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| John 2 begins a theme throughout this entire Gospel account: Eucharistic Abundance — Jesus provides an ultimate feast for all |
©2025 The Rev. Seth Olson
This sermon was preached originally on January 19, 2025 at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles. A video of this sermon may be found here.
Loving and Beloved God, may my words be your words and when my words are not your words may your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.
Today’s Gospel passage takes us to a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, where Jesus performed his first recorded miracle: turning water into wine. It’s a story brimming (pun intended) with significance, humor, and the revelation of God’s abundant grace. It is also profoundly important to understanding who God is and what God’s Reign on earth looks like.
Let’s begin with the scene itself. Imagine the joy of a wedding, a multi-day celebration filled with family, friends, food, and music. Such occasions are moments of union, community, and celebration—a microcosm of God’s desires for us. Weddings in the ancient world were significant communal events, meant to bring people together in shared joy. In the midst of this happiness, however, a problem arose: the wine ran out. Nowadays, if this were to happen someone would simply go on a b double e double r u n (beer run), but in those days there weren’t convenience stores. For the host, this would have been a complete social catastrophe, a failure to provide hospitality and celebration for the guests.
It was into this moment of scarcity that Mary, Jesus’ mother, stepped forward. She conveyed to her child, “They have no wine.” Jesus’ response might strike us as humorous, even slightly abrupt: “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” Now, if I said that to my momma, I would have gotten “the look” or worse. Yet, Mary didn’t argue. Instead, she turned to the servants and said, “Do whatever he tells you.” There is a quiet confidence in Mary’s faith here, an abiding belief that Jesus would act—and that whatever he did would be enough. I pray that God might bestow upon us that same sense of trust in God.
Back to the action, what Jesus did next was extraordinary—supernatural even. He took six stone water jars, each holding twenty or thirty gallons, jars meant for Jewish purification rituals, and transformed their contents into wine. That’s over 900 bottles of wine and not just any wine, but the best wine, better than what had been served the rest of the feast. The steward’s reaction says it all: “You have kept the good wine until now!”
Now, I’m sure we have all been to great weddings. I am personally partial to Kim’s and my own. A hot July day in Austin Texas meant that everyone was a sweaty mess even before the ceremony—celebrated by two of our best friends (who also happen to be priests). Even with the heat (and notoriously bad Austin traffic delaying the ceremony from starting on time) it was outstanding. Plus, a BBQ feast, delicious ice cream, and a packed dance floor made it the most fun night of my life. However, even my own wedding is not the most meaningful wedding to me, for this Cana wedding feast story reveals so much about the nature of God.
First, it shows us a God who cares about celebration, about joy, and about the flourishing of life. Jesus’ first miracle is not performed in the Temple or for a grand audience, but at a wedding party, a simple, human occasion. God’s abundance is revealed in this moment of turning scarcity into plenty, a sign of the overflowing love that is at the heart of our Trinitarian God who is always loving so very much that it overflows the bounds of just that relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit.
Second, this story points us toward transformation. The water jars used for ritual cleansing—signs of the old order, of the need for purification—are repurposed as vessels for celebration. In this act, Jesus is not discarding the old but transforming it, showing us a new way of encountering God’s grace. Truly, both are always needed—purification and celebration! This transformation invites us to look at the ordinary elements of our lives and see how they might be used to reveal God’s glory. A simple hike through the woods surprisingly reveals the creative love of God. Coffee with a friend becomes sacramental helping you to feel seen and heard by God through the compassion of a beloved one. Where else in our seemingly ordinary lives is God’s glory already shining?
Third, this is an Epiphany story. During this season, we celebrate the ways Jesus’ magnificence is revealed to the world. Here, in Cana, God revealed Jesus’ glory not with fanfare but through an act of quiet abundance. The disciples see it, and they believe. And, to be fair, who wouldn’t? 900 bottles of wine is a mighty tool for spreading the Gospel. All joking aside, it is a sign not just for the people of Israel but for all the world, a glimpse of the universal grace that Jesus offers.
But there is another layer to this story that connects deeply with the broader themes of John’s Gospel—themes that further reveal the nature of God. In John, there is no Last Supper narrative as we find in the other Gospel accounts. Instead, the theme of Eucharistic abundance is woven throughout the entire story. Jesus is the Bread of Life, the one who provides living water, the one who ensures the wine never runs dry. The wedding at Cana is the first of many moments where Jesus provided in abundance, foreshadowing the ultimate feast of the kingdom where all are fed and all are welcomed. And, that feast is still ongoing. We will partake in it this morning as we gather with Jesus around God’s holy table.
This Eucharistic abundance stands in stark contrast to the scarcity mindset that so often pervades our society. We are constantly bombarded with messages that we are not enough, that we do not have enough, that we must strive and consume to fill the void. But the kingdom of God operates differently. In God’s economy, there is always enough. In God’s economy, nothing is wasted. In God’s economy, there is always more than enough. The invitation is to trust in that abundance and to live as people who reflect it in our lives. That’s why so often at the offertory I talk about our connection to this table. For together with God we always have enough and God has a way of taking what we give and transforming our blessings into the blessings of others!
So, how might we live out this abundance this week? Perhaps it begins with gratitude, recognizing the ways God has already blessed us. Maybe it extends to generosity, sharing what we have with others (yes in the offertory plate, but also throughout your week). For the hope of God is that all may experience the joy of the feast. And, living out of God’s abundance certainly involves a commitment to celebration, to being people who reflect God’s joy and invite others into it. Come play Bingo on Friday night with your church family, come have fun with our Gumbo Gala squad, join us at our beans and rice Mardi Gras dinner in early March.
As we go forth today, let us remember that the same God who turned water into wine at Cana is at work in our lives, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, scarcity into plenty, and inviting us into the joyful feast of God’s kingdom. May we shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, so that God’s abundant love may be known and shared to the ends of the earth. Amen.
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