’s why I wanted to review it again. I don’t recycle sermons very often, but I felt that the points of this sermon are so important for our times that they really needed to be repeated.
I want you to see that there is a reason behind what God calls a sin. There is a reason a faithful church needs to care about things like sex and birth. It’s not just about pounding the Law! And telling people No! It’s also about the joy of God’s gifts! It’s also about telling people Yes! Yes, getting married is awesome, and it really should be a higher priority than even college or career. Yes, having babies is amazing, and the more you have the better things get. It’s true. You can ask Christians with big families and they will confirm it. We need to tell young people these things. God loves marriage and children. We need to love it too. And show it! Encourage it.
So, I wanted to use this opportunity to share this message once again. But I would love to talk more about it with anyone interested. If I said something strange to you, or it even sounded wrong, please come talk to me about it. I promise I’ll listen. I’ll understand. I would love to actually know what kind of stuff you’re dealing with and how I can help. That’s what I’m here for. So, do you have questions? Come ask. I love questions. Do you disagree with something I’ve said? Come tell me. I need to learn and grow too. Do you like everything I’ve said? Come tell me that too! It’s such a joy when Christians rejoice in God’s Word together. Most of all, I hope that you will come to see more and more the love of God in the beautiful design He has for this world and for your life.
At the center of this grand design is what St. Paul calls the Profound Mystery—the marriage of Christ and the Church. The Lord Jesus is the Bridegroom for the world. He loves His creation and He redeems it. He blesses His creation and elevates it to a life that will never end. Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
He loves His Bride the Church in this way, and so He prepares her—He prepares us—for that Day when we will be ushered into His beautiful presence. Then His glory will be fully manifest, fully epiphanied for all of us to see. Then the Bridegroom will be with His Bride and the ultimate wedding feast will begin. The miracle at Cana is marvelous in so many ways, but it shouldn’t come as a shock to us if we know our God who loves His creation, who loves to see us enjoy His creation, and who will one day re-make His creation. Our Lord will return, He will show His glory, and His new creation will break forth in joy. Then we will truly be able to sing: Now He shines, the long-expected; Let creation praise its Lord Evermore and evermore.
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Preached at Trinity, Clinton, IA & Immanuel, Charlotte, IA
