17 th January: 2 nd Sunday after Epiphany

That Wedding

Weddings have been described as accidents waiting to happen. From the moment a couple make their commitment to each other and agree to marry, the planning, expense, and detail seem to take over, and it can be hard at times to remember that at the heart of the matrimonial maelstrom is a couple who have pledged their love to each other and want to formalise their relationship within a marriage ceremony.

The pages of the Bible are well-populated with the theme of relationship: what constitutes a good relationship, and what constitutes a bad one. God’s desire is to be in a good relationship with his people. We see it in the prophecy of Isaiah where the people, who had walked away from God, had given themselves names like ‘Forsaken’ and ‘Abandoned’. Falling outside the covenant, the special relationship with God, was a dangerous and lonely place for the people of Israel. The reality was that the relationship was not broken; but it felt to them as if it was. The people may have changed, but God had not. God’s promise of steadfast love remained intact. His people were no longer to be called ‘Forsaken’, or ‘Abandoned’; now it was to be ‘The Lord delights in you’, and, significantly, ‘Married’.

Jesus was with the people of Cana at a wedding. Today Cana is a slightly down-at-heel town in Galilee, just ten miles or so north of Jesus’ home village of Nazareth. This event is situated in John’s gospel right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It is, as you would expect from John’s gospel, filled with symbolism. There is a joyous celebration of relationship at the wedding: there is the old wine running out, thirsty wedding guests, disciples lurking just out of view but in the crowd at the wedding, the abundance of new wine provided by Jesus. The layered symbolism says that the ‘old religion’ lacked hospitality and vigour, a central plank of Jesus’ ministry. We also read that the part of the celebration that Jesus was said to attend was on the third day, perhaps a symbol of the resurrection to come with its gift of new birth and life emerging from death.

In Bible times, the bride and groom celebrated their marriage not with a honeymoon but with a seven day wedding feast at the groom’s home. At Cana, the wine running out before the party was over was a crisis for the host’s family. Jesus’ mother noticed (she’s never named in John’s gospel and only appears here at Cana, and then at the foot of the cross, bookending Jesus’ ministry). The mother of Jesus perseveres. She sees in her Son that he is one who could, or should, meet this particular need at Cana. We do not know why; she simply facilitates the sign. It is almost as if she sees through her Son to God, wondering what God had in mind, and persisting until God’s mind was revealed. What was in God’s mind was abundance. She only said two things: “They have no wine.” and “Do whatever He tells you.”, and miraculous things happened. John Roth notes: “Religious vitality depends on more than one way of encountering the Divine. None lacks risk and problems, but a religious perspective that allows room for quarrelsome protest against God can, in fact, be an asset and not a hindrance to moral commitments.” ¹ The stone jars normally contained water; Jesus fills them with new wine and reveals that, through him, God’s Kingdom has come. It is a symbol of Jesus bringing vitality to the old religion, and it overflowing with God’s reckless abundance.

Jesus at that wedding. It is fascinating to note that nobody looked for Jesus until the wine ran out. The old wine had kept people from seeing Jesus. One commentator notes: “Sometimes it is the old, not the empty, that gets in the way of somebody seeking the Lord—old attitudes and actions, old habits and hurts, old insecurities or old information, old rituals and rules that coalesce to create old, dry religion.” ²

There’s an extravagance to this miracle that we are meant to notice, and this challenging sign, only found in John’s gospel, makes us stop and think. There is the divine generosity—the stone jars are “filled to the brim.” There is almost the hint of magic—could the sign be misinterpreted, are miracles to be ‘on demand’? There is the question of Jesus’ reluctance to do what he was asked, and the short shrift given to his nameless mother. There is the danger of Jesus being taken for granted. There is the huge question Jesus himself poses in his statement that his “time has not yet come.” And yet there is still the sign of abundance, generosity, and grace. It is as if the presence of God, revealed in Jesus, is bound to overflow and provide and reveal itself, because that is what God does; that is who God is.

In this time after Epiphany, what does the story of that wedding tell us about God? It tells us of a God who does not want our religion to be too holy to be happy in. It tells us of a God who, in Jesus, consistently got close to people to celebrate with them. Throughout his ministry, Jesus celebrated people: people getting married, people healed of disease and deformity, people enjoying meals together. Jesus carried the spirit of celebration and nearness everywhere he went proclaiming the good news of God’s mercy, peace, and joy. The miracle of Cana manifests God’s abundant glory and places Jesus at the heart of the celebration of life and relationship. Perhaps the message of this story is to remind us that God’s nearness is to be celebrated, and that our Churches should be more preoccupied with hospitality and parties, feasts and fun. We should be opening doors and not building barriers, lavishly deploying a doctrine of grace and inclusion, not a joyless and narrowing doctrine of so-called purity. God is revealed at Cana in the actions of Jesus’ generous providing, which went far beyond what people wanted to what they in truth needed. As a symbol of what the Church could and should be, the invitation and celebration of Cana is irresistible.

“Jesus’ face is reflected in the pools of flowing wine being poured out for the laughing, happy wedding guests who are present to celebrate life. In these same vats of wine, the faces of the believing disciples are also seen. Because to this sign, the disciples believed in him.” ³

As long as there is food, music and wine, nobody at the Cana wedding thought about Jesus. The same is true today. Many people only see Jesus when something is broken. But Jesus transforms the water we have into the wine we need. Might it not be the case that if we today went to Jesus, even with the little that we have, Jesus might desire to perform a similar miracle, exceeding our expectations, inviting us, and those who are with us, to remain with him and join the party.