Songs of Thankfulness and Praise – Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Songs of thankfulness and praise,
Jesus, Lord, to Thee we raise,
Manifested by the star
To the sages from afar;
Branch of royal David’s stem
In Thy birth at Bethlehem;
Anthems be to Thee addressed,
God in Man made manifest.

In today’s Gospel reading, the Living God visits a wedding (John 2:1-11). The traditional Western lectionary jumps from our Lord as a twelve-year-old teaching in the temple to our Lord attending a wedding. It may seem curious to the modern reader – after all, why not have a reading from Jesus’ baptism like the modern lectionary? Yet this transition to Jesus’ first miracle in the Gospel of John is poetic and “deep magic,” to steal a reference from C.S. Lewis.

Our pre-incarnate Lord once walked in the cool of the day to visit our foreparents in the Garden. He is the One who both made them, breathed life into them, and married them long ago – male and female. Perhaps the ancient lectionary bears ancient foresight into this mad age we live in, where we need to be reminded that our Lord who walked and talked with us in the Garden is still speaking to us in His Holy Scripture. For today, our Lord manifests Himself at a feast where the two shall become one flesh.

Manifest at Jordan’s stream,
Prophet, Priest, and King supreme;
And at Cana, wedding-guest,
In Thy Godhead manifest;
Manifest in power divine,
Changing water into wine;
Anthem be to Thee addressed,
God in Man made manifest.

There is deep magic at a wedding. One feels the depths of God’s grace in a wedding, whether one is sitting in the pew or standing before God, His minister, witnesses, and your betrothed. The two become one and it mirrors Christ Jesus and His Church. He is our groom and we are His bride. Yet the reality is we are also “His body.” St. Paul will have much to say about Christ’s body in today’s epistle lesson (Romans 12:6-16). Paul will remind us that as partners in Christ, we have been gifted – even showered – with spiritual gifts that far exceed our comprehension.

Perhaps you lack faith in your spiritual gifts? Or maybe like Moses, you doubt your ability to serve the Living God? Cheer up beloved saints, for when Christ visited the wedding feast He needed no help to turn the water into wine, yet He chose to use servants to fetch water from cisterns to give to the master of ceremonies. Christ uses His creatures and His creation to manifest His plan. We are beloved more than servants and we are equipped with more than spoons to dip water. We have been given within ourselves the eternal spring of life in Christ. Moreso, we are nourished with the wine of Christ’s blood every Sunday and thereby empowered in His Holy Spirit to serve the body, serve the kingdom, and sanctify this dark world with the manifestation of Christ’s Gospel.

Manifest in making whole
Palsied limbs and fainting soul;
Manifest in valiant fight
Quelling all the devil’s might;
Manifest in gracious will,
Ever bringing good from ill;
Anthems be to Thee addressed,
God in Man made manifest.

St. Paul encourages us, that because “[h]aving then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Epistle Lesson, Romans 12:6-8, KJV). Our ministry is not to be compared to others but is to be used for others to glorify God. Christ has dipped His holy hands into the muddy waters of our sin and pulled us out cleansed, transformed, and sanctified unto His holy calling and for His holy purpose. Let us not sit in pews and wait on the Lord to poke and prod us. Remember your baptism – you went into the waters to die with Christ and pulled up from the same waters into Christ’s resurrection into the new man.

Christ saves us not to collect splinters on the bench but renewed us for serving the King and His kingdom. Stop what you are doing, even reading this and take inventory of yourself. Examine yourself. Think about the vocations you hold. Piece together the desire the Spirit has laid upon your soul. Reckon and wrestle with the gifts the Spirit is calling you even now to stand up and use for the Almighty God.

Did you take a moment? Be honest as I know you did not. Take the time – yes now. Now pray to the Lord for help in seeing your gifts and in seeing opportunities to use them. St. Mary the Virgin was bold enough to see the need at the wedding and to ask her son and her Savior to intervene. Now be bold in listening to how God is calling you to serve Him and seek to live in faithful harmony with the calling and gifts that Christ has bestowed upon us. Where the Holy Ghost is convicting you to step out in service, be faithful and take the step. It is not a leap of faith, but faithful leaping into the loving arms of the Savior who has empowered you to take the leap. May we daily live and encourage the Christian next to us with the same words of St. Mary the Virgin: “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.”

