Jesus Christ: Manifestation of God’s Glory

2nd Sunday of Epiphany – January 17, 2010

Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 96:1-10; 1Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11

Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D. D.

The first miracle at a wedding feast is a proclamation of God – God and man becoming one; heaven and earth joining together; the two becoming one and together, changing the world and bringing into the world the provision of God and the grace and the mercy of His love.  What a joy! What a hope this gives to us.  We are no longer destitute; no longer fearful of condemnation or of people looking and wondering: are we going to make it?  Jesus now changes the water and it becomes wine.  It saves our reputation.  It saves our life and it gives us the ability to hold our head high – not in pride, but in thanksgiving.  This is the greatness of God’s commitment to His own, to the Church. 

As we progress into the Calendar year, we find the Season of Epiphany a declaration of God’s favor upon man.  God with us – no longer separated.  In the events of the Garden of Eden, God and man walked in the cool of the evening.  There was this fellowship together; but when man disobeyed God, He separated man from Him. There was no longer this presence that was known before; but in God’s heart and plan, His commitment to man was not going to be easily destroyed. So He sends Christ at the proper time to become flesh – incarnation – to dwell with us. This dwelling with us is an awesome and powerful event that God speaks to us.

In most of our lives, we simply read the story and we do not listen to the words or do not allow the words to speak to us.  We don’t get the full picture of God’s commitment and fulfillment of promise.  Last week, we looked at events of the baptism of Jesus that spoke and proclaimed to us of Sonship – “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  It also showed to us the cleansing of the water – the hope that came because of what Christ had done on our behalf. How that God reveals Himself to us; how that He marks this as the fullness of time.  He proclaims His oneness with us. 

Today in the Gospel, we find a marking of time and it says, “And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana.”  This wedding marks the time after the baptism of Jesus by John and it shows us that Jesus was invited and attended the wedding in Cana of Galilee.  It is in this wedding when Jesus performs His first miracle. In the writing of John, there are seven major events that marks God’s presence–His divinity in Christ and His commitment to man.  This is the first of that series of events.  It speaks very powerfully to us of God’s plan, His purpose and the events that were taking place – what they were accomplishing and what they were performing.

Isaiah 62 talks about God not being silent, “He was going to bring a crown of beauty and royal diadem…your land will be called “Married,” and how that He delights in you and to Him your land will be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you.”   It is a proclamation of fulfillment.  In Genesis, when God created man, man came first, male came first. God worked with the male for a period of time.  In solitude, he prepared him to be able to handle the responsibility that He was placing upon him.  Scriptures tells us how that he named all the animals; he was working and cultivating the garden and all that was necessary in bringing forth the fullness of the earth as God had created it to be.  During this time, God made a statement in Scriptures that man could not do this alone and he needed some help.  So, He proclaimed to man that He was going to give him a helpmeet.  He then put man to sleep. From his side, He took the rib from which was said the rib was the very foundation of the life that was going to be given, and He created a woman to be with man.  He brought and gave her to him. Man speaking from prophecy said, “From this time forward, man would leave his father and mother and cling to his wife and the two shall become one.”

It was the fulfillment of the plan that God had set before the foundation of the earth.  Before He said, “Let Us make man in Our image and Our likeness.”  He then, on the second part said, “And They made man in His likeness, male and female.”  Here was the completeness of God’s plan.  We call it today marriage - man and woman becoming one.  This is the fullness of God’s provision for man and the completion of the ability of man to be able to fulfill the gifts and the promises and the responsibilities of man.   In Isaiah, God speaks of a prophecy that the nations will be called married.  In other words, they are brought to fulfillment, to completion.

On the third day after the baptism of Jesus, Jesus comes to this wedding feast to perform a miracle.  In Jesus’ life, things just didn’t happen.  We might read this story and say, “Oh, it is good that Jesus was there because they run out of wine.”  Jesus was there because God so ordained a manifestation of Christ’s presence and His divinity among the people especially in front of the disciples so that they would know who Christ was.  He chose a wedding. The first miracle of Christ was performed at a wedding. This wedding was then going to be marked by the event as one of the major provisions of God for man because it was the place where God performed the first miracle through the life of Christ.