Second Sunday After Epiphany Service

And I was like, where are you at? And he was like, I don't know.

And I would yell, water to Gerald. What do you know about that? And he was like,

I don't know. And I was like, I don't know. And he was like, are water and cans or ice?

And I was like, I don't know. And he was like, you have a whole bunch of them in there. Yeah, I don't know.

I can't even put it in there. Oh. It's not in the wall. I've tried it.

Oh, really? Did you make it? I think it was a little bit. I want to know what she used to make. It's weird. I don't know.

I've used it as a plate. I see. Yeah, because it gets older. Yeah. Oh, I don't know.

I'm trying to see. Oh, that's awesome. So what are they? I don't know. I don't think I've ever made any of these.

I'm glad that I see you for a moment. I'm glad to be here. Also for a moment. Is there anybody else?

Is that all right? So the youngest was here, and the youngest is now with you?

Yeah. Those two are. OK. Not yet.

I would like to see you all. I'm going to call on this way. Oh, I mean,

I have them here. We do have the minimums. Yeah, I see what you mean. I think we have them. We might have them.

So. OK. Yeah. There you go.

That's right. That is so perfect.

Yes, sir. Yeah. There you go. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

I share it a lot. I know. Thank you so much.

I'd like to welcome you to the

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Today is the second Sunday after the Epiphany, and a chilly one at that.

We will be following the order of divine service, setting one. And if you are physically present and able, please rise for the opening hymn.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Let us then confess our sins unto God our Father. Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean.

We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of your

Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name, amen.

Almighty God, in his mercy, has given his son to die for you, and for his sake, he forgives you all of your sins.

As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore forgive you all of your sins, in the name of the

Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All the earth worships you, and sing praises to you.

They sing praises to your name. It is good to give thanks to the

Lord. To sing praises to your name, oh most high.

Shout for joy to God, all the earth. Sing the glory of his name.

Give to him glorious praise. Say to God, how awesome are your deeds.

So great is your power, that your enemies come cringing to you.

All the earth worships you, and sing praises to you.

They sing praises to your name. Come and see what

God has done. He is awesome in his deeds, toward the children of man.

Blessed be he, God, because he has not rejected my prayer, or removed his steadfast love from me.

Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the

Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.

Amen. The earth worships you, and sing praises to you.

They sing praises to your name. It is good to give thanks to the

Lord. To sing praises to your name, oh, in peace, let us pray to the

Lord. For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the

Lord. For the peace of the whole world, for the well -being of the

Church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the

Lord. For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the

Lord. Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.

The Lord be with you. Let us pray.

Almighty and everlasting God, who governs all things in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the prayers of your people, and grant us your peace through all of our days.

Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one

God, now and forever. You may be seated.

The Old Testament reading for this, the second Sunday after the epiphany, is taken from the book of Exodus, chapter 33.

Moses said to the Lord, see, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.

Yet, you have said, I know you by name, and you have found favor in my sight. Now, therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight.

Consider, too, that this nation is your people. And he said, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

And he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight,

I and your people? Is it not in your going with us that we are distinct,

I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth? And the Lord said to Moses, this very thing you have spoken,

I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name. Moses said, please show me your glory.

And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and proclaim before you my name, the

Lord. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.

But he said, you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock while my glory passes by.

I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.

This is the word of the Lord. Our epistle is taken from Ephesians chapter five.

Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior.

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives as 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.

In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies, he who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

This mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

This is the word of the Lord. The Holy Gospel according to St.

John, the second chapter. On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.

Jesus said to her, woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you.

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons.

Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, and they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, now draw some out, take it to the master of the feast.

So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water, now become wine, and did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

The master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine, but you have kept the good wine until now.

This, the first of his signs that Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

This is the gospel of the Lord. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You may be seated. In the name of Jesus.

Amen. All right, got a little bit of confessing to do here. I decided that since we're in the one -year election area, and we're gonna stay on this thing, we're gonna dig deep into all of these texts, and over the next few years, hopefully, we're gonna become a little bit more, not only familiar with them, but have a little bit more mastery, at least in our understanding of those texts.

