2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 17 January 2010

(Is.62:1-5; 1 Cor.12:4-11; Jn 2:1-11)

John is the only Gospel writer who mentions the Wedding at Cana. If the
other Gospel writers knew of the story it is hard to say why they would have
omitted it. So we must look very closely to see what John is about.
Though missing in Sunday’s passage from the lectionary, John places the
incident “on the third day.” Christians know well how important that expression is
since it is part of the creed that Jesus rose “on the third day.” John is filled with
symbolic language and the third day might be meant to recall the resurrection on the
third day.
In the immediate context, it is hard to say what the third day refers to. Maybe
it’s three days since Jesus decided to return to Galilee from his encounter with his
first disciples, about a three day journey by foot. Or it might refer to three days
since the wedding feast had begun. Weddings could last up to a week. This would
help explain how they had run out of wine. Of course they would also have been
heavy drinkers if they ran out so quickly. In the end we don’t know what it means.
The dialogue between his mother (she goes unnamed in the Gospel!) and
Jesus is short and sweet. She observes: “They have no wine.” Jesus answers in a
curious and cryptic fashion: “Woman, what is this to me and to you? My hour has
not come.” Obviously Jesus understood that Mary wanted him to do something.
Some think Jesus calling his mother “woman” appears to be rude or impolite.
But it’s the same word he calls her as he is dying. It probably symbolizes Mary as
the new Eve, THE woman of the Old Testament. Just as John’s gospel began like
the Book of Genesis did, so now the new “woman” is introduced here as a
counterpart to Eve.
Mary ignores Jesus’ talk of “his hour” and instructs the stewards to do
whatever he tells them. One universal experience of sons with mothers is to realize
that what a mother wants done will be done. Mary is no exception! She ignores his
puzzling remark that his hour has not come and tells the wine stewards to do his
bidding.
“The hour” is a dramatic moment when the reason he has been born will be
revealed and until then signs are used to point towards his ultimate purpose. This is
the first of seven signs Jesus will perform. Another will occur in Jn.4:46-54 also at
Cana when he heals the royal official’s son. There like here, he doesn’t really do
anything. He simply says something and the previous situation changes. The real
“hour” of Jesus in John’s Gospel is his passion, death, resurrection and ascension.
Here the lack of wine becomes an abundance of wine. Not only that, but the
wine is tastier by far than what they had before they ran out. Even the headwaiter
notices. Some commentators from very early on understood this as a symbol for the
Eucharist. Others understood it as a symbol for the wedding imagery often used to
describe the period of the Messiah. As a result his disciples “began to believe in
him.” That belief will not be completed until they finally “saw and believed,” as the
“other disciple” who accompanied Peter to the tomb did in Jn.20.
Mary is included here for she represents another of the disciples. More than
the disciples who accompanied Jesus to the wedding she represents a disciple who
also knows his power to make known his own glory which is the beginning of “his
hour.”

Fr.Lawrence Hummer Pastor, St. Mary’s Chillicothe