Wedding Homily - Aaron and Yasmin
Notes
Transcript
A reading from the Gospel according to
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
Well-known, well-loved moment in the life of Jesus.
His mother - THERE; Jesus - INVITED. We can envision a close relative or family friend’s wedding, with Mary THERE and doing what moms often do at weddings. “Honey, you’ve got a smudge on your cheek, let me fix that.” “Darlin’, all the tables are taken care of, I fixed that one broken centerpiece. It looks different from the rest, but it’s still pretty.”
But running out of provisions was something she certainly couldn’t fix.
More than a disappointment - in that time, would have shamed the groom. An injury that would have followed this new family. His bride’s hand in his, her beauty and joy, these he should have received like the glory of the sun shining on his face.
Instead, her wedding day would be overshadowed by a public recognition that he could not even provide for his own wedding.
So Mary brings the matter to her son. And his response is surprising. “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
Sounds like Jesus is declining to get involved. But she doesn’t take it that way, and Jesus starts giving instructions.
6 stone jars - each a little smaller than a bathtub. For all the guests to wash their hands before eating & for cups & bowls to be washed according to Jewish tradition.
Jesus says to fill back up to brim.
Verse 9 doesn’t tell us when the water became wine, but when the emcee tastes it, he grabs the groom and congratulates him.
It’s a stunning reversal. Instead of being shamed as a poor man and a bad husband, Jesus makes sure he gets praised for saving the best for last.
And Jesus did it quietly. Only Mary, the servants, and his disciples knew what happened. The bride and groom got their hour, and Jesus waited for his.
But the disciples saw, and believed.
Verse 11 says that this was the first sign that showed His glory. His identity, worth, weightiness. Earlier in John’s gospel, he says that the disciples had seen His glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Even here, at a wedding where he was a guest, he demonstrated that grace by giving a wedding gift beyond expectation.
That’s the kind of Son Jesus is, because He is like His Heavenly Father. Full of grace and truth.
The signs throughout the rest of the Gospel of John come to a climax when Jesus says in ch12, “Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” And then he says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
His hour, His glory, comes in another incredible gift of grace: In accordance with the Triune God’s plan from all eternity past, Jesus gives Himself in our place, the Righteous One for sinners.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Aaron and Yasmin,
At an unknown man and woman’s wedding, in a humble Galilean town, Jesus gave His blessing and showered His grace. And when we look at the whole sweep of human history, beginning with a wedding in Gen 2 and consummated with what Revelation calls the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, and God’s people are presented to Jesus like a bride adorned in white, made holy by His own blood, we will look back and see that every wedding, and this wedding, this Aaron and Yasmin celebration, had much to do with Jesus.
B/c God created marriage to tell the story of the Gospel.
God is very serious about the glory of a bride and groom coming together in a life-long covenant as one, as a living parable of God’s steadfast love for His Bride, the Church.
So remember the words of Mary, “Do whatever he tells you,” and recognize that His lordship over your marriage will be the occasion for His bounteous provision in time of need.
Let his grace and truth and steadfast love be reflected in your love, faithfulness, and kindness to one another.
Make your home a haven for all who enter, and when a friend, like the master of the feast, congratulates you for your hospitality, remember to direct your thanks to Christ.
When you’re at the end of the wine, facing anxiety, shame, or lack, turn to Christ in faith, for He glories in pouring out kindness - not only in the big moments in the story of redemption, but in the mundane, the minor, the marginalia. At the end of the story, we will see that He has swept up our little families into His grand and glorious outpouring of grace in the Gospel.
This will chiefly be seen in your Christlike love for one another. Cleave together, and if you ever fear that you will come to the end of the supply, call upon Him, and like stone jars of water-turned-to-wine, He is more than capable of filling your heart to the brim.
Friends and family,
This wedding is an invitation by God Himself for you to reflect on the nature and purpose of our lives in His world. Why has He made us, what are we for?
The Bible tells us that we were made to reflect God’s glory in His world, as His image-bearers. That we were made for Him.
The glory of a bride and groom, glowing like the sunrise, gleaming like purest gold, joy and love written on their faces,
This is God’s chosen picture for salvation through faith in Jesus.
As we look around and see in our world the living proof that things are not the way they’re supposed to be, that sin and death reign, look at Aaron and Yasmin and see what God is doing here. Look at the beauty of this living image of His redeeming love.
Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection are His provision for His bride.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
This is the song of the Bride. He has clothed me with his righteousness. Everyone here today is invited to experience the eternal joy that this lifelong covenant points to.
The way Jesus says it is this:
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
So the words of Mary are for us, too: Do whatever He, Jesus, tells you.
Begin by turning to Him in faith.