Witnessing Epiphany

Sermon preached at the Cathedral Church of St Augustine on the Second Sunday after the Epiphany

If the Wedding at Cana

is Our Lord's first miracle,

why is it only St John

who records it in his gospel?

Why is it not mentioned

by Matthew, Mark or Luke?

This is clearly 

an important miracle -

so important

that we remember it

as the only miracle

Our Lord performs

at the Feast of the Epiphany -

and yet,

only John records it.

Why?

[PAUSE]

Let's look at this 

from a slightly different angle.

Who is invited to this wedding?

Well, 

first we are told

that the mother of Jesus is there.

It isn't Jesus first.

For this reason,

we could say that

perhaps 

Our Lady was known 

to the couple getting married.

This would make sense

as it is on the strength 

of her invitation

that Our Lord is invited.

And because He is invited,

so are His disciples.

His disciples?

He has disciples 

before He performs 

miracles?

Which ones?

[PAUSE]

It's there in the Gospels.

St Matthew says that 

before He starts ministering

in Galilee,

Our Lord already has

Peter, Andrew, James and John

with Him.

St Matthew won't become a disciple

until Our Lord's ministry

is well-established.

So we see a reason 

why St Matthew

doesn't record the Wedding at Cana.

St Luke and St Mark 

are not apostles,

so they aren't there either

and, while

they get their information

from St Peter and Our Lady

they clearly do not receive

the eyewitness testimony

of the Wedding at Cana.

But St John is there.

St John sees

and St John tells us.

St John

is an eyewitness 

to the Wedding at Cana.

Who are the other witnesses

to the Epiphany?

[PAUSE]

Our Lady sees the Magi,

and she must be the one who tells 

St Matthew.

St John Baptist

is a witness to the Baptism of Our Lord

and all the Gospel writers

mention it

though only

St John and St Luke

go into detail about it.

So,

of all the Gospel writers,

the only one

who has a direct link

to the Epiphany

is St John.

And this is quite remarkable.

[PAUSE]

St John sees Our Lord

as his best friend

and His True God.

While the other Gospel writers

are completwly faithful to their sources

such as St Peter, St Andrew

and Our Lady,

only St John's Gospel 

Is written

in that space where

God and Man 

can be seen to meet.

In St John's Gospel,

the Baptism of Our Lord

is immediately joined

with the Wedding at Cana.

Why?

Because what St John shows us

is the nature of the sacraments

which bind us to God.

The Baptism of Our Lord

is linked inextricably

with our baptism.

His presence at a wedding

sanctifies that wedding

giving grace to 

our human relationships

and enriching our earthly life.

And, later on,

there is one more miracle

performed by Our Lord

that is so unique

that it is the only miracle

mentioned in all four gospels.

Just one.

The feeding of the 5000

which St John

directly links

with the Holy Eucharist.

[PAUSE]

Of course the other Gospels

are in their own ways

uniquely important

in telling us the same good news.

All four are equally authoritative

and give the truth about Our Saviour,

but each one has an emphasis

that gives us a view 

of Who Our Lord Is.

[PAUSE]

Only St John tells us about Cana,

because St John

is the one who speaks 

of his experience 

in touching the Divine.

He shows us Cana

as something

which nourishes us

as we feel the sweet wine

trickling down our throats

and gladdening our hearts.

And He shows us 

that this wine that Jesus gives us

is ours at our asking

for Eternity.

No disrespect

to the other Evangelists,

but only St John can show us that.

But what he shows us

is that we can believe

his testimony is true.

And his testimony

backs up

the testimony

of the other Evangelists.

Matthew, Mark,

Luke and John

aren't recording stories,

they are recording history

and they are recording truth

about Our Lord's Epiphany.

Not just the Epiphany

of Magi, Jordan and Cana,

but the full Epiphany

of the whole Incarnation

of God-made-Man.

This is the truth

and we believe it

and, as a result,

the gates of Heaven

are wide open for us

as we continue in the truth

of the same Epiphany of Christ.