That being the case, last year when I preached on this text, something bugged me, like legitimately bothered me, and it was the question that I raised in the sermon last year.

What is it that Jesus did that made Mary so confident that he was gonna do something?

Because, you know, she confronts him. It sounds like in the ESV translation, so it's a little bit of a rebuff, and then she says to the servants, you do whatever he tells you.

So why, what did Jesus do? Did he wink at her, or whatever? So this year,

I decided in my sermon prep, I was gonna find the answer to that question, and I dug, and I dug, and I started to find an answer to the question.

Part of it has to do with how the text is translated. It's kind of hard to understand what's going on in the

English, but the best way I can put it is is that we're gonna go on a journey together.

The reason being is because as I dug, and dug, and dug, checked the Church Fathers, checked multiple commentaries, really kind of set out to answer that question,

I found a whole lot more than what I was bargaining for. This text is ridiculously amazing, and let me rephrase that.

This text shows just how ridiculously amazing Jesus is, and that's kind of the point here.

You'll note it's his first miracle, and the details regarding the miracle legitimately matter.

Now, real quick, as is my standard practice, I generally take swipes at bad theology.

It doesn't matter where it comes from. It could be in the NAR, it could be woke left, or anything like that, but there is a false teaching running around the landscape that says that Jesus did all of his miracles by the power of the

Holy Spirit as a fully submitted man. That's a heresy, by the way. That's called the canonic heresy, and that's just a whole bunch of bovine scatology.

Let's just be blunt on that, okay? It says this in verse 11. This, the first of his signs that Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.

So let's just kind of get that out on the table. Jesus did this, manifested his glory.

He did not do this miracle as a fully submitted human being, and the Holy Spirit then did this for him.

Nope, Jesus performed the miracle, so we can put the canonic heresy to rest wherever it manifests.

Jesus did the miracle. But all that being said, as we work our way through this text, you're going to note there's what the text says, but there's more to what it means than what it says.

This is a text that is, for lack of a better way of putting it, evocative. It evokes imagery of the

Old Testament. It sends you into the Old Testament looking for answers to the meaning of what is in this passage.

So for instance, it says this. On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.

The third day? Third day from what? And why third day, right?

And what's really fascinating is when you read the church fathers and the commentators on this, everybody is buzzing with ideas as to what this means.

And here's kind of the fun bit. If you go back into chapter one of the Gospel of John, you know, this one chapter earlier, you'll note that John himself starts keeping time.

He starts keeping days and counting days starting with Jesus' baptism. And then on the next day, he called one of his disciples, and on the next day, he called some other disciples.

It's been the third day since he's called Philip one of his disciples, as well as Nathaniel.

So you got the idea here. Now, up to this point in the narrative, Jesus only has six disciples.

He hasn't filled out the rest yet. We haven't brought in Matthew the tax collector, Simon the zealot.

And there's a good argument to be made. At least four of the disciples are for sure fishermen, potentially all six so far are fishermen.

And just a little bit of a note. I don't know if it's just a stereotype, but I've seen this in my own life, that men who make their living on the sea have a tendency to drink a little bit much.

I'm just saying, okay? The whole concept being three sheets to the wind is a nautical kind of thing, right?

So that's also playing into this. So little bit of a note, third day. Technically, it's the sixth day since John has started tracking days in his gospel.

And six kind of invokes, well, the six days of creation. It invokes what's going on in this, well, creation that's under sin, where we need to be, well, cleansed of our sins.

Third day, well, you can't read the third day without going, Jesus rose from the grave on the third day.

Rose bodily from the grave on the third day. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And you'll note that in the history of Israel, if you go back and you read the narrative regarding when the children of Israel get to Mount Sinai and then

God descends and the whole mountain is firing smoke and all this kind of stuff, that was the third day when

God gave them the 10 Commandments. Kind of important stuff happens. And here's the thing. Well, which one of these things is it pointing to?

Yes, yes, it's pointing to that one and that one and that one.

You kind of get the point. But here's kind of more to it. Wedding at Cana in Galilee.

