Have You Seen Jesus’ Glory?

This sermon was preached at Our Savior on 1/17/10, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany. Sermon text: John 2:1-11. http://ref.ly/Jn2.1-11

Have You Seen Jesus’ Glory?

If something is glorious or has glory, shouldn't it be impressive? Shouldn't it dazzle your eyes? Shouldn't it leave an impression in your mind even when you're not looking anymore, like a camera's flash?  Seeing fireworks go off in the air -- that's glorious. You see glory on TV or in the movies when there's explosions and fire and all sorts of loud noises. But can something really be glorious, can it really have glory, if no one -- or almost no one -- even notices it?

God's glory in the Bible was usually pretty impressive. When God sent the plagues against Egypt, they were devastating. You couldn't miss them! When God gave Moses the ten commandments, the mountain he was on was filled with smoke, clouds, and thunder. When the temple was first built, huge clouds filled it, showing God's glory. (1 Ki. 8:10-11)

But then in our text for today we have Jesus performing the miracle of changing water into wine. An amazing miracle? Sure, if you knew about it. But only a few people did. As our text tells us, though, in this miracle, Jesus "revealed his glory." (Jn. 2:11) But how can it be glorious when only couple of servants, Jesus' mother, and a few disciples knew about it? It doesn't seem impressive enough.

And then there's our lives. Have you seen Jesus' glory in your life? Have you seen amazing, flashy things from your Savior? Or does it maybe seem like you must have missed something? You can hear all the stories and words, but sometimes it doesn't seem very glorious. Sometimes it doesn't seem like there's anything there for our real lives, anything that really means something.

But there is something! There is more than we can even imagine!  Whether you can see it or not, Jesus' glory is real. It's there in his mercy, in his power, in his life and death. It's there in his love for you. So look at your Savior again, look to his Word. And see his glory!

Our text takes us to a wedding celebration. (Jn. 2:1) If you've been to a wedding or two, you probably have a picture in your head of how they're supposed to go: first there's the actual wedding ceremony, and then there's a party after it, usually called the reception. Maybe there's a meal and something to drink, maybe there's a dance, and then in one night, it's all over.

Weddings in Jesus' time were a little different. Weddings back then weren't about a reception, but a feast. It was a big party of eating and drinking. And forget one night and it's done. Weddings then commonly lasted seven days. So if you were invited to a wedding back then, you'd have to clear a week off your schedule if you wanted to come.

Jesus was invited to this particular wedding, and he came. What an honor! How'd you like to have the Savior and Son of God show up at your wedding? Since Cana was only about 9 miles or so from Jesus' hometown of Nazareth, these were probably family friends of Jesus and his mother. We don't even know if the couple knew who Jesus really was or not.

But his mom definitely did. That's why we hear in our text that she wanted Jesus to do something about it, "When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” (Jn. 2:3) Now, this  might not sound like anything too newsworthy. Ok, they ran out of wine. So what? But this was a big deal.

Maybe some of you have put on wedding receptions before, or maybe you've thrown a party. One thing you never want to happen is to run out of food or something to drink. I see it all the time when we have meals here at church. The one concern for the people helping is always, "Are we going to have enough?" Now, the world would not cease to exist if you run out of food at a party. But it is a bit of a socially embarrassing and awkward situation.

Now remember, this wedding feast in our text might have lasted as long as seven days. Maybe the wine was running out on day 3. Wine was the most common thing to drink back then, period. It would be really embarrassing to run out of it! Maybe you'd even get people leaving the wedding early, which would be even more embarrassing.

So that's why Mary looked to Jesus. She knew he could do something. We don't know if Jesus had done other miracles before this, but Mary knew who Jesus was. She knew he was true God. And now, Jesus had started his public ministry. He'd just been baptized by John, and he was just starting to gather his disciples. Maybe bringing some more wine to this wedding party would be a great way for him to make his mark and get his name known.

