Sermon 1.17.2016

John 2:1-11 MISSING THE SIGNS Ok, Please have your worship folders out & turned to the Gospel reading... we're gonna look at it together today. EPIPHANY. To shine forth. A Manifestation of THE GLORIOUS. That's what we've been talking about lately.... The Star leading the Magi to worship Jesus; The anointing of the Spirit and the voice from heaven in front of all of those people @ Jesus' baptism; And now today's story, Jesus' first public miracle or "SIGN" as John calls it. These are EPIPHANY MOMENTS. Moments of the spectacular that point to the Savior. The KEY VERSE is vs 11... look at it with me, please... What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he _____ revealed his glory; THAT'S EPIPHANY in a nutshell. The Savior's glory being REVEALED in the SIGNS. Signs can be important things, wouldn't you say? Some signs are easy to see. Think of the ICONIC "HOLLYWOOD" sign on Mt. Lee in the hills overlooking Los Angeles. The letters are 45' tall, and the sign is 300' in length. That one's kinda hard to miss. Other signs are easier to miss cuz they're smaller... or in some way they just don't grab our attention as much. You can be driving down the highway and miss the sign for your EXIT. That's not good. You can ignore strange or different health symptoms in such a way that you miss the signs of a serious disease or illness. That's really not good. Think of all the various signs you really don't want to miss. Road closed... bridge out... high explosives area... Some signs are pretty important... you don't want to miss them. The title of my meditation today is THE MISSED SIGN There's A **LOT of stuff going on in today's story from John's Gospel and we don't have enough time to look at all of it, so I just want to focus our attention on THE SIGN. The SIGN revealed the glory of Jesus. The sign was an EPIPHANY MOMENT... but not everyone got it. Signs can be missed. Here's how: --You can miss the signs by being like the SERVANTS. Look with me at vs 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water ____knew! The servants *knew. The servants *knew that what had formerly been water was now wine. The servants knew that something awesome and miraculous had happened, and yet, look at vs 11 again: What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. Why doesn't it say the disciples **AND** servants believed in him?? It's as tho John is saying... you can *see the sign with your own 2 eyes, and STILL BE AN UNBELIEVER. Isn't that true? I dunno if you've ever thought much about this or not, but SIGNS of God's love and glory are all around you. You *see them every day. Psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of God ... EVERY day nature SINGS a song of praise to the God of all creation. You see it with your own 2 eyes, and hear it with your own 2 ears. But do you believe? In the Church, we have tangible, physical, SIGNS of God's mercy & presence among us... the waters of holy baptism, bread & wine joined to Christ's body & blood... the bond of fellowship of believers.. the very words of God on printed pages... You CAN SEE the signs everywhere and all the time; You can **KNOW** this stuff front & back... you can recite Luther's Catechism in English AND GERMAN. But knowing isn't the question. You can be like the servants in the story you can KNOW .... but DO YOU BELIEVE? If you don't believe, you've MISSED THE SIGN. --You can miss the signs by being like the Master of the banquet: Look with me at vs 9... and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from ... then drop down to vs10 “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but ___YOU have saved the best till now.” In other words, in the story the Master of the Banquet experiences the SIGN; you could even say he makes a statement of FAITH about the sign, but he's completely WRONG. The Master of the Banquet thinks he knows, but he believes the wrong thing. How often this still happens today.... people, even in the Church, who experience The SIGNS of God's love, grace, and mercy all the time, and yet believe the wrong thing. This happens most frequently in the area of forgiveness. MY SINS can be forgiven, cuz God is gracious, and besides, I'm not all that bad ... but THAT PERSON over there doesn't deserve forgiveness. That's a statement of faith, but it's all wrong. I've been a Christian all my life; I've donated huge sums to the Church; my relatives practically built this place with their own bare hands... God owes me on this one. That's a statement of faith, but it's all wrong. The point is, the Master of the Banquet fervently believed, but he believed the wrong thing. He missed the sign. If you believe the wrong thing, you've MISSED THE SIGN. --You can miss the signs by being like the bridegroom. Look at vs 10 again. The master of the banquet calls the bridegroom over and he says: Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now. And the bridegroom says what? NOTHING. In the story, we don't even know if the bridegroom was aware that his own party had run out of wine. I mean, no doubt, he's got a lot of other things on his mind. He's pretty wrapped up in the STUFF OF LIFE right now. The Servants KNOW, but don't believe. The Master of the Banquet thinks he knows, but believes the wrong thing; the Bridegroom... evidently, doesn't know, and doesn't care.... or is too busy to stop and care. In the spiritual life, this is probably the worst place to be. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the STUFF OF LIFE all around us. It is, after all, IMPORTANT stuff. You've got a career to build, a business to run, a new job to look for. You've got a retirement to manage or plan for. You've got an education to think about. You've got a family that's depending on you. You've got adult children who still need your help on a regular basis. You've got parents that are experiencing severe health problems. I get it. It's a *LOT of stuff. And it's all important stuff. We could say the same about the bridegroom in the story. He's got a lot of stuff on his plate too, and it's all important stuff. But an EPIPHANY MOMENT happened right there under his roof. The Savior of the World was there; the sign that revealed his glory... And people will be reading this story & talking about it for thousands of years... AND HE MISSED IT. Cuz ... turns out, you CAN MISS IT. You can have a head knowledge; you can know all the facts, and still not believe; you can think you know, but in truth believe the wrong stuff; and you can be so distracted that you just don't even bother.... but that doesn't change the reality. THE SIGN HAPPENED. It was there. And the SIGNS are still happening. They're still HERE. The Savior's glory is STILL BEING REVEALED. Epiphanies are STILL HAPPENING. Every time you hear the absolution pronounced, the sign is here & the Savior's glory is revealed. Every time you pray the very words Jesus gave you to pray, the sign is here & the Savior's glory is revealed. Every time you experience the touch of a friend reaching out to you with the love of Christ, the sign is here & the Savior's glory is revealed. Every time the words of a hymn lift your soul to heaven, the sign is here & the Savior's glory is revealed. Every time you receive the holy meal believing that Christ is really there for you, the sign is here & the Savior's glory is revealed. Every time you're inspired to selflessly give to someone in need, the sign is here & the Savior's glory is revealed. Every time you open the word of God ready to be led by it, the sign is here & the Savior's glory is revealed. The question isn't whether or not SIGNS still happen. Epiphany isn't a moment in history, it's a PRESENT TENSE VERB. The signs are everywhere. They continue to happen... the Savior's glory continues to be revealed. The only question is... WILL YOU BELIEVE?