John 2:1-11
This text is used for the Lectionary Year C on January 17, 2016.
There was a reoccurring segment on Sesame Street in which the camera would focus on four items. Three of them would be the same and the fourth, similar in some way, but distinctively different in another. In this reoccurring segment, a song would always accompany the puzzle with the lyrics, “one of these things is not like the others.” That is not a bad way to think about John. John is a gospel and as the other three do, tells the passion of Jesus with an extended introduction. But John is also distinct. Let me point out two the obvious ways in which it is a departure. In the synoptics, Jesus is an advocate of the Kingdom. In John, Jesus is an advocate of Jesus, who is the full revelation of God’s glory. In the synoptics, Jesus preforms miracles, the Greek dynamis. That word means acts of power and it is the word from which we get the word dynamite. In John, Jesus preforms signs, the Greek semeion. Miracles point to the features of the kingdom; signs establish Jesus’ credibility.
John is divided into the “book of signs,” chapter 1:19 – chapter 12, and the “book of glory,” chapters 13-20. The wedding at Cana is the first sign. I gave that long introduction because it is crucial for understanding this otherwise seemingly odd and uniquely Johannine miracle. This story is loaded with symbolic imagery, each of them worthy of extended attention. But what remains most important is that Jesus is establishing credibility and unveiling his nature, which was mapped out for readers in the prologue found in the previous chapter. Wine is very often associated with joy. This sign characterizes the nature of Jesus’ reign. In this regard it is worth noting that the sign is not without eschatological significance. In the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus begins the party that will reach it’s fulfillment in his Eschaton.