“NOW, THE HOUR HAS COME”
Saint John 2: 1-11
Second Sunday after The Epiphany: 20 January Anno Domini 2019
Father Jay Watson SSP
“In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen.” Yes, the Temple which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar was rebuilt but that is only typological. The true tent of God the real Temple of The Trinity is in the Flesh and Blood of Christ Jesus! The purpose of Moses’ Tent, Solomon’s Temple, and the rebuilt edifice of Nehemiah and Ezra was two-fold…perfect for The Two-Natured God/Man…to allow for praise and worship, BUT, only because FIRST—Sacrifice—Blood Sacrifice had been made. The shedding of the lamb’s blood propitiated, satisfied, God’s wrath against sin.
What was the day that God raised up the tabernacle of David which had fallen? It was the third day—Sunday, the day of Resurrection. The rest in death is over. The building not built with hands re-builds itself, for it is Life Incarnate. The eternal 8th day begins for all who are Baptized + into Jesus’ death and resurrection.
For all you who have been reborn, regenerated, and converted, the reality is not just Sacrifice and Absolution, but now, also, wedding joy and Table feasting and fellowship! What does the prophet say further about that day? “…and I will again bring the captivity of My people Israel…they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine therof.”
A drunk, misanthrope, or hermit atheist drinks alone, and to dull the senses, mitigate the reality of hell in solitary confinement with only ones fallen self. But you, the Saint, drinks wine from the lees at the Wedding Feast of The Lamb Who lives again. At His table you are Royal Priests being toasted by The King of your Eternal Souls.
Not pious, “spiritual,” pie-in-the-sky theologizing, but an actual feast…a real meal with food and drink. On the “Third” day, not coincidentally, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Of course! There has to be a wedding for did you not hear Paul when He gave you Jesus: “for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.” [Eph. 5.31] And, while Paul’s truth is true on a merely physical and earthly level, its greater truth transcends the here and now. As The Holy Trinity, Three-in-One and One-in-Three, bespeaks the only true joy there is: Family and love between the lover and the beloved, so too “man was not meant to be alone.” Especially not spiritually alone. It is damning sin to think one is standing by one’s own works and efforts. That does not demonstrate independence, only blindness. No one “pulls themselves up by the spiritual bootstraps” into salvation. No one performs CPR on themselves. No baby “adopts” itself and no corpse re-animates itself. The fallen Adam is taken from, rescued from, his father, Satan, the father of lies. The “old nature” is redeemed and freed from his mother, the sinful and false world of decay, and is placed in the arranged marriage with Christ The Groom. This is all by Grace through The Word of God.
The Blessed Virgin knew this. She remembered 30 years before, having God, through The Word Gospelled by The Angel, place her into a spiritual wedding far more important and life-changing, eternity changing, than her nuptials with Saint Joseph. The faith given her allowed the confession, the response, “be it unto me according to thy Word.” At Cana of Galilee, The Galilean Rabbi was present with His mother, The veritable Mother of God. He then graced her again with the faith to say to the servants “whatsoever He saith unto you do it.” And they in turn so did.
God says many things to you. You do very little of them. He gives you ten, (not thousands and thousands and thousands of federal, state, and local laws and regulations), but ten commands. You fail every day to do them. But Jesus did the commands; fulfilled the law. Jesus, God, did them and because He Graces you this morning to believe He did them, you too have now done them. So, know this. You can’t satisfy your needs your hurts or your failings with the heavy six stone waterpots, nor with the two infinitely heavier stone tablets. There is no water, much less wine at the end of your unrighteous efforts. Only He Who is not just the six-day creator of all the vines, trees, wheat fields, and fountains, but He Who is the Eternal Sabbath Rest can make the feast joyous. On this Eighth day, Jesus comes to the marriage in Shawnee of Johnson County. His Holy and Blessed Mother Saint Mary of Nazareth is but of course with Him. Where else would she or any Saint in the Kingdom Victorious (yet still awaiting the Resurrection) be? Hear her! For in doing so you are hearing Saint John the Evangelist, The Holy Ghost, The Living Word of Christ: “whatsoever He saith unto you, do it!”
Even better than water—to—wine, is Jesus’ gift to you at the Feast this morning—wine “to” Atoning and Absolving Blood; bread “to” Forgiving and Fortifying Body. Not symbolically or representationally, but truly and really. As literal as the Miracle at Cana. The Blood of The Lamb and The Bread of Heaven. The Good has been kept until now. Now, The Hour has come! This continuation of miracles Jesus does in your midst and He manifests His glory—and yours too, IN HIM.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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