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This Week's Sermon The Second Sunday after the Epiphany 14 January 2007 "Signs That Reveal" LSB Series C Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

Everybody who owns or operates a computer knows what icons are. They are the little graphic images that sit on your desktop and your toolbars. One clicks on an icon to reveal the program. For example, if I click on a program that I have called Libronix, my entire electronic theological library opens. It is truly an amazement because I can open hundreds of books in a matter of seconds and have them all at my fingertips, literally. Instead of painstakingly searching through nine volumes and thousands of pages of Kittel's Theological Wordbook of the New Testament, I can find what I want with a few simply clicks of the mouse. Thirty-five years ago, when I was ordained, I would have termed that a miracle. There were no electronic books. Indeed, the only computers existed in laboratories and big businesses. Now, however, that tiny icon on my computer screen points to more than any of us ever imagined.

There lies a correspondence between that word "icon" and our Gospel reading from John. John tells us that this miracle that Jesus performed at the unnamed couple's wedding was "the first of his signs." In English we have sometimes called those signs "miracles." John makes particular use of this terminology to present Jesus as the Christ. The wedding at Cana was a moment when Jesus gave a sign that pointed to something greater than itself.

First of all, we must be very careful to define John's use of this term so that we don't make the mistake of equating John's use of "sign" with ours. Today, we often think of signs as symbols, but John does not use the word that way. For John, this word "sign" really points to something else. It can mean a pointer or marker in New Testament usage. In John's Gospel the use is almost exclusively to the person of Jesus. The signs are a means to reveal his true nature, that is, they make it possible to recognize him as the Son of God who has come from his Father. They are proofs of who he is and what he has been sent to do.

It was the prophet Isaiah especially who told us what kind of signs the Messiah would do. Listen as Isaiah lists some of those signs:

"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy." (Isaiah 35:5-6a, ESV)

"Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."" (Matthew 11:4-6, ESV)

Signs reveal something that you wouldn't be able to discern on your own. The Epiphany of Our Lord, which we celebrated on Saturday, 06 January, was all about hearing who Jesus is. The whole Epiphany season in the liturgical year broadcasts these revelations about Jesus, that he is the Son of God and the Son of man, the Savior sent by the Father. So every one of these signs, or miracles which Jesus does, reveals him as the Christ.

The Apostle Paul called Jesus the "icon" of the Father when he wrote that Jesus is the "image of God:" They word that he used was the Greek word eikon, from which we get a word that is pronounced exactly the same even if it is spelled slightly differently. Click on Jesus, as it were, and you get all of God!

We could say that these signs that Jesus performed bring us something greater because Jesus did something no human being could ever do-he redeemed us with his innocent life, suffering, and death.

Luther said that these signs teach us who Christ is and that we should seek his help and mercy with confidence whenever we are in need. And at this wedding at Cana there was certainly a very great need. Imagine that you are hosting a wedding reception that would go on for days; that's the way it was in ancient Israel. The whole town would celebrate for days. I know from recent experience that one of the big worries that the parents of the bride and groom have is running out of food and drink at the reception, or at the rehearsal dinner. Whatever happened at this wedding at Cana, the wine ran out. The Psalmist had written [Ps. 104.15] that wine makes the heart of man glad. No Hebrew celebration was proper unless there was wine. It was the necessary ingredient to every important social occasion. But in this case, disaster struck-the couple ran out of wine. Imagine that you were hosting such an event and the manager of the reception came and told you that you were out of wine. It would mark the end of the celebration. It would also mark you as a terrible host who had not properly prepared to celebrate.

When Jesus finds out that the wine had run out, he knew what he was going to do. There were those six stone jars that held 20-30 gallons each. They were used for the Jewish purification rites, the "washings" as they were sometimes known. Jesus told the servants to fill them to the brim with water, and then to take some to the master of the feast. They did as they were instructed and when the water become wine was tasted, it was pronounced it the best wine of all.

While there is much in this text about marriages, and while this is often a marriage text, we're going to click on that icon that is Jesus-if you will!-and discover something more important about Jesus and how he works in our lives.

Signs reveal something. This sign done at Cana revealed Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. God gives us signs for our faith. These signs promise much more than what one sees on the surface, kind of like that icon on your computer desktop. Click on it and a whole new world opens up.

Jesus gives us signs that point to him. Sometimes the New Testament calls these "mysteries," from the Greek word "Mysterion." It's the word that the Latin translation of the Bible translated as "sacrament." For example, the Apostle Paul put it this way:

"This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." (1 Corinthians 4:1, ESV)

In a way, the outward appearance of the Word and Sacraments are much like that desktop icon. Click on them and they open up to reveal Jesus for who he is and what he does, our Savior who redeems us with his life and death. The signs themselves are pretty humble: a spoken word by an ordinary man, water, bread and wine. Some people are put off by that and look for something more spectacular. Like many of the people who listened to Jesus, we are looking for more spectacular things. Or we are looking for Jesus in our hearts. This one is a particularly dangerous heresy because it tells us to rely upon our emotions to find Jesus. We want to "feel" Jesus in our hearts, but he has never promised to come to us that way because our emotions can and do often lead us away from God and into ourselves. Rather, Jesus says that we should go to the signs that really do reveal him: the Word and the Sacraments.

The greatest sign that is connected with Jesus is his resurrection from the dead. Jesus died but is no longer dead because he lives forever as the risen Christ! After lying in his grave for three days, Jesus was resurrected. You won't find him on the cross or at the empty tomb. You'll find him where he has promised to be, in his Word and Sacraments. When he ascended to the Father Jesus promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age [Matt. 28.20]. Some people think that because Jesus is at the Father's right hand, he can't be here on earth with us except in some ghostly kind of way, but that's all wrong. Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father precisely so that he could be present in grace everywhere in the world at the same time. It's what we Lutherans like to call the Real Presence. Jesus is truly present in the proclamation of his word, in the waters of Holy Baptism, and in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. All of these "signs" reveal Jesus and bring his grace and forgiveness.

Each of these is a miracle of no less importance than Jesus changing water into wine at Cana. If he could change some 180 gallons of water into the very best wine, he can certainly be present in grace for us in word and Sacrament! If you ever thought that if you had been at Cana you would certainly believe in Jesus, then know this that Jesus continues to give you even more wonderful signs in Word and Sacraments. Every Sunday he comes and reveals himself to you. He reveals his body given for you and his blood shed for you. Here he reveals his real glory, the love that God has for sinners like us. So treasure Word and Sacrament as the most precious signs of all because they reveal your Lord Jesus Christ! And then come to the rail to celebrate the feast of salvation which has no end. In this feast the heavenly wine never runs out!