Life is too short to drink bad wine

“…But you have kept the good wine until now” (John 2:10)

Isaiah 62:1-5

Psalm 36:5-10

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

John 2:1-11

 New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Year C: Second Sunday after the Epiphany, 16 January 2022

 The story we have just read is about a wedding.  It is significant that Jesus chose a wedding feast where he shows his first ‘sign’ to use the term of the gospel writer, John.

As in any wedding party but especially in first century Palestine, weddings were an occasion of much rejoicing. We read about six stone water jars being used for the miracle that Jesus performed. These jars were used for ritual ablutions according to Jewish custom and would have been equivalent to about 600 litres of wine which, if there were 500 non-teetotaling guests, would be equivalent to a bottle and a half of wine or 9 glasses of wine over say a day or two.

Now we must remember that, according to the story in John’s gospel, the wine had already run out after the first or second day.   Clearly, there was a lot of wine being consumed.  One assumes that Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist was not present but busy preaching in the desert or baptising at the Jordan.  One might conclude that this level of alcohol consumption well exceeded present-day government health guidelines on units of alcohol for men or women!

Wine is a very key ingredient of Middle Eastern culture and life as is other consumables such as water, bread and oil. All of these serve as important materials for the ‘signs’ that would mark the life, ministry and Passover of the Christ.

There is no evidence that Jesus showed up at parties with the specific aim of preaching and practicing miracles (however, we might speculate whether hundreds of invitations were issued to Jesus across the land after the Cana event!).  The killer punch of the story was not just the transformation of water into wine but the production of good wine much to the amazement of the stewards.

This particular party was the occasion for a dramatic sign that gave witness to the Glory of God and the presence of the kingdom of God in our midst.  There was something going on here that was much more than about a wedding or wine or even a miracle.  Jesus took a very Jewish and near Eastern custom of celebrating marriage and all that this entails, added some water and made it into wine and left many awe struck (as well as a few inebriated).

The primary message here is not that we should go partying or drinking lots of wine but, rather, that God can powerfully act and transform very ordinary materials, relationships and situations if we let him.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, plays a key role in this story. She alerts Jesus to the impending disaster because the wine was running out and then strongly advises the stewards at the wedding to ‘do whatever he tells you’ (verse 5) after what seems a very abrupt exchange between Jesus and Mary (‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?’). That conversation might suggest that Jesus and Mary were not much given to wine.  Here we can hear a rich and deep message relayed by Mary – the first disciple among equals – that we should follow Jesus and do whatever he tells us.  Mary plays a key role, here, at the outset of Jesus’ public ministry as she does at the foot of the cross where Mary is given as a type of spiritual mother to the beloved disciple, John.

To make wine, especially good wine, we need to simply do what Jesus asks us to do which is to fill up the water jars of our life. God does the rest including the transformations into the best of wines.

There is a truth and power that goes beyond the very good things of parties, wine and marriage.

1.     It is the kingdom of God in our midst now, today, here among us as well as deep within us.

2.     It’s time to wake up and see it (‘and [Jesus] revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him’).

3.     Trust and openness are the key and this is the point of the wedding feast story. The signs are there if we look.

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FURTHER NOTES ON THE GOSPEL OF THE DAY

Preliminaries

The story of the wedding feast of Cana corresponds to the first ‘Sign’ contained in John’s gospel.  At one level this story, unique to John, is in a typical three-part piece:

1. The scene is set (there is a wedding in a place called Cana and Jesus and his mother are there).
2. Certain actions are recounted along with a conversation involving various persons including Jesus and Mary.
3. The evangelist spells out the ‘so what’ of the story.

However, there is a deeper, mystical, level of meaning in the text to be mined and chewed over and over again in meditative prayer, silence and listening. Here the disciple is challenged to find a deeper connection to his or her life and that of others.

In the ancient liturgies of the Church – in the East as well as in the West – the story of the wedding feast of Cana is linked to that of the Baptism of Jesus and the Epiphany. We are still, effectively, in Christmastide.  The thread running through these three episodes is that God has been revealed to all the people near and far, present and in the ages to come and not just the chosen ones here and now. The stories look upwards and outwards to a new Kingdom sealed in the water, blood and spirit of Jesus. The fire of God’s Holy Spirit is already among us.

We may note that the wedding feast plays an important role in the coming of God among his people in the Hebrew scriptures (see for example the passage in today’s first ready Isaiah 62:4-5).

v. 1-2   The scene is set

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 

According to John, the events recounted in the wedding of Cana come after the call of the initial disciples of Jesus. The reference to the ‘third day’ following the call of Philip and Nathanael is suggestive of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. The glory of God would be revealed on the ‘third day’.
The disciples knew Jesus’ family. This familiarity and bond is already strong enough to warrant an invitation to a 1st century Jewish wedding. Who was married? John does not say. It was, possibly, a close family member or neighbour of the village of Nazareth. If Peter was present – which is reasonable to assume from John’s story – then why did this very extraordinary event (the transformation of a huge quantity of water into wine!) not find its way into the one or more of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke)? Curiously, John never mentions Mary by name but refers to the ‘mother of Jesus’ a number of times in his gospel.

v.3   A concern about the guests

When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ 

Moved by concern for a potentially embarrassing situation, Mary alerts Jesus. This was not necessarily a call for a miracle but a communication of concern or observation of fact. However, it could be interpreted as a request for help in a situation of acute need. A shortage of wine beckoned!

v.4-5   A sharp reply and a hint of what is to come

And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ 

Without a cultural understanding this sounds abrupt to a 21st century ear. John uses the conversation to convey an important theological point, viz., the hour of Christ’s passion and glorification has not yet come but this first Sign is full of symbolism and meaning. In the story, there is an indication that Mary understood something of the import of Jesus’ action and response to her comment about the wine. Is there a link between Mary’s saying ‘Do whatever he tells you’ to what Jesus says to John from the cross: ‘Here is your mother’ (John 19:27)? Could it be that in giving Mary to John, he realised that her role was to remind us of God’s will ‘do whatever he tells you’ (John 2:5)? Yet, if John lived with Mary for much of the rest of her life why do we hear so little about her in the fourth Gospel (compared to, for example, Luke)? Mary remains very present but hidden in the gospel of John.

v.6-8  Jesus acts

Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it.

The jars used for purification are empty. Could it symbolise the Old Law which was to be transformed into a New Law?

v.9-10  A sign is discovered

When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ 

The steward did not understand what had happened. Still less did he understand the deeper significance of this Sign. The good wine was kept until the last. God acts in God’s time and can transform our lives in ways that we could never imagine or predict. It is never too late to start again or to set out on new paths or uncover new gifts and horizons.

v.11-12   The response of the disciples

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

John prepares a way for Jesus. The baptism of John is a very different type of baptism. Luke makes this clear. John declares that he baptises with water but the one who comes after him will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with ‘fire’. Fire is often associated with the Holy Spirit. Moreover, fire is a sign of the purifying impact of God who is all powerful. The Spirit burns up and sorts out what is good from what is evil.

Now, as we transition to the new dispensation we sense that the wedding feast of God in the sacrificial lamb signals a transformation. This is the deeper meaning hidden in the story of what happened in Cana. And it can speak to each one even today. We must be born again. Only the Holy Spirit can transform us.