“This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.” (Jn 2:11)
“There is nothing like a wedding!”
There’s a phrase, and of course one that has many endings.
It is in the context of an everyday wedding that S. John sets the opening of Jesus’ ministry for as you know the fourth Gospel in the most part follows no chronological order. John’s sole purpose being to declare the presence of “The Word made Flesh”.
The choice of a wedding lies in Isaiah’s prophecy that formed this morning’s first reading. Isaiah prophecies to the exiled community that forgiveness is near, that God is going to restore the glory of Jerusalem; that he will take them back as an unfaithful wife is treated with kindness. The marriage relationship of Yahweh to his chosen people being the pre-runner to that of the Messiah with his Church as his bride. Just as at all wedding rites we refer to this Cana event, the Isaiah prophecy would have been referred to at the wedding there, the one, that we contemplate today. John’s choice was therefore obvious – it is at a Wedding that the Messianic bridegroom will declare his presence in the first of six dramatic signs that progress through his text.
It is worth reminding ourselves of John’s choice of the word “sign” for these events, those called “miracles” in the other Gospels. Each is a sign of the presence of ‘The Word’ and takes place in everyday circumstances, for ‘the Word’ is to be found in those humble circumstances even today. Thus, we have Jesus and his disciple as guests along with the rest of the village at a Wedding and things are not going well.
With this ‘Sign’, the first question that normally comes to mind is, “Why so much wine?” In these days of conservation, we might easily think of the significance of waste, but the Old Testament speaks in terms of plenty. In Christ the new age had dawned and would continue to shine until the end. So why Jesus’ reluctance – “my hour has not yet come”. Like the Jordan event, Cana too points to his suffering and death when Jesus pours out his blood for all men and for all time. In this sign John declares that mankind’s salvation has come and come in abundance just as the choicest wine was overflowing at the end of the feast.
Then come the question of the anonymity of the event. Jesus and his friends are seemingly seated with the other guests who are not aware who saved the day. The Word had become flesh not to isolate mankind further, but to be alongside creation as it groans from its self-inflicted loneliness. To be alongside and then to raise it to new standing. Jesus meets our needs too, when life is flat and meaningless, when our faith seems dull, if we reach out to him, he will transform the situation and not for the moment but for always.
Once Christ has entered our lives, they take on a different quality, as preferable as is choice wine to water. But he needs to be invited just as he was invited to the wedding: it’s no good standing, sitting or kneeling around waiting for something to happen. Like Mary we need to trust him to work in our lives and, at the same time, accept that this will be in his own time and in his own way. Such trust and humility are the chief gift gained from devotion to Mary. Through contemplating her example and supported by her prayers we may obtain the grace to make her response “Do whatever he tells you.” more readily. In this way we enable him to act for we shall be ready to listen to his voice in prayer and in scripture at any other stage of our lives and then share the wonderful experience of the servants at the Wedding Feast.
These servants are the most fortunate people at this particular wedding. The guests might well have enjoyed the new wine, but it is only the servants who knew how it had come to be there and who it was that was among them. Once again, as it was with the Shepherds, it is among the most unlikely that God reveals himself.
Yesterday saw the beginning of the annual Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. It seems to me that the central message of this morning’s Gospel is that the reunion of Christ’s Church must begin at grass root level – that is through local dialogue and co-operation. Old fashioned notions or misconceptions must be left behind, barriers must be torn down or bridges built. What is more such prayer and dialogue should not have a set time; we should never cease in our attempts to allow Christ to reunite his Church.
The Wedding over, the guests would have gone home unaware of whose company they had shared at the table. This morning, we share table with him again, let’s be sure that we are in the right disposition.
“This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”
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