Give me that Good Wine.
John 2:1-11
There was a wedding at Cana. Jesus was there. Jesus enters the public sphere with His first miracle at a wedding. He does not begin His ministry by some extraordinary event, some great unfathomable miracle, out with a gathered crowd who surrounds Him. Rather, He begins His public ministry at a wedding. The first miracle He does is in the context of His being a guest at another person’s major life event, He is not the center of attention here. This Sunday’s Gospel comes from John. We know immediately that there is more to the story than what is immediately evident in the text. John typically tells the story on the horizontal plain, meaning that he tells a run of the mill account of the events and characters present. He does include, however, one liners that are to serve as a key, an insight, a hint that there is more to the story, something that would cause the reader or hearer to ‘look up.’ John may be writing specifically the horizontal story, but he is more interested in us looking up to the vertical plain, what it is that God is up to in the event. At the end of the today’s Gospel, John concludes the wedding feast at Cana story with “Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee, and so revealed his glory[…]“ (John 2:11). So when you read, “revealed his glory” your response is to ask the question, how? Go back and read the story of Cana again, asking how does this reveal the glory of Jesus?
It is an ordinary, all be it, shameful event. Jesus is present at a wedding where they run out of wine. A Jewish wedding in the ancient world was not a simple ceremony followed by a short four hour reception. Rather, it was a multi-day affair attended by all the people of the community and family. And unlike an American party, if you run out of wine, there is no switching to another liquor, or beer, or tea, or even water. Without wine, the Jewish wedding feast comes to a shame-filled and premature end. Wine represents the Divine life, it represents God’s blessing in the world, on our life, and on this new union of a man and a woman.
When they run dry, Mary is the one who turns to Jesus to inform Him. His response may seem rude or curt, but it is anything but. Jesus looks to His Mother Mary and says’ “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” Woman, not a disrespect of His mother, rather a title of honor and respect. This is the title eve receives at creation, before Adam names her Eve. Woman simply means from the side of man, but is the title of the Crown of Creation, the very final thing God creates. He names her the new Eve, the new mother of all. In doing so, he also names Himself the new Adam. If by one man all of creation has fallen, so by one man is all of creation saved.
Notice that Mary never asks Jesus for anything. She only informs Him of the problem at hand. She then speaks what will be her final words recorded by Scripture. “Do whatever He tells you.” Who could argue with such a command. Mary begins her role in Salvation History with the Angel Gabriel informing her of God’s plan for her life (Luke 2). Her response to Gabriel’s message, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” A complete surrender of her life into the will of her God and Father. Her final words here in Cana echo her beautiful words at the annunciation, only now they are not a promise of what she is to do, they are her command as she speaks as the new Eve, her command to all of creation, whose mother she has become.
The servants obey the Lord Jesus, take the jars, fill them to the brim, and bring some of this water become wine the headwaiter. The comments of the headwaiter ring obvious and true. If you throw a big party, there is no need to waste money on copious amounts of good wine, at a certain point, people have had too much to be able to differentiate from excellent and base wine. But this wine created by the Lord is the best this sommelier has ever tasted.
Mary prayed, not by asking for what she needed. Mary prayed not by telling her son how to proceed. Rather, Mary prayed by surrendering the wedding feast into the hands of her son, allowing Him to determine what ought to be done. Often times we sit in the pews, or in our rooms, or kneeling down at our besides telling God what we expect from Him, telling God how to answer our prayers, we treat God as a subordinate, that we know best, a genie, to whom we can issue demands. Yet, we are called to pray like the Blessed Mother, we tell God what we want or need, but then we let go of it and allow Him to answer us, as He sees fit, and according to His will. God stands there, offering us the Gospel. The Lord is offering us His instructions. What God offers is a superabundance, more than we could ever need. There in Cana, Jesus gives the people at the wedding feast 180 gallons, or 900 bottles, or 4,500 glasses of wine. Jesus gives them wine that blows away all expectations, all concept of what a good wine is. He offers something that is greater than anything we can ever produce. The problem is, we are too drunk on the inferior wines of the world to realize what incredible wine God is setting before us.
He offers, “Do you want to be happy?” We reply, “I have this pain.” God, “Do you want to be happy?” We reply, “If God was so good, so powerful, so loving, so perfect, why does He allow all this suffering and evil?” God, “Do you want to be happy, take my Gospel, take the life I have designed for you, make it your own.” We still don’t want to listen. We want the world to be under our control. Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden, we want to be like God, determining what is Good, what is Evil. We want to dictate how the world functions. God remains unchanged, “I offer you joy, fulfillment, peace, come to me. “ Let Mary’s words, spoken as the Mother of all Creation echo again and again, and listen to her.
“Do whatever He tells you.”
Father Nicholas Napolitano
St John the Baptist, Magnolia Springs
Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
16 January 2022