The Wedding Feast of the Kingdom!
If we take the miracle of Cana literally, we reduce it to a one time wonder and greatly limit its meaning. It was not really about the power to change water into wine. The miracle has a deeper and broader meaning, and one that is valid for all time. It’s about something far more wonderful.
Johnny Carson (who hosted the Tonight Show for 30 years) was interviewing an eight-year-old boy one night. The young man was asked to appear on the Late Show because he had rescued two friends from a coalmine outside his hometown in West Virginia. As Johnny questioned him, it became apparent that the boy was a Christian. Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday school. When the boy said he did, Johnny inquired, “What are you learning in Sunday school?” “Last week,” the boy replied, “our lesson was about how Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine.” Keeping a straight face, Johnny asked, “And what did you learn from that story?” The boy squirmed in his chair. It was apparent he hadn’t thought about this. But then he lifted up his face and said, “If you’re going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus and Mary!” And that is precisely the message of today’s gospel: make sure you invite Jesus and Mary wherever you live and wherever you go – they are the only ones you’ll ever need. In other words, today’s lesson is about the sufficiency of Christ in our lives and the power of His mother’s intercession.
Often, because of the way we have been taught to read the events of history and biographies as being a onetime event, and we try to apply these same precepts to the Gospels. We treat them as onetime events that occurred long ago. But the Bible, Holy Scriptures, is the Living Word and are on going events… Baptism in the Jordan, our baptisms don’t occur in the Jordan, but we receive the same Holy Spirit that was there at the Jordan. Wedding Feast of Cana, our marriage doesn’t occur at Cana, but we do become one and create a covenantal relationship of one with God – a miracle in itself.
In attempting to describe the relationship between God and His people, today’s Scripture uses the image of a bridegroom and his bride. And in describing the joy God finds among His people, it uses the image of a wedding feast.
In our First Reading today we hear a message of hope for God’s people at one of the lowest moments in their history. Jerusalem lay in ruins and many of the people were in exile in Babylon. Israel, once God’s bride, is now like a widow deprived of children. However, God has not forgotten her. And at a new wedding feast, God will restore His people.
The promise was fulfilled in the return from exile, but more especially in the coming of Jesus. It’s no surprise that Jesus begins His public ministry at a wedding feast. The wine running out can be seen as a sign of the old religion, the old observances were found wanting. Time had come for the promises to be fulfilled and time for a new law and new spirit.
The prophets had foretold an abundance of wine in messianic days. At Cana Jesus provides just that. And those who tasted the new agreed that it was better than the old. Through his compassion and generosity, Jesus gives us a glimpse of the warmth of His heart.
What Jesus did at Cana was not a onetime thing. It points to what happens throughout His ministry. Everywhere he went the old is made new. For Zacchaeus he changed selfishness into love. For the thief on Calvary he changed despair into hope. And on Easter morning he change death into life.
His presence changed the lives of those whom he came in contact. And he continues to do this for us when we believe in him and follow him. He will transform our lives into something wonderful. He offers us something that we seek but can’t achieve on our own. He offers us a share in the divine life – nothing less than the rapture of communion with God. But all of this will remain a theory unless we experience it in our lives, unless in someway in our own lives Jesus changes water into wine.
Blessed are you when you thirst for the new ‘wine’ that Jesus provides. The “old” is the promise; the “new” is the fulfillment. Material things are not enough. Jesus brings another dimension to life. He brings a “Joy” which the world cannot give.
He asked the servants to draw out the water-wine and take it to the steward. Jesus always used human means to convey his gifts.
And, as we heard in today’s Second reading, St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, each of us has received gifts from the Holy Spirit, and we are asked to share with others these gifts that he has shared with us.