Mthr. Tracy's reflection on the wedding at Cana, and the 'sign' by which Jesus revealed himself and his followers believed in him.

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so,  and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. John 21-11

Deciding to go to a wedding can be hard for some of us, when we have to make  decisions  about what to wear, what gift to buy, who's going to be there and what the food and drink is going to be like. (Do I perhaps even need to take snacks with me?) Then you think about who to take with you; perhaps you don't have a husband, wife,or partner to take. So many decisions, and we are only the guests!   What must it be like to be running the whole show? Some couples of course have wedding planners, so nothing is missed out-everything falls on the wedding planner's shoulders.  Their role is to take away all of the strain of organising a wedding and to direct the bride and groom to their next dress-fitting right up until the wedding day.  The bride and groom will rely on their wedding planner to get it right.  So, you may wonder, what on earth happened in Cana?

Our bride and groom at the wedding of Cana had no concerns.  It would be a community wedding where different people would have been in charge of different aspects of the wedding.  The bride  and bride groom were free to enjoy their day. No pressure.  

How would they have contended with hearing that the wine had run out?  To run out of wine at a wedding would be an embarrassment for the couple; they would feel they couldn't show their face again. It would have been a tragic start to their married life.  Mary, the mother of Jesus obviously knew this, and she knew also, because of what time of night it was, that the wine seller would be closed and only Jesus her son could help.  

Jesus is there, but he seems reluctant to help the new couple from being shamed. His retort to his mother 'Woman what does that concern have to do with me?' seems harsh considering it is his mother who is speaking to him, but Jesus is being asked to reveal himself before his time.  She is the only one who knows Jesus could, should and would meet needs, and although we do not read much about Jesus' mother, who is not named in John's Gospel, we do know she is the only one who the Holy Spirit revealed Jesus' nature to so far. There is a plan for when the Messiah will be revealed and everyone needs to be patient while that plan begins to unfold. 

The hesitation, the reluctance we feel from Jesus here, what is that about? Jesus is God's son,and here we have a situation where the human in him conflicts with the spiritual.    John's  aim is to show us from the very beginning who Jesus is, and conflict is part of that. John writes about Jesus's feelings and emotions; he wants to reveal the Messiah to us as quickly as possibly.  

Jesus is being asked to do something that only he and his mother knows he can perform, what people of his time would call a sign or wonder. We lump signs and wonders when we talk about the Bible, but really they are different. A sign is what we see everyday.  Everyday we see signs from God, from the predictable changing of the seasons to the birth of a child, and many others  These are all regular events, regular signs where we do not question whether God is present because we know he is, God's will is constantly active around us.  And then we have the extraordinary signs that we see as wonders because we know that they show us where God has purposively intervened.  These are special signs like the exodus through the red sea,the healing of the ten lepers and turning the water into wine to reveal the nature of Jesus.  These are all signs showing where God has intervened beyond the normal day to day signs we see.

Jesus' mother knew he would carry out the task because God had intervened in her marriage and gave her charge of the King of the world and Jesus' mother knew that the child she bore was the Messiah and he could and would intervene with a sign or wonder. 

Sometimes we pray and we are not specific to Jesus as to what we want but there are times when we need to be specific, let's say in an emergency, an emergency like the wine running dry was an emergency and Jesus knew it, even though he complained at being put on the spot. He knew he needed to show God's generosity, not to help himself, but to help others in time of need.  Amen