Follow the signs.

I love the TV show 'Father Brown', it's a classic detective drama full of clues that Father Brown only has the wit and imagination to decode. Maybe that's because the scripture is full of signs and symbols of the real truth of the true identity of the characters in the story. John tells us that this event, the marriage at Cana, was the first of the signs that Jesus gives of who he is and what he has come to accomplish on earth. So if we want to understand his gospel we must follow the signs.

The world is full of signs that we have learned to read and which tell us valuable things about the places and people they represent. If I give you a name, let’s say Volkswagen, you will immediately have in your mind an image, or maybe another iconic car maker, Mercedes, you will see a sign in your mind's eye.

All these signs tell us what we are buying by telling us who they are. They are badges of quality and reliability. Not just any old car but a Mercedes, now John’s signs function in the same way. They tell us what Jesus has come to do by showing us who he is. That is the meaning of the season of Epiphany, the revealing of the Messiah to the world, told first by the Magi, then by Anna and Simeon, then by John the Baptist and now at this wedding feast by Jesus himself.

Painters, novelists, playwrights and poets all use signs to point us on our way. To take one example Vermeer tells us a story of a young woman in the painting ‘Young woman with a balance’. It used to be called ‘Woman weighing gold’ and described as a ‘Vanitas’, speaking of the brevity of life and the importance of fixing the heart not on worldly wealth but heavenly treasure. The picture of the last Judgement behind her is to remind the viewer that their lives will be held in a balance at the end of time. This then, it was thought, is a story about a frivolous young woman playing with her trinkets and ignoring the important matters of life and death.

However if we look closely at the balance in her hand it contains nothing. The mood of the woman is not frivolous, but meditative, the light in the room quiet and calming, there is a stillness that speaks of eternity as in all Vermeer's paintings.

The woman’s gaze at the balance, when considered in the context of the Last Judgment on the wall behind her, suggests that Vermeer, a Catholic, sought to infuse this work with religious and spiritual significance. Saint Ignatius of Loyola instructed the faithful to examine their consciences and weigh their sins as if facing Judgment Day. Only such deliberation could lead to virtuous choices along the path of life. Poised between the earthly treasures of gold and pearls before her and Last Judgment painting’s stark reminder of the eternal consequences of her actions, this woman personifies the values of materialism and morality that jostled for dominance in 17th-century Dutch society.

By examining the signs we have been told a story, we have arrived at a judgement, we must make our own decisions about our lives.

The bridegroom. Clue one.

To find out what this story is about we must follow the clues that John gives us. The first clue is the wedding feast itself. The prophet Isaiah spoke of a new beginning for God’s people, a time when God would turn their shame into joy, a time when he would once more delight in them.

‘Your land will no longer be called desolate, but you shall be called my delight is in her, and your land shall be married.’ Isaiah 62: 4.

Weddings mark a new beginning, they are the sign of a new community that is formed out of the marriage of two families, but who is the bridegroom in this story? John places the story in the context of Isaiah’s prophecy. There will be one who will come to break down the hostilities of the two families, gentiles and Jews and create one new family.

The Water Jars. Clue two.

The water jars were there for the ritual washing of hands before eating, a ritual that ensured the outward cleansing of the body, but by changing the water into wine Jesus is declaring an inward transformation that would breathe new life into the ritual, and bring new joy. The steward stands a figure of the ritual laws that had guided Israel, but he cannot produce the wine that will bring new joy to the celebrations of this new beginning, however Jesus has arrived to make all things well. Could this be the bridegroom who Isaiah promised, the one who would turn Israel’s shame into joy? The one who would not let her down, but faithfully love her and restore to her all she had lost.

The new age. Clue three.

John begins his account ‘On the third day’ John 2: 1. What else do we know that happened on the third day? The resurrection, the day when God broke through the barriers of death and sin and God’s new age began on earth. A new age in which life and hope were to be offered to all humanity through Jesus Christ. Here we get closer to the mission that Jesus is announcing, a mission to all humanity not only for his people.

The new creation. Clue four

If we count carefully we will discover that Jesus arrived at the wedding on the seventh day after his baptism by John the Baptist. What else happened on the Seventh day? It was on the seventh day that God completed his creation. So this wedding feast not only points forward to the new age that has begun, but back to the creation that Jesus will complete. A creation in which we along with the whole created order will be transformed and restored to our maker. A creation in which we will once again know God ‘Face face’ as Adam and Eve did, and live in joyful trust and joy.

A new society. Clue five

Jesus’ mother will give us a clue to how this will come about:

“Do whatever he tells you to” John 2: 5

Jesus’ mother did not understand or know just how Jeus would sort out this disaster, but she trusted him. That was often the way with the first disciples, they did not understand just how Jesus would fulfil his promises, but they trusted him. So it has been throughout the history of the Church. Jesus has drawn to himself not those who understand , but those who trust his promises.

This is the new society, made up of every racial group, nation, tribe and language who follow Jesus, those who choose to trust even when they do not understand.

So who is this man, Jesus?

· He is the bridegroom who comes to fulfil the promises of God, made long ago, by establishing a new age of abundant life.

· He is the creative Spirit who restores creation to its original purpose of living in the presence of God.

· He is the revolutionary creating a new society of men and women who live by faith.

These are the promises which God makes to us through Jesus, the bridegroom, and like the bridegroom, he places on our finger a ring, the sign that he will be faithful to his purpose.

‘Who can separate us from the love of Christ’ says St. Paul, ‘shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, … no in all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who lives in us’

Rev Simon Brignall

I am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.

A prayer for peace in the Holy land

O God of all justice and peace
we cry out to you in the midst of the pain and trauma
of violence and fear which prevails in the Holy Land.
Be with those who need you in these days of suffering;
we pray for people of all faiths – Jews, Muslims and Christians and for all people of the land.
While we pray to you, O Lord, for an end to violence and the establishment of peace, we also call for you to bring justice and equity to the peoples.
Guide us into your kingdom where all people are treated with dignity and honour as your children for, to all of us, you are our Heavenly Father.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.