2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Wedding at Cana
John 2: 1-11
In the Gospel subject I studied as part of my theology degree we started by reading the Gospel straight through — to get the broad sweep of the story.
John starts with a primaeval history — unlike Matthew and Luke, where the genealogy of Jesus starts with human ancestors. John also has no birth narrative, the writer of John introduces us to Jesus with His meeting with John the Baptiser, by then Jesus already has followers.
The second chapter of John starts with the very familiar story we heard sung today, the wedding at Cana.
This story is from the very start of Jesus’ ministry, it is the first of seven such stories, or signs as they are called, in the fourth Gospel, all of which are designed to encourage belief. It is a modest story demonstrating Jesus’ control over inert things, and I'll come back to that in a minute. Subsequent stories in the fourth Gospel grow in intensity, signs of greater and greater significance, by the time we get to the 6th story - the raising of Lazarus – we have a sign about Jesus’ control over life and death. The seventh sign is debated in the literature – is it Jesus’ resurrection, or maybe the flow of water and blood from His pierced side? If the latter, then we have an interesting parallel between the first and the last signs. But I will not highlight the allegorical interpretations adopting a more pragmatic analysis of the story and its implications for us today.
The story introduces us to Jesus’ mother, not named as Mary. We don't need a long introduction to Mary because this gospel was written after the Synoptics and so the writer of John probably assumed people knew at least one of the birth narratives.
The wedding story is so familiar to us we may miss the wood for the trees. There are four elements common to most miracle stories, and this is no exception: the problem, the action, the reaction and the lessons.
The problem statement is in the first part of verse 3, the wine has run out. Weddings were very important in Jewish culture back then, just as they are today. This therefore has the makings of an embarrassing disaster. There is some uncertainty about how the problem is identified. Some writers assume that the MC identified the need and drew it to Mary’s attention. This may be true, but it might not be. Alternatively, Mary herself identified that there was a need and interceded for the whole community at the wedding. The important point here is that Mary interceded. The problem was drawn to Jesus’ attention.
The lesson for us today is that it is important to voice our needs, to raise them in prayer. Articulating and sharing a problem with God helps us toward a solution. In framing the problem in prayer we begin to clarify what is the problem, what might be the paths to a solution, and what support might I need.
Jesus’ response to his mother has attracted a lot of attention. Was He rude? What was said for others to hear, and what was sotto voce? Interesting questions for another time.
The second element of the story is the action. It involves Jesus’ instructing ordinary people to do an ordinary thing, something which was well within the scope of their employment and capabilities. But this time an extraordinary thing happened. There was no waving of a hand. No spitting on mud and applying it to an eye. Something awesome just happened.
The action happened because those people, the household servants, listened to Jesus and followed what they were instructed to do. So, are we listening to Jesus? Listening to what we might be asked to do for others? Can others see the light of Jesus shining in our lives to help them on their path?
And now to the third element: the reaction in verses 9 and 10. The MC is amazed at the new wine. The wine is wonderful and in abundance. Again, there are plenty of allegorical interpretations of that which I’ll skip, to bring us to the fourth element: the lessons in verse 11.
As I said earlier, this is the first of Jesus’ signs, where he first revealed his glory. This is where we are introduced to Mary in this Gospel. We next meet her at the Cross - the symbol of both Christ’s power and his human frailty. Through the Cross, Christ showed that neither the mightiest earthly Empire nor human anger from the crowds could control or silence Him. The message and power of Christ was magnified after Easter Sunday, as the post-Easter message spread from a handful of followers to us today.
There are three messages I want you to take away from the wedding at Cana.
Firstly, Miracles happen. But they won’t happen if we don’t articulate our needs, either asking for Mary’s intercession to help us, as happened in this very first sign, or not. It is important for us to share our burdens in prayer.
Secondly, we need to be aware that we may be the ones through whom God will work. We have to be alert to God’s nudges. We have to open our eyes to the context around us. Who is looking for our assistance? Whose jars need filling? And how can we be God’s agent here?
Thirdly, Jesus worked through ordinary people at Cana. All of us are part of making the world a better place, of making weddings go smoothly, of helping others overcome their problems. We all have a role in making miracles happen.
And so we pray.
Holy and Blessed Mary, help us to follow your example in bringing our problems to God. Allow us to be an instrument through which God works to address the problems of others. We pray this in the name of your Son who first showed His power at the wedding at Cana.
Amen
In preparing this I benefitted from:
Bulembat, J.-B. M. (2007). "Head-Waiter and Bridegroom of the Wedding at Cana: Structure and Meaning of John 2.1-12." Journal for the Study of the New Testament 30(1): 55-73.
Crowe, B. D. (2018). "The Chiastic Structure of Seven Signs in the Gospel of John: Revisiting a Neglected Proposal." Bulletin for Biblical Research 28(1): 65-81.
Dennison, W. D. (1976). "Miracles As "Signs" Their Significance for Apologetics." Biblical Theology Bulletin 6(2-3): 190-202.
McGill, R. M. (2015). "God's Getting Married: The Wedding at Cana as a Dramatization of Covenantal Fulfillment." The Hilltop Review8(1): 56-68.
Williams, R. H. (1997). "The Mother of Jesus at Cana: A Social-Science Interpretation of John 2:1-12." The Catholic Biblical Quarterly59(4): 679-692.