Preparing for Worship - January 19, 2025

This is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, and most of the readings revolve around the Gospel reading, where Jesus did His first miracle (John calls it His first “sign”) and “manifested His glory” at a wedding at Cana in Galilee. This is what the word “epiphany” means - a “manifestation” or “showing forth” of Jesus as the promised Savior.

The psalm is Psalm 128, which speaks of the blessings for those who fear the Lord and walk in His way. These are pictured as enjoying the fruit of our labor, our work, having a family and children, seeing our grandchildren, and enjoying the prosperity of God’s people, centered in Jerusalem. This is an ideal picture for many and is matched by Psalm 127, where the Lord builds a house and a city and gives His beloved people rest and sleep from anxious toil and blesses them with children, as a heritage from Him. Obviously, this is not what always happens in a very fallen, sinful world. There is so much sorrow and trouble, even among God’s people. Think of Job and his wife, who lost all their children, and his wife wanted him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). Think of the many people who have lost their homes in California and in hurricanes and in famine and murder in Sudan and many other places because of warfare and other evils. Think of those who want children and cannot have them and those who wanted a spouse but never found the right one. And on and on.

The Lord still cares about people, though, in all their difficulties, and promised in our Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 62:1-5, a Savior who would come forth like a burning torch, with righteousness and hope for all nations to see. His name was, of course, Christ Jesus, and those who follow Him will have a new name, Christians, as part of the Holy Christian Church. They will no longer be “forsaken” or “desolate” but will be connected to Christ and with Him, the whole Triune God. It will be like a spiritual marriage, with the Lord delighting in His “bride," the Church, and rejoicing over her. That means us, too, as we trust in Jesus, with joy in Him, with a joy like that of a newly married young man and young woman, though we will not all have the exact same gifts. We will have eternal life always, with Christ.

The Gospel lesson, then, is John 2:1-11. Jesus was invited to a marriage in Cana in Galilee with some of the disciples he had gathered. His mother was there and told Him that they had run out of wine for the wedding celebration. Jesus delayed because His hour had not yet come, but He had six large stone jars filled with water used for Jewish purification ceremonies and then turned all that water into wine. The master of the feast was amazed that this, the best wine, was now being served after all the inferior wine had been served.

What does all this mean? One of the Old Testament images of the coming of the Savior was His providing a great feast or banquet, with wine in great abundance, in eternal life. (See, for example, Isaiah 25:6-9. Note also Amos 9:13 and Joel 3:18. These are images about Israel, but are really pointing forward to the New Israel, the Church, and the abundance of God’s blessings, described as overwhelming amounts of wine available. Finally, if you have a Lutheran Study Bible, p. 1689, you can see a whole article showing how Jesus used the image of a heavenly banquet in a number of His parables and other sayings, showing that He was the bringer of eternal life and salvation.)

The culmination of our Gospel lesson, John 2:11, says that by His great miracle of turning water into abundant wine, Jesus was manifesting His glory as that promised Savior and brought His disciples to believe in Him. That is always His goal, to bring us to trust in Him and keep us in that faith. Look at one more important part of this Gospel. When Jesus said, “My hour has not yet come,” He went on to use words like this six more times, as recorded by John since He knew that His most important “hour” was when he would suffer and die to forgive all our sins and then rise in victory from the dead to give us eternal life. See John 7:30, 8:20, 12:23,27, 13:1, and 17:1. Only in this way could He rescue us entirely, and he did what He needed to do. In John 17:1, He “lifted His eyes toward heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come.’” He then went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He was betrayed and arrested, and His death and resurrection followed, and His saving work for us was completed. We can only thank and glorify and trust Him, by God’s grace, in return.

The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Paul reminds us of what our Lord has done for us to bring us to faith and to keep us in faith. He tells us that none of us could say “Jesus is Lord” and mean it except in connection with and by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also gives us spiritual gifts by which to stay in faith and serve our Lord and help one another. “To each of us is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” We need each other because none of us has everything we need on our own. The one Holy Spirit gives gifts individually to each one of us, as He wills and empowers us to use those gifts for ourselves and others. Together, we have what we need through God’s Word and His gifts.

We don’t have time to look closely at all these gifts, but I will make a few comments on some. Spiritual knowledge comes from God’s Word, the Scriptures. That’s why we need to keep listening to and studying them. It also takes wisdom, though, to know how to apply what God says when and where and in the way we should, as He wishes. Scripture guides us, interpreting other Scriptures. Every Christian has the gift of saving faith in Jesus as Savior, but some may be more courageous and confident in living out and sharing that faith. We hear of miraculous healings through some of the apostles. There were also people like Luke who wrote Scriptures through the Holy Spirit but was also a beloved physician, and we know there were medicines used like the oil that the Good Samaritan used for healing purposes (Colossians 4:14, Luke 10:34). Certainly, those in the medical professions can now also bring healing and help to us, and God wants us to pray for healing for ourselves and others. Many of us know people who weren’t supposed to get better, and some of them do, by God’s grace and His plans.

On Pentecost, disciples of Jesus were able to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4ff.), speaking in languages they had never learned, to communicate the mighty works of God in Christ to others (Acts 2:11). Today, we have Lutheran Bible Translators and other groups and people who have a gift of learning languages, who can translate and share the Gospel with people in their native languages. Some supernatural gifts will pass away (1 Corinthians 13:8). God, for example, will not give new spiritual knowledge through new Scriptures beyond the Old and New Testaments (Revelation 22:18-19). He is not limited, though, in giving spiritual gifts as He chooses through His Holy Spirit. Above all, He wants more people to know and believe that “Jesus is Lord” through the Spirit, working through the Word and Baptism (1 Peter 1:23-25, 4:21, Romans 6:1-11, John 3:5-6, Acts 10:44-48, etc.). And we praise God for giving us such faith in Jesus, too - the greatest gift we can receive, no matter who we are.