Second Sunday of Ordinary Time: The Wedding at Cana

A wedding is a beautiful thing.

It's the start of something new in the world - a new family, a new life for these two people. It also brings together a group of people from every part of their lives: family you know, family you don't know, friends, acquaintances, coworkers ... They're all there because this union of a man and a woman affects them too. 

A marriage affects the world. The love that exists between that couple has the capacity to transform everything and everyone around them. That kind of self-giving, self-sacrificing love that we look for in marriage comes from God.

And so it's natural that the relationship between God and humanity is often looked at as a marriage.

In our first reading from the prophet Isaiah we hear these words:

No more shall people call you “Forsaken, “or your land “Desolate, “but you shall be called “My Delight, “and your land “Espoused.”For the LORD delights in youand makes your land his spouse.As a young man marries a virgin,your Builder shall marry you;and as a bridegroom rejoices in his brideso shall your God rejoice in you.

God is speaking to His people, the chosen people of Israel. He is saying that despite their infidelity, despite all the times they've abandoned Him to worship other gods or trusted in military might rather than His protection - despite all that, God still wants a relationship. He will be faithful even when they are not.

This relationship is much more than just an agreement - you worship me, I'll protect you; it's a covenant, a marriage covenant. God is faithful to Israel because He loves them. He sees this people as His bride. God wants more than just obedience; He wants love, He wants trust, He wants to make them His family.

With that background, let's look at today's gospel of the wedding feast at Cana.

We find ourselves at an ancient Jewish wedding reception, which would have lasted all week and probably all of the small town of Cana would have been invited. The strange thing is that we never learn the names of the bride or groom. Another man and woman stand at the center of the story: Jesus and His mother Mary.

Mary notices that the party has run out of wine and brings it up to Jesus, who responds in a seemingly harsh way: “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”

It's important to look at Jesus' answer. First, Jesus calling His mother "woman" is no more disrespectful than one of us referring to a woman as "ma'am." But there is also something deeper than that: the word "woman" should take us back to the first woman, Eve. More on that in a moment.

Second, Jesus says that his "hour has not yet come." In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks about "his hour" when He is pointing ahead to His passion, death, resurrection, and ascension - that is the hour of his sacrifice, but also the hour when He is glorified.

Mary responds with her final words in the Bible: "Do whatever he tells you." Unlike the first Eve who trusted in her own wisdom and gave into a desire for control, Mary, the New Eve, trusts her son. Just as she said yes to God when the angel Gabriel told her she would be the mother of Jesus, here she says to the servants - and to us - "Say yes. Trust Him. Do whatever He tells you."

And Jesus takes care of His mother's request. He provides wine - the traditional job of the bridegroom.

There are endless layers of meaning to this story.

We have the old wine - the old covenant, the law - running out, only to be replaced by an abundance of the best wine anyone could ask for, the wine of the new covenant. As Catholics, we should immediately think of the wine of the Eucharist which Jesus poured out on the cross - which is the other place in John's Gospel where Jesus calls His mother "Woman" - "Woman, behold your son."
Mary stands for the New Israel, the Church, the bride of Christ. She represents all of humanity in finally saying "yes" to the Lord.

Above all, we should see in this miracle, this sign, God's undying love for us.

What starts here, at Jesus' first miracle, is the path that leads to "the hour" of his complete gift of Himself to us. God called Israel his bride. Jesus continues to call all of us into the Church where God makes us part of His family by giving us Himself.

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