Second Sunday after the Epiphany (Year C)
1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and 2Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They don’t have any wine.”
4Jesus replied, “Woman, what does that have to do with me? My time hasn’t come yet.”
5His mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Nearby were six stone water jars used for the Jewish cleansing ritual, each able to hold about twenty or thirty gallons.
7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. 8Then he told them, “Now draw some from them and take it to the headwaiter,” and they did. 9The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
The headwaiter called the groom 10and said, “Everyone serves the good wine first. They bring out the second-rate wine only when the guests are drinking freely. You kept the good wine until now.” 11This was the first miraculous sign that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
Other readings: Isaiah 62.1-5; Psalm 36.5-10; 1 Corinthians 12.1-11
Did your Mother ever have “the look”? You know the one. You may have been acting silly in a public place and glance up at your Mom and she’s just got that look on her face that makes you instantly stop acting up but you know it’s too late.
Or when she asks you to do something and you ignore her so she just stares at you from another room with that look? “Alright!” you exclaim the whole while she never said anything to you?
Yeah. That look.
Do you think Mary had “the look”? I mean, she tells Jesus that the wedding is out of wine and he’s like, “So? What’s that got to do with me? I’m having a good time with my friends!”
And she just give him “the look.” Then slowly turning to the servants — never losing eye contact with Jesus, just staring at Jesus with “the look” — she tells them, “Do whatever he tells you.”
And what did Jesus do? He listened to his Mom and fixed the situation.
Yeah … she had the look.
John tells us Jesus changing the water into wine was a “sign,” the first sign. Signs, as we know, aren’t the thing themselves but point to the thing. When traveling, we use signs to tell us how close we’re getting to our destination or where we should go next. We never stop at the sign and think we’ve arrived.
So what could this sign be pointing to? I mean, John uses the word sign to emphasise other things like healing the sick or raising the dead. Why would changing water into wine be a sign? What do these sign point to? And why would John say changing water into wine is the “first” sign? What’s the significance of that?
There are some who see a correlation between John’s “signs” and the creation account.[2] At the start of John’s take on the Jesus story, we get the sense of creation right from the jump. “In the beginning,” John starts. Of course, this takes us back to the beginning of the Jewish scriptures with the story of God creating everything, seen and unseen. John is using his words deliberately to stimulate this connection.
But John isn’t just retelling the creation story through his stories about Jesus. No. He’s telling the new creation story because of Jesus. That is, John and the other writers of the New Testament see in Jesus the climax of Israel’s story, the coming of God to fulfill the promises made to Israel. “‘The time promised by God has come at last!’ Jesus announced. ‘The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News’” (Mark 1.15; NLT; adapted).[3]
So, again, why is John telling us that the changing of water into wine is the “first sign”?
Because it’s a celebration! What better way to mark the occasion of new creation than with a wedding. A wedding represents a new beginning! John’s showing us (it is a sign, after all) that it’s through Jesus that God’s promises had finally been manifested. That Jesus was God’s Messiah (the Anointed One) and God’s Spirit was working in and through Jesus. That there’s good news for the poor. Prisoner’s have been set free. The blind now see. The oppressed are now liberated. And God’s Jubilee has finally come at last.[4]
And that, my friends, is reason to celebrate.
~~~
In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
~~~
[1] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
[2] There are eight signs in John’s Gospel: 1) Changing water into wine, John 2:1-11; 2) Healing the royal official’s son, John 4:46-54; 3) Healing the man who was paralysed, John 5:1-15; 4) Feeding 5,000 people, John 6:5-14; 5) Walking on water, John 6:16-24; 6) Healing the man born blind, John 9:1-7; 7) Raising Lazarus from the dead, John 11:1-45; and 8) Jesus’ resurrection, John 20.
[3] Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation, Inc. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Comments