“Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
– John 2:10
I am going to begin with stating something odd: there is a bit of Christmas that lingers today. I know our Nativity scenes have long been packed away. I know the fragrance of the Christmas tree has long wafted into space. And I am not referring to that random ornament hook that still lies on the floor.
You see we’re in Ordinary Time, but in all three Liturgical Years (A/B/C) the Church always deviates from the normal Sunday Cycle on the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time. And we always hear from the Gospel of St John on this particular Sunday. Today: The Wedding Feast at Cana.
I say a little bit of Christmas lingers because there was a time in the early Church, when this Gospel was part of the continuation of Epiphany—the REVEALING of Jesus our Lord. Revealed in the Epiphany. Revealed in his holy Baptism.
Revealed today at a Wedding—a powerful wedding of sign value.
It’s no secret that the Gospel of St. John is called “the Gospel of Signs.” Because in St. John, Jesus’ power is not called MIRACLES. In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus’ miracles are meant to convey his power and compassion. Miracles in those three Gospels bring AMAZEMENT to the crowds. In a different manner entirely, the signs of St. John—reveal. In a way, the sign is both veiled and revealing—but what it reveals is deeper.
Now seven SIGNS are counted in the Gospel of St. John and you are likely familiar with many of them: the healing of the Man Born Blind, the Walking on Water and the Raising of Lazarus. But the one at Cana in Galilee is the FIRST SIGN for a very important reason.
It starts out ordinary: Jesus is attending a wedding. Jesus is not officiating the wedding, in fact, he does not even appear to be a special guest of honor. He is a wedding guest, much like we find ourselves at weddings.
And something profoundly ordinary, but unfortunate happens: they run out of wine. Friends, then as now, nothing could be more embarrassing for the family, than to have run out of FOOD or WINE at the wedding you’re hosting.
So, what unfolds is likely familiar: Mary brings this dilemma to Jesus’ attention and the SIGN begins to emerge in the natural unfolding, revealing the deeper spiritual truth. In fact, the natural unfolding is always the veneer, the veil that shrouds the SIGN, as it is revealed slowly.
Six large water jugs holding 20-30 gallons each—up to 180 gallons of water—are transformed. The water becomes what it is not—WINE.
A superabundance of New Wine.
And friends, abundance is the message of Jesus. Jesus didn’t come to make things a little bit better around the edges. No, as St. Paul says, reflecting on the gift of Jesus for us, “Where SIN ABOUNDED—GRACE did MUCH MORE ABOUND!!” And Jesus himself said, “I have come to bring you LIFE and LIFE MORE ABUNDANT!!”
Consider also a marvelous backdrop for this Gospel of the Wedding at Cana. As our Gospel opens, it says: “on the third day, there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee….” And in the story of Exodus it states as the people of God prepare to receive the Law, Yahweh prepares to MEET his PEOPLE—on the third day.
The Lord said to Moses: “Be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD WILL COME DOWN in the sight of all the people.” A theophany.
The Lord met his people on the Third Day in the story of the Exodus.
Jesus broke the bonds of death, leaving the tomb empty on the Third Day, with the revealing sign of the burial clothes in St. John’s Gospel.
Now here, the sign at the Wedding at Cana—on the Third Day.
SO, what might this mean for US? As we said, this story of the sign at the Wedding Feast of Cana is found uniquely in Gospel of St. John. And John’s Gospel has as a major motif of Marriage—principally that our GOD, has been desiring to marry US from the beginning.
In today’s First Reading from Isaiah 62 we hear this desire of the Lord to MARRY his people: no longer are we called “forsaken” or “desolate” – but instead “my Delight” and “Espoused.” Isaiah goes on to proclaim that the Lord “rejoices in his bride.” That’s you and me. That’s the Church of our Lord.
You see all through St. John we hear—veiled in SIGNS—that God desires to marry us. Following this first SIGN which takes place in the most explicit setting—a Wedding Feast—we have these continued stories of MARRIAGE:
In the very next chapter, John the Baptist declares that he is “the best man” and the true “BRIDEGROOM (Jesus) is the ONE who has THE BRIDE.”
In the following chapter we have the very familiar story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well and it is there that the language of sign is rich & palpable—because anytime a man meets a woman at a well—a marriage ensues.
Finally, this powerful language of MARRIAGE SIGN reaches its fulfillment, on the CROSS. And just as abundant New Wine (the best wine) FLOWED at the Wedding Feast. So too, when the Roman soldier thrust the spear into Jesus’ side—the blood and water that poured forth was indeed a SIGN that the BRIDE (the Church) was born from his side.
Like the Epiphany and like last’ week’s celebration of the Lord’s Baptism—Today is a REVEALING SIGN. A SIGN of the Lord’s continuous desire to bring us into union with himself—thru the MOTIF of a MARRIAGE.
But for us to experience this full abundance of joy, we must RECOGNIZE that the LORD indeed REJOICES in US!!
Do we RECOGNIZE this?
Copyright © Deacon Randy Ory
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C): Isaiah 62:1-5 | Psalms 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10 | First Corinthians 12:4-11 | John 2:1-12
Image credit: “The Marriage at Cana” (detail) | Paolo Veronese, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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