“Jesus’ Transforming Power”
John 2: 1-11
Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, January 19, 2025
Weddings are meant to be a joyous occasion where family and friends come together to witness the couple’s marriage vows and to celebrate with them. But sometimes things don’t go as planned. Usually it’s just a small faux pas – at Joe and my wedding, our ring bearer, my little 3-year-old cousin, got as far down the aisle as where his mother was sitting and stopped. He then climbed into her lap, and refused to go any further. Sometimes it’s something more serious – I read about one wedding where the groom and his new father-in-law got into a drunken fist fight and had to be separated!
Food can also be a problem – we all quietly questioned the dubious choice of bologna sandwiches on white bread which another of my cousins served at her reception – but we ate them politely. I read about wedding where the last two tables had to order pizza to be delivered, because there wasn’t any food left at the buffet!
Something similar happened that day long ago at Cana in Galilee. In those days the hosts were expected to provide a huge feast for everyone – friends, relatives – the entire village. The festivities could go on for days! At some point, the wine ran out – to the embarrassment of the hosts. Mary didn’t want to see their special day spoiled, so she went to Jesus and asked him for help. In this, she sets a good example for us. As I told the kids, when something goes wrong, the best thing to do is to go straight to Jesus and ask for help. Whenever we have a difficulty, the first thing to do is pray. God will give us strength and wisdom to deal with any situation if we ask.
Before we go any further, I want to clarify Jesus’ words, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you?” Jesus isn’t being rude to his mother. He is simply asking, “Is this our problem to solve?” Sometimes we rush in to solve other people’s difficulties even when it is not wise to do so – we are not always the right person to fix everything. Jesus went ahead and helped, but not until he was certain that performing the miracle was the right thing to do.
Jesus also protested to Mary, “My hour has not yet come.” Perhaps he had planned a different act of mercy for his first public miracle, but here an opportunity presented itself to help a young couple and their families on a day of joy and gladness. The newlyweds probably couldn’t afford to go out and buy more wine, even if a 24-hour liquor store had existed in ancient Cana. So it seems he changed his mind, at his mother’s urging. I think we see the human side of Jesus here – yes, he was God, but also, as a human being, he didn’t always know ahead of time exactly what would transpire each day of his life. When something unexpected occurred, he listened to his mother’s request and saw it as an opportunity to display God’s goodness and glory.
Then Mary instructs the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” These words remind us that we, too, must do whatever it is Jesus has told us to do: “Love one another as I have loved you,” “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind…and your neighbor as yourself. “Take up your cross and follow me.” As we obey Jesus’ commands, we will find that, as the water was transformed into wine, our lives will also gradually be transformed, as well as the lives of those around us.
However, the significance of this miracle is greater than just an act of kindness to a young couple: it shows how God’s glory and God’s purposes can be revealed in ordinary people and events. In the past few weeks we read of a miraculous birth in a stable, not a mansion; angels visiting shepherds in the fields, not courtiers in the king’s palace; John the Baptist preaching and baptizing in the wilderness – not the temple in Jerusalem. This miracle at a small-town wedding, where the bride and groom were neither famous nor wealthy, shows that God cares about the everyday lives of everyday people, and that God can take the ordinary and make it extraordinary, in order to further God’s kingdom.
This first of Jesus’ miracles - changing water into wine - tells us that Jesus came to transform all of life – not just in the hereafter, but right now, here on earth. Wine symbolizes joy, hence it is traditionally served at weddings and other festivities; Jesus came to turn our sorrow into joy, our weeping into dancing, death into life.
Wine also symbolizes Jesus’ love: the blood he poured out for us on the cross. Each time we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we recall the love of Christ. Jesus came to bring us God’s forgiveness, to transform our hard and sinful hearts into loving hearts that show forth God’s kindness and mercy.
The six stone water jars would have been used for ritual cleansing, according to the laws of the Old Testament. If we take them as representing the law of Moses, this miracle proclaims that the water of the law has been replaced by the wine of the spirit. If Jesus can change water into wine, the Holy Spirit can transform us as well, in ways that simply following the letter of the law cannot.
The quantity of water turned into wine, some 180 gallons, is also significant. It shows us God’s generosity and abundance: an abundance of rejoicing, an abundance of grace, an abundance of the transformative power of Christ – all are found in this miracle, and more. Jesus offers new wine – a new and better way. Jesus offers the best wine. As he told his disciples, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Something else noteworthy about this particular miracle is that not everyone saw it. The only ones who really knew what had happened besides Jesus, Mary, and the disciples, were the servants who had filled the six enormous stone jars with water. Teri McDowell Ott, editor of Presbyterian Outlook, writes, “Positioning himself with the servants is not unique for Jesus. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus favors the company of the lowly.” She asks, “What am I missing because my seat at the table is more socially privileged? What extravagant abundance of Jesus have I failed to observe?” Jesus continually reveals himself to the poor and lowly, who eagerly follow him, while the rich and powerful often walk away from him, mainly due to their own skepticism or reluctance to let go of their wealth and position. Remember the rich young ruler, who would rather keep his money than follow Jesus?
Tomorrow we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man transformed and empowered by his relationship with Christ. King did more for the struggle for justice and dignity for all people, and in particular African Americans, than probably anyone before or since. Under his leadership, the Civil Rights Movement did away with the Jim Crow laws so prevalent in the South, and succeeded in eliminating segregated schools, restaurants, restrooms, and public transportation. He left an example of non-violent protest that has endured and inspired people for over fifty years after his death. King’s Christian faith was central to everything he did. Ridding the U.S. of legalized oppression of minorities may not seem like a miracle, but it is a powerful witness to how the power of Christ and his teachings can transform society.
As we celebrate MLK’s birthday, let us remember that, working through us, his church, Jesus can transform injustice into justice, prejudice into welcome; hatred into love. Working through our hands, as we follow His teachings, Jesus can transform scarcity and poverty into enough for all. Even a small effort to help “the least of these,” glorifies Christ and shows that God is at work in the world.
As Dr. Martin Luther King said, quoting the words of the Prophet Amos: “We are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
God’s glory is revealed whenever the poor are cared for, the oppressed are freed, and justice is done.
At the wedding in Cana, they needed wine, but there was only water. Methodist pastor Ismael Ruiz-Millán asks: “What needs the transformative and redeeming power of Jesus today? What needs to be redeemed in our world [today] so that it is in alignment with God’s desires for us?” When Jesus’ disciples act to transform the water of this world into the wine of God’s kingdom, just as that day in Cana, Christ’s glory will be revealed and many will believe. Amen.
©Deborah Troester, 2025