Every Wedding Needs a Miracle, a sermon based on John 2: 1-11, preached on January 19, 2025

Our second Scripture lesson is the account from the Gospel of John of Jesus’ first public miracle. The miracle takes place at a wedding, which is the perfect place for a miracle because every wedding needs a miracle. Every marriage needs a miracle, doesn’t it? Marriage isn’t easy. I’ve had the great honor of officiating around 200 weddings. At several of them, I’ve quoted Ruth Bell Graham, who was married to the great evangelist Billy Graham. Rev. Billy Graham traveled the world preaching the Gospel. Traveling like that can put stress on a marriage, so a reporter once asked Ruth Bell Graham if she’d ever considered divorce. “Divorce? Never,” she said. “However, I often considered murder.” Maybe you get that. I know my wife, Sara, does. She’s perfect, but she’s married to me, and I leave a lot to be desired. Marriage is hard. Think with me about marriage this morning. We just read that there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no more wine.” Now, it’s no surprise that the wine gave out at this wedding because something goes wrong at every wedding. As wonderful as weddings are, there’s always something that goes wrong, but when the problem comes along on the big day, it’s extra hard because we’re already tense. I remember well the reaction of a bride whose mother-in-law-to-be insisted on making the dresses for her bridesmaids but hadn’t finished them on time and was still working on them when the wedding was scheduled to start. The bride was panicked. Her father looked like he was going to have a cardiac event. I had to ask the congregation to talk amongst themselves for an hour or so until the bridesmaids could get dressed. Or there was a wedding at a Baptist church. The groom walked out into the sanctuary through the wrong door and fell into the baptismal font. On that occasion, everyone laughed, except for the bride’s father, who suddenly realized that he had been right about this guy all along. My point is that something always goes wrong. The preacher gets COVID, or the DJ has too much to drink. The bridesmaid’s gowns are sleeveless, and one has a giant tattoo of an AK-47 on her arm. The groomsmen leave their dip cups for the wedding guild to clean up, or the bride is showing that she has a baby on the way. All these things happen, but on the wedding day there is this pressure not to let the congregation know because while every wedding needs a miracle, no one wants to let the cat out of the bag. The wine has run out. Has anyone told Jesus? Bible scholars say that the entirety of the Gospel is here in this short passage from the Gospel of John. Everything that you need to know about the Christian life is right here in these 11 verses. Don’t worry about studying theology or Christian doctrine, just notice that the wine runs out and someone let’s Jesus know about it. That’s step one of being a Christian. Step one of being a Christian is admitting that we have a problem and need His help. There’s a great article written by a champion of Alcoholics Anonymous. You may know that churches have supported AA since the very beginning. Many churches started substituting grape juice over wine at the communion table because the AA groups who met in their buildings requested it. This article written to the church by a champion of Alcoholics Anonymous is titled, “What the church has to learn from AA.” You can google the article. It will come right up. It’s by Samuel Shoemaker, and while it was written many years ago, it makes the great point that every member of AA knows that she needs help and has come ready to ask for it. She has stopped the charade of pretending that everything is fine. How much healthier would our churches be if every member of every congregation felt that same freedom to let Jesus know that he’s scraping the bottom of the barrel? The wine has run out. We’re grasping at straws. We need His help because we’re lost, yet how many of us feel comfortable getting out of the car to ask for directions? Which brings me back to marriage. A few weeks ago, we were focused on the magi. The Church started calling them magi rather than the three wise men a couple generations ago because someone finally noticed that there were three gifts, but no mention of three men, and they probably weren’t all men because when they got lost on the road, they stopped in Jerusalem to ask for directions. Is that joke still funny? In another generation, no one will even get it because now we all ask for directions using our phones, but what we used to have to do was stop at a gas station, get out, and ask the gas station clerk, “How much farther is it to Lawrenceville?” and if you weren’t even close, he might laugh at you, and if he didn’t like people from out of town, he’d tell you to go the wrong way. I’m so thankful for these phones because I don’t have to stop to ask for directions as much as I used to, but what about when the wine runs out? Will I then have the courage to ask for help? Or will I be so out of the practice of being vulnerable that I’ll suffer in silence, afraid to let the Savior know that I need His help? In AA, they practice the art of confession in every meeting. They’ve all admitted that there is a problem in their lives that they need help with, and there’s less shame in that circle of folding chairs because everyone is doing it. Every wedding needs a miracle, but when the wine runs out, are you comfortable asking for guidance? Have you asked a trusted friend to pray for you? Have you sought out help from