The Sign of the Wedding at Cana
Captain's Log: Table Time ~ monday, September 15th, 2025 ~ Lauds
11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
We pondered signs this morning. I didn’t anticipate this, but as we read through it, it stood out as the things to draw the children’s attention. I pointed them to the verse and read it again. “What is a sign?” Lydia was quick to think of street signs. ‘Something that tells us what to do.’ ‘Ah, right. But a command can also tell us what to do… is a sign different?’ Liam contributed ‘traffic lights,’ which tell us when we can go and when we must stop. Signs give directions - now there’s something to linger on, which I missed at the moment.
I lingered. ‘What is a sign, at the most basic level? Is a sign words? Or is a sign something a little different from words?’ ‘What kind of thing is a sign?’ I was nudging them in the direction of pictures. Pictures that point to something. We see the sun coming up over Lake Ontario every morning at table time. ‘Is the sun a sign?’ Thinking. ‘Yes! The sun tells us that it’s daytime. It tells you what time it is.’ ‘Yeah, and the moon tells you it’s nighttime.’ ‘Ah, OK. So the sun is a sign that tells us something.’
What about the signs of communion? What do the bread and the wine tell us? ‘That our sins are forgiven… that Jesus died for our sins.’ ‘Yes, but think specifically about the sign of the bread, and of the wine. What do they say?’ Fittingly, it was when I ‘signed’ the breaking of the bread that Liam answered, ‘that Jesus' body was broken for us.’ That’s right. And that His blood (the wine) was shed for us. These are pictures, aren’t they? They show us something. Teach us something by showing it to us.
What does Cana show us? Teach us? I pointed us to Revelation and the return of the Bridegroom for His bride, and the world full of joy, and feasting, and celebration that is to come. Cana is a picture of the great Bridegroom bringing life, joy, and celebration to the world. What a day we have to look forward to. I exhorted us to remember the Bridegroom today, especially when things don’t go well, when they are discouraged. And to remember the new world of life and joy He’s making. It is good to know this world is coming while we live in a world with so much pain, and hurting, and sadness. It is a very broken place now. But it won’t be forever.
