JOHN 2/1-12 THE WEDDING AT CANA
(+Isaiah 62/1-5)
Like most of the stories in John’s Gospel, the account of the wedding reception at
Cana in Galilee is a symbolic one in a familiar setting. As the guests arrived they
would have their hands and feet ceremonially washed, after walking through the dusty
streets, and before reclining on couches for the feast. The water for the washing would
come from large water-pots, six of them in this story, which each hold about 100 litres
of water, so they were large ones. The fact that they were empty suggests that there
were a lot of guests, maybe more than expected, and the water was used up. John says
Jesus had been invited, but by this time he had seven disciples, and that could mean
unexpected extras not planned for.
It also appears that Jesus’ mother Mary has a prominent role, and it is possible the
bridegroom could have been Mary’s nephew, her sister’s son. However, being a
symbolic story it is impossible to fill out all the details.
To run out of water wasn’t too much of a problem because servants could be sent to
the village well to replenish the supply. To run out of wine however was a different
matter, and highly embarrassing to the host when providing enough was important.
Hospitality was a sacred rite and failing to provide meant not just loss of face for the
host, but was an shameful disgrace.
Mary however sized up the situation, and took the problem to Jesus. “They are out of
wine,” she said simply, asking with her eyes what was he going to do about it. Jesus’
reply is both curious and seemingly abrupt. “Woman, what have you to do with me?
My hour has not yet come.” The term ‘woman’ sounds rather harsh, but author John
has Jesus use it from the cross, when Jesus said to her and his disciple John, “Woman,
here is your son. Son, here is your mother.” So the term ‘Woman’ is one of tenderness
and concern. I think Jesus was saying something like, “Why ask me? Maybe by
bringing extras I helped cause the problem, but it really isn’t my problem. Anyway I
have just begun my ministry and coming to a wedding is time-out, and I can’t be
expected to perform a magical miracle just to solve a domestic issue.” But Mary knew
her son, when faced with problems for which he had no experience, always did what
he could. So she whispered to the head servant, “Whatever he says to do, just do it, no
matter how odd it seems.”
Jesus thought about it. No wine could be got in a hurry, so it was important to use
whatever was available. “Fetch water,” he said, “and fill up the pots,” and in due
course it was done. “Now draw some out,” he instructed, and they did, and when the
head servant tasted it, it was of the finest quality.
There is a story of an Irish woman who went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, in France.
Coming back through Dublin airport, a customs officer found an unlabelled bottle
hidden in her luggage. “What’s this?” he asked. “ Ah,’tis a bottle of holy water from
Lourdes,” she replied. The officer unscrewed the cap and smelled the contents.
“Madam that isn’t water,” he said, “that’s whiskey!” “Holy Mary mother of God, ‘tis
a miracle for sure!”
So what happened at Cana in Galilee? Did Jesus convert 600 litres of water into wine
to make up a shortage, and so people could drink freely? The end result of that would
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be that people would get freely drunk. I don’t think Jesus would be party to that!
Matthew and Luke record that Jesus after his Baptism went to fast in the desert, and
there he was tempted to turn stones into bread to feed the hungry, which was a general
expectation of the coming Messiah. Jesus refused to do that. Surely producing wine in
such quantities for a party would be a contradiction of his Messianic role as he
understood it.
Or, you might say, what about the feeding of the five thousand people with five
loaves and two fish and the four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fish?
That’s another thing altogether, for those were different situations. There the numbers
are all symbolic, as I explain in my book on Mark’s Gospel, “Read Mark and think
about it” (available for sale today), and where you can read about it for yourselves.
I’m sorry but I need to leave it at that.
Or was it just the water drawn out that was converted so that just enough was
changed? That too would seem out of character for Jesus. Or was it, as one preacher
said, that it was a joke? That the cups still had a taint of the wine they had in them
before, and they were used to drinking well-watered wine especially during the day,
so they laughed and teased about it, saying “this is better than ever!” Or could it even
have been as one notable Archbishop wrote, “The water saw its creator, and
blushed?”
When Jesus told his parables, the settings were familiar to his hearers, and the details
were extraordinary to Jews. John goes even further. He is not writing a history book.
John is a theologian and a philosopher, and he is writing a spiritual gospel. What he
says at face value has another deeper underlying meaning.
Also, although he was writing for Jews too, he was more particularly writing for
Greeks. The Greeks were great philosophers, and John was familiar with their culture.
Now, in Greek folklore there was a story that said that there was some water left in
kettles in a Temple overnight, and in the morning they found that the water had turned
into wine. This story seems to have captured John’s imagination, and he uses it to
weave his own story to illustrate some very important things about the impact Jesus
makes on our lives.
The first thing he is saying has to do with the six pots of water which had been full for
the Jewish ceremonial washing, and now they were empty. In Greek culture 7 is the
perfect number, and 6 falls short of that. John is indicating that the spirit of Judaism
has something to offer, but it can only go so far. Jesus had his background in Judaism,
but goes on a lot further and in different ways. Jesus provides not just cleansing
refreshing water but also the best wine of life, and that life he freely offers to us all.
That I believe is a challenge for the Church today. The Church is becoming more and
more conservative, and many stay away because some old traditional beliefs are
outmoded and irrelevant. Yet the history of theology shows that belief systems
develop over the years as fresh approaches are brought to bear. As the Bible says, the
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job of the Holy Spirit is to ‘lead us into all truth.’ Understanding it all is a process
that progresses, and none of us have a monopoly on truth at any one time.
This brings up the difference between belief and faith. Beliefs are what we
understand about God and the Bible and theology and so on. Beliefs are the ideas that
are meaningful to us, and they are open to change as understanding grows. Faith on
the other hand is faith in the person of Jesus and through him to God. Faith then is a
personal relationship. Unless our belief systems are secondary to personal faith in
Jesus, they can be like significant yet empty water-pots. Only as we develop our faith
in the person of Jesus does he share with us the wine of life resulting from the
relationship.
The second point that brings this out still further, is illustrated by a wedding. John
Marsh in his commentary on John’s Gospel says that the central issue in this account
is not the changing of the water into wine. It has more to do with Jesus being a
Bridegroom at a Jewish wedding feast, and transforming it. So Jesus comes to you
and me in this story like a marriage partner, offering us a relationship as different as
wine from water. John picks up on this idea from Isaiah 62 (v 1-5) that was our first
Reading. There God is looking to a relationship with his people akin to the best found
in marriage.
When I lived in South Auckland I did some counselling, and couples came whose
marriages were often on the rocks. After talking together for a time, I used to say,
“Let’s see what you have got, as we may be able to build on it. Good marriages have
four important aspects. One, the couple are best friends to each other. Two, you care
about each other like good parents care for their children, so there is an aspect of
parenting each other. Third you are equal partners in a domestic business, and four,
you have a romantic side and are lovers together. Now what have you got of any of
these?” Mostly they said “none of them.” Very occasionally one would add, “but our
sex life isn’t too bad!” Many had left it too late to salvage anything out of their
marriage. If there was something there it could be a base on which to start building a
renewed relationship if they were willing.
So Jesus wants to keep on building with us a relationship akin to marriage. He wants
us to be best friends, to care and have concern for one another like good parents, to
share a life of ordinary as well as some extraordinary things, and to be in love with
each other. Such a relationship would not just be cleansed and refreshed with water,
but would also have the wine of life.
In John’s story, the Head servant said, “Sir, most people serve the best wine first, and
when the taste-buds are dulled, give out inferior wine, but you have kept the best wine
until now.” In other words, as we grow in our relationship with Jesus, the quality of
life gets better and better.
Amen, so let it be.
Ivan Pierce