The mother of Jesus was there. Now, a little bit of a note. In the Gospel of John, Mary only appears twice and she's never named by name.

Kind of fascinating, okay? And so this is her first appearance. Her last appearance is at the foot of the cross while Christ is being crucified.

And in both texts, Jesus refers to her as woman. Kind of fascinating. We'll talk about what that means as well.

So if you'll just permit me something, something I don't normally do, I'm gonna preach our

Gospel text using my translation because there's certain things that I find in the

Greek that are a little more helpful than the ESV, which has been kind of polished to make it easier to read as an

English speaker. So on the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there and Jesus was invited to the wedding and literally the way it kind of reads in the

Greek, and as an afterthought, so were his disciples. I want you to think about this. A week earlier,

Jesus didn't have any disciples. He hadn't even been baptized. So a week earlier, inviting

Mary and inviting Jesus to the wedding would have resulted in two people. But whoever is putting this wedding on has decided out of love for Jesus, courtesy for Jesus, we don't know what it is, to also invite

Jesus' disciples. The six that are there so far, four of them for sure are men who make their living on the

Sea of Galilee, and here's kind of the issue. We don't understand this as Americans, but Jesus' culture was an honor culture and you're going to have to see it the way you would look at like the

Japanese culture, okay? And in the Japanese culture, we as Americans, we hear stories about people who are

Japanese who unalive themselves, they would prefer death to being dishonored.

And what you have to get is this, is that if this couple is incapable of meeting their cultural duties and expectations of providing a copious amount of wine that does not run out during the wedding feast, then they will be dishonored.

And this kind of dishonor sticks with a couple. This is the kind of dishonor that would cause people to want to move to a different state or a different country because the stigma of this is a big deal.

And this, by the way, is the big threat that's here. And I would note, this is a good way to think about sin.

When you think about what is sin, well, the Greek word is harmartia. It's a term that comes from archery.

It means to miss the mark, right? And here's the deal, it doesn't matter why you miss the mark you know,

I sneezed, I coughed, you know, my arm gave out, you know, I wasn't wearing a wrist guard and the bow string hit my arm and I nearly killed four

Cub Scouts. None of this matters, okay? If you miss the mark here, you are dishonored, you are disgraced, you are ridiculed.

And the thing is, you have no business even getting married because the whole point of there being a betrothal and then being a period of time between the betrothal and the actual marriage and the consummation of the marriage is to give the guy time to build a house and show that he's mature enough, financially secure enough to actually have a wife and kids and things like this.

And so if he can't even pay for enough wine for all of his guests, this man shouldn't even be getting married and he will become the talk of Cana in Galilee, I would note, they didn't have the internet back then but the gossip chain was as brutal as ever back in the day.

So that's what's facing this couple. Jesus is invited, his disciples are invited and as predicted here with the extra guests who show up, the wine was giving out, the text says.

So the mother of Jesus takes Jesus aside and says to him, they have no wine.

This is pretty straightforward, which tells us that she's concerned for this couple.

She's concerned for the bridegroom. She's concerned for the bride. She's concerned that they not be dishonored, that Jesus needs to do something.

Why she thinks Jesus could do something, I don't know. The text doesn't say.

Or maybe she was just basically trying to say, would you get those disciples of yours to stop drinking so much?

Okay? That may be what's going on here.

Read the commentaries, okay? But now we're going to get to the answer to my question.

How is it that she knows in two verses that Jesus is going to do something?

Here's the issue. The ESV translation here is not a good one and I would say there's not a lot of good

English translations on this because this is a notoriously difficult phrase to pull into English.

So the ESV's translation, woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come, misses an important part of what's going on in the

Greek. The Greek, I'll read it to you, but I know you're going to complain and go, well, that's just Greek to me.

It says, ti amoi kai soi gunai. So if you were to just kind of like give a rough wooden translation, it goes something like this.

What is mine and yours, woman? That's it, that's all it says in the

Greek. What is mine is yours, woman? Okay, now, let me give you a buffed out translation, one that I stole from the

Concordia commentary because I think it's right, right? Here's a better translation.

Is my concern that of yours, woman? And I want you to think about that for a second.

