The Second Sunday
after Epiphany
January 16, A+D 2022
Our Savior’s and Our
Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
The Very Best Wine
Jesus wants to be your sommelier, and serve you the very best wine.
Our texts for this Second Sunday after Epiphany offer us a lot of options for preaching. Last year on this Sunday, in my first sermon as your pastor, I focused on marriage, both the earthly institution that is in such desperate need of support, and the heavenly marriage between Christ and you, His Church.
On the third day. Why did John begin this account of the wedding in Cana with “on the third day?” The third day since when? Or perhaps John wants to put resurrection day thoughts in our heads?
At this wedding in Cana, we hear of six stone jars filled with water for rites of purification, more than enough reason to dive deep into the wonderful gift of Holy Baptism. In this lifetime we will never reach the bottom of this well of blessing.
Or we could simply look at one of the basic points of the season after Epiphany, as we unwrap the Gift of Christmas and come to see who this Jesus is, true God and true man. Prophet, Priest and King. God in the flesh, come to save us.
But
I think today I’d rather preach about good wine. Because Jesus wants to give you the very best
wine. He wants to be your eternal sommelier,
your divine wine steward, serving you with the best wine, indeed saving
the very
best for last, and
forever and ever, Amen.
Of course, as a resident of Hill City, where strangely we talk about wine from the prairie, I’m made aware that many folks like light, sweeter fruit wines. Not my favorite, but to each his own.
Before we go on, please know that I don’t make light of the fact that wine, along with other types of alcohol, can lead us to very destructive places. One of the saddest things about our fallen, sinful human nature is the way we can ruin and misuse anything. Delicious food, the gift of being a man or a woman, the ability to invent new and powerful technologies, we sinners can and do take all of these good gifts and pervert them into hurtful, destructive, sinful activities.
Wine is no different. A good wine, according to prophet Amos, in agreement with the rest of the Bible, is a great blessing, bringing joy to the heart. However, by overusing, abusing or becoming addicted to alcohol, we are all too capable of ruining lives, our own, and the lives of others. I would be surprised if there is any person within the sound of my voice who has not been negatively affected by the misuse of strong drinks. Wine is a good gift, for those who like it, and if enjoyed in moderation. But we owe it to each other and all our neighbors to be clear eyed about the ways we can and do misuse it.
We need to repent of these sins, like all the rest. We need to confess our sins, lest they grow and get between us and Christ. If alcohol, or anything else, is ruining your life, please seek help. Don’t try to hide it. Don’t try to go it alone; that won’t work out well. We are all in this life together, none of us is strong enough to make it alone. Talk to me. Talk to a friend. Find someone to help you confess, to God and to yourself, that you need help. It’s a frightening road, I know. But Christ will walk it with you, and your forgiving Savior can and will bring you through.
We are sadly capable of abusing wine. Still, Jesus does want to be your sommelier, your wine steward. He wants to give you the very best wine. And as part of His path to reach this goal, He even performed a remarkable miracle, turning something around 150 gallons of water into excellent wine at the wedding in Cana.
The surface reason Jesus did this was simply to help a newlywed couple, to spare them a bit of embarrassment at their wedding reception. The wine had run out. Seems too minor a problem to bother the Son of God. But, as the choir (at Our Redeemer will sing this morning) (will sing in a few minutes), “Our God’s a God of Joy and Mirth.” The Lord loves a good celebration. Heaven will be a joyful, exciting, wonderful place. Imagine the spontaneous smiles and laughter that will fill us when all pain, every tear, and all our guilt and shame are forever taken away.
Life with God in Heaven is going to be wonderful beyond our imagination. At the same time, Jesus is glad to help us find moments of joy and happiness today. But Jesus does save the best for last, because the first order of business for the Son of Mary is not to give temporary joy, but rather eternal peace, happiness and celebration.
To give sinners like you and me eternal joy, Jesus had to give us even better wine than the marvelous vintage that shocked the master of the wedding feast in Cana. For even the very best wine, the very best earthly gifts, are depressingly short-lived. An excellent bottle of wine is still only 5 glasses. And whether you open it right away or save it sealed in your cellar for years, it will not stay excellent forever. With our refrigerators we can make food last longer, but still, a prime rib or a coconut cream pie has to be eaten soon, within a few days, before it goes bad. Without refrigeration, we need to eat it right away. Decay, rot, and spoilage are unavoidable in this world, because our sin has ruined everything.
One reason wine was so important in the ancient world was that a whole host of microbes were turned destructive at the moment of humanity’s fall into sin. Because of these now harmful microbes, most water in the world is nearly undrinkable. There is no life without water, but for most of human history, finding clean water has been a real struggle. So wine and beer were not just indulgences, they were staples in the diet. Because the alcohol in the wine or beer killed some microbes, and so made getting sufficient hydration a bit safer. In many and various ways, the whole creation groans under the burden of our fallen nature.
During the Epiphany season we unwrap the gift of Christmas, by reflecting on many things Jesus did to reveal Who He is. But Epiphany is only prelude to the main event. The miracle worker at Cana went on to heal many sick people, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, and raise the dead. But Jesus eventually stopped doing these minor miracles. Because they did not get at the real issue. Turning water into wine, or giving sight to the blind, or new life to a twelve-year-old girl were wonderful gifts. But in all of these signs, Jesus was only treating symptoms of the real disease that He had come to cure.
And to cure our real disease, to give us access to the very best wine that God the Father has reserved for the Heavenly Wedding Feast, this would require a much more radical intervention. To serve us the best wine, Jesus would have to open the vessel of His own body. Because the root cause of the rot and decay in this world is not just a physical issue, it is a moral one. The real issue is our sin. So, to restore the Creation, all our wrongs had to be put right. And so the Miracle Worker, in order to become the eternal Wine Steward to humanity, would go to the Cross.
There on Golgotha, Jesus absorbed from His Father the just punishment our sins deserve. Jesus gave His all, loving us to death. And then, giving up His Spirit, from His pierced side poured forth water and blood. And these three bear witness, the Spirit, the water and the blood.
The Spirit, Who declares to you that Jesus has done it all, for you. All the good. And all the suffering. Jesus has done it all. a
The water, which washed you clean as God the Father declared you His beloved child through Holy Baptism.
Blood of Jesus. Indeed, while Mogen David Concord grape wine is not considered by many to be very fine, there is truly no finer wine in all the creation than that which is served at this altar, and at Christian altars all around the world. For here, in with and under the whatever grape wine we use, Christ Jesus serves you with the medicine of immortality, shed for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.
The birthright of every newborn Christian is to dine with God, to break bread and drink the very best wine, that washes away sins, gives us a good conscience, and makes us worthy of God’s eternal banquet. There, finally, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven visible to our own eyes, we will feast with God, face to face, the very best wine saved for last, and forever and ever. Until that wonderful day, God grant that we keep listening to the voice of the Spirit, speaking to us about Jesus, who comes to us through the Water and the Blood.
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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