TEXT: St. John 2:1-11, The Second Sunday after the Epiphany 2012 A. ? D. THEME: On Faith and Prayer In the Name of the Father and of the ? Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. After thirty years of treasuring the sayings and deeds of her Son and pondering them in her heart, the Blessed Virgin Mary knew beyond a shadow of a doubt who her Son is, knew that everything He does and says is good, gracious, and loving. She had faith. So she is a type, an icon, of the Church: the Virgin who yet conceives and gives birth, the finite creature in whom is contained the infinite Creator, the eternal Word. And if she is an icon of the Church, then she is icon of you, the sons and daughters of the Church. For hers is a faith you would do well to imitate and from her you must learn to pray. At Cana’s wedding feast, the wine ran out. There was none left. It was all gone. There’s almost nothing more dangerous than a bunch of angry drunks looking for more booze. But more than that, it would be an embarrassment to the bridegroom, to the family of the bride, to the master of the feast, to all involved. It would be a sign of poor planning and of disrespect to all those invited. It would be seen as a sign of God’s displeasure toward the newlyweds as the goodness of creation had worn out and dried up. It would be seen as a bad omen. Enter Mary. However she knows about this, she knows. And so she prays. She goes to her Son and simply says, “They have no wine.” That’s it, that’s her prayer. She prays, and knows that whatever Jesus will do or say afterwards, it will be wonderful, will be for the good of all present, and be to His glory. This is what the Small Catechism means when you learn that God desires you to pray in all boldness and confidence in asking for whatever you desire “as dear children ask their dear father.” Even in spite of

2 a seeming strong rebuke from Jesus, Mary does not give up. Her faith is not shaken. She knows Jesus to be nothing other than good and merciful. She tells the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” Mary has faith and prays to her Son, holding God to be faithful to His Word. So you must likewise pray: with boldness and confidence. Without fear and trepidation. When the goodness of creation fails, pray to the Lord and He will restore it. When you need work, food, or clothes; when you desire a spouse, family, and friends, pray, and the Lord will provide. When you are in need, pray, “I have no wine,” for that is also a confession. It is a confession of your worthlessness and unworthiness. It is a prayer that confesses, “All my planning, O Lord, has been for naught. All my works have failed me. Sorrows have overtaken me. I have no strength. Precious Jesus, be strong for me for I am weak. Provide for me for I am in want. Restore what I have destroyed. Make whole what I have maimed. I can do nothing, I have nothing, apart from Your love and mercy.” And yet, in spite of your worthlessness and unworthiness, God loves you in Jesus Christ. He wants you to ask for whatever your heart desires. You will not wary Him with your prayers, neither in how often you pray or in what you ask for. You want a million dollars? Ask for it. You want a fast car, better health, better looks? Ask for it. You want your dead spouse returned to you? Ask for it. Ask as a dear child asking their dear father in all boldness and confidence. For your heavenly Father loves you and knows how to give you exceedingly good things.

3 But know this: the Lord hears your prayers and answers them, but not always in the way you expect or desire. Do not think He has rebuked you, that He wants nothing to do with you. Jesus will answer and provide what you need. You ask for a million dollars, but the Lord Jesus might instead provide a new job, a raise, or some other way to provide for your family. You pray for family, friends, and loved ones to be returned, and instead you find love, companionship, and friendship within the communion of the holy Church. The Lord provides what is best for you, what you need, and He provides it because He is good and because He loves you. This is why the Blessed Virgin’s faith will not be shaken, why yours will not be shaken. Jesus has revealed His glory. By His speaking and by His working, He has revealed that He is God come in human flesh. That is why He changes water into wine. He is not simply being obedient to the wish of His mother. He is not simply enabling the party to go on. He has come to bless the holy estate of marriage by His presence. He has come to restore the fallen creation, to cause an overflow of what previously had dried up, to improve and make far better what was before. He has come to gladden the hearts of men, to gladden your heart. So it is that the changing of water into wine is not only Jesus’ first miracle (which St. John calls a “sign” – a statement, a declaration), but it is His primary miracle. That is, it is the miracle which forms and shapes all others, the one which reveals the purpose of His Incarnation. And that is the restoration of the fallen, the making pure of the corrupted, bringing joy forth from sorrow, bringing life forth from death. What was done at Cana (and that on the third day) is the type of all that Jesus does and of the final banishment of sorrows.

4 For that is the hour when the glory of God is fully revealed for all to see. It is not a passing by, as Moses saw, but the full and complete revelation of God’s glory in the Flesh of Jesus as He hangs upon the Cross. There, He takes your curse into His own Body to rescue you from its power. He takes your sins, your sorrows, your fears, your pains upon Himself to do away with them forever. The Groom gives His life for the Bride, and from His side flow water and Blood. This is the water in which all of your sins are washed away. This is the water which places God’s holy name upon you, which clothes you with Christ’s righteousness. This is the water by which you are born again, the child of God born for Christ by His virgin Bride, the Church. This is the Blood which Jesus presses to your lips for the forgiveness of your sins. Taste and see that the Lord is good for there is no sweeter wine. It quenches your thirst. It extinguishes death. It gives you life, and by it, Jesus unites His Flesh to yours as your Bridegroom, who declares to you His never ending and eternal love for you. Through this sacrificial love of Jesus, you are now enabled to love one another with brotherly affection. Let no one think he is better than another, or this one is lower than that one. For Christ has called you to love one another and to live in harmony. Support one another in your burdens. Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who sorrow. Pray for all. And even when you fail in this, the Lord Jesus forgives your sins and restores you to life in His shed Blood. That is why you pray with boldness and confidence, why your faith is not shaken in times of trial and tribulation. The Lord has sent forth His Word to heal you and deliver you. Now you are invited to His Marriage Feast, where at the Word and

5 command of Jesus, His servant delivers to you bread now become His Body and wine His Blood. There is no finer wine or richer feast than the Body and Blood of Christ. On the third day, Jesus restored creation, bringing an end to your sorrow by bursting the bonds of death. Now He remains with you in the eternal third day. Come, for the Lord Jesus blesses you with His presence. Come, as His hour is now delivered to you upon the Paten and in the Chalice. In the Name of the Father and of the ? Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.