Is my concern that of yours? In asking that question,

Jesus is saying to Mary, this is my concern, not yours. This is for me to solve, not yours.

And of course, he calls her woman, a little bit of a note, it's a term of endearment. It is not the dis that we hear in our

English ears today. Again, I point out, if I were to ever say to my mother, listen, woman, my head would be spinning so hard that it would fly off my shoulders like a helicopter and off into the stratosphere, okay?

And that would be the last thing I ever did, okay? But that's not what's going on here. And despite the fact that it is a term of endearment,

I'm gonna point something out here. It is also a term that distances

Christ from Mary. Jesus is baptized, and at his baptism, the

Father from heaven said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And so that distance at this point puts the emphasis that Jesus is the

Son of God, not the Son of Mary. And Mary needs to be saved like you and I.

She is a sinner like all others. And here's the thing. By Jesus saying, is my concern that of yours, he's making it very clear.

This is his problem to solve, and this is a problem that relates to sin in general, not just the problem that the wine is running out.

The reason why the wine is running out and people are here at the cusp of being dishonored in front of all of their wedding guests is because of sin, and this is

Jesus's problem to solve. This is why he then says, my hour has not yet come.

And you're sitting there going, what hour is he talking about? Read the commentaries, read the Church Fathers on this. Everyone sits there and goes, he has to be referring to the cross.

And they're right. His hour has not yet come, which means it's the cross that's the solution to this.

Kind of put differently, when Mary says they have no wine,

Jesus is hearing it as they don't have any blood. It's a totally different take on this.

And that's the problem that we all face. We, you, me, all of us, are sinful and unclean.

And here's the other best bit of all of this. The context then doesn't merely point to this historical wedding that took place 2 ,000 years ago.

What's going on here has implications and has its real focus on the real wedding that's really coming up, the marriage feast of the

Lamb. And let me remind you of something here. My hour has not yet come. I don't know how else to put it, but God is legitimately head over heels for his bride.

I mean, like, goo goo ga ga, like, out of his mind, crazy in love with her.

I want you to hear some of the imagery that is given to us in Ezekiel 16. Now granted, this is not a complete picture because Israel transgresses

God's law, but listen to this love letter written by God regarding his bride.

He says to her, your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an

Amorite and your mother a Hittite. And I know everybody hearing this is hearing Monty Python.

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries. I experienced it too. Let's just confess it and move on, okay?

Yeah, that's right. Your father was an Amorite, your mother was a Hittite. And as for your birth, on the day that you were born, your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.

The bride of Christ is described here as a child that was cast away at birth.

Since abortion wasn't available, the next best thing was exposure to kill the child.

And that's describing you and I. You can legitimately say in today's way of thinking,

Christ is describing his bride as an abortion survivor, as a child who wasn't even wanted by its mother.

And who's the mother of humanity at this point? Satan, right? That tells us a lot about Satan.

And as for your birth, on the day that you were born, your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.

No, I pitied you to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you. But you were cast out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day that you were born.

And when I passed by you, and I saw you wallowing in your blood,

I said to you in your blood, live! And I said to you in your blood, live!

The text legitimately repeats itself. I made you flourish like a plant in the field, and you grew up and became tall, and arrived at full adornment.

Your breasts were formed, your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare. And when I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age of love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you, and I covered your nakedness.

I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God.

And you became mine. Then I bathed you with water, and washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil.

I clothed you also with embroidered cloth, and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.

I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck.

And I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth.

You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful, and advanced to royalty."

What a picture. And you'll note then that our epistle text summarizes that very succinctly when it says, husbands, and this is speaking to all

Christian men, love your wives as Christ has loved the church and has given himself up for her, so that he might make her holy, 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.

Those words, spot, wrinkle, and blemish should sound familiar to you if you know your Old Testament, because the sacrifices for the atonement of sin had to be spotless, without blemish, without wrinkle.

But here it says that Christ presents his bride, you, to himself without spot or wrinkle or blemish because he is the spotless

Lamb of God who takes away the sin of his bride. He washes her.

He cleanses her. He adorns her in his splendor.

