The Wedding at Cana

By Charlie Houghton, Lay Preacher
Lord, please open our hearts and minds to your presence as we seek to better understand your good news. Amen. Please be seated.
    Epiphany and many of the Sundays that follow Christmas are some of my favorites. The gospels are filled with wonderful stories, and this Sunday is no exception.  It is the story of a wonderful celebration; a wedding feast.  A wedding deserves a great celebration.  While marriage is a legal contract between two people being married, Christian marriage is more than just a legal contract.  It is a covenant between two persons in the presence of God and the community.  It is important and it is sacred.
    Let’s consider this gospel in the context of the time in which it occurs.  Mary, and the brothers of Jesus are guests at a wedding in Cana.  Soon Jesus, also an invited guest, and his earliest apostles arrive as well.  It is likely that the bride or groom is related to the family.  In these times, Jewish weddings frequently lasted for a week or longer.  Hospitality was extremely important, with plenty of food and wine for the duration of the celebration.  In this time and culture, poor hospitality was a serious affront, and running out of wine would have been the epitome of poor hospitality.  
    The gospel begins, “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.” (John 2:1) And so it was that the first miracle of Jesus’ ministry occurred at a wedding where the groom’s family ran out of wine well before the guests ran out of thirst. While from this point forward, miracles will be quite public, this first miracle is witnessed only by Jesus’ apostles, his mother, and the servants. It is important, however, to think about the last verse of this Gospel:                                                                          “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
    When Mary notices that the wine is running low she brings her concerns to her son. Jesus answers, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”  Some scholars have suggested that Jesus’ answer to his mother was not particularly respectful, which seems unlikely. Interestingly, the New International Version adds the word “dear” before woman.  His mother is clearly not concerned about his answer, however, and overrides him by simply saying to the servants “Do whatever he tells you”. 
    With that simple statement, Mary orchestrates her son’s entry into his public life – his ministry. Mary is a woman of strength and heart. Her initial conversation with Jesus is quiet and without fuss.   While he seems to believe that it is not the time to begin his public life, Mary is completely sure that it is time.  Once Jesus changes the water to wine and sends it to the host to taste, the bridegroom gets credit for the excellent wine, while Jesus remains in the background.  In the miracles that follow this one, it is clear that these wonders are the work of Jesus. They are witnessed by many people, sometimes into the thousands. So why not this miracle?  Some scholars think it is because this miracle is meant to prevent the bridegroom’s embarrassment.  Others have offered the explanation that Jesus was still a bit on the fence about beginning his public life.  And still others have suggested that this is a moment of creating for the joy of creating.  This is a celebration, filled with joy and community.  
    And what should we learn from this? I guess we could learn that moms are generally right and should be listened to.  Actually, I do believe that Mary has much to teach us in this gospel.  Mary’s concern for the young couple is an act of love.  She is not concerned with what she can gain from asking Jesus to help them.  She also has enormous trust in Jesus, that he will do the right thing. Mary is a woman of courage and faith.  She does not have to know where this is going to follow her heart, to allow her faith to guide her.  And what is faith? The closest the Bible comes to defining faith is Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” There is so much in scripture that speaks of faith.  When I looked to find a scriptural definition of faith, there were so many citations that I quickly became overwhelmed.  Finally, taking pieces of different readings and a little of my own twist, I finally came up with this:  Faith is much more than intellectual agreement; it means putting your trust in God and having confidence that God will fulfill God’s promises. 
    I sometimes feel like I am stuck in pea soup fog on my faith journey.  I can get stuck in fear when I cannot seem to see the way forward.  My prayer at these times is a simple plea to help me find the path I should be following. I am reminded of a story from Francis Murphy, a Presbyterian minister.  He writes: “A house caught fire one night and a young boy was forced to climb on to the roof to escape. His father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I’ll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flames, smoke, and blackness. As you can imagine, he was afraid to leave the roof, but his father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy shouted back, "Daddy, I can’t see you." Then the father replied, "But I can see you and that’s all that matters.”  Just as Christ sees us, and that’s all that matters.  Know that is good to be seen.  When we are seen, we are not alone. Mary understood this as she encouraged Jesus to fix the wine problem. Mary knew that not seeing God definitely did not equal not being seen by God. Her faith allowed her to move forward even if she wasn’t sure exactly where the path would lead. 
    Five words.  “Do whatever he tells you.” This simple yet powerful statement still resonates with us centuries later. Just as she got the attention of the servants at the wedding, I believe Mary is hoping to get our attention now. I can almost see her standing near me today and quietly directing me toward Jesus and softly saying, “Do whatever he tells you.”          Amen                   

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