But Jesus wasn't ready to make too big of a mark. "My time has not yet come.” (Jn. 2:4) He said to Mary. Jesus knew the timetable that he had for his ministry. He couldn't make too big of a splash too soon; it had to be at just the right time. But just because he wouldn't make more wine in a flash of smoke and lightning, doesn't mean he wasn't going to help. Mary knew that, too; that's why she told the servants to "do whatever he tells you." (Jn. 2:5)

After that, it goes pretty quickly. Seeing six large jars nearby, Jesus quietly gives the servants commands: "Fill the jars with water" and then after they've been filled he says, "draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." (Jn. 2:7-8) Notice Jesus never even touches anything himself. The servants put water in and then take water out, and it's wine!

And not only wine, but really good wine. The master of the banquet we're told "did not realize where [the wine] had come from" (Jn. 2:9), yet he was amazed that the groom had "saved the best till now." (Jn. 2:10) So there you have it. Jesus changes plain old water into good wine and saves the wedding couple from embarrassment.

Does this really seem worth it to you? I mean, this was Jesus' first public miracle of his public ministry -- and he quietly keeps the wine flowing? Seems a little odd. You might wonder what glory there really is in a miracle like this. Yet listen to what the last verse of our text says. "This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him." (Jn. 2:11) Is this really such a big deal? Would you put your faith in someone just because he can do a neat little trick with wine?

We can easily think this way. I think one of the reasons for this is how we tend to separate our "church life" from our "regular life." Do you ever find yourself doing that? Church is the place for thinking about God and Jesus and miracles, and everywhere else is the place for everything else. And we keep them separate. It's easy to do that, but look at what can happen when you do.

You are depriving Jesus of his glory. Yes, he is our Savior, the Lord of life, true man and true God. But when we separate our "church" and "regular" lives, we're making Jesus the Lord of one hour out of our busy week, one hour out of the 168 hours of a week -- and that's if you're in church every week! What you end up doing is pushing Jesus as your Lord out of your life.

Then you start to no longer see Jesus' glory. You only see what's happening in your life at the moment. And it's not that surprising when you eventually stop seeing any need to go to church at all when you've done this. After all, if Jesus doesn't really have that much glory, if he doesn't mean anything to your everyday life, what's the point of hearing about him at church?

Maybe you've been guilty of the sin of pushing Jesus out of your life. And yes, that sin should make Jesus push you out of eternal life into eternal punishment. But that's not what Jesus wants to happen. Instead, he wants you to see his glory! Do you see it? Look again at our text.

"This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him." (Jn. 2:11) To help see what's so glorious about Jesus here, look what this verse says. It calls the miracle a "sign." You know what signs do on the side of the road. They point to things. They tell you what's coming up ahead. Jesus' miracle is a sign like that, too. It points to who Jesus really is, it shows his glory!

Think what this miracle shows us about Jesus. It shows his mercy and care for us. Jesus didn't have to help this wedding couple. He didn't need to help them out of an embarrassing situation. But he did! Do you ever have little problems come up in your life? Little annoyances, little issues and headaches? They're not too small to go to your Savior with. He can help! He has promised to answer prayers. He hasn't promised to give a miraculous sign to help you out, but he has promised to work out everything for your good.

But look else this water-to-wine miracle shows us about Jesus' glory.  It shows his power. Water into wine may seem like a neat little trick, but this was no trick. This water became wine, good wine. But it shouldn't surprise us that the one through whom all things were created (Heb. 1:2) could do this.

And it also shouldn't surprise us that his amazing power can be used for our good. Power to bring us to faith by his Spirit through Word and Sacraments. Power to turn souls captive in sin back to their loving God. There is nothing we can't go to our Savior for. He has power over life and death and heaven and hell. And he has used that power for you. He has used that power in a perfect life lived for your imperfect one. He's used his power in his death that paid the price you owed. He's used his power to be raised to the life that he gives you.

Jesus' glory is who he is and what he has done for us. The fact that we are living and breathing is because of his love and care for us. So let's give him the glory due to him in everything we do. Let's stop separating our "church" life from our "real" life and see that we only have the one life our Savior has given us. So let's live it for him, recognizing his glory. Going to him in prayer for the small things and the big things, and always being willing to point others to him.

Friends, have you seen Jesus' glory? It may not be flashy. It might not leave you dancing in the aisles, but it's real. It's worked in your heart by faith. It comes through Word and Sacrament. Live in Jesus' glory every day, trusting him for his mercy, his power, his forgiveness, and his love. "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Col. 3:17) To him be the glory forever.