1 Corinthians 1:18-end & John 2:1-11
'Committing to Covenantal Love'
In life, there are moments of commitment, when the choice we make – or choose not to make – really matters.
In today’s Gospel reading, we encounter examples of this – choices, moments of commitment, which impact, enable and make possible a particular kind of future. Today I’d like to explore these examples together, focusing on how the choices being made point us towards something very important about the nature of God’s love.
So, come back with me if you will to John’s Gospel…
The scenario through which our message moves is a wedding – a marriage at Cana – where promises of commitment have been made between two people, before God. In the Church, we understand marriage to be a sacrament – meaning a visible sign of an invisible reality. Here marriage (that’s the visible sign) points us towards the invisible reality of God’s covenantal love.
Covenant is a fairly formal word. You’ll hear it mentioned regularly in Church and, perhaps, if you work in a legal setting – however, not so much in everyday language these days. Nonetheless, its meaning is really significant and also really beautiful.
The late, great American preacher, Timothy Keller, said that we can think of a covenant a bit like a category of thought. So, for example, it’s a category of thought that says, ‘I will adjust to you because I made you a promise’ – and it’s a category of thought that says, ‘I will love you even when you act in an unlovable way.’
According to Keller, a covenant relationship is far more loving and intimate than a merely legal relationship, and it’s far more binding and enduring than a merely emotional relationship (Timothy Keller, ‘A Covenant Relationship’, available here). The reason that a covenant is so profound is because, when both parties – in this case at Cana, husband and wife – say “I choose to love and commit to you…”, it is reflective of God’s covenantal love.
It’s not just the scenario of the wedding that reflects this theme in our Gospel passage because, as well as a marriage relationship, covenantal love can also be witnessed in the relationship between parent and child. Here, the inter-play between parent and child – between Mary and Jesus – is really interesting and it’s worth a little creative exploration…
It seems curious to me that, to Mary’s comment about the wine having run out, Jesus responds by asking why this should be of any concern to him or indeed to her – for his hour hadn’t yet come (John 2:3-4). Curious because, surely, Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do – knew precisely the miracle he was about to perform?
Elsewhere in the Gospel, Jesus clearly displays his ability to foretell what is going to happen. For example, think about when Jesus prepares to enter Jerusalem ahead of his crucifixion – he sends two of his disciples ahead, with precise instructions about where they will find the animal on which he is to ride into the city (Luke 19:29-35).
The point I’m making is that, I’m not sure Jesus needed to be convinced by Mary that the time for his first miracle was now – because he already knew. Instead, I think his words may be designed to test her readiness.
Jesus knows that, as soon as he is seen in a miraculous light, things are going to change. Mary, displaying the knowingness of a mother, senses that this is his moment to commit, to perform his first miraculous sign. And Jesus’ response is, perhaps, a way of testing this. Mary simply disengages, turns to the servants – who are already in the vicinity, remember – and directs them to do whatever he says (John 2:5).
Do you see that, in a way consistent with the spirit of covenantal love, in this reading of the situation, Jesus wants to make sure that his mother is prepared. And he takes her response to mean that she is indeed ready for him to make this commitment – understanding the significance of the moment, the choice at hand, and how it will change things irreversibly.
Now, you might be thinking that the sound of covenantal love is wonderful in theory, but somewhat undermined by the reality that all of us will likely know of broken human relationships, which point in the exact opposite direction to covenantal love. And it’s true – the reality of broken relationships and their impact are painfully present all around us.
Just last month, my wife and I spent time with a lovely man called Mark. He was the owner of a guest house we were staying at and, as we later learned, a keen sailor. He kindly took us out on his boat one evening. Whilst we were on the water – and in a way that surprised us – Mark began to tell us about his childhood, about how he had left home at the age of 16 after a difficult upbringing. From what he shared, it was clear that the brokenness he had seen and experienced in relation to his parents, had led to him severing ties from his family. And it also meant that he had chosen not to marry. Mark’s testimony told of the potential impact on a person when they haven’t known or experienced unconditional love.
I understand hesitations, reservations and doubts, but the truth is that covenant is the nature of God’s love – and, here at Cana, Jesus committed to the next step, so that he could make this unconditional way of loving freely available to you, to me, to us all. It’s true that we may not always experience perfect, unconditional love in our human relationships – but it is what we are invited to experience in relationship to Jesus. His love is offered with the steadfast promise that it will never change and will never fail. And when this relationship becomes our foundation stone – the source of our lives (1 Cor 1:30) – then we begin to learn the pattern of covenant, the nature of unconditional love and the wonder of amazing grace. This, in turn, then begins to inform our human relationships. When we open ourselves to receive Jesus’ unconditional love, it begins to seep into every other relationship in our lives, with the potential to transform them.
In life, there are moments of commitment, when the choice we make – or choose not to make – really matters. Jesus invites you to come, follow him and receive His unconditional love. The choice... is yours.
Amen.