John 2:1-11
It’s often the case that pretty much the only time you see certain distant relatives or old friends is at funerals and weddings. Usually, when you do have a chance to visit with these people at an event like this, you are glad that you had that chance.
You both may also agree that you should get together more often. Seeing an old friend or a distant relative at a funeral or a wedding should be the beginning of an ongoing restoration of your friendship: like the way it was when you were kids.
But, you are each busy with your own immediate families, with work, and with other activities, and so it just never happens.
After the funeral or the wedding, things go back to the way they were before. The distant relative you saw there does not become a part of your life again. You and your old friend each go your separate ways once more.
The New Testament tells an interesting story about a time when Jesus was at a funeral. And as we heard in today’s Gospel from St. John, the New Testament tells another interesting story about a time when Jesus was at a wedding.
But on both of those occasions, the encounter that the other people in attendance had with Jesus, brought about permanent and enduring changes for them. On both of those occasions, Jesus was not like an old friend or a distant relative whom they enjoyed seeing on that particular day, but who did not become a part of their lives on an ongoing basis after that.
First the funeral, which took place in the city of Nain. St. Luke reports that
“When [Jesus] came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.”
What happened at this funeral was, to say the least, quite extraordinary. And Jesus being present for this funeral had significant consequences for everyone else who was in attendance.
No one who was there, and who was aware of Jesus’ presence and actions that day, would ever be the same again. His impact on everyone would endure, as all those mourners – from that day forward – would always remember the incomprehensible miracle of compassion that they had witnessed, and that had brought their mourning to an immediate end.
That’s not the kind of thing you can easily forget! In a very real sense, Jesus and his influence were going to stay with them: within their memories, and maybe in other ways too.
From that day forward, every time this widow in particular looked at her now-living son, embraced him, and received care from him in her old age, she would think about Jesus and what he had done at this funeral. This profound blessing from Jesus would be with her and with her son every day thereafter.
And, as we heard a few minutes ago, Jesus also attended what has become a very famous wedding at Cana, in Galilee. St. John tells us that
“Both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
This was a joyous occasion, but the joy would be significantly diminished if there was no more wine for the wedding guests to enjoy together. Showing proper hospitality at an event like this was an important part of the near-eastern culture of the first century. This would have been an embarrassment and a point of shame that would have followed the bridal couple into their marriage.
But Jesus prevented that from happening. At his mother’s behest, Jesus miraculously changed six large pots of water into wine. And what he produced in this way by his divine power was high quality wine to boot.
Not everyone at the wedding knew about this miracle – at least not right away. But the disciples and Mary knew, and the servants knew.
And it is likely that before long, the bridal couple, and others who were there, also came to know how Jesus had preserved the happiness of the day, and in a sense had thereby preserved the happiness of the new marriage.
St John concludes his account of this episode with these words:
“This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”
This, too, was something that people would never forget. What Jesus did at that wedding – as an extraordinary special blessing for that couple and their guests, and as a way of showing his approval of weddings and of marriage in general – would stick with everyone.
And as Jesus’ ministry continued in the region of Galilee during the months that followed, many who had been at this wedding no doubt heard his sermons, and were continually impacted by his influence. He became a part of their lives, beginning with that first messianic sign that they had witnessed or benefitted from at the wedding.
Is Jesus at our funerals and at our weddings? Well, if those events are held here in this church, or under the auspices of this church, he certainly is.
A Christian funeral or wedding is a funeral or wedding where the Word of Christ is proclaimed and applied. And we know that where Christ’s Word is, Christ himself is there, speaking and acting.
At a funeral, Jesus speaks these words of comfort and hope to those who trust in him for eternal life:
“I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
He also says:
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
These divine promises are spoken not only as a comfort with respect to the departed believer: so that his or her loved ones can be reminded of that person’s Christian faith and hope, and of the outcome of that faith and hope. They are spoken also as a comfort, and as an invitation to faith, for the living who are there, describing for them the joyful eternal future that awaits all who know the grace and forgiveness of God in Christ.
Jesus is there, speaking these words. Jesus is there, soothing the sadness of the mourners. And Jesus is there, showing them – for their own benefit – the pathway of daily repentance and faith that leads to everlasting life, through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave.