Sun and moon shall darkened be,
Stars shall fall, the heavens shall flee;
Christ will then like lightning shine,
All will see His glorious sign:
All will then the trumpet hear;
All will see the Judge appear;
Thou by all wilt be confessed,
God in Man made manifest.

Serving in the kingdom is not for the faint of heart nor is it for the one who seeks glory. We battle invisible enemies with deadly and visible consequences. The prince of this world has been judged and he is maddeningly clawing after every soul he can succumb to sin and death in this world. The work of a Christian varies but every Christian has important work. Christ may be calling you like the servants in today’s Gospel, “fill the waterpots with water.” (John 2:7, KJV). It’s tiring, tedious, and time-consuming. Go and fulfill the call of your King. “And they filled them up to the brim.” Notice they did not slack, nor complained, never questioned, nor halfway did the work of our Master. No, they “filled them up to the brim.” Go and do likewise. Fill up your ministry to the brim. Be your brother’s keeper.

Jesus “has kept the good wine until now” (John 2:10) and He lavishes us with His wine. Every Sunday and holy day we have a literal tasting of the kingdom, and it is for our refreshment, encouragement, and commissioning to go and serve in our callings. Jesus chose a wedding to begin manifesting His glory. When you drink deeply from the Scriptures, it makes sense why His first miracle is where two unknown people are joined together as husband and wife. Our Lord promises us a great feast – the wedding feast of the Lamb – when He advents upon the earth. Is it any wonder that He begins His ministry in a simple Jewish wedding in Galilee? After all, “what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matthew 19:6, KJV). God has joined us to Himself through the Son, Jesus Christ. He is transforming us through His very Holy Ghost to be enlivened and sanctified for His service.

Therefore, on this day which is the “beginning of miracles” for our Lord’s earthly ministry, let us behold as He “manifested forth His glory.” Christ does this miracle not for the masses but so that “his disciples believed on Him.” (John 2:11, KJV). May our belief mirror the faith of the disciples, who were plucked from across Judea and yet baptized in Christ’s ministry and transformed into His apostles. Christ reveals Himself first to His chosen so that He may use them for His ministry. May we join alongside the disciples with faith in Christ and that He too has a purpose and a ministry in our life to benefit the souls of others.

May our belief run deep and if it be shallow, may it run deep as we grow as the disciples did in their own walk and ministries in Jesus. Remember beloved, our belief in Jesus is not merely assenting to facts locked away in our mind. Our belief is our love. Our love is our trust. We love our faithful bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. He loved us first, so that we may love Him. Therefore, “let love be without dissimulation.” (Romans 12:9, KJV). May our life reflect our Lord and “abhor that which is evil” and always “cleave to that which is good.” (Rom. 12:9). May we be filled not with wine, but with Christ’s eternal Spirit, who produces new life in us. A life that is contrary to the fleshly mind but instead is “kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.” (Romans 12:10-13, KJV). St. Paul calls us not to engage in ministry from time to time as our schedule allows, but to constantly live in a state of ministry. One is not married only when they are with their beloved, so too we are not merely Christ’s own when we are within the walls of a church. No matter our vocation, therein lies our ministry. Ministry is not a temporary hold on our schedule but a life to be lived out no matter the time or circumstance. If we are Christian, then we are Christ’s, and if we are Christ’s then we belong and are betrothed to Him every moment and every hour.

Christ called you to be His betrothed, His bride, His beloved. Do not yield to the world’s lies that your career is outside the bounds of Christ’s call. Challenges certainly await but we are equipped to live right-side-up in an upside-down world. Remember, the culture of the world and her kingdoms is “the upside-down.” It is the Kingdom of God and “kingdom-living” that is right-side-up. Christ shall return to put things to rights and bring justice in His reign. Therefore, “Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.” (Romans 12:14-16, KJV). We live in an age blinded by its thirst for knowledge but quenches its belly with entertainment. Let us manifest Christ humbly because Christ humbly became man to save us. Let us mirror our Maker because He bore our humiliation upon the Tree of Life. Let us epiphany the love of Christ by how we imitate our Savior.

Grant us grace to see Thee, Lord,
Mirrored in Thy holy Word;
May we imitate Thee now,
And be pure, as pure art Thou;
That we like to Thee may be
At Thy great Epiphany;
And may praise Thee, ever blest,
God in Man made manifest.