Wedding Sermon / Dylan and Katrina Hunstad / John 2:1–11 - Pastor Ted Giese / Mount Olive Lutheran Church – Saturday July 12th 2025

Wedding Sermon / Dylan and Katrina Hunstad / Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Saturday July 12th 2025: Season of Pentecost / John 2:1–11 “Jesus at the Wedding”

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.” And 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 twenty or thirty 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 and 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, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends once I had a meeting with a couple seeking me to officiate a wedding for them but the bride to be had a sort of unusual request, after hearing what the wedding ceremony would be like she asked, “could you do the wedding but not mention Jesus … could you take Him out of all the parts where He shows up in the service and can you not mention Him in the sermon,” I said this was a ‘sort of unusual’ request because there are plenty of people these days who have not made Jesus’ presence in their life together as man and wife a priority, let alone making Jesus’ presence in their wedding a priority. Dylan and Katrina are no such couple. Their Christian faith is firmly grounded in Christ Jesus and Jesus’ presence in their wedding day and His blessing on their marriage is very much desired by them. This is a result of growing to know Jesus well in their life and trusting in Him and all He has done for them in their life together as a couple. 

Now in our Gospel reading today while Jesus and His disciples were invited guests along with His mother the Virgin Mary the other guests at the wedding and even the bride and the groom didn’t fully know yet who Jesus truly was. For them Jesus was one of the guests among many other guests. Jesus had at that point performed no public miracles that anyone would believe Him to be anything more than a man around thirty years old just beginning His ministry as a Jewish teacher and rabbi. In fact when the wine ran out at the reception and Jesus’ mother came to Him saying “They have no wine.” Jesus’ response to her was, “Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”  By the end of that day the good news of what Jesus had done, staring with the servants attending to the wedding guests, began to spread and Saint John caps off this account of that day at the wedding by saying, “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.”

When the water miraculously turned to wine was poured into the cups of the bride and the groom, when the water miraculously turned to wine was poured into the cups of the master of the feast and the guests at that wedding reception Jesus was present for them even if they didn’t yet fully know Him or understand what was happening. As we gather together in the House of the Lord today Jesus is more than just another invited guest for Dylan and Katrina, Jesus is active and present in His Father House giving Dylan and Katrina His blessing and joining them together in Holy Matrimony. Yet this is not only for Dylan and Katrina, just as the water miraculously turned to wine poured into the cups of the bride and groom was also meant for their guests Jesus is present here today not only for Dylan and Katrina but likewise for each and every one of us regardless of how well we know or understand Him in this moment. The miracles of Jesus; His life, death and resurrection from the dead are not for some people and not others, they are for all people and they are for each of you. Dear ones Jesus is here for you.   

For those married Christian couples here today this is an invitation to remember this for yourselves in your marriage, and for those of you yet to be married consider it an encouragement for your future life together in Christ. And for those of you who have yet to find your partner in life remember in Christ you are never alone. If you don’t know or understand this Jesus well today don’t let it bother you too much; you like the guests at the wedding in Cana in Galilee certainly can grow to know and understand Him better along the Way.

Now you might be wondering what happened with the couple I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon? I didn’t end up officiating their wedding, they chose to go a different way with their plans and to be honest I can’t imagine how such a wedding would have been possible. Had Jesus and His disciples in our Gospel Reading been turned away from the wedding that day in Cana in Galilee then there would have been no miracle when the wine ran out. Without Jesus whatever marriage such a couple might have will not be a Christian marriage. Saint Paul warns us “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers,”[1] and yet he also councils married couple where one has come to Christ Jesus in faith and the other has not yet become a believer to stay together, “for the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband.”[2] So there is always hope even if things have gotten off to a bumpy start, a sudden faith in Christ Jesus by the grace of God can be rather unexpected as unexpected as wine drawn from a jar where only water is expected.

What then can be expected in a Christian marriage? In a Christian marriage there is more than a man and a woman joining together, vowing to stick with each other through thick and thin, in a Christian marriage this endeavour of married life together is embarked upon with Christ Jesus as the sure foundation, as present not only for today but for each day, and so whatever comes your way as newlyweds, or as long married and well seasoned husband and wife, in the midst of whatever trials or struggles Jesus is promised to be there. When there doesn’t seem to be a drip left in the wine bottle, when forgiveness in needed, when the call to put on compassion and kindness rises up to the surface the water jars of purification, when your ability to “bear with one another” in love is tested the marriage will succeed providing that you’re not going it alone, that selfish desires are set aside, that you are instead  holding fast to Jesus: the one who as Groom to His Bride the Church shows in His thoughts words and deed what it means to love and sacrifice, to bleed and die, to forgive and live.

I know that this very Christ Jesus is the foundation upon which you desire to build your life together and this is a God pleasing desire which will serve you well as a married couple. So as you pledge to have each other’s back throughout this life, you can trust that Jesus has your back as a married couple. And like with the water turned to wine in our Gospel reading Jesus does for us what we cannot do for ourselves or for each other without Him, He is the fountain head of the love and forgiveness we have for each other, that you two have for each other, there is no selfishness in Him and no sin. He takes what we are and makes from us something wonderful. Jesus is the one who will make of us a vintage worthy of His name. Hold on to this as you hold fast to each other and never forget it. Dylan and Katrina this love of Christ Jesus is for you and for all your guests today. Amen.    

Let us pray:

Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] 2 Corinthians 6:14
[2] 1 Corinthians 7:14