Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, cycle C

JOHN 2:1-12
A NUTRITIONIST WAS GIVING A LECTURE. RED MEAT IS VERY BAD FOR YOU, HE TOLD HIS AUDIENCE. AND THAT MSG IN CHINESE FOOD, THAT'S BAD. AND COCA COLA, IT CAN EAT YOUR STOMACH LINING. BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT FOOD CAN GIVE YOU GRIEF FOR YEARS AND YEARS? AN OLD MAN IN THE AUDIENCE STOOD UP AND REPLIED, “WEDDING CAKE!”
THE PEOPLE OF JESUS' TIME CONSIDERED WEDDINGS AS PEAK EXPERIENCES. THIS WEDDING WAS NO DIFFERENT. IT WAS PROBABLY THE BIGGEST THING THAT HAD HAPPENED IN THAT LITTLE TOWN FOR MANY MONTHS, OR EVEN YEARS. THESE TOWNS HAD POPULATIONS OF MAYBE 50 FAMILIES OR LESS, SO A WEDDINGS DIDN'T HAPPEN THAT OFTEN. SO THE WHOLE TOWN WAS INVITED. AND JESUS, AND HIS MOTHER, AND HIS DISCIPLES. IT WAS ONE OF THOSE THINGS WHERE SOMEONE INVITED JESUS' MOTHER – MAYBE A RELATIVE OF HERS – AND SHE SAID, BRING YOUR SON, THERE WILL BE SOME NICE GIRLS HERE? AND WHEN MARY TOLD JESUS HE WAS INVITED, HE SAID, COULD I BRING SOME OF MY NEW FRIENDS? AND SHE SAID, OF COURSE, THE MORE, THE MERRIER. AFTER ALL, THE WHOLE TOWN WAS COMING, WHAT WERE A FEW MORE PEOPLE?
THESE WEDDINGS LASTED FOR SEVERAL DAYS. USUALLY THE GROOM AND HIS FRIENDS STARTED THE PARTY. THE BRIDE AND HER FRIENDS WERE HAVING THEIR OWN PARTY, BUT IT WOULD BE MUCH QUIETER. THEN, AT SOME POINT DECIDED ONLY BY THE GROOM, MAYBE AFTER HE HAD WORKED UP HIS COURAGE WITH THE URGING OF HIS FRIENDS AND A LITTLE WINE, THE GROOM AND HIS FRIENDS WOULD GO OFF TO GET THE BRIDE. SOME OF THE BRIDES FRIENDS WOULD BE WAITING, SO THAT WHEN THEY SPOTTED THE GROOM THEY COULD ESCORT HIM, AND ONE OF THEM WOULD RUN BACK TO THE BRIDE TO WARN HER THAT THE GROOM WAS COMING.
AND THEN THE BRIDE AND GROOM AND THEIR FRIENDS WOULD GO TO WHEREVER THEY WERE GOING TO HAVE THE REAL PARTY, AND THEY WOULD BE MARRIED, THE CONTRACT SIGNED, AND THE GLASS BROKEN, AND THE CELEBRATION WOULD START, AND GO ON AS LONG AS THERE WAS WINE AND MUSIC AND FOOD AND DANCING.
WE DON'T HAVE WEDDINGS LIKE THAT ANYMORE. OURS ARE VERY TAME BY COMPARISON. AND THAT IS THE CONTEXT IN WHICH JESUS WORKED HIS FIRST SIGN. WE COULD SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE SIX JARS OF WATER – SIX IS A NUMBER REPRESENTING IMPERFECTION. WE COULD POINT OUT THAT THE WATER WAS USED FOR PURIFICATION, AND JESUS SHOWS US THAT THE OLD LAW IS OVER AND THE NEW ONE IS HERE. WE COULD TALK ABOUT HOW THIS WHOLE EVENT SHOWS THAT JESUS BLESSES MARRIED LIFE, OR THAT JESUS LISTENS TO HIS MOTHER. BUT I AM STRUCK BY THE WILD PARTY, THE MUSIC, THE PEOPLE CONSUMED WITH HAVING A GOOD TIME, AND THEN, ONLY A FEW PEOPLE NOTICE, BUT THEN, MARY LEARNS THAT THE WINE WON'T LAST; THE PARTY HAS JUST BEGUN, AND THERE ISN'T ANY MORE WINE. AND ONLY A FEW SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. MARY, OF COURSE; THE SERVANTS WHO FILLED THE JARS WITH WATER AT JESUS' REQUEST; AND THE APOSTLES, WHO HAD ONLY KNOWN HIM FOR A FEW DAYS, IF WE FOLLOW THE STORY IN JOHN. AND ALL JESUS DOES IS TELL THE SERVANTS TO BRING SOME OF THE WATER TO THE MAN IN CHARGE OF THE PARTY, WHO IS AMAZED AT THE QUALITY OF WHAT WAS NOW WINE. AND THE PARTY GOES ON.
THE APOSTLES GOT IT. THEY PROVED IN THE COURSE OF THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH JESUS THAT THEY DIDN'T ALWAYS GET IT, OR GOT IT WRONG, BUT THIS TIME, THEY GOT IT. UP TILL NOW, THEY WERE FOLLOWING HIM OUT OF CURIOSITY, ATTRACTED BY HIS IDEAS, HIS CHARISMA. BUT NOW THEY SAW HIS GLORY. NOW THEY WERE COMMITTED, THEY WOULD CARRY THE MEMORY OF THIS EVENT TO THE ENDS OF THEIR LIVES. THEY WOULD GO THROUGH THE WORLD, TO ROME, TO TURKEY, GREECE, PERSIA, INDIA, TELLING EVERYONE THEY MET ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY AND WHAT IT MEANT.
WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT THEY FELT. THERE ARE TWO THINGS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES, WHICH RECUR CONSTANTLY. ONE IS THAT GOD LOVES HIS PEOPLE LIKE A GROOM LOVES HIS BRIDE, AND A WEDDING, A JEWISH WEDDING, A WEDDING THAT WENT ON UNTIL THE WINE RAN OUT, WAS A SYMBOL OF THAT LOVE. AND WINE – THE SCRIPTURES ARE FULL OF REFERENCES TO WINE. IT GLADDENS THE HEART, SAYS THE PSALMS. IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD, IT WILL FLOW LIKE WATER. IN A JEWISH WEDDING IN JESUS' TIME, THE PARTY WOULD GO ON UNTIL THE WINE WAS GONE.
AND JESUS SHOWED THE APOSTLES THAT THE WINE WOULD NEVER RUN OUT. WHAT HAD BEEN 180 GALLONS OF WATER BECAME 180 GALLONS OF WINE, THE BEST WINE ANYONE HAD EVER TASTED. THE PARTY WOULD NEVER END.
IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, THERE ARE SEVEN SIGNS, SEVEN MIRACLES. EACH OF THEM DISCLOSES TO US SOMETHING ABOUT GOD. BUT THE FIRST OF THESE SIGNS, THE SIGN THAT CONVINCED THE APOSTLES, WAS WHAT HAPPENED IN A SLEEPY LITTLE TOWN IN PALESTINE, AT THE WEDDING OF A COUPLE WHOSE NAMES ARE NOT KNOWN, AMONG PEOPLE WHO SCRATCHED THEIR LIVING OUT OF THE GROUND.
GOD WAS AMONG THEM, GOD HAD FINALLY COME INTO THE WORLD, TO MARRY HIS BRIDE, TO START THE CELEBRATION THAT WOULD GO ON UNTIL THE WINE RAN OUT. AND THE WINE WOULD NEVER RUN OUT.
TODAY USED TO BE CALLED THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY. IT IS STILL A GOOD NAME SINCE THE MIRACLE OF CANA REVEALED SOMETHING ABOUT GOD.
TODAY IS ALSO THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME. AND OUR LIVES ARE FOR THE MOST PART, ORDINARY. DAY FOLLOWS DAY, AND SOON WE ARE OLD, AND WE LOOK BACK ON A LIFETIME OF WORKING, OF PROVIDING FOR OUR FAMILIES, OF PUTTING OFF THINGS WE REALLY WANTED TO DO, AND WE WONDER, WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT? WHY DO WE HAVE REGRETS, REGRETS FOR WHAT WE COULD HAVE DONE, REGRETS FOR THE MOMENTS WE SHOULD HAVE SPENT WITH OUR CHILDREN, OUR PARENTS, OUR SPOUSES; REGRETS FOR DECISIONS WE MADE THAT LOOKING BACK WE SHOULD HAVE MADE DIFFERENTLY; IF YOU ARE LIKE ME, YOU CAN LOOK BACK AND REGRET SO MANY MOMENTS.
BUT THE WEDDING FEAST AT CANA TELLS US THAT WE SHOULD LOOK FORWARD, FORWARD TO THAT MOMENT WHEN WE WILL ENTER INTO THAT JOYOUS FEAST, THAT PARTY THAT NEVER ENDS, THE TIME WHEN THE LAMB OF GOD COMES TO CLAIM HIS BRIDE, THE CHURCH. AND THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THIS IS STILL TO COME, THAT GOD HAS WITHHELD THE GOOD WINE UNTIL THE END, SHOULD GIVE US JOY AND A SENSE OF ANTICIPATION. AND AS WE CELEBRATE THIS EUCHARIST, MAY WE REALIZE THAT THIS IS A FORETASTE OF WHAT WE HAVE WAITING FOR US, AT THE GREAT WEDDING FEAST, WHEN THE CELEBRATION WILL BE LIKE NO CELEBRATION WE'VE EVER EXPERIENCED, WHEN THE WINE WILL NEVER RUN OUT.