Old Royal Naval College Chapel 1 John 1: 1-9

Sunday 24 January 1999 John 2: 1-11

3rd After Epiphany

SIGNS OF GLORY

...And at Cana wedding-guest
In thy Godhead manifest;
Manifest in power divine,
Changing water into wine:
Anthems be to thee addrest,
God in Man made manifest

Bishop Christopher Wordsworth 1807-1885

A fortnight ago we looked at the word "manifest" which is how our bible and prayerbook translate the word Epiphany and we saw that it means literally to "punch someone in the face". So an Epiphany is a confrontation whether people see it or not.

Because the faith which we profess is a revealed or manifested faith it is perfectly possible for someone to be confronted by Jesus Christ, God made man, and fail both to recognize who he is, or grasp his significance -- perhaps because of some intellectual or emotional blockage or, more often, because they are unwilling to give what is staring them in the face five minutes serious consideration.

St John's description of the miracle at Cana ends with the words "[In] this, the first of his signs, Jesus manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him".

John very seldom uses the word "miracle" in his gospel; instead he prefers the word "Sign". So first let's look at the word sign.

A moment or two back I used the expression "fail to grasp his significance". The word Significance is built around the word "sign" and that suggests that if we don't understand about signs we shan't understand about their significance either.

All of us rely upon signposts to get where we want to go; and people often complain that after you've followed them for a while they suddenly stop mentioning the place you're trying to get to -- which only goes to show that we are very dependent on signs and signposts to help us get where we want to.

But however useful a signpost may be in finding the way, it's vital to realise that the sign is itself neither the destination nor the road which takes us there. In other words, any sign is quite distinct from its significance -- the thing which it signifies. Looking at a sign but misunderstanding its its significance is often worse than failing to notice a particular sign altogether.

Let me explain why.

A sign, by its very nature, points towards something beyond and other than itself. That "something", and the way to it, is what we're really searching for, not the sign itself. So a sign may be missing, or the details on it may be unintelligible; but think how much worse it would be if we were to discover that there isn't such a place as our intended destination, or that no road to it exists today despite what the signs clearly indicate.

If we refuse to go any further just because a road-sign is missing, or difficult to interpret, then we shall never get any closer to where we want to be -- and by the same token if we have difficulty in interpreting one of the signs which Jesus Christ has given us to show the Way to our Principal Destination (or Chief End as the Shorter Catechism calls it) the very worst thing we can do is to sit down and sulk, and refuse to go any further.

Yet that's exactly what many people do. Sooner or later in the Christian life everyone comes to a crossroads where it really isn't clear which way they should go -- the signs are just not there, or they're difficult to interpret.

For there are other ways besides signs of finding our way. There are maps, for instance; and people we can ask for directions. All too often, however, those who have lost their way form the conclusion that there never was a destination to reach, or a way to lose -- just because there's no sign pointing towards them. Lacking the sign, they lose sight of the significance.

So let's keep the distinction between sign and significance quite separate in our minds and look at what actually happened at the Wedding Feast in Cana of Galilee.

First, what is the significance of changing water into wine? Where and what does it point to?

First, notice that water-into-wine it is not quite such an unfamiliar process as it might seem. Every year, in vineyards all over the world, rainwater is converted quite naturally first into grape juice and then, by fermentation, into wine.

The sign at Cana, therefore, actually comes much closer to replicating a familiar natural process than if it had been a sort of conjuring trick where, say, a conjuror transforms an egg into a lightbulb, or a produces a rabbit out of thin air. The connection between water-and-wine is a much closer one than egg-and-lightbulb or thin-air-and-rabbit.

The Jews grasped the significance of water-into-wine from the fact that it happens as the result of the direct and gracious activity of God himself. Alongside bread and water, which they looked upon as the staples upon which life itself depends, they saw wine, together with olive oil, as an extra bonus or treat provided by God to make life not only possible but enjoyable. As Psalm 104 says:

At the same time the Jews recognized that, like any other gift of God, wine could be misused. If you look up all the references to wine in the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words for wine both of which are equally often used, but in a different way. One word is used to speak of wine in this positive way as a gift from God to be accepted and enjoyed; the other word is used to speak about its misuse which results in sin and misery not just for those who abuse it but for those who have to live and work with them.

Now these two ideas fit in rather well with two orthodox Christian beliefs: the first tells us that "God's grace does not destroy nature but perfects it."; the second is that any gift of God, however good in itself, will damage those who misuse it. In other words evil, unlike goodness is not a something which exists on its own, but something which results from misused goodness.

So the first significance of the Cana miracle is the way it tells us that God is very near to hand, far closer than most people imagine, and that his Plan for us includes some really worthwhile things, worth striving for, worth waiting for like the wine harvest is to the waiting husbandman.

The second significance of the Cana miracle is that it all began with the willingness of people to do what they were told. "His mother said to the servants 'Do whatever he tells you'"; Jesus said to the servants, 'fill the jars with water'; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them 'Now draw some out...'. They did so"

Now, there's always a risk about doing the will of God that we shall feel that it might make us look very silly -- at least to begin with. Just imagine how the servants would have looked if the water had remained water instead of becoming wine as it did. After all, they had no certainty that this person Jesus knew what he was doing, just as we have no certainty that if we ask the way from someone they will be able to direct us.

Yet despite this the servants did what they were told. Why? Because they were in the habit of accepting orders. From this we can conclude that God is infinitely more likely to continue to manifest his glory among us if we get into the habit of doing what he tells us over what are (seemingly) small matters. As Jesus once said "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."

The third significance of the sign at Cana has to do with the word glory where it says that Jesus "manifested forth his glory".

Glory in the New Testament has a rather special meaning. It doesn't just mean "brightness" or "beauty" but it is applied by the various writers to refer to the whole process of our salvation by God through Jesus Christ. In other words glory is not just something static, to be admired; its much more like a process or a way to be followed.

And that brings us back to the whole business of signs and signposts and ways and destinations.

Being a Christian is not just a matter of coming across signs, or being able to interpret them, though we shall certainly need to be able to do that; it's not just a matter of keeping rules and regulations, though God will expect that of us too; nor is it just a matter of believing certain things to be true, though that is part of it.

Cana, remember, was the beginning of signs -- implying that there would be more, and better, to follow; Jesus manifested his glory so that it was a serendipital experience for his disciples, finding out something new all the time, a pilgrim's progress if you like; and "his disciples believed on him" -- which was the whole purpose of the Incarnation, namely that we should have the necessary faith to follow in Christ's footsteps along the way that he has prepared for us.

As the ancient orthodox hymn puts it:

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