February 7, 2024 

Today’s Reading: 

Daily Lectionary: Job 4:1-21; John 2:1-12

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” John 2:1-4: 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Mary wanted her son, Jesus, to fix a problem. A big problem—the wedding feast ran dry of wine, and that is humiliation for the groom. 

Of this much we are sure: the groom supplies the wine. So Mary reports the problem to her son: “They have no wine.” Will Jesus fix the problem? Jesus does not want to be known as a problem fixer. “Woman, what does this have to do with me?”, He says. Jesus is right, of course. The problem belongs to the groom. The groom supplies the wine, and everyone at those weddings knows it. 

Then Jesus, in the first of His miracles, brings forth wine from water. Is He just impressing with His power? No. It’s much more than that. He is announcing Himself as the Groom, the one who supplies the wine. He’s not the groom of this wedding, of course. That man is already spoken for, and he already has his bride. And everyone is rightfully celebrating what God joins together—this man and this wife.

But Jesus is announcing Himself as the Groom. For the rest of the Gospel of John we can watch Jesus gathering His Bride. His bride is the Church. The Apostle Paul later tells us that (Ephesians 5:25-32). The Church, Jesus’ Bride, is all those the Groom brings to Himself and binds together in fellowship with one another by His Gospel. 

Prior to this wedding, John the Baptist had baptized Jesus and then publicly announced Him as “the Lamb of God who is bearing the sins of the world.” Now Jesus, publicly in the office of bearing all sins, is about the business of announcing Himself as the Groom who saves His Bride, the Church. In making the wine from Heaven (for it was created not with earthly grapes, but with a creative Word spoken by God-in-the-fleshH), Jesus is announcing Himself as the Groom whose time has come. He is now on His way to the cross for His Bride, for you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord Jesus, you have prepared the wedding feast, you have gathered your Bride the Church, and now, until you come again on the Last Day, you daily sanctify your Bride, sanctifying her, cleansing her by the washing of water with the Word. Bless me and all my fellow members of the Church, that we may look to you for every good gift, as a bride looking to her husband who loves and cherishes her. In your holy Name, Amen. 

-Pastor Warren Graff is retired from Grace Lutheran Church, Albuquerque.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

The Lutheran Reader’s Bible helps you develop a habit of devotion and Bible reading so you can slowly but intentionally understand and grow in God’s Word. Through introductions to the sixty-six books of the Bible, guided reading plans, and more, this Bible builds your confidence to study Scripture on your own.