The Bridegroom at the Wedding / John 2:1-11 / Rev. Lowell Dennis, Emeritus / Sunday January 19th 2025 / Season of Epiphany / Mount Olive Lutheran Church

“The Bridegroom at the Wedding”
John 2:1-11 [Holy Gospel] - Three-Year Cycle - Series C
2nd Sunday After The Epiphany
January 19, 2025

IN NOMI JESUI

Dear Saints,

“Who is this Guy?” That’s perhaps the main question of the Epiphany
season. We’ve heard quite a bit about Him in Advent, as we expected
His long promised arrival. Christmas tells us more of who He is - born
in Bethlehem, son of Mary. . . A Savior, which is Christ the Lord. But
Epiphany further unpacks the One who has appeared, the One who is
made manifest, who is revealed to us . . . and bit by bit, from different
angles, we hear of who He is and what He is about, this Jesus.

“This is My Son, whom I love,” the voice from heaven declares at His
baptism. He is the One mightier than John the Baptist. And John calls
Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. As a boy
we see Him as the obedient son to His parents, but also the one who
must be in His Father’s house. He amazes the scribes and Pharisees
with His wisdom, which only keeps growing He is the one of whom
Isaiah wrote, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me.” He is the one who has
authority over the evil spirits, and over the forces of nature. He has
authority to preach - an authority unlike the scribes and Pharisees, and
even the authority to forgive sins. It seems there is always something
more we can say about Jesus and it is always something He is or does
for us.

Today with Jesus’ first miracle at Cana in Galilee, He turns water into
wine. And with this important event, John shows us a few more
important answers to the question of “who is this Jesus?” It is no accident
that it happens at a wedding. For while the bride and groom

celebrated the beginning of their life together, Jesus Christ, the true
Bridegroom, was beginning His public ministry - beginning His public
life as our beloved provider. From heaven He came and sought her, His
bride, the Church. He would rescue this maiden in distress, so to speak,
from the very jaws of the beast, and shed His blood on the cross for
her, for us, for you. All of us together, are the bride of Christ, even the
body of Christ, our head. And He is our loving Bridegroom, our perfect
husband. He is the breadwinner, the daily bread provider, and the
heavenly bread Himself, the one who sustains our very life. He is our
head, and we submit to His authority, but His leadership is a
servanthood that puts us first, even to the point of death. So great is
His love for His bride, He lays down His life for her, for us all.

And let us not too quickly pass over the words of Mary, here. “Do
whatever He tells you.” Easy enough? And so they do, and a miracle
happens. But what about us? Do we do whatever He says? Surely not,
according to the Law. He says love one another, but we love mostly
ourselves. He says take up your cross, but we’d much prefer a comfy
pillow. He says to turn the other cheek, but we’d rather punch and
claw. He says to be perfect - but we are far from it. Far from doing
whatever He says, the Old Adam in us wants to do just the opposite -
ever since the first Adam and Eve did the one thing they were told not
to do.

Do whatever He says. Isn’t it a miracle, then, that we ever do what He
says? According to the Gospel, by the working of the Holy Spirit, this
happens “For I believe that I cannot by my own reason and strength
believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has
called me by the Gospel.” It is by the Spirit that we believe, and are
saved, and live. It is only by the Spirit that we can in any way do
whatever He says.

And so what does He say to us? Well besides the instructions of the
Law, which have to do with laving and serving our neighbour, first He
tells us to believe. He calls us to came and hear His Word. To receive it
in faith. To repent and be baptised. To die and rise to the newness of
life in the washing of rebirth and regeneration. And He commands us
to receive His gifts from the altar - do this, often - take and eat, take
and drink, far the forgiveness of your sins. Whatever He tells us is most
importantly to receive His gifts with thanksgiving.

Those at the wedding at Cana marveled at the gifts that He gave that
day - a fine wine, indeed the finest - the best saved far last, contrary
to expectations. So too, do we marvel at the gifts He gives today. We
still don’t know how He does it. But we know that He does. He
continues to call sinners like you and me to receive good things we in
no way deserve. This first of His signs, Jesus did in Cana, at Galilee. But
it would not be His last sign. He would heal the sick, cure the deaf and
blind and lame. He would rout the evil spirits. He would multiply fish
and loaves, calm the storm, walk on the waves. He would even raise
dead Lazarus after three days. And if that’s not enough, His chief sign
was the sign of Jonah, rising from the dead Himself after three days in
the belly of death.

Marvels and wonders, indeed, but look closer at this Bridegroom. For
He would eat with the sinners and tax collectors. He would wash the
feet of His disciples. He would forgive the sins of men born blinds
women caught in adultery, even the Roman soldiers that surrounded
Him and pierced His hands and feet. He even forgives the likes of you
the worst of your sins, the deepest darkest shame you hope no and
ever discovers- the sins of your past, the corruption of your heart - the
bad, the ugly, the unspeakable. Whatever He says to sinners then, He
says to you now. Go in peace, your sins are forgiven.

And He would send His disciples to make disciples of all nations, and
baptising and teaching. To turn the hopeless sinners whose worldly
revelry leaves the soul empty into wedding guests and members of His
bride who have true reason to celebrate, to bring us, all together, at
last, to the wedding feast in His kingdom which has no end.

Until That Day and as we live each day in Him, the Good News of the
True Bridegroom goes with you and me. It is the forgiveness and life
that He gives so freely that makes all things new. May the Christ who
once turned water into wine, continue to transform sinners into saints,
unbelievers into believers, and lost souls into members of His bride the
Church. As His Ward is preached, and His Sacraments are administered,
God grant it, for the sake of His Son. Amen.

And now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding,
guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ our Saviour - now and
always. AMEN.

Sermon preached at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Regina, SK
Sunday, January 19, 2025 Rev. Lowell Dennis, Emeritus

Photo Credit: Main photo of Jesus with Communion Cup from pxhere.