SUNDAY’S GOSPEL – John 2:1-11

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.  When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”  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.”  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.  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.”  Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

The wedding feast at Cana, found only in John’s Gospel, is presented as the first action in the life of Jesus, again, only in the fourth Gospel. It is a wedding celebration, so it is marked by love, joy and abundance. As can be seen from the first reading, it picks up the marriage symbolism of the Old Testament. Across the Old Testament, the metaphor of marriage is used to describe God’s relationship with the people of Israel — a relationship of love and faithfulness, joy and fruitfulness. In the remarkable words of the first reading,

 

As the bridegroom rejoices in his bride,

So will your God rejoice in you.

 

In these days when we struggle to believe in God at all, perhaps we do not often think of God rejoicing in us!

 

POINTERS FOR PRAYER

1. The marriage imagery puts all the emphasis on love, an emphasis found richly in this Gospel, in St Paul and, of course, in Jesus’ own teaching. Go back to significant experiences of being loved and how these have opened your own heart to receive and to give in love.

2. The wine symbolises true joy in believing—a bit of a challenge these days, but central nevertheless and even life giving. Where do you and your springs of joy?

3. “Do whatever he tells you” is a strong invitation to conformity to Christ on the path of discipleship. What have been the important points on that path? And where am I now?

The (extra)ordinary experience of “everyday” love is itself a sacrament. As such, it mediates the love of God and gives us both an experience and a language by which we make speak of God, God who is love itself.