One would think that the death of a friend or relative would be a time when someone would reflect on his or her own mortality more soberly and seriously than before. One would expect that someone at a funeral might be more open than usual, to hearing what God’s Word says about sin and death, about grace and forgiveness, and about life with God here and hereafter.
But for too many people who attend funerals, they forget what they heard almost as soon as they have left the building or the graveside. The warnings and promises of God do not remain with them, or become a continuing part of their lives.
Oh, they don’t mind Jesus being there at the ceremony. A funeral is a suitable time for a little religious talk and a few prayers. But that’s where it ends – until the next funeral.
Jesus is also present at a Christian wedding. And he is also speaking at a Christian wedding.
Marriage is not an institution that evolved in human society, or that – in its essence – is still evolving. God established marriage in the Garden of Eden to be a lifelong and loving union of a man and a woman.
And with respect to each specific marriage today, Jesus himself speaks these words, as recorded in St. Mark’s Gospel:
“From the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
These words – spoken by Jesus today at Christian weddings, as they are read from Holy Scripture – are words that are filled with divine authority. They are words of warning, against anything that a married person would do to break up his or her marriage.
They are words of invitation, since God takes a personal interest in each marriage, so that he can be called upon for strength, guidance, and protection when a marriage begins to falter, with confidence that God will help.
And they are words of promise, assuring a man and woman who are now setting out together in life, that their loving Father in heaven will bless them in many ways, as they are joined together by him.
But just as with funerals, so too with weddings, Jesus is indeed often welcomed at the events of the day. And his words – to which many people have a sentimental attachment – are eagerly heard and appreciated: for that day.
But after the wedding – both for the bridal couple, and for their guests – how often are those words then forgotten in the real-life, rough-and-tumble trials and struggles that marriages and families often endure? A new, unseasoned, and fragile marriage could especially benefit so much from ongoing input from the one who is the divine author of marriage.
A bride and groom who need help in their own marriage to each other, need to find their place in the church, which collectively is the bride of Christ: whom Christ loves and sanctifies with his grace and forgiveness. But do they?
Is Jesus allowed and invited to become a part of everything they do? Or do they largely ignore him after the wedding day, assuming that they can figure everything out for themselves, and often failing miserably in that misguided attempt?
Jesus does not want to be like the distant relative or old friend, whom you enjoy seeing at a funeral or a wedding, but with whom you do not stay in touch after the funeral or wedding. As you deal with life, and as you face your own death, Jesus wants you to stay in touch with him every day, and to welcome him into your life every day.
What Jesus tells you at a funeral or a wedding is not just for that day, but is for a lifetime. The impact of his words reaches into eternity.
His words and his saving truth are so important. Everything that he wants to do for you – in your struggling family, and in your personal human frailty – is so important.
We’re not at a wedding or a funeral right now, but we are in God’s house right now. And Jesus is with us, speaking to us, right now.
If you haven’t listened to him very attentively before, start listening today. If you have found excuses to ignore him most of the time; and not to include him in everything you do, and in every decision you make, most of the time, drop those excuses today.
Jesus is not here for you today, by his Spirit, and in his Word and Sacrament, merely as the equivalent of a distant relative or as an old friend. Rather, he is here, according to the description of the Book of Proverbs, as “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
His absolution reaches down deeply into your conscience, and lifts from it all the guilt and stain of your sins. His body and blood enter deeply into your body, and into your soul, and nourish them supernaturally with his divine life.
And, when you leave this building, he will leave with you. When you enter your home, he will enter with you. When you go to work tomorrow, he will go with you.
As he leaves, enters, and goes with you, he will also speak to you: through the message of Holy Scripture that you read and ponder, and on which you meditate. His Word will be a light for your path, and will serve as the guardrails on either side of your path.
You will not forget about him, when the sermon and songs of this morning are finished. You will remember, and he will remember you.
He will remember you tomorrow, next week, next year, and for as long as you live. And he will remember you when he comes into his kingdom, as he even now assures you that you will be with him in paradise.
Lord, thee I love with all my heart; I pray thee, never from me depart,
with tender mercy cheer me.
Earth has no pleasure I would share; yea, heaven itself were void and bare
if thou, Lord, wert not near me.
And should my heart for sorrow break, my trust in thee can nothing shake.
Thou art the portion I have sought; thy precious blood my soul has bought.
Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Lord, forsake me not! I trust thy word. Amen.