The Second Sunday after Epiphany
The Second Sunday after Epiphany
One hundred eighty gallons… one hundred eighty gallons of water turned to wine… the equivalent of nine hundred bottles of wine in terms of our culture and times. That’s a lot of wine, and good wine at that! (Jn. 2:10). While we don’t know the population of a village like Cana in the days of Jesus, we can safely say that nine hundred bottles would be sufficient for each guest to have a bottle or two to themselves. And this on top of what had already been consumed! Why does our Lord provide such an extravagant amount of wine? Two reasons, I would say. The first would be that Jesus simply works with what is at hand. The jars are there, why not use them? The second would be that the master of the feast, as is common in this sin-broken world—suffered from scarcity. He ran out of wine. Jesus steps in and relieves that scarcity, not by doling out meager amounts as they are consumed but by providing wine and providing it abundantly. Our Lord is not a lord of scarcity but a Lord of abundance! In your baptism, all righteousness is fulfilled. Your Lord doesn’t dole it out bit-by-bit as you progress on your way to some ultimate sanctification. NO! In the fullness of the Godhead, Jesus delivers the fullness of righteousness to you also day in and day out. Believe it and you have it!
Prayers from those who live amid the scarcity of sin’s brokenness and who hardly believe their God’s abundance…
Heavenly Father, you are always more ready to give than we are to receive, grant that I would receive the fulfillment of all righteousness as a gift from you rather than as an achievement of my sinful life. God of abundance, pour out your Word upon me.
Heavenly Father, you are always more ready to give than we are to receive, grant, that in the fullness of righteousness I have received from you, Jesus Christ would sit enthroned in my conscience and rule my life from there. God of abundance, pour out your Word upon me.
Heavenly Father, you are always more ready to give than we are to receive, whenever my Lord Jesus is dethroned from his rule in my conscience, so place your Word in my ears that I would hear the forgiveness of sins pronounced upon me so that Christ would rule in my conscience once more. God of abundance, pour out your Word upon me.
Heavenly Father, you are always more ready to give than we are to receive, as Christ rules in my conscience set my hands to acts of love that I may be a servant to my neighbors both near and far. God of abundance, pour out your Word upon me.
Heavenly Father, you are always more ready to give than we are to receive, when I cannot act in love because Christ has been dethroned from my conscience, provide me the obedience of your law so that my neighbors still are served. God of abundance, pour out your Word upon me.
Heavenly Father, you are always more ready to give than we are to receive, pour out upon the Institute of Lutheran Theology the riches of your blessing so that its supporters will no longer consider their scarcity, but look instead to their abundance and pour out their riches to the school. God of abundance, pour out your Word upon me.
Heavenly Father, you are always more ready to give than we are to receive, continue to give to me and all believers a rich patience and a deep hope for the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ, in all his glory so that the scarcity of this sin-broken world would be ended, and the abundance of the new creation made manifest. God of abundance, pour out your Word upon me.