All of this is being evoked in our text here when Jesus says, my hour has not yet come, referring to Christ's death on the cross.

So, again, to review, Jesus legitimately says, is my concern?

That of yours, woman? My hour has not yet come. And in response to this, and now it makes sense, because when

Jesus says, is my concern that of yours, he is tacitly promising he's going to fix this problem, and he does.

So his mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, you do. Now, here's the next part that we have to pay attention to.

The text at the very end, we've already noted, says that this is the first of the signs that Jesus did.

But I want you to pay attention to this. Jesus didn't say, all right, hang on a second, guys. Give me the microphone here.

I'm going to save this couple from shame and dishonor, and the way

I'm going to do it, go ahead and grab those water jars over there, and blammo, he turns it into wine.

That would have shown his glory, wouldn't it? Probably not.

Here's the reason why. Because of our Old Testament text. In our

Old Testament text, we see Moses trying desperately to figure out how to avert the catastrophe that has occurred because Israel has committed grievous idolatry and worshipped a golden calf.

20 ,000 fell as a result of that sin. When Moses came down from the mountain, he found burning men.

He found woodstock, sex, drugs, rock and roll, all in a religious setting, and it was horrifying.

And God, as a result of their sin, says that he's not going to go with them to the

Promised Land. He'll send an angel. He says, but if my presence goes with you, I'll destroy all of you. And God is also clear to Moses that Moses has found favor with God.

And Moses is bewildered. He does not understand. Okay, how have I got favor with God?

What did I do to get favor with God? I understand what the children of Israel didn't do or what they did to not be in his favor, but I don't understand why

I have his favor. So he's trying to work an angle with God to get God to tip his hand, to explain what's going on here, right?

And so you can see what's going on in this kind of back and forth. God keeps saying, you've found favor in my sight.

I'll go with you. And he says, no, you have to go with me and your people. This is what he's trying to work out here.

But then Moses comes up with the ultimate Hail Mary pass. Yeah, I know, pastor jokes are stupid, but it's the best way to describe it, right?

He says, show me your glory, okay?

God says, all right, you're on, but here's some stipulations. I'm gonna put you in a cleft of a rock, cover it with my hand, and I'm gonna cause my goodness and glory to pass by you.

And then once I pass by you, I'll lift my hand and then you'll be able to see my backside because no one can see my face and live.

So there's Moses. In the next chapter, chapter 34, he's gone up to the place where God has told him to go.

Nobody's allowed to even be on Mount Sinai at all, even an animal. If an animal goes on, it's gonna die.

God's gonna kill it. So there's Moses. God puts him in the cleft of the rock, covers it with his hands, causes his glory to pass by.

And I would note here, there's a lot of people, when they think about God's glory, this is how they talk about it, right?

What they're thinking about has nothing to do with what it is that Moses heard. Because Moses didn't get to see

God's glory, he got to hear it. And here's what God's glory said about itself.

Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.

The glory of God is to forgive iniquity, to forgive transgression, to pardon sin.

Put differently, I want you to think about this. There's a day coming when each and every one of us will stand before the throne of Christ.

Some will hear from Jesus, depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness.

And here's the thing. When you look at the imagery regarding the day of judgment, everybody's watching everybody while they're getting judged.

So when Jesus says, depart from me, I never knew you, they are dishonored, not only before Christ, they're dishonored before the

Father and the Holy Spirit, they're dishonored before the entire population of the earth.

And this is an eternal dishonor that results in separation from God's presence, his holy presence, and to experience the pain and agony of God's wrath for eternity.

But you and I, not because of anything we've done, we'll hear different words.

The words we're going to hear are this. Well done, good and faithful servant. The Father hears it, the

Holy Spirit hears it, the Son declares it, the world hears it. He honors you in front of everybody.

But you know you haven't deserved that. You have missed the mark, you have fallen short.

How is it that he can say well done? Because it is the glory of God to forgive sin, pardon iniquity, yours, mine.

He is goo -goo over his bride, so much so he wants to cover every last ounce of her shame.

And he has gone to the cross, suffered in her place so that she can be honored.

