“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 me and to you? 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 person in charge of the banquet.” 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.”
– John 2:1-11
Now let’s see what Jesus is up to in this story… as these words are from St. John… a different gospel than Matthew, Mark and Luke… no genealogy… no annunciation of Jesus’ birth… no scandalous divorce story before there is even a marriage… no trip down to Bethlehem… no innkeeper… no shepherds… no angels… no star… no wise men… no mean old King Herod… none of that… instead John makes a proclamation older than the first line of Genesis… not just in the beginning God created… but older than that… In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God… he was WITH God in the beginning… SEE? The story before the creation… and John spends most of chapter 1 talking about God and the power and the purpose of God and the closest John ever gets to anything like a Christmas story is in verse 14 … “and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us… a glorious thing… and John says… he has seen it! Then he introduces Jesus’ cousin John the Baptizer … hailing Jesus as God’s Chosen one… then John’s disciples followed Jesus… and then John reported Andrew and Peter and Philip and Nathaniel also became followers of Jesus and before Jesus does anything else… he’s at a wedding party in Cana about 30 miles from the Jordan River with his mother Mary and some of his unnamed disciples… and then there is a problem… they ran out of wine… most likely some ARGAMON… the Hebrew word for “crimson”… a red wine every one there would know about… like when Noah got drunk on it after the flood and the kind King David drank at religious ceremonies… and the kind Jesus consumed at the Passover’s last supper! And now a messy moment shows up as after almost a week of wedding celebrating… common in those days… the wine was gone…
AND JUST LIKE THAT… Jesus’ mother says… “you gotta do something about this!” Then he does!
Without raising his hands to the heavens… without a prayer… and with little hesitation … Jesus tells the servants to fill the six large jugs with water to the brim… just like that… and this was the messy moment… as Jesus knows who he is… he knows what he was sent to do… changing water to wine is nothing compared to dying on a cross for the forgiveness of the sins of the whole world… but to conceal his identity in this moment… he must disobey his mother… and he doesn’t want to do that… because… he loves his mother… and rather than doing neither… and leaving the people out of more celebration… he does both… Jesus honoring his mother and revealing his true self! “Three cheers for the Irish!” … my catholic priest friend would say…
But what does St. John say? “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”
They still are… and we are… as when Jesus shows up… the celebration lasts forever! Faith matters!
