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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

First of all, don't worry. The kickoff time for Minnesota and Dallas is at noon Eastern Time, not noon Central Time, so we'll be all right. Not that you guys would absolutely be thinking about that at this time.

This is an unusual miracle indeed. And of all the miracles that Jesus did…healing palsied limbs and making them strong, bringing sight to blind eyes, and loosing the tongue of those who cannot speak, unstopping ears that are unable to hear, and raising the dead…of all the miracles that Jesus did, this is probably the most frivolous of all the miracles when you think about it in comparison to raising people from the dead and bringing sight to the blind and so on. Frivolous in that all that was done was giving a wedding celebration more wine. Not just a few gallons, mind you, somewhere in the neighborhood of a 150 to 180 gallons of wine. That's a lot of wine. That feeds and drinks a lot of people. Hmm.

And of all the Gospels…Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John…only John's Gospel records this and makes a note, of all the Gospels, this was His first miracle. That's interesting. If you and I were to put our minds to it, we would think in terms of something big right out of the chute in order to make an impression upon everybody. Raising someone from the dead…now that would have been a real good miracle at first, that first miracle out from the chute. Instead, Jesus chose this of all miracles.

Now it's interesting because all of us can understand the other miracles in many ways. Think about it. Our eyes have been opened, and we can see Him as our Lord and Master and Savior. Our ears have been opened so that we can hear the voice of our Shepherd calling us back to Him regularly. Our limbs have been strengthened and no longer palsied, enabling us to serve other people. We know by faith that though we are dead, we shall be made alive upon our own death, being raised with Christ Jesus.

All of that we have some common connection. But marriage: now there is a common connection. Because whether we are married or divorced, whether we are single or widowed or widower, all of us have experienced the joys of that union (whether it was ours or our parents) and the pains of that union (whether it was ours or our parents or our siblings or whomever). We have that very much in common. Isn't it interesting that of all the relationships in this world that God has given us as His people, the one epitome of all relationships that He wishes to use as the very image of Himself toward you and me is marriage?

When He arrives at this marriage, He is invited by the family. There had to have been some sort of a close relationship between not only Jesus but also the mother of Jesus…Mary. They both were invited to this gathering. By His attending that very day, a marriage, He solidifies and confirms that which the Father had already defined in paradise with Adam and Eve. That marriage is to be a lifelong union between a man and a woman.

But why would John put this in his text? The Lord wanted him to put it in this text. Remember what John wrote later on in his Gospel, the 20th chapter. It goes something along these lines, "Jesus did many other miraculous signs which are not written in this book (meaning the book of John) and the Scriptures as it were as a whole. But these things (that had been recorded by John and others) have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing in Him, you might have life." So of all things, this was given to us that we may see Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.

Now, I know you all make note of the Gospel readings every Sunday that we gather together, but note during this season of Epiphany, which is what we're in right now; it ends on Transfiguration Sunday, it begins with the baptism of our Lord last week. Every single Sunday between now and Transfiguration, there will be something in that Gospel reading that shows forth Jesus as being both God and man; an "epiphany" as it were.

Each Sunday, just as it began with the wise men visiting Jesus, so it shall end with the Transfiguration on the Mount. Every Sunday will show forth some aspect of Christ's life that shows Him to be the Son of God, and this morning is no different. Changing water into wine is indeed a miracle. But blessing and bestowing Himself on marriage, for that matter…blessing and bestowing Himself on your and my marriage…there indeed is a miracle and a great miracle.

He is the perfect husband. He always will stay with us when we are the most unlovable. He will not get hurt by our words spoken in anger, in fright or fear, in frustration. He will not love us more when we're lovable by our actions and our deeds, and He will not love us less when we're despicable by the same. We haven't even begun to scratch the surface on the thoughts that rattle around in this empty cavern known as our head. He knows them all, and He stays true to us all. That indeed is a miracle, and by His presence at this great miracle of changing water into wine does He establish for us His desire to bless your marriage and my marriage and not just with enough but with more than enough for this life.

You have heard it said many times, "This is the marriage feast of the Lamb and His kingdom." It's a picture of such, because when we enter into heaven, it will be a continual feast. We're practicing it here. With whom are we practicing it? With whom do we commune as one body of Christ? But with a lot of other broken people with broken lives, with a lot of other people whose lives do stink; namely, we ourselves.

By whom we don't have our stuff together and our frayed edges are obvious to all but most importantly to our God, does He come in our midst just as He came in the midst of this wedding feast to bring Himself to us; to provide us for the things of this life. But more importantly, to provide us with that which all of our earthly marriages cannot live without, and that being forgiveness. Notice I did not say love. Yes, but that is such an abstract concept that only is manifested in how we give and how we receive such forgiveness.

He desires to come into broken marriages and bring healing. For marriages that don't need Him, what does He have to offer, unfortunately and sadly? But for those of us whose marriages are not perfect, those of us who have felt the pain of this great and glorious relationship, He has come for us. He has come to bring healing for us. There are many things that stir up emotion in our lives but none more than the marriage bond. Whether it is our own or whether it is someone whom we love dearly, it evokes great emotion and spiritual struggle.

Our Lord comes to such an event that should be seen as a celebration of "Good work!" and "Good job! They've got a great marriage!" He instead is saying to all of us, "I've come to fix broken and dead marriages. To raise from the dead those who think themselves to be dead and to bring life to those who think themselves to be not living." What a great gift this God is to bring Himself as our husband to us, to bind up our wounds! As He did to that man on the side of the road who had been beaten and robbed, so He has done to us.

Whether we wear this band or whether we don't, marriage is an event in our life that all of us have experience with. Seeing and experiencing, even maybe for ourselves; but regardless, He is who comes with fresh new wine to such marriages as yours and mine and to such lives impacted and greatly affected by marriages. He comes to bring us forgiveness that we can give that then to one another. It is the same John who wrote in his epistle, "We love because He first loved us." It is meet and right and salutary that we forgive, because He first forgave us, and being the perfect husband, He always will. Being the perfect husband, He will never find us not attractive and beautiful, because we do not wear our own garment but the garment of His choosing and of His earning.

Notice the Old Testament reading, the one about which was sung so beautifully. He is all about His bride: "I will not keep silent…I will not be quiet until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a burning torch." She will be called a new name. Just as all of us are a part of that culture where a wife gives up her former and maiden name to take on her husband's name, in a much more grandiose manner, do we take on the name of our God as Avery did here, so it was for you. You were chosen. You didn't have the ability at that point to say, "I am worthy of God." God said, "You are worthy of Me." God made you His.

He's crazy about you…your God, your husband, your Jesus. He says, "…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." It doesn’t have to make sense to you. It doesn't have to be quantified for you and I to understand. It is the proclamation that we are to believe in and trust in, bank upon, and close our eyes in. This is what He brings to us today, the first of His miracles. And as was said, "…His glory manifested, and His disciples believed in Him." Believe what God has said to you this day in your midst, at your wedding feast, that you may go forth forgiven and free, forgiven and free in His name, Amen.

He sets us free from our guilt and our fear, lifts us from shame to the place of His honor. Jesus has come. Hear the roll of God's thunder.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting, Amen.