Class Sermon - Lent

Introduction

Airports are fascinating places. One thing you realise when you sit in an airport for a while is how important relationships are to people. Who is happier, for instance, than the parents who finally see their child after years apart? Conversely, who is sadder than the wife saying farewell to her husband as he departs for a faraway job?

Our relationships really matter to us. It is therefore not surprising that, according to the Bible, one way to understand the problems in the world is through the breaking of relationship. The Bible tells us that at the very beginning, when God created the world, he designed it so that all his creation, especially people, would be in perfect and joyful relationship with him. However, as we know, that relationship was broken by human sin, and the rest of the story of the Bible is, in a sense, the story of God bringing his people back into his presence.

Today, we are reflecting on the season of Lent. This season is characterised by many things, and one of its main themes is repentance. During Lent, we examine how far we have strayed from God, before we celebrate the victory He won for us at Easter. Put simply, Lent is the period when we think about what broke our relationship with God, and look forward to the event that restores it. Therefore, today, we will use John 2:1-12 as our central passage to explore the broken relationship, the restored relationship, and life in the restored relationship. 

The Broken Relationship

Our first point for this morning is to consider the ways in which God’s people, from the very beginning to us today, have been culpable for breaking the relationship with God.

Now, I’ll admit that on the face of it, our central text doesn’t seem to say much about any of this. If you start to look closer, however, you will start to notice how this text leads us into a discussion of how God’s people have broken their relationship with him.

The main clue is the presence of the jars in which Jesus turns water into wine in verse 6. Did you notice what they were? They weren’t just any jars. They were the jars used for the Jewish rite of purification. Essentially, these were ceremonially sacred jars intended for maintaining ritual cleanliness by washing hands and utensils, among other things. But in the context of this story, they are far more significant. They symbolise the entire Old Covenant, representing the whole way that God had been relating to his people up to that point.

Right from the very beginning of the Bible, God has been drawing near to his people through what is called a covenant. A covenant is, essentially, a solemn promise that formalises a relationship that is not natural. So, I do not need to be covenanted to my child, because I am her father by natural descent. But I did need to be covenanted to my wife, because our relationship, up to that point, had no natural precedent. Even in the very beginning, with Adam and Eve, the Bible tells us in Hosea 6:7 that God lived in a covenant relationship with his people. And yet, I don’t need to remind us that in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve broke that covenant, putting a wedge of sin between God and his people.

Not long after this, God began his plan of saving people by calling a man named Abraham, whom he promised to make into a great nation, which would become the nation of Israel. After God rescued his people from Egypt in the book of Exodus, he confirmed his special relationship with them by establishing a covenant. In Exodus 19, God promises that if the Israelites trust him and obey his commands, they will be his “[his] treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ (vv.5-6). Later, Israel agrees to enter into this covenant with God. They commit to live as he has called them to, and to be his people.

But this covenant didn’t last. Time and again God’s people turned away from him, forsaking his commandments and his love and turning repeatedly to idols, to sin. Although God had revealed himself to his people, and even though they had seen his goodness, his power, and his love for them, they did not love him, and so the relationship that was established in the covenant was broken. And the result of that breaking was exile. God’s people were banished from the land.

And friends, before we look down on those of the past, let’s consider ourselves. We are also God’s people, joined to him in the great new covenant, brought about by Jesus Christ. And yet, can we say we live faithfully, keeping our spot in the covenant? No, we can’t. Our sin is just as real as their sin. Our actions are just as contrary to the commands of God. We do not bow to Baal but we bow to self. Ours is not a world of Asherah poles and temple prostitutes but of greed, exploitation, division, degrading sexual perversion, and godlessness. And we take part. And during the season of Lent, it is appropriate for us to take time to mourn, to grieve the depths of our sin. Although in the new covenant we know our union with Christ is secure, we also acknowledge that our sin breaks communion with God. Our relationship suffers because of our sin. And one of the things Lent drives us to do is acknowledge our sin, sit with it, and let its weight drive us to our knees in humble repentance. Friends, that is what you are called to today. Your sin is real. Let your repentance be too.

The Relationship Restored

But, although we are forced to reckon with our sin, we do not stay there. Lent also lifts our eyes to hope that the relationship will be restored, something John 2 foreshadows by giving us two potent biblical images, wine and wedding.

Our first image is found in John 2:7-9, where Jesus turns 180 gallons of water into wine. Now to us, 180 gallons of wine might mean nothing more than a good time, but to Jews of this day, an abundance of wine was an important word picture that symbolised the work of God for which they had been waiting.

You see, during that exile I mentioned, God didn’t abandon his people. He sent them prophets—people empowered by him to explain why events were happening as they were, and to look forward to what God would do in the future. One of the greatest things towards which they looked was a time when God and his people would live together in fellowship. The prophets anticipated a time when God would bring his people back to himself and live with them in joy, with one of the symbols being abundant wine. Look, for example, at Isaiah 25:6-9:

6 On this mountain, the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. 9 In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

You see that? These verses look forward to God drawing near to his people in salvation, and to communicate the joy that this will bring, they use the image of a feast overflowing with abundant wine. Jeremiah uses the same picture in Jeremiah 31:12, where he says,

“12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord— the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.”

Again, the joy of God’s work to save his people is pictured using the image of wine.

And so, by transforming the water from the jars of Jewish purification into wine, Jesus is looking forward to a time when God will draw near to his people in love and fellowship. And the fact that Jesus is the one turning water into wine highlights for us that he will be the one to bring this new covenant, too.

But there is one other detail of great significance, and that is the setting: this miracle takes place at a wedding. The relationship that results from this new covenant between God and his people is described, among other things, as a marriage. We see this in Isaiah 54:4

“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. 5 For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. 6 The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God. 7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. 8 In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.”

You see, the relationship that God desires with his people, the relationship he envisions, is one of mutual commitment and love that, in human terms, resembles a marriage. Indeed, one of the final scenes in the Bible, from Revelation 21:9, is the great wedding supper of the Lamb, where the Lord Jesus and his bride, the church, are united forever in a relationship of profound love.

And so, Lent doesn’t leave us with the reality of sin. It gives us hope that the God of the Bible is a God who draws near. He comes in the person of Jesus Christ to establish a New Covenant with his people, a covenant of such love and joy that the best human pictures for it are feasts with wine and a marriage. Even though our sin is still real, friends, we realise that in Christ God has come to us, and in Christ we find the relationship with God our hearts have always needed, and we look forward to a day when that relationship will be perfect.

Living the New Relationship

And so, friends, in our Lenten service today, we’ve focused on the theme of confession, forgiveness, and repentance, and we’ve seen how our sin separates us from God, but how God in Jesus has drawn near to us and shown us restoration of that relationship. And now that we’ve seen how that works out through Scripture, what can we learn about how we can live in the here and now?

For us today, our Lenten fast holds special significance. Many think of a Lent fast as a legalistic attempt to earn God’s favour, but that is not the case, friends. When we fast during Lent, whether from food or other things, we recognise three essential truths. First, we acknowledge that we are not yet as we should be. We see our own brokenness and mourn over it. Our fasting makes real the doctrine that otherwise remains only in our minds. It also reminds us of the cost our Saviour paid to bring us into his new covenant. Finally, by lasting forty days, our fast points us to Christ’s return – the great feast of Easter will be renewed with an even greater celebration, the victory banquet of the Lamb. And we will dwell with him in joy, face to face. So, friends, as we fast, let these truths rest deeply in our hearts and live within us, that through them we might truly live. Amen.