Dear Friends,
John’s Gospel always is never in short supply of many new variations and unforeseen developments to its message. John is particularly strong in revealing the eternal in the mundane events in Jesus’ activities. Today’s text centers on Mary and Jesus’ intervention in a small crisis at a village wedding. The routine events of poor planning open up into the divine reality.
There are many elements to this simple story of Cana. The most important is the identity of Jesus. He is the new wine of the long-awaited messianic age. His teachings, his proclamation the kingdom and his message of wisdom all come together to announce a new day. The water becoming wine was an opening challenge to the Jews of his day and to all of us today. The person and wisdom of God have taken flesh among us. We are challenged to respond in faith to Mary’s son, Jesus.
Repeatedly throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus is presented as the new reality. He is replacing the rituals and practices of the Jewish faith experience. Today he is the new wine coming from the purification waters of the Jewish tradition.
This is the first of several replacement stories, events that transition from the Jewish faith to the way, the life and the truth that is Jesus. He is now our sure guide in our quest to encounter God. Jesus’ role is symbolized in the wine transformed from the water which represented all the cleansing rituals of the Jewish religious experience. John the Evangelist is presenting Jesus as the new presence and power of God. In both the quantity and quality of the new wine, we see the beginning of the answer to the long-awaited time of God’s final intervention.
This is similar to Jesus’ opening statement in Mark: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand!” (Mk 1:15) John again invites us to go beyond the surface when we ponder the event’s true love story. For John, the gentle and touching experience of the bridal couple is engulfed and transcended in the love God reveals for all humanity in Jesus.
The true bridegroom of the story is Jesus, the final revelation of God’s love for all of us. This is the incarnation theme of God’s Word being expressed in the flesh and worldly reality of human experience. The village wedding explodes into the great mystery of Jesus as the loving bridegroom of all humanity.
John’s Gospel is always filled with many unexpected twists and turns. The role of the Blessed Mother is another example of these surprises in John. Mary only appears twice in the Gospel. She is here at Cana in the beginning and at the end, at the foot of the Cross. Both times she is addressed by her loving Son as “woman”.
The role of Mary in this Cana story falls into this pattern of paradox and wonder. The address of Jesus to Mary as “woman” is another twist of the story’s flow. In apparent contradiction to Jesus’ words of seeming unconcern, Mary initiates the whole process by giving the awesome task to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.” (Jn 2:5) Mary’s role in this story is made much clearer by seeing it in relation to her encounter with her crucified son at the foot of the cross.
The crucified Jesus’ use of the title “woman” rather than being a sign of disrespect opens up a whole new horizon. It connects Mary to Eve in Genesis. Mary is now the New Eve, the mother of all in the new family Jesus summons into existence. His invitation is to accept his call. He is the “new wine” leading to eternal life. Mary’s role in the story of Cana foreshadows her mission.
She is both the mother of all believers and the model and support of all disciples. Like Mary, in the Cana story and at the foot of the Cross, we are called to respond to needs of our neighbor. We need to see and respond with her urgency and sensitivity wrapped up in the declaration, “They have no wine.” (Jn 2:3) Likewise, we need to hear and embrace her words of wisdom, “Do whatever he tells you.” (Jn 2:5)
