Genesis 14:17-20
Rev 19:6-10
John 2:1-11
Normally at his time of year the wedding season is getting underway. Wedding planners, venues, excited bridal couples and event managers are all frantically securing arrangements, menus and outfits. But of course, not this year! the most enthusiastically sought-after event this year is a trip to the local vaccine centre!
Despite our current circumstance, in the church we continue to follow the Anglican lectionary and today there is a general theme of praise and transformation as we read of weddings, wine, brides and the church.
In the OT Lot, a relative of Abraham living in Sodom, is taken captive during neighbouring action against military kings. Abraham sets off in pursuit with 318 men and manages to defeat Lot’s captors and release him. Abraham’s victory attracts considerable attention, most notably from Melchizedek who is probably a Canaanite king priest.
“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram.” Genesis 14:18
Melchizedeck intended the words “God most high” to refer to a local Canaanite deity. Abraham however takes it as a reference to the Lord and no one else. This theme of worshipping the one and only God is a theme found throughout the whole bible, under pinned by Abraham’s covenant with our lord and later endorsed by Christ himself.
In St John’s vision of heaven in the book of Revelation we are also focusing on praising our Lord.
“Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
both great and small!
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters
and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready,
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)
Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
The Lamb is a symbolic representation of Jesus, not only here in Revelation, but throughout the NT. The bride is the Church, often referred to, as such, in the gospels, Revelation, the epistles and related verses in the Old Testament. Sometimes, the bride is implied by calling Jesus a bridegroom.
However, the bride can also be referred to in Revelation as the “New Jerusalem” as described in chapter 21.
“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Rev 21:1-5
Here we have a picture of Christ the bridegroom being united with his bride, his people, the new Jerusalem. John sees the new city of Jerusalem descending onto the earth, and voices celebrating the restored relationship between God and his people. Significantly, John hears the voice from the throne declare an end to suffering, pain, and death for all of eternity – this is the “New Jerusalem.”
In the gospel we continue the theme of weddings and celebration as Jesus performs his first miracle or sign as it is called in John’s gospel. In this well-known story Jesus and his mother are at a wedding. When the wine runs out, they turn to Jesus for help. In response he transforms water into wine and in so doing he saves the party – the celebrations could go on. And not only was there more wine but it was even better wine! `
In John’s gospel we only meet Mary, the mother of Jesus, twice. On this occasion and at the foot of the cross which relates to Jesus’ strange remark in verse four, “My time has not yet come”. These words point to the cross and to the resurrection, that mystical moment when heaven and earth meet, the ultimate moment of transformation. The moment when it takes all the faith in the world to see the glory of God, hidden in the horror and suffering of the cross.
But stories like this one direct us to that moment. The wedding is a foretaste of the great heavenly feast in store for God’s people as described in the book of Revelation. The water jars used for Jewish purification rites are a sign that God is doing a new thing from within the old Jewish system bringing purification to Israel and the whole world in a new way.
In this first miracle in John’s gospel Jesus saves the day from social disaster, he transforms our relationships by the depths and divinity of his character showed through the relationship with his mother, and most significantly he points us to the mystery of a greater truth.
Don’t forget the church Coffee Zoom, Sunday morning 24th January at 12 noon. I will send you an invitation via email.
The Sunday Eucharist will be available at 11am online as it has been in recent months. You can access it on this link at that time. http://www.scotland.anglican.org/broadcast-sunday-worship/
Alternatively, you can access it by going straight onto the Scottish Episcopal Church website.
I will look forward to joining you all again via YouTube on Thursday for our morning Eucharist and at the coffee Zoom.
Please feel free to telephone me at any time.
My love and prayers to you all as always
Andrea
Loving God, bless and receive all who are affected by Coronavirus:
Especially:
Those who are sick and afraid
Those who are especially vulnerable
Those for whom home is not safe or available
Those who have lost their livelihoods
Those who have lost their lives
Those mourning for loved ones.
Amen