Epiphany II - C - 16 John
1.1-11
“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there.”
Three days after Jesus’ baptism John has Jesus passing by as
the Baptist is speaking to his disciples. “Behold the Lamb of God….” John
announces to his friends, as he points out Jesus. Two of the Baptist’s disciples follow after
Jesus, namely John and Andrew. Jesus
invites them to spend the day with him wherein he teaches them about the
kingdom of God and God’s plan of salvation.
Andrew is convinced they have indeed found the Messiah and
goes to seek his brother, Peter and bring him to Jesus. These three follow Jesus to Cana of Galilee
where Jesus encounters Phillip and invites him to join them. Phillip is so excited that he runs ahead and
find his friend Nathaniel and announces the good news that he has found the
Christ and he is Jesus of Nazareth.
Nathaniel hesitates to believe that anything good can come
out of Nazareth, but when Jesus arrives and acts as though he knows Nathaniel
inside and out, he is amazed and decides to follow along and see for himself
who this Jesus really is and what he is up to.
“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there.”
Jesus and his 5 new found friends are invited to attend the
wedding. This is one of only two
occasions we meet Jesus’ mother in the gospel.
The other being at the foot of the cross. Mary presses the issue of “wine” and the fact
that she believes that Jesus can do something about the lack of it. Thus she does not hesitate to urge him to do
so.
But Jesus quickly replies that “his hour has not yet
come.” The wedding feast at Cana, looks
on, as it were, through many other references to his “hour”, until at last the
hour does come, and his glory fully revealed.
Events like the miracle at Cana point on to that moment as do the other
“signs” John presents in his gospel that point to the indwelling of the
creative power (God’s Spirit) within Jesus.
The wedding feast is a foretaste of the great heavenly
banquet in store for God’s people (Rev. 21.2) and the wine symbolic of
life. The transformation from water to
wine is meant by John to signify the effects Jesus can have, and still have
today, on people’s lives. He came, as he
says later, that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
We are now in the Epiphany season which began on January 6
with the Magi’s visit to the Christ-child and will continue until we have the
ashes from last year’s celebration of Palm Sunday imposed on our foreheads in
the sign of the cross signifying the beginning of the season of Lent (Feb 10).
Epiphany is a Greek word meaning “manifestation” or
“revealing” in other words “making known”, or showing forth. The Christ-child was revealed to the Magi at
Bethlehem after having followed the star that led them on their way. The Christ, the Messiah was revealed by the
descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove at the baptism of Jesus by
John in the Jordan.
In today’s gospel the miraculous powers of Jesus are
revealed for the first time at the wedding feast at Cana in the changing of
water into wine; a revelation, John says, that caused his new found friends to
believe in him. The Epiphany season is
one marked by revelation.
Jesus’ miracles were not wonders to astound, but signs
pointing to his Glory; God’s presence within him. The miracle at Cana was the first of seven
signs performed by Jesus in John’s gospel that point beyond themselves to the
truth that the Kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus Christ.
The final manifestation/revelation is anticipated in Jesus’
remark to his mother’s urgent request that he do something about the lack of
wine: “my hour has not yet come,”
referring to his glory that would be revealed by his death on the cross. The miracle at Cana takes place on the “third
day”, an unmistakable pointer to the resurrection and the exaltation of Jesus.
His glory refers both to his divine power shown by his signs
and wonders, and to his humble service to mankind, shown most perfectly on the
cross. In both ways Christ reveals that
he is the One sent from the Father.
The birth, baptism, and first miracle were not isolated
events to be eclipsed by Calvary, but were part of a continuum that culminates
in resurrection. Given our disjunctive
approach to word and season, it is possible to miss the progression, and
instead focus on a single gospel event each week. One challenge of the word, however, is to
acknowledge the continuity in Jesus’ mission as well as the integrity it calls
forth in our own lives.
Our “new life” in Christ began for each of us at the font of
life where in our baptism we were buried with Christ in his death and raised to
new life in him. It doesn’t end there in
a single event, however. To be a
Christian is to live a life-time road to God; a progression of day by day
maturing in our own vocation; one strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit,
and nurtured by word and sacrament that moves us away from the font of life and
towards the throne of God.
As Jesus’ mission was not complete with one miracle late in
the wedding reception, so is the essence of the Christian vocation not to be
found in occasional acts of charity and obligatory Sunday worship. It is not such individual moments, but the
ongoing commitment in faithful love which is the true manifestation of God’s
continuing presence among us, and a proper response to God’s Love that sent His
only Son, Jesus to be the light of the world.
AMEN +
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