"YOU HAVE KEPT THE GOOD WINE UNTIL NOW."

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. Isaiah 62:1-5; John 2:1-11.

AIM: To show the significance of the miracle at Cana, and its fulfillment in the Eucharist.  

Jesus begins his ministry in this fourth gospel, according to John, by changing water into wine. A miracle! But what does it mean? The story=s deepest meaning can be grasped only through its symbols. First, let=s recall a few modern symbols.

The cross is recognized worldwide as the symbol of Christianity, just as the star of David symbolizes Judaism, and the crescent Islam. A now largely defunct political faith also had its symbol, known worldwide: the hammer and sickle of communism. Our country=s flag is a symbol. When we see protestors burning the flag, we are offended. It is not just colored bunting. It symbolizes the country we love: not because it is perfect, but simply because it is ours.

The story in today=s gospel is full of symbols. We have time to consider only three: the wedding, Jesus= mother, and the transformation of water into wine.

1.       The prophet Hosea was the first biblical writer to use the love of a bridegroom for his bride as a symbol of God=s love for his people. Hosea used the symbolism of a wedding to show that God=s love for Israel was not the calm and staid affair of old age, but the ardent passion of youth. We heard the prophet Isaiah using this symbolism in our first reading, when he told the people: ANo more shall people call you >Forsaken,= or your land >Desolate,= but you shall be called >My Delight,= and your land >Espoused.=@     

Isaiah was telling his people that God wanted to share his life with them, as husband and wife share life with one another. This God who wanted to marry his people becomes flesh in Jesus. Hence it is altogether appropriate that the Lord's first public sign in John's Gospel takes place at a wedding. He has come that we may have life and have it to the full. The Agood wine@ of the wedding feast at Cana is now the Agood wine@ of the Eucharist by which all of us become partakers of God's inner life.

At the wedding in Cana Jesus is not the bridegroom, however. He is only a guest. AMy hour has not yet come,@ he explains. When his hour did come, Jesus would seal his wedding covenant not with wine, but with his own blood. Calvary was the place of that marriage. There Jesus would show how passionately he loves us: enough to lay down his life for us. Thereafter the old nuptial or marriage symbolism was applied to the Church, which is called Christ=s bride.  (Cf. Eph. 5:23-32; Rev. 19:7f, 21:2 & 9, 22:17) 

2.       If the wedding symbolizes God=s love for his people, Mary is the symbol, at Cana, and at Calvary, of the Church=s faith and love. AThey have no wine,@ Mary tells her Son. Mary knew it was enough to state the problem. Jesus would know what to do. Even when Jesus’ response seems discouraging B AWoman, how does your concern affect me?@ B Mary=s confidence remains unshaken. ADo whatever he tells you,@ she instructs the servants.

At Calvary Mary would again be the symbol of faith and love, as she stands beside her dying Son to receive his final instructions. (Cf. John 19:26f) And Mary remains the symbol of faith after Jesus= resurrection. We glimpse her for the last time in the upper room at Jerusalem with Jesus= apostles and other relatives, united in fervent prayer before the promised outpouring of God=s Spirit at Pentecost. (cf. Acts 1:13f)

3.       The story=s richest symbolism, however, is the changing of water into wine.  Here, as elsewhere in Scripture, water symbolizes God=s precious gift of the Law to his people. The lifegiving wisdom enshrined in the holy books that we call the Old Testament satisfied his people=s thirst for knowledge of God, the ultimate author of those books. 

Now, at Cana, Jesus changes this water into the exhilarating wine of the gospel B the good news that God has visited his people by sending them his Son, to celebrate with them a wedding feast which symbolizes God=s passionate love for us.

AYou have kept the good wine until now,@ the headwaiter remarks in astonishment to the bridegroom after tasting the wine. These words are the key to the story=s deepest symbolism. If the headwaiter had known who provided the wine, he would have addressed his words to Jesus. His hour, however, had not yet come.  When it did come, on Calvary, Jesus would give himself totally; giving not wine, but his own blood, laying down his life for us.

Already, at Cana, the quantity of wine which Jesus provides is a symbol of this total self-giving. It was enough to keep the party going for a week! The gift reveals the giver. God does not measure out his gifts bit by bit. When God gives, he gives totally.

Is all that just a beautiful story -- long ago and far away? Don=t you believe it! Cana is here and now, at the Eucharist. At the table of the word Jesus satisfies our thirst for knowledge of life=s meaning with the wine of the gospel. At the table of his body and blood he strengthens us to live in accordance with the gospel B to live not just for ourselves, but for God and for others. Here, as at Cana, Jesus gives not only abundantly but super-abundantly. The gifts he offers us are beyond limit. We come repeatedly because our capacity to receive is limited.  

Here we invoke Mary, still today the symbol of faith and love, still saying to us what she said to the servants at Cana: ADo whatever he tells you.@ Here at the Eucharist God celebrates with us a joyful wedding feast, the symbol today, as always, of his passionate and unwavering love for us.

So much symbolism. So much beauty. So much drama. Do we realize it B and truly worship?