a counselor? There’s a book out by a divorce lawyer entitled, If You’re In My Office, It’s Already Too Late. Don’t wait. Help is near. When the wine has run out, go find Jesus. Every wedding needs a miracle. Every mortal needs a miracle. Every marriage needs a miracle, and you can’t go looking into the eyes of your spouse expecting her to turn water into wine. Do you know what I mean by that? It’s hard for us to ask for help, so we’ll only admit that we need it to those we trust the most, which creates a second problem. If you only trust your spouse, might you be expecting a miracle from a mortal? Or might you be putting all your relationship needs on just one person? We know from studies that many men in this world work for years and years dedicating so much to their careers that they don’t develop any hobbies or make any real friends outside of the office, which puts so much pressure on their spouses once they retire. Do you know that saying, “I married you for better and for worse, but not for lunch?” There’s a lot of wisdom in that. While some needs should only be met within the bonds of marriage, while emotional and physical intimacy belong within the bonds of committed relationship, don’t expect a miracle from a mortal. Go and find Jesus when the wine has run out. Have friends. Play golf. Don’t count on one person to do everything for you. And this is just where the church fits perfectly into human life. This is where the Christian walk meets so many of society’s needs. When people show up to do good work here, they find purpose and they make friends. Notice something with me in our second Scripture lesson. The wine had run out, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, said to the stewards, “Do whatever he tells you.” Emphasis on “He.” What does Jesus tell us to do? That’s what we ought to do, because Jesus calls us to give of ourselves, which brings us joy and fulfillment. Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, which saves us from isolation. When the church does what Jesus commands and when we follow His instruction, suddenly this institution, this Church, becomes the balm for so many of our wounds. This place can be the antidote for isolation, providing purpose and community, faith, hope, and love, but I was watching Young Sheldon this week, and if you’ve seen this series, then you know that the church that Sheldon and his family attend isn’t always like that. Interestingly, (this is an aside) last time I mentioned Young Sheldon, our superintendent of schools was here, and he told me that his brother-in-law is the preacher on that show. More than that, did you know that the youth pastor on that show is the son of two of our church members, Jeff and Rachel Byrd? The whole pastoral staff on that TV show has roots here in Marietta. Amazing, but that’s beside the point. Let me get back to my point. My point is that when Sheldon’s brother gets a girl pregnant, that whole congregation turns their backs on Sheldon and his family. His mother gets fired from the church staff, and no one in the family feels comfortable attending that church again, but where in the Gospels did Jesus tell us to turn our backs on anyone? “Do whatever He tells you,” Mary said, for in obedience to His word lies freedom and abundant life. I told you before that the entirety of the Christian life is right here in these 11 verses, and I wasn’t kidding about that. Step 1: Let Him know that the wine has run out, then, step 2: Do whatever He tells you. Step 3: Notice with me that this first miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ occurred on the third day. The third day of what? The Gospel of John isn’t clear on whether it was the third day of the wedding or the third day of the week. That’s because we don’t really understand the significance until we get to the end of the Gospel and discover that He was crucified, dead and buried, but on the third day, He rose again from the grave. My friends, did you know that we can worry about the wine running out, yet we are promised an inheritance of such abundance that the memory of our present suffering is not worth comparing to the glory that is going to be revealed to us? We get so focused on what people may say that we’re afraid to reveal our brokenness. We get so deep into despair that we’re afraid the light will never come. Jesus told the servants to fill six stone water jars, each built to hold twenty or thirty gallons. “Fill them with water,” He said, and they filled them to the brim. Then He said, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward,” so they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from, the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this. Halleluia! But someone had to ask Him. Let Jesus know that the wine has run out, then do what He tells you. Come here to this place where there is not condemnation for broken people but abundant grace. When we do what He tells us, this is not a place of judgement but of forgiveness. When we do what He tells us, this is not a place of fear, but of love, as together we walk the great Christian life of discipleship that leads to joy. Should you dare to open up about your struggle, you may just find the community that you’ve been looking for. If you are looking for purpose, then take advantage of one of the many ways that you can serve right here, and above all else, remember that the Miracle Worker, the One who turned the water to wine, promises us a life of abundance so great that the sufferings of today will be washed away by the glory of tomorrow. Thanks be to God. Amen.