Gospel: John 2:1-12    The Wedding at Cana

This Sunday we return to what the Church calls “Ordinary Time”, when we read the accounts of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  There is nothing “ordinary” about this time, however, as it is during these weeks that we hear about all the extra-ordinary things that Jesus did during his earthly life.  Today’s Gospel is one example.  John calls this account a “sign” something that points us to a deeper reality.  In the Jewish tradition, a wedding symbolised the Kingdom of God, and Jesus regularly use the image of a wedding feast to refer to God’s dream for the world.

At this particular wedding feast, we are told that Jesus provides an extraordinary amount of wine for the celebration: “There were six stone water jars . . . each holding twenty or thirty gallons”.  This amounts to a minimum of 500 litres of wine or 600 bottles by today’s measure!  Not only does Jesus produce this huge amount of wine, it is also the “best” wine at the wedding.  Sounds like a great party!  In our wedding, however, we might focus on the generosity of Jesus in the story, remembering that this wedding event is showing us something of who Jesus is, what the Kingdom of God is like and how God operates in our lives.

In this story, the stone jars involved hold the water used in purification rituals at the time.  This story, then, is a significant reminder of how Jesus can transform anything, including that which has become stale, into something that brings joy and new life, inviting people to dance and celebrate.  This event was “the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him”.  As followers of Jesus, we too are called to be agents of generosity, celebration and transformation.

© Triona Doherty & Jane Mellet, 2021.  The Deep End: A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Luke.  (Dublin: Messenger Publications 2021.

“Transformation . . . begins with the people of God who start turning the things of death into things of life.  And the kings and presidents and nations will follow”

– Shane Claiborne