The Collect for the Second Sunday after The Epiphany
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who governs all things in Heaven and earth; mercifully hear the supplications of Your people, and grant us Your peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle, Romans 12:6-16
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
The Holy Gospel of St John 2:1-11
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 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. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “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.”
11 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.
Bishop Ian’s Thoughts
Today’s Epistle Reading is taken from St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans Chapter 12, Verses 6-16.
In this portion of his Epistle St Paul gave the Roman Christians very practical examples of how to live the Christian Faith. In the earlier chapters of his letter St Paul staunchly defended the Christian Doctrine (teaching) of Justification by Faith alone.
The Doctrine of Justification by Faith is the very foundation stone of reformed Christianity and lies at the heart of the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Holy Gospel is the finished work of the Lord Jesus, in the giving of His Perfect Life, by His Sacrificial Death on the Cross on Mount Calvary in payment for the sins, past, present, and future of God’s people chosen from all the ages of history.
The Lord Jesus had no inherited sin (from Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden) as the Lord Jesus was not the son of Adam but rather the Son of God, He committed no actual sin during His Earthly Life. He alone was Pure in Spirit and Life and so was uniquely qualified to give His Life as the Perfect Sacrifice, to pay the debt, once and for all time, for the sins of God’s chosen people.
God’s chosen, and saved, people include such well-known names as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and all the great prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, King David and King Solomon, together with many, many, other faithful people from the Old Testament era.
There are also many chosen and saved people mentioned in the New Testament era, the Apostles, and all the faithful members of the various Christian Churches founded by the Apostles, and in particular the Apostle St Paul, whose Epistles (letters) to the young Christian Churches comprise much of the New Testament.
Faithful Christians, who live in the present time, are included in God's chosen people, together with those faithful believers yet to be born.
The common feature that binds God’s chosen people together is the fact that all believed God and placed their faith in His Word and Promises.
In the Old and New Testaments, belief and faith in God’s Word was counted as Righteousness, without any added activity or qualification. This Doctrine (teaching) is known as Justification by Faith. St Paul confirms this in his teaching, regarding Abraham’s faith, in his Epistle to the Romans Chapter 4, Verse 4-12:
4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.
5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits Righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”
9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Having established that Justification by Faith is the Gift of God to both the Jews and the Gentiles (the circumcised and the uncircumcised) St Paul then proceeds to explain how we are to live as people Justified by Faith:
“6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
St Paul commands us to exercise our particular Gifts to the maximum extent possible, for the benefit of all people.
It goes without saying that God’s gifts are to be used for the building up of the our fellow Christians, however God loves all people and expects us to show love, mercy and kindness to those people who do not have faith in the Lord Jesus.
In doing so we may lead these people to faith in the Lord Jesus and Salvation from God's Judgement.
We must remember that we were once unsaved, and lived in sin without hope of Salvation.
St Paul then exhorts us to be sincere and faithful to the Holy Gospel.
Pride, vanity and conceitedness are the greatest enemies of the Holy Gospel:
“9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
Love of God and of our fellow men is the binding ingredient produced by faith in the Holy Gospel. Love is to be the driving force in all Christian believers’ relationships with other people.
We must love other people as God first loved us, and gave us His only Begotten Son to redeem us from sin and death.
To “hate what is evil” means to resist any temptation to do evil, and to fight against evil with all our might, and where evil has left it’s mark try with all our means to repair the damage and to promote the healing of any persons, through the proclamation of the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus.
St Paul concludes our Epistle reading by further commanding us to live as those who reflect the Love of the Lord Jesus and see His Love in other people:
“14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”
We must bless those who curse us and not retaliate for evil things done to us, we are to be happy and share the joy of those who rejoice. We must show empathy with those who mourn and share their sorrow.
We must try to promote peace and harmony as much as possible, and we must never be condescending, but rather show friendship and fellowship with those less fortunate than ourselves.
We must never be conceited, as conceit is an expression of the greatest sin of all, Pride, both in our own righteousness and in our own deeds.
Let us pray earnestly that God will give us His Grace to avoid, at all costs, pride and conceit, the two greatest allies of sin. Also let us pray that that God will give us humble hearts and minds, to always remember that each of us is saved, not by our own deeds, but by the Perfect Finished Work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. Let us also give thanks to God for His Gift of the Holy Spirit in opening our minds to accept, and believe, the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so to become clothed in His Holy Righteousness, and made acceptable to God.
May God indeed give us this Grace. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel Reading is taken from the Holy Gospel of St John Chapter 2, Verses 1-11.
This portion of St John’s Holy Gospel records the first miracle performed by the Lord Jesus, while He and His Disciples were guests at a wedding feast at Cana in Galilee during which, in the course of the feast the wine ran out:
“1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
To run out of wine at a Jewish feast was a grave insult, on the host’s part, to the invited guests.
We are not told why the wine ran short, however it may be that God brought about this shortage to bring glory to the Lord Jesus.
In a frantic effort to help the host save face and to prevent any ugly incidents from breaking out Mary, the Mother of the Lord Jesus, approached her Son and informed Him that the wine had run out. She obviously knew that He would have a solution to the problem.
4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
The Lord Jesus’ answer to her may seem a little terse, however the meaning of the reply was to tell Mary that it was not her place to give directions to Him, but rather His Heavenly Father would call Him to take action at the appropriate time.
In the Holy Gospel of St John there is often a referral to the hour, or a time for something to come about, or some significant event to take place.
Never the less, out of respect and love for His Mother the Lord Jesus obviously agreed to assist the host so Mary informed the servants:
“5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
The water jars, when all were filled would have been over one hundred and twenty gallons of water. We are not told whether all the water was turned into wine, or whether only a portion of it was transformed.
The miracle was that the Lord Jesus could exercise command over the natural elements and could cause a change their very substance and nature. The miracle was accomplished, and the servants then carried on their duties knowing that a mighty miracle had been performed by the Lord Jesus:
“They did so, 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 Master of the Banquet (Master of Ceremonies) was astonished that the wine brought out by the servants was of the highest quality possible and immediately called the Bridegroom to compliment him:
“Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “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.”
At a usual banquet the good wine is served first and when the guests became merry drinking the good wine then the not so good wine is served and the guests could not tell the difference.
It is no surprise that the wine, provided by the miracle of the Lord Jesus, was of the highest quality, as every provision of God is of the highest quality. God does not provide inferior gifts to His people, nor does He provide in short measure. God’s gifts are pressed and shaken down, and full measure is given to all His people.
We must endeavour to provide the same quality of gift to others so that God’s gracious provision to us is reflected in our provision to others.
The Lord Jesus had begun to reveal His Glory in this provision of wine as a Gift. His Disciples’ Faith was strengthened:
“11 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.”
May God strengthen our faith as we read of the first miracle performed by the Lord Jesus, and grant us courage to always bear witness to His Power and Glory all the days of our lives until we share His Heavenly Banquet in His Eternal Kingdom. Amen.
Bishop Ian