Second Sunday in Epiphany – The Mystical Marriage

Holy Baptism and Holy Communion

Romans 12:6-16a        St John 2:1-11

“The have no wine…”

The season of Epiphany is about the manifestation of God, or the revealing Sunday by Sunday of who this Jesus who was born into the world really is.

This Sunday Jesus is revealed for the first time, by his first miracle, at the wedding at Cana, as the Messiah expected by the Jews, the Messiah that would save his people [St John 2:1-11].

In the Old Testament from the opening chapters of Genesis to the prophets, God had been preparing is people for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  And that coming Messiah would open up a new relationship between God and his people, an intimate relationship, a covenant, a marriage union of our soul with God.    

The end of Genesis Chapter 2 says that - a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.  St Paul says this refers to Christ and the Church, His body [Gen 2:24-25 as read by Paul in Ephesians 5:30-32].  Jesus leaves his heavenly throne, to come to earth and dwell among us; he leaves his mother on the Cross when he dies, and by his death makes possible the union of God and His people.  God will not have to hide himself from us, and we will open ourselves up before God and no longer be ashamed in His presence.

This marriage relationship is spoken of also through the Prophets [e.g. Isa 54:4-8; Jer 31:31-34; Ezek 16; and Hosea].  For example, through Isaiah [54], God says,

⁴ “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
⁵ For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
⁶ For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.
⁷ For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
⁸ In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord, your Redeemer.

The marriage union of God and his people is the subject of the Wisdom books, especially, The Song of Songs in the Old Testament.  It describes the love between a woman and a man and does not have one reference to God.  But it was included in the Old Testament because it was seen by Jewish teachers and by the Church as a reference to the love between God and his people Israel, between Christ and our soul.

And Jesus himself prepared people by speaking in the parables about the Kingdom of heaven being like a wedding feast [Matt 22:1-14, Luke 14:8-11], and like 10 maidens waiting for their bridegroom [Matt 25:1-13].  And when Jesus spoke to his disciples about not fasting in the presence of the Bridegroom [Matt 9:15], a practice the apostles took up regularly, we see in Acts of the Apostles, to draw close to Christ.  John the Baptist also described himself as the friend of the Bridegroom, Jesus, rejoicing in his presence [John 3:29].  This new covenant and new age that the Messiah would bring about is characterized by a new relationship between God and his people – a marriage union.

So it is completely in line with all of these preparations that Jesus would reveal Himself by His first miracle at a marriage in Cana in Galilee as we heard in this morning’s Gospel.

How does this marriage union between our souls and God take place?

It is by our Baptism and through faith, that we are united mystically with Jesus Christ.  We receive His Spirit dwelling in our hearts – that we may evermore dwell in Him and He is us.  And this marriage union becomes possible because of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

What separated us from a closeness with God – our shame, our guilt, our blindness to truth, our weakness of will – some of it is the result of our sin, some of it the result of the sins of others against us.  These things have hindered our love, hindered our close union with God.  Jesus has come into our midst to deal with these things, to reunite us with God, in a holy spiritual bond of marriage.

We heard today that Jesus’ first miracle happened at a wedding feast, to correspond with the revelation that He is the Bridegroom, we are his bride.  Jesus takes the first steps to overcome the divisions between him and us.  And when we are joined with him, through faith and baptism, we are raised up through this union.

Jesus changes clay vessels filled with water into clay vessels filled with wine – a figure of our human bodies with a living spirit transformed into human bodies with a living spirit joined with His Spirit – the best wine.  And I saw, says St John in Revelation , the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband [21:2, 19:7-9].  Jesus is adorning us even now by His Spirit to be God’s bride.  The added joy to the wedding feast of abundant wine is a figure of the deep abiding joy he brings to our souls through our spiritual union with Him.

Michael – God has also prepared you, with the Word of God, and also in very particular ways through dreams and visions, and through contact at your schools with Christian teachers and through Christian friends.  All of this has been a preparation for the union of your soul with God in Christ.  It has been a joy to hear of your journey, of God leading you, to the waters of Baptism this day.

Today is not the completion of your journey with Jesus Christ, but the beginnings of a new deeper communion with God through His Spirit.  You have been made a child of God, a member of Christ and an inheritor of the Kingdom of heaven. [Catechism]  And you will make our joy more complete.  It is one of our greatest joys to see you enter into God’s kingdom, to be united in a mystical marriage to God in Christ.

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Michael, we don’t know where God will lead you.  But we do know that by the grace of God, there will come about some very specific fruits of the union of your love for God and God’s love for you that will overflow with benefits for others. 

God sends His Spirit into our hearts – God’s very self.  And we have things we can offer God that we have by our creation.  And in combination, the very specific gifts that we have by our nature, God promises to transform, from natural gifts to supernatural gifts – from water to the best wine.  And St Paul encourages us today, in the Epistle reading, that we are to use them.  

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.  Let love be genuine. 

Today let us reconsider our gifts, and to see ways we can use them – this is the fruit of our marriage union with God.  Paul lists a few examples of gifts – prophesy, service, teaching, generosity, leadership, acts of mercy, compassion, hospitality.  And he says that we are to use these gifts in a right Spirit – in hopefulness...with patience...steadfastly...in love...in peace...and in humility.

In a marriage union, we also discover our failures in love – this also is a fruit of the union with God.  There are hurts and poor examples that we have taken into our own souls that hinder a deeper intimacy with one another, and there are hurts that hinder our deeper intimacy with God.  Praise God when, by His Spirit, he reveals these things that we might seek pardon and turn to God to be healed of them.

Mary shows us today that we are to make our needs known to Jesus.  She speaks for all of humanity when she says, they have no wine – she is describing our insufficiency without God and asks Jesus for help.  And she advises us to, do whatever Jesus tells us to do.

In our worship we have opportunity to ask Jesus to help us to use our gifts and to reveal our insufficiencies.  Jesus has come to bring about the flourishing of love – so let us reflect on our needs and bring these things to Jesus this morning.

Then we will do what Jesus told us to do: we have the opportunity to receive Holy Communion.  In Holy Communion, we strengthen the bond of our marriage union with God, through being truthful with Him about our failings and our needs. We recall Christ’s offering of Himself for us, and then we receive the best wine, the wine that has been saved for us until now.  We will be fed with His body and wash ourselves in His blood – to strengthen and renew the vows we have made to Jesus, and to receive all the benefits he has promised us.

We have no wine, so let us ask him.

Amen +