Readings:

Is. 62:1-5; Ps. 96; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Jn. 2:1-11

Last week, we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord. As soon as John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God, Jesus begins to gain followers, the first of which are Andrew and John. We may also intuit that James, the brother of John, was present as the other gospels relate. By the third day, Jesus has already called two brothers, Simon & Andrew, James & John, as well as two of their friends, Philip & Nathanel. Andrew is the first to call Jesus the Messiah, while Philip tells Nathanel that Jesus is the one about whom Moses wrote. Moses recorded what the Lord said about his successor: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kindred, and will put my words into the mouth of the prophet; the prophet shall tell them all that I command” (Dt. 18:18). From this passage, we can appreciate why John calls Jesus the Word of God. God says, “I will put my words into the mouth of the prophet…”

What is significant about God’s word? For starters, God’s word is true. God is identified as Truth itself. Since God is the source of all truth and goodness, any contradiction would imply a failure in His nature as the ultimate standard of truth. That is why we especially value the words of Jesus.

What else may be said about God’s word? Well, God’s word is creative. John makes an allusion of the Word’s presence with God in the beginning. By choosing to open his gospel with the same words as the Book of Genesis, John is connecting the Word of God with Creation itself. How does God create in the Book of Genesis? He simply speaks and it happens. God said, “Let there be light, and there was light” (Gn. 1:3). What might this mean for today’s gospel and Jesus’ first miracle? As the Incarnate Word of God, Jesus is able to create in the same way, as he creates wine out of water.

When Jesus changes water into wine, he creates the necessary elements to do so. Wine is a complicated drink to make even today. There is a special process of picking the grapes, crushing them, extracting the juice from them, fermenting them, all of which takes weeks to accomplish. But, in a single moment, Jesus changes ordinary water into a complex substance, with flavor, body, alcohol, and color. And the headwaiter says, “you have kept the good wine until now.” What a blessing this was! After a week of celebrating, as was customary for a wedding in those days, Jesus helped provide the good wine at the very end.

There are several nuances in the text worth mentioning now. First, Jesus’ response to Mary is often received as disrespectful. We do well to consider this response in the wider context of the gospels. When the boy Jesus is found in the Temple, Jesus says, “Did you not know, that I must be about my father’s business?” (Lk. 2:49, DR). This shows how Jesus is already preoccupied with his heavenly Father’s will. When Mary tells Jesus, “They have no wine.” His response, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” In the Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible, Jesus says, “Woman, what is that to me and to thee? My hour is not yet come.” The phrase what is that was a common expression, meaning, “What is our common interest here?” or perhaps more nuanced, “What is this worldly problem to me?” When Jesus says, “My hour is not yet come,” it shows that he must “be about his Father’s business” (Lk. 2:49, DR) and that the timing and content of his public ministry are also determined by the Father. Having no wine, therefore, is a small matter when considering the reason for which Jesus was sent—the salvation of the world.

One last nuance on the wedding at Cana is the wine itself. The wedding, therefore, is an image of the heavenly banquet, the perfect marriage of the People of God with their Creator. Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, changes water into wine, which is emblematic of how the Eucharistic bread and wine are changed into the Most Precious Body and Blood of Jesus. Both require an act of God to accomplish, and in both instances, the People of God are called to partake of this wonderful gift, even now, which is a foretaste of the good things to come. As the headwaiter says, “you have kept the good wine until now.”