That's what's going on here. So what follows next is

Jesus working behind the scenes. And I have to ask the question, at what point does

Jesus manifest his glory? I'll point it out, but let's be looking for it.

So there were there sat six stone water jars for the cleansing of the Jews. Six, there we go again, creation.

Stone invokes the Mosaic Covenant. Cleansing of the Jews. By the way, we're all grafted into Israel, so keep that in mind.

It kind of invokes the Old Testament. And each of them contains, it says in the

Greek, two to three metretas, which basically comes out to between 20 and 30 gallons.

It depends on how you count a metretas, but that's a whole other story. So Jesus said to them, you fill the jars with water, and they filled them to the brim.

The Old Testament has been filled to its top at this point. The Mosaic Covenant, the law doesn't save you, but you need to be cleansed.

And Jesus here, by the way, I would note, I hated as a kid having to wash my hands before I would eat a meal.

Absolutely despised it. But you're gonna note something here. That was the cost of entry before you can enjoy a meal with your family was washing your hands, right?

I would note the cost of entry into the wedding feast of the Lamb is you do need to be cleansed.

You do need to be washed. So Christ knows this imagery. But this isn't about the cleansing.

It's about the party that follows, right? So they fill them as far as to the brim.

And then Jesus said to them, draw some and carry it to the master of the feast. The miracle's already taken place.

The washing has now given way to the best wine ever created on this earth.

And believe me when I tell you, this is the vintage that Christ is serving at the wedding feast of the Lamb. It's gonna be amazing to taste.

I can't wait. So you'll note, is Jesus drawing any attention to himself?

Not a bit. Just quietly says to the servants, you carry some and take it to the master of the feast.

When the master of the feast tasted the water become wine, and don't you think for a second, this guy was not aware that they were running out of wine.

And here's the thing, he was absolutely preparing to do something he did not want to have to do.

Shame and dishonor this couple for their lack of resources, for their lack of planning, for their missing the mark horribly and disgracing themselves and their guests by not providing what needed to be provided.

So that's what everybody's bracing for. But here's what happens.

The master of the feast tasted the water become wine and he didn't know where it had come from. So the servants that drew the water, they knew.

So the master of the feast summoned the bridegroom. Right, you get over here.

So there's this young fellow. And he said to him, and note here, he said to him and by saying it to him, he was saying it to everybody there.

Everyone first serves or sets the good wine and then when they are drunk, then they pull out the inferior.

But you've kept the good wine until now. Well done, good and faithful servant.

This is where Christ's glory is manifested in this text. It's their sin being covered, their dishonor turning into complete and utter honor.

And at this point, you've kept the best wine until now. I can hear Mikey going, oop -ba, right?

And everyone started dancing Gangnam style. Oop, oop, oop, just weird stuff going on here, okay?

So there was joy, there was rejoicing, the party was great. The crisis is averted.

And here's the result of it. This is the first sign that Jesus did in Cana and Galilee and he revealed his glory, his glory that forgives and pardons sins.

And as a result of it, his disciples believed in him. Now I wanna point something out here.

We hear the word disciple like all the time. It's one of them big churchy words, right? We hear it, it's in the

Bible, we read it in the scriptures, we hear it in the sermons, we hear it in the text. We're disciples of Jesus and we throw the term around.

Have you ever stopped to think what on earth that even means, okay? Because I can tell you it doesn't mean the same thing when we think of like a student, okay?

When we were kids, we had to go to school, right? And we were students. Let me ask you a question.

How many teachers did you have? A lot, okay? You had like one teacher all the way up to grade school, then you started getting a plethora of teachers once you were in junior high and high school, on into college, right?

When it comes to discipleship, you have one teacher. And the reason why you've attached yourself this much to this one teacher is because not only do you believe he's speaking the truth, you want to be like him.

This isn't just being a student. A disciple, it says that his disciples believed in him, which means they wanted to be like him.

When Jesus reveals his glory, these disciples know full well what was just averted.

They experienced and sought with themselves that rather than being shamed and ridiculed and gossiped about and dishonored, that this bridegroom and his bride by extension were honored in the greatest way ever by the master of the feast, and Jesus is the one who covered all of their sin.

And his disciples believed in him. They want to be just like him.

Teach me more, Jesus, because I've never seen anything like this.

So brothers and sisters, Christ has revealed his glory, and I would note this, that Christ's glory is on full display today.

Today you have heard that your sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ. His glory is on full display here for you today.

Today you will feast on the very body and blood of Christ, and I would note the same Jesus who turned water into wine, then takes wine and makes it his own blood, and it's a foretaste of the wedding to come.

His glory is going to be revealed today when we feast on his body and blood, and hear those words, this is my body given for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

This is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Christ is cleansing his bride again today, and there's only one way to describe it.

It's glorious. So to Christ be all the glory.

In the name of Jesus, amen. We rise to confess our faith together in the words of the

Nicene Creed. I believe in one

God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his

Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very

God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the

Father by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the

Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the

Father, and he will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the

Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy, Christian and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Amen. For the prayers of the church, you may remain standing, or if you like, you may also kneel.

So let us pray for the whole church of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs. Heavenly Father, your

Son shed his blood to redeem us and to make us his holy and spotless bride. Sustain us in faithfulness.

Increase our desire for him alone. Turn our hearts from every false god that we may receive the full joy of life with Christ now and forever.

Lord, in your mercy. Amen. Heavenly Father, lead all pastors and church leaders to imitate the servants at Cana and do as Christ instructs.

Give them boldness to preach the law and the gospel rightly and graciously provide for all their earthly needs.

Lord, in your mercy. Amen. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the gift of marriage and family.

Make the relationship between each husband and wife a picture of Christ's ceaseless love for his bride, the church, that we may live in your forgiving love.

Grant parents your care as they raise their children and give every father and mother a zeal that points them constantly to your ways and to your forgiveness.

Fill children with obedience, respect, and love for their parents. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father, guide and give wisdom to the nation and our president, the governor of this state and all judges and magistrates.

Protect those who serve us as firefighters, police, disaster workers, and medical personnel.

Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Heavenly Father, remember the sick and those who care for them, the dying and those who mourn and those who struggle with all kinds of illnesses, including mental illnesses.

Today, we lift before you and ask for your mercy for Annabelle, Robbie, Linda, Eric, Christine, Annie, Angela, Michaela, Rudy, Gabriel, Gideon, and Grace.

We pray for John, Arlen, Luis, Leon, Robin, and Roger. We pray for Gail, Jeff, Rachel, David, Gloria, Haley, the

Hundley family, Anne, Jonathan, Cricket, Miranda, Stephanie, Andrew, Angela, Norbert, and Savannah, Heather, Pat, Doug, Melissa, and Carter.

And we also pray for those who mourn. We lift before you the family of Nancy Akiri. Heal them according to your will.

Grant comfort and peace in their trials. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

Lord, we pray for those who are affected by calamities and disasters. We ask that you would have mercy on those who've lost homes and loved ones in the

California wildfires. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

Lord, we lift before you those who are still under Satan's deception and have not yet been washed and made a member of the bride of Christ.

We pray that you would have mercy on them and send those who can preach the gospel to them to lead us out of Satan's maze and into the glorious glory of Christ, the one who bled and died for their sins.

In this regard, we pray for JP, Rodney, Amy, Jody, Gage, Sheila, Karen, Tara, Don, George, John, Georgette, Robert, Renee, Tamika, Christine, Monica, Killian, Corey, and Ryan.

Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Heavenly Father, recall your people from the temptation, strife, and captivity of this world.

Return them to the rich land of your church where the fruits of your son's precious death flourish.

Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you that of your grace you have instituted holy matrimony in which you keep us from unchastity and other offenses.

We implore you, send your blessing on every husband and wife. Do not let them provoke one another to anger and strife, but let them live peaceably together in love and godliness.

Strengthen them with your gracious help in all temptations and help them to rear their children in accordance with your will.

Grant us all to walk before you in purity and holiness, putting our trust in you and leading such lives on earth that in the world to come we may have everlasting life through Jesus Christ, your son, our

Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.