From Caroline - [email protected], 01285 712467

Readings for Sunday: Isaiah 62.1-5; 1 Corinthians 12.1-11; John 2.1-11

Our readings this Sunday point us towards another milestone moment in Epiphany, as Jesus reveals God’s power through the first of his ‘signs’ (as John terms them), the miracles that he does throughout his ministry on earth.

The sign might seem to be a strange one – turning water into wine. Why would Jesus choose this way to show that God’s power over all things has been entrusted to him? Why not something great and glorious, like stopping the sun in the sky, for example? Something that everybody could see and be amazed by? Or perhaps some mighty act of healing, where someone’s life was lifted up immeasurably from a place of suffering? But no. Jesus chooses the first of signs to be this one – saving a bride and bridegroom from social embarrassment, to be seen by no one other than his disciples, his mother, and the servants who had drawn the water. Why?!

The answer, of course, lies in the nature of the signs themselves. Jesus doesn’t reveal God’s power to show off. He doesn’t do it to look majestic. He doesn’t do it, particularly, to change the world. Jesus’ signs are there to show people (all kinds of people, and sometimes just a few at a time) what God is like. He shows us what God is concerned with.

‘Taste and see that the Lord is good,’ the psalmist says in Psalm 34, and this is the heart of it. This sign tells us that God is a God of celebration, of joy, of generosity, of abundance – in the truly vast amount of wine provided. He is a God who delights in love, including the love between a couple committing themselves to each other in marriage. He delights in it because it is a reflection, albeit a distant one, of his own love for his people.

This sign tells us that faith in Jesus, following him, is not to be a dour and solemn thing only. It is not just to be about duty and suffering. It is a thing of celebration – for us, and for God, embraced in his love just as a ‘bridegroom rejoices over the bride’. Our God of joy wants that for us too – a vital thing to remember, especially in the middle of January when our spirits may be low. This is our God!

Rev